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Detroit Red Wings Game Analysis, After-Action Report for Sunday Nov 16th: Detroit Red Wings 4 – Montreal Canadiens1

Man, this game got away from the Red Wings quickly. What was a not-bad first period turned into a second period disturbance before devolving into a third period nightmare as the Wings lost 4-1.

Box Score Here

The refs were normally bad but not especially bad in this game, but they gave the Wings enough opportunities to earn themselves a better result and Detroit pissed away that opportunity. 1-for-6 on the powerplay is technically better than the 0-for-4 Habs performance, but special teams lost this game for the Wings. Shots were 29-19 because of score effects.

Jimmy Howard let in a goal from behind his own net and Dustin Tokarski looked like he wasn’t a nobody. This game sucked in all facets.

Guide to plus/minus adjustments

The Goals

2nd Period 03:20 – Montreal Goal: Brandon Prust (wrist shot) from PK Subban
The Wings waste a power play and the Habs get an odd-man rush on another bad line change. Woof. Detroit loses possession on a zone entry mistake with four seconds left in the PP as Tatar and Datsyuk miss a pass. Subban picks it up deep and fires it up the boards past Tatar where Prust gets to it first. DeKeyser is stepping off the ice for Brendan Smith who is already back on defense, so Prust gets it in stride entering the Wings’ zone. Malhotra joins Prust, as does Gonchar out of the box. Smith plays the pass on this odd-man rush, but Prust simply holds it as he glides down through the circle before snapping it near-side. Quincey will give his minus back to Sheahan for having changed behind the play. Smith will keep his minus, although he’s partially victimized here. I’m going to give DeKeyser a minus for being part of such a shitty power play and for not reading the kind of trouble that was brewing. A too many men call is preferential to a 3-on-1 rush. Datsyuk and Tatar will each get a turnover minus with Tatar getting an extra half-minus for failing to stop the puck being ringed up the boards. Jurco will get a coverage minus for letting Malhotra up ice behind him.

2nd Period 08:36 – Montreal Goal: PK Subban (Kyle Quincey’s nards) from Andrei Markov and Max Pacioretty
The Wings go down 2-0 on a faceoff win for the Habs that turns into a blast from Subban that finds the kind of luck you earn when you win faceoffs that cleanly. Glendening loses it to Desharnais, allowing Pacioretty to come in behind and pick up the loose puck to slide it to Markov at the point. Markov hits Subban at the top of the zone and Subban one-times it about five feet wide. The puck hits off Quincey’s crotch and bounces in past Howard. Shit luck for everybody involved, but no minuses will be cleared. Glendening and Andersson will each pick up an extra half-minus for the faceoff loss.

3rd Period 01:47 – Montreal Goal: Tomas Plekanec (wrist shot) from Brendan Gallagher and Nathan Beaulieu
Montreal gets another odd-man rush and another favorable bounce and Plekanec finishes a gimme to make it 3-0. The Habs win a defensive zone faceoff so cleanly that it forces Detroit to immediately go to defense (meaning I’m not going to put extra blame for a faceoff loss here). Beaulieu passes it up the zone from behind his own net and Plekanec tips it to Gallagher at his own blue line to defeat a step-up from Ericsson which looks a bit like a drunk fawn trying to mate with a garbage can. Thanks to Helm being slow to recognize what’s going on, Gallagher now skates up the right wing side with Plekanec on a 2-on-1 against Kronwall. Kronner stays in the middle lane and makes sure the pass is cut off and that Gallagher doesn’t have an ideal path to the net, but he can’t stop Gallagher from getting a shot off from just inside the hash marks. The low shot from Gallagher kicks off Howard’s pad, off Kronwall’s heel, and straight to Plekanec for the back door finish. Jurco and Tatar will be cleared here as neither are responsible for the screwups which lead to this goal. Helm will get a coverage minus and Ericsson will get a minus and a half for such an embarrassingly bad step-up attempt.

3rd Period 04:06 – Detroit Goal (PP): Riley Sheahan (backhand) from Danny DeKeyser and Tomas Tatar
After a pretty dive by Dustin Tokarski, the Wings get it behind him with a net-front scramble just before the end of a power play. The second power play unit gets into the zone and takes about ten seconds to set up before taking another ten seconds to try a shot on net. This one is blocked to the corner and recovered, where it’s reset for another shot attempt by Jurco, which is blocked to the high slot for DeKeyser to step into it. This shot goes off Tokarski’s helmet and is recovered again by the Wings. While Tokarski is asking the ref to blow the play dead, another shot and recovery eventually leads to Tatar fending off two Habs to get it to DeKeyser at the point for a shot with six seconds left on the power play. Sheahan tips it as he crosses in front of Tokarski, preventing him from controlling the rebound. As Sheahan continues on his path, he collects the puck and backhands it in. This is how the power play should work, but I am going to give Tatar a half-plus for the amount of work he did in puck recovery here.

3rd Period 08:41 – Montreal Goal: Brendan Gallagher (bankshot) from Alex Galchenyuk and Tomas Plekanec
The Habs kill any comeback dream with a bank shot in off Jimmy Howard from a downed player behind the net. Plekanec shoots just wide from the middle and Ericsson recovers under pressure, pushing it up the boards. The puck takes a weird bounce off the corner and ends up bouncing to the dot where Galchenyuk picks it up. Galwhateverduck skates down to the corner and then up to the point before dumping it back down to Plekanec low. Kronwall pressures, so Plekanec dumps behind the net for Gallagher, who is watched by Ericsson. Riggy takes the man out, so Gallagher dumps to the corner where Galannoyingtotypelastnamenyuk recovers again. Helm cuts off [this guy] as he tries to reverse so the puck slides back to Gallagher just inside the trapezoid and standing back up from having taken a dive trying to call what probably should have been interference against Ericsson. Gallagher just throws the puck from one knee at Jimmy Howard and somehow the puck bounces in off the goalie. This is a bad goal, so by rule the minuses for Ericsson, Kronwall, Helm, Franzen, and Nyquist will be cleared. Only Franzen and Kronwall will remain cleared though. Helm and Nyquist will earn back their minuses for ineffective zone work against Alex Galblahblahblah. Ericsson will pick up a turnover minus for the bad clear and a coverage minus for his behind-the-net screwup.

The Penalties

1st Period 12:10 – Joakim Andersson (interference) against Tomas Plekanec: I guess it was time for the refs to call a penalty, so they found an excuse to do so as Andersson and Plekanec come together with the puck in the neutral zone. No idea why this was called. No adjustment.

1st Period 17:53 – Lars Eller (interference) against Justin Abdelkader: After a period of a bunch of subtle interference, Abdelkader pushes up the boards against Eller to draw a non-subtle one. Abdelkader will get a plus for the work to create this.

2nd Period 01:15 – Sergei Gonchar (hooking) against Tomas Jurco: A quick zone entry along the boards by Jurco gets the puck deep and forces Gonchar to try and recover from the lost step in turning to defend. He helps himself a bit by slowing Jurco down, which is a no-no. Jurco will get a plus.

2nd Period 05:51 – Sergei Gonchar (cross checking) against Tomas Jurco: Gonchar sits again for blasting Jurco in front of the net. No adjustment this time. This is just a dumb play by Gonchar.

2nd Period 09:27 – Dale Weise (tripping) against Brendan Smith: The Wings get another power play chance as Smith steps down from the point away from Weise and draws the call when Weise takes Smiths’ legs out. Good puck movement will earn Smith a plus.

2nd Period 16:53 – Drew Miller (boarding) against Manny Malhotra: Miller is backchecking in the neutral zone as Malhotra protects the puck. Miller takes a bad angle on his man and ends up running him awkwardly. This is a stupid play by Miller which will earn him a minus.

2nd Period 18:14 – Danny DeKeyser (interference) against PK Subban: Danny DK puts the wings down by two for 39 seconds as he chases Subban to a loose puck and gives him a heavy push before he gets to the puck. PK goes down a little easy, but this is definitely a cross-check. Minus for DeKeyser.

3rd Period 02:08 – Nathan Beaulieu (tripping) against Drew Miller: The fourth line gets a solid rush and a scoring chance that they can’t finish partially thanks to Beaulieu tripping Miller in front of the net before he can get the rebound. Good net drive by Miller will earn him a plus.

3rd Period 08:58 – Justin Abdelkader and Brandon Prust (roughing): Stop fighting, guys! You’re making my heart hurt!. No adjustment. Whatever.

3rd Period 15:35 – Tom Gilbert (tripping) against Johan Franzen: The Wings get another power play as they get a bit dangerous in the offensive zone which causes Gilbert to pull down Franzen near the net. Franzen will get a plus for drawing this. He’s hustling nicely on this play.

3rd Period 15:42 – Justin Abdelkader (hooking) against Alexei Emelin: Seven seconds later, the Wings’ power play is over thanks to Abdelkader hooking Emelin trying to prevent a clear. Easy call to make. Minus for Abdelkader.

Total Adjustments

Player GP Official +/- Adjusted +/- G+ Cov- Turn- Plty- Plty+ Chg+ Chg- PP+Lost PK-Clear GA-Clear GSaved+ Adj Diff
Justin Abdelkader 1 0 -1 1 0
Henrik Zetterberg 1 0 0
Pavel Datsyuk 1 -1 -2 -1 -1
Johan Franzen 1 -1 1 1 1 2
Tomas Tatar 1 -2 -2 0.5 -0.5 -1 1 0
Riley Sheahan 1 1 1 1
Tomas Jurco 1 -2 -1 -1 1 1 1
Gustav Nyquist 1 -1 -1 -1 1 0
Darren Helm 1 -2 -3 -2 1 -1
Joakim Andersson 1 -1 -1.5 -0.5 -0.5
Luke Glendening 1 -1 -1.5 -0.5 -0.5
Drew Miller 1 -1 -1 -1 1 0
Niklas Kronwall 1 -2 -1 1 1
Jonathan Ericsson 1 -2 -4.5 -2.5 -1 1 -2.5
Brendan Smith 1 -1 0 1 1
Danny DeKeyser 1 -1 -2 -1 -1
Kyle Quincey 1 -2 -3 -1 -1
Brian Lashoff 1 0 0

Player Screener’s Assists
Johan Franzen 2
Justin Abdelkader 3
Luke Glendening 2.5
Darren Helm 0.5
Drew Miller 0.5
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 Corsi Rel% Corsi% Corsi+/- CorsiFor CorsiAgn CorsiFor60 CorsiAgn60
Riley.Sheahan C 32.5 75 8 12 4 92.6 30.87
Brendan.Smith D 16.97 60.87 5 14 9 58.91 37.87
Pavel.Datsyuk C 17.72 61.9 5 13 8 55.91 34.41
Justin.Abdelkader L 13.06 60 3 9 6 50.31 33.54
Tomas.Jurco R 10.26 58.33 2 7 5 47.64 34.03
Gustav.Nyquist L 7.73 55.56 2 10 8 51.43 41.14
Tomas.Tatar C 6.25 56.25 2 9 7 74.06 57.6
Johan.Franzen R 7.73 55.56 2 10 8 53.97 43.18
Danny.Dekeyser D 3.74 52.63 1 10 9 55.09 49.58
Brian.Lashoff D 4.35 53.33 1 8 7 42.04 36.79
Darren.Helm R 0 50 0 6 6 54.82 54.82
Jimmy.Howard G 50 0 32 32 48.66 48.66
Niklas.Kronwall D 0 50 0 12 12 49.57 49.57
Henrik.Zetterberg L -3.39 47.83 -1 11 12 45.99 50.17
Jonathan.Ericsson D -10.18 43.48 -3 10 13 43.5 56.56
Kyle.Quincey D -13.33 41.67 -4 10 14 42.76 59.86
Drew.Miller L -33.79 23.08 -7 3 10 21.64 72.14
Luke.Glendening C -36.57 21.43 -8 3 11 19.27 70.65
Joakim.Andersson R -36.57 21.43 -8 3 11 21.3 78.11

For the sake of consistency, I’ve got this as the entire game Corsi chart, but I’m going to beg that you ignore it. Score effects ruin this one and essentially none of the third period should count. Fortunately, War-on-Ice does have 5-on-5 score close capabilities. Here is the page link to this game, use the drop-downs at the top to view even-strength score-close chart. This shows much better how badly the Wings played when it mattered and how the game got to a point where it didn’t matter before 40 minutes had passed.

Name Pos Faceoff % Faceoffs Won Faceoffs Lost Off ZS % OffZoneStart NeuZoneStart DefZoneStart
Tomas.Tatar C 40 0 0 88.89 8 3 1
Riley.Sheahan C 70 7 3 87.5 7 3 1
Darren.Helm R 66.67 4 2 77.78 7 2 2
Henrik.Zetterberg L 40 4 6 77.78 7 6 2
Brian.Lashoff D 40 0 0 70 7 3 3
Danny.Dekeyser D 40 0 0 61.54 8 5 5
Pavel.Datsyuk C 66.67 8 4 60 6 4 4
Gustav.Nyquist L 40 0 0 60 6 4 4
Johan.Franzen R 40 0 0 60 6 4 4
Kyle.Quincey D 40 0 0 58.33 7 7 5
Brendan.Smith D 40 0 0 55.56 5 5 4
Justin.Abdelkader L 40 0 0 55.56 5 4 4
Tomas.Jurco R 40 0 0 55.56 5 3 4
Jimmy.Howard G 40 0 0 54.29 19 15 16
Niklas.Kronwall D 40 0 0 46.67 7 5 8
Jonathan.Ericsson D 40 0 0 36.36 4 5 7
Drew.Miller L 40 0 0 0 0 4 7
Luke.Glendening C 27.27 3 8 0 0 4 8
Joakim.Andersson R 100 1 0 0 0 4 7

The zone starts chart is more damning for the team. The only line that was really ok possession-wise was also that way because they were sheltered zone start-wise.

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

Final Say

Ericsson really struggled in this game, as did DeKeyser, especially with turnovers. Brendan Smith didn’t look too bad. Forward-wise, I have no idea if Tomas Jurco is going to find consistency and I’m tired of watching a lot of “so-close-to-being-a-good-dangle” plays by Tatar.

Corsi Timeline from Hockeystats.ca

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