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Detroit Red Wings Game Analysis, After-Action Report for Saturday Dec 13th: Detroit Red Wings 1 – Toronto Maple Leafs 4

The Wings lost

Box Score Here

It wasn’t the refs’ fault.

Mrazek didn’t play well.

Guide to plus/minus adjustments

The Goals

1st Period 15:27 – Detroit Goal (PP): Niklas Kronwall (slap shot) from Johan Franzen and Gustav Nyquist
Detroit gets the first goal on a screened blast from the tip of the zone by the only Red Wings‘ defenseman on the ice. The Wings somehow get set up in the zone despite having used the drop-pass at center ice to do it. This works up to a one-timer attempt by Z from atop the right circle. The puck hits Helm and is cleared behind the net where Franzen deals with two defenders before moving it to Kronwall at the point. Kronner and Franzen play give-and go to get in position for a one-timer from the middle of the ice. Kronwall blasts it and Bernier never sees it through the screen. Helm will get the screener’s assist and Franzen will get a half-plus for digging the puck out under pressure.

1st Period 16:27 – Toronto Goal (PP): James van Riemsdyk (deflection) from Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf
Toronto ties it up with a good setup that leads to Kessel getting a shot off from a sharp angle and bouncing it off van Riemsdyk right out front. Toronto overloads the left a couple of times to get the puck into the zone and then establish the setup. Phaneuf drops it from the top-middle to Kessel on the half-wall as van Riemsdyk sets up at the net-front and Bozak heads there from the slot. As they both get there, Kessel shoots it low to the front of the net and it bounces in off JVR’s skate. I’m not going to make an adjustment here. This is a well-executed power play and a shot that both asks for and gets a lucky bounce.

2nd Period 17:50 – Toronto Goal: Richard Panik (backhand) from Korbinian Holzer
Toronto takes the lead on a breakaway as Panik gets Mrazek moving side-to-side before sliding it through him. Tatar and Sheahan enter the Toronto zone with two defensemen back. As Tatar cuts across the middle while Sheahan drives to the net, he loses the puck off a very simple stick play by Holzer. After skating past the puck, Tatar is helpless to stop Holzer from throwing a pass up ice that hits Panik in stride coming off the bench behind the defense. Panik finishes and that’s your game-winner. Sheahan, Smith, and Zetterberg will be cleared here. Z is coming off the bench, Smith is joining a rush he absolutely should be joining, and Sheahan is helping out on that rush. There’s no real reason for Kyle Quincey to be far enough up ice to let a guy behind him off the Leafs’ bench, so Quincey will get a coverage minus here. There’s also no need for Tatar to be giving the puck away just inside the blue line like this so Tatar will earn a turnover minus.

3rd Period 01:42 – Toronto Goal: Morgan Reilly (wrist shot) from Mike Santorelli
Toronto goes up 3-1 as Reilly snipes one from the wing on a quick rush. After a long shift in his own zone, Nyquist gets the puck out to center, but can’t escape three backcheckers cutting him off. Jurco steps in to take a one-handed jab at the puck to move it further up ice as the Wings start a change. Santorelli tips it to Reilly, who recognizes the change and rips up the left wing side, getting to the outside of the faceoff dot before ripping it in past Mrazek. I don’t like this goal. I think Mrazek should be able to stop it, but it’s not bad enough to be considered a true soft goal. Since the forwards change halfway through this, I’m going to correct Cleary’s minus back to Jurco and Franzen’s minus back to Nyquist. Sheahan will simply be cleared because Zetterberg was not responsible for how this play happened and wouldn’t have gotten a minus even if he were still on the ice. Aside from this, I’m going to give both Nyquist and Jurco each an extra minus for the turnover in not getting the puck further up ice. This failure leads to the goal. Quincey and Smith both keep their minuses.

3rd Period 16:46 – Toronto Goal (EN): Nazem Kadri (wrist shot) from Daniel Winnik and Mike Santorelli
Detroit pulls the goalie early against the Toronto 4th line, who just iced the puck. Minutes later, Kadri is skating it into the net. After barely avoiding an empty-netter earlier, Ouellet feeds it up ice for a zone entry that leads to a handful of sloppy passes which gives the defenders an opportunity to eventually pinch along the wall and create problems. These problems come to roost as Ericsson is forced to step up on a turnover and Winnik is able to chip it out of the zone past him for Kadri to skate into. No adjustment. The whole line screws this up.

The Penalties

1st Period 05:10 – Niklas Kronwall (hooking) against Peter Holland: The Wings give up speed to the outside on another Toronto zone entry. As Holland leans in on a threat to try and push to the net-front, Kronwall uses one hand on his stick to tap him slightly. The ref calls this and it’s off to a PK. This is a weak call, but it’s borne out of bad neutral zone positioning. I’m going to give Kronwall a half-minus.

1st Period 14:46 – James van Riemsdyk (holding) against Niklas Kronwall: The Leafs clear a puck after a few good chances for the Wings gets them running around. Kronwall takes good body position on JVR, but the Leafs’ forward tackles him while trying to make it look like Kronwall is interfering. No sale with the refs and JVR sits. Kronwall will earn a plus.

1st Period 16:06 – Joakim Andersson (tripping) against Richard Panik: Detroit goes shorthanded again as Panik holds the puck in their zone and Andersson tries to sweep the puck away, getting his skates instead. Panik goes down, Andersson sits down, Andersson gets a minus.

1st Period 19:42 – Richard Panik (roughing) against Brendan Smith: Panik takes a three-step run and hits a guy who released the puck much much earlier. Dude should be fired out of a cannon into a trash compactor, but it’s not a drawn call. No adjustment.

2nd Period 09:10 – Jonathan Ericsson (hooking) against Daniel Winnik: The Leafs get a long and dangerous shift in the Detroit zone which leads to Ericsson hooking Winnik in front of the net. After a bunch more scoring chances, Detroit finally regains control and the whistle goes. Ericsson will get a minus.

2nd Period 14:29 – Brendan Smith (holding) against David Booth: Detroit takes yet another penalty as they can’t clear their own zone and give the Leafs scoring opportunities. This time it’s Booth who is the beneficiary of Smith recognizing that he’s just made a terrible mistake in throwing the puck away up the middle of the ice. Smith grabs onto Booth to slow his path to the net-front. Smith gets a minus.

3rd Period 10:21 – Johan Franzen and Phil Kessel (roughing & slashing): Worthless dirtywork gets two players sent to the box and the world keeps on spinnin’. No adjustment.

3rd Period 17:09 – Brendan Smith (slashing & fighting) against Richard Panik (fighting): Panik picks Smith’s head in the corner late in a game that’s out of hand. I’m not going to give Smith a minus for getting pissed enough to do this. No adjustment.

Total Adjustments

Player GP Official +/- Adjusted +/- G+ Cov- Turn- Plty- Plty+ Chg+ Chg- PP+Lost PK-Clear GA-Clear GSaved+ Adj Diff
Joakim Andersson 1 -1 -1 -1
Henrik Zetterberg 1 -2 -1 1 1
Daniel Cleary 1 -1 0 1 1
Johan Franzen 1 -1 0.5 0.5 1 1.5
Tomas Tatar 1 -1 -2 -1 -1
Riley Sheahan 1 -3 -1 2 2
Tomas Jurco 1 -2 -1 -1 -2
Gustav Nyquist 1 -2 -1 -1 -2
Darren Helm 1 0 0
Pavel Datsyuk 1 -1 -1 0
Luke Glendening 1 0 0
Drew Miller 1 0 0
Niklas Kronwall 1 -1 -0.5 -0.5 1 0.5
Jonathan Ericsson 1 -1 -2 -1 -1
Brendan Smith 1 -2 -2 -1 1 0
Xavier Ouellet 1 0 0
Kyle Quincey 1 -2 -3 -1 -1
Brian Lashoff 1 0 0

Player Screener’s Assists
Justin Abdelkader 5
Luke Glendening 2.5
Johan Franzen 2
Darren Helm 2.5
Drew Miller 1.5
Riley Sheahan 1
Tomas Jurco 1
Tomas Tatar 1
Stephen Weiss 1
Joakim Andersson 0.5

Full Season Chart Here

Possession Metrics

Even-strength Corsi numbers provided thanks to NHL.com via War-On-Ice.com.

Name Pos iCF C+/- F+/- ZSO ZSD ZS%
Jonathan.Ericsson D 6 17 8 7 4 63.64%
Darren.Helm CL 4 13 7 4 1 80.00%
Niklas.Kronwall D 2 8 3 7 4 63.64%
Tomas.Tatar L 6 6 1 3 4 42.86%
Pavel.Datsyuk CL 3 5 0 4 4 50.00%
Joakim.Andersson CL 3 2 2 0 2 0.00%
Luke.Glendening C 1 1 2 0 2 0.00%
Tomas.Jurco RL 3 0 -1 7 3 70.00%
Petr.Mrazek G 0 -2 -6 15 13 53.57%
Drew.Miller LR 2 -2 -1 0 2 0.00%
Gustav.Nyquist RL 2 -3 -2 5 6 45.45%
Daniel.Cleary LR 2 -3 -4 6 1 85.71%
Xavier.Ouellet D 4 -4 -2 4 3 57.14%
Brian.Lashoff D 0 -5 -4 4 3 57.14%
Johan.Franzen L 1 -6 -5 5 4 55.56%
Riley.Sheahan C 2 -8 -9 5 4 55.56%
Brendan.Smith D 1 -8 -7 4 6 40.00%
Henrik.Zetterberg CL 6 -9 -6 6 6 50.00%
Kyle.Quincey D 0 -14 -12 4 6 40.00%

Read from this what you will.

Name Pos iCF C+/- F+/- ZSO ZSD ZS%
Daniel.Cleary LR 2 -3 -4 6 1 85.71%
Darren.Helm CL 4 13 7 4 1 80.00%
Tomas.Jurco RL 3 0 -1 7 3 70.00%
Jonathan.Ericsson D 6 17 8 7 4 63.64%
Niklas.Kronwall D 2 8 3 7 4 63.64%
Xavier.Ouellet D 4 -4 -2 4 3 57.14%
Brian.Lashoff D 0 -5 -4 4 3 57.14%
Johan.Franzen L 1 -6 -5 5 4 55.56%
Riley.Sheahan C 2 -8 -9 5 4 55.56%
Petr.Mrazek G 0 -2 -6 15 13 53.57%
Pavel.Datsyuk CL 3 5 0 4 4 50.00%
Henrik.Zetterberg CL 6 -9 -6 6 6 50.00%
Gustav.Nyquist RL 2 -3 -2 5 6 45.45%
Tomas.Tatar L 6 6 1 3 4 42.86%
Brendan.Smith D 1 -8 -7 4 6 40.00%
Kyle.Quincey D 0 -14 -12 4 6 40.00%
Joakim.Andersson CL 3 2 2 0 2 0.00%
Luke.Glendening C 1 1 2 0 2 0.00%
Drew.Miller LR 2 -2 -1 0 2 0.00%

More numbers.

Check out more from war-on-ice.com, including the visualized shift chart here.

Final Say

The timing is off. There were already issues there before they went to play their third in four nights and things just went downhill for them. Zetterberg and Franzen have to get things figured out. Dan Cleary has lost the “hasn’t played poorly” label and is now actively bad again. They’re trying to beat the goaltender clean too often instead of simply throwing pucks on net and getting their hands dirty in the rebound areas.

Corsi Timeline from Hockeystats.ca

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