Detroit Red Wings Game Analysis, After-Action Report for Wednesday Nov 5th: Detroit Red Wings 3 – New York Rangers 4 (OT)

I hate this game.

Box Score Here

Neither fanbase is happy with the refs, he says in a familiar tone. I’d rather be the fanbase less-unhappy with them though. Both teams scored two goals on the power play. Rangers outshot the Wings 30-28.

Jonas Gustavsson made two incredible saves and didn’t let in any soft goals of the four allowed. Plant this one on the skaters.

Guide to plus/minus adjustments

The Goals

1st Period 06:36 – New York Goal (PP): Rick Nash (ass goal) from Derick Brassard and Matt Hunwick
The Rangers get the opening goal on a power play butt-deflection. The Wings get a clear down ice as the Rangers’ PP starts, but quick skating through center gets Brassard in on the left wing side to push the defenders back far enough for Hunwick to gain the point and receive a pass once Brassard is pinched off. Hunwick skates toward the middle before going back to Brassard skating up to the same point he just left. As Glendening turns his attention from Hunwick to Brassard approaching the top of the circle, the Rangers’ player fires a slapper that hits Rick Nash in front of Gustavsson and deflects in. I don’t really like how neither defenseman is bodied up against Nash, but they’re both kind of scrambling because of the fast zone entry. This is a good power play setup against them and they’re victimized by a bit of a lucky bounce. They could have just as easily have had it go off their own asses. What I will blame a player for is how good the zone entry was. I feel this was caused by Miller chasing too far up ice and leaving his teammates in a bad spot. As Lundqvist leaves it for Hunwick behind the Rangers’ net, Miller skates all the way down to the bottom of the circles. When Hunwick turns on the jets coming out from behind the net, he puts Miller behind him quickly, which turns the neutral zone from an effective funnel into a 4-on-3 rush. Glendening is pulled too far to the inside to pinch off Brassard at the point and the rest is history. Miller will get a minus for this mistake.

Goal-Saved Adjustment – 1st Period 08:25 (Danny DeKeyser): The Rangers’ power play is brutalizing the Wings’ defense with cross-ice passes here and it almost pays off as Nash gets it just below the circle with a wide open net. DeKeyser quickly spins and lays his stick down to block what would have been an easy goal. I’m only going to award DeKeyser a half-plus here because the pass to Nash that created the need for him to make this save went through DeKeyser. I still feel like the scrambling done here isn’t entirely his fault though, which is why he will get the half.

2nd Period 06:39 – New York Goal: Martin St. Louis (wrist shot) from Matt Hunwick and Michael Kostka
The Rangers make it 2-0 on a breakaway goal. Jakub Kindl picks up a loose puck and holds it behind his net as the WIngs start a change. He tries breaking it into the Rangers’ zone with a bounce pass off the boards in the neutral zone, but the puck bounces away from Cleary and the Rangers recover. A quick D-to-D pass from Kostka to Hunwick and a spin up ice under no pressure by Hunwick reveals that Marty St. Louis has snuck behind the defensive change. Hunwick hits him with the pass and St. Louis five-holes Gustavsson. This is a bad change thanks to a bad decision that didn’t get the puck deep. I’m going to clear the minuses for Cleary, Smith, Datsyuk, and Abdelkader. Lashoff will keep his minus because he really should be deeper and in the middle of the ice to protect against this. Kindl will get his shift change minus back and he’ll also get a turnover minus for the bad pass when he had a good option elsewhere.

2nd Period 12:02 – Detroit Goal: Jakub Kindl (wrist shot) from Riley Sheahan and Johan Franzen.
The Wings finally get a power play goal as Kindl picks up a loose puck in he circle and snaps it through. Late in the power play after the Wings’ have trouble clearing their own zone, they finally get four men across the line and get into the zone. The first scoring chance comes as Franzen tries centering it to a covered Nestrasil. Nesty makes a really smart stick lift to keep it from being a turnover and then recovers along the wall. The Wings reset and get a shot that misses, but is recovered again by Nestrasil, who dumps around to the far corner for Franzen. Mule gets pressured and dumps it deeper for Sheahan, who gets stepped into by Klein as he skates up the board. Sheahan makes a power move to lean on Klein and try to turn it into the middle. Klein keeps Sheahan from keeping possession, but nobody is there watching Kindl pinch in as Sheahan’s fight for the puck turns into a great pick that Kindl uses to make space for a wrister through Lundqvist from above the dot. Nestrasil will get a plus for his good work on this play and Sheahan a half-plus for the strong move off the boards.

2nd Period 12:18 – Detroit Goal: Dan Cleary (snap shot) unassisted
16 seconds after breaking the Lundqvist shutout, Dan Cleary ties it on his patented deep-angle snapshot off the goalie’s back and in. The faceoff after the Kindl goal is scrambled at center and comes to the boards by the penalty boxes where Cleary pushes it toward the Rangers’ zone. Miller fights off two step-ups just inside the blue line to dump it deeper where Cleary recovers the puck. Cleary makes a quick outside-inside move on Kostka down low and then just fires it from the low corner. The puck hits off Lundqvist, goes in, and comes out faster than the ref can see. Play continues for a few minutes after this, but none of that counts after the goal is correctly awarded. I’m going to give Miller a plus for doing the work to get the zone entry and Cleary a half-plus for helping make it all work. Glendening will also get a screener’s assist.

3rd Period 11:10 – New York Goal: Lee Stempniak (wrist shot) from Dominic Moore and Chris Kreider
The Rangers get an odd-man rush they have no business getting and Stempniak finishes a cross-ice pass with ease. The Wings’ fourth line gets a decent offensive zone shift which ends with a harmless turnover behind the net that the Rangers take their time with because the Wings are changing. As it happens, Brendan Smith is the only player on the ice in position to forecheck, so he does that as Franzen and Nyquist have the same idea to come up to the blue line. Unfortunately, Henrik Zetterberg’s first instinct coming off the bench is to go forward instead of stepping into coverage. Kreider strings it up to Moore coming up through center and Stempniak joins him across the blue line after having been standing there for a fair period of time. DeKeyser is the only player back, but as he’s also just off the bench, he doesn’t have his feet positioned right to be in the passing lane by the time the puck gets to the circles. Moore feeds Stempniak for the quick blast past a sprawling Gustavsson. I’m not going to clear any minuses here because I feel any one of the people on the ice should have recognized this pretty easy-to-maintain coverage by going to the right spot. Smith isn’t necessarily wrong in going in to forecheck based on where they were at in the line change, but I think that leads to the confusion. Smith will pick up a minus. Franzen should already recognize Smith going and has no business also approaching Kreider on the angle he did. Franzen will get an extra minus. Finally, Zetterberg stepping forward off the bench is unbecoming a two-way center. He absolutely has to recognize what’s happening here and immediately assume the defenseman’s role. The three steps forward he takes are killer here. Zetterberg will pick up a minus.

3rd Period 19:52 – Detroit Goal (PP): Tomas Tatar (wrist shot) from Andrej Nestrasil and Jakub Kindl
The Wings tie it with under 8 seconds to go as Tatar gets what is officially a 4-on-3 power play goal but is effectively a 5-on-3 finish. The Rangers push the faceoff to the corner and try to tie it up there while Sheahan, Helm, and Nestrasil battle to free it. Eventually Sheahan comes out skating down from the corner with a little space, creating a shot for Tatar that misses just wide with 16 seconds left. Kindl gets it at the half-boards and walks it back to the middle to set up before going to Nestrasil at the dot. Nesty walks down low before throwing a cross-ice pass to Tatar just beneath the other faceoff dot. Tats one-times it through and it’s a tie game. I love this goal, but no adjustment. I expect 5-on-3 goals.

Overtime 01:50 – New York Goal (PP): Derick Brassard (wrist shot) from Dan Girardi and Martin St. Louis
The Rangers end it on the power play as Gustavsson can’t cleanly glove a shot and Brassard pushes the rebound in. Riggy gets a clear thanks to Glendening, but the Rangers get back in and regain possession on a dump around the boards which helps spread out the three defenders. Brassard and St. Louis trade places at the right point with Kronwall watching them, Miller in the middle, and Ericsson watching Nash down low. St. Louis goes to Girardi across the ice for a one-timer that gets on Gustavsson through Rick Nash’s screen. Gustavsson stops it, but the puck rolls down his glove, off his pad and lays just too far away in the crease for Gustavsson to reach. Brassard comes in from the side and puts it into the wide-open net for the winner. No adjustment here. 4-on-3 PPs are incredibly hard to defend and the Rangers moved the puck very well.

The Penalties

1st Period 04:11 – New York Rangers Bench (too many men): Just a bad change by the Rangers. No adjustment.

1st Period 05:23 – Henrik Zetterberg (tripping) against Rick Nash: The Wings’ power play can’t get a goal and eventually give up control to Nash who skates 1-on-1 against Zetterberg into the Wings’ zone. Nash makes a move that tricks up Z and then goes down super-easy on a bit of a reaching poke. Minus for Zetterberg. Refs are always going to make this call.

1st Period 07:56 – Niklas Kronwall (hooking) against Rick Nash: Kronner chases Nash up the boards with his stick parallel to the ice for about ten feet. Refs make the easiest call since the too-many-men. Minus for Kronwall.

1st Period 10:58 – Dominic Moore (interference on goaltender): Moore gets a loose puck with room to step to the front from the corner. Gustavsson stops his shot and then flings himself back at the hint of contact to draw a call. No adjustment. I don’t care about goalies drawing calls.

2nd Period 05:51 – Kevin Klein (covering puck in the crease): The Wings get a penalty shot as Klein covers a Johan Franzen rebound opportunity in the crease to keep the puck out. Nyquist doesn’t finish on the shot, but Franzen will get a plus for drawing it. He tips a shot in that hits the post and then has the empty net taken away by a player breaking the rules.

2nd Period 07:38 – Justin Abdelkader and Karl Hagelin (cross-checking/slashing): Two boys get mad at each other in a neutral zone battle and try to do mean things before being put in time out. No adjustment.

2nd Period 10:07 – Conor Allen (tripping) against Tomas Tatar: Allen loses his position on a slippery Tatar in the corner and takes him down before he can escape to more-dangerous territory. Tatar will earn a plus.

2nd Period 18:37 – Martin St. Louis (hooking) against Jonathan Ericsson: Riggy takes up good body position against St. Louis going behind the Wings’ net after a loose puck. As Riggy might-asses lil’ Marty away from the puck, St. Louis hooks him and falls down. Ericsson will earn a plus.

3rd Period 18:12 – Martin St. Louis (hooking) and Justin Abdelkader (embellishment): The Wings are fighting for a loose puck with the goalie pulled and guys are doing hockey things fighting for pucks in the corner. As they both chase, St. Louis hooks Abdelkader from behind. Abby feels it and takes a fall. No adjustment. The call Abby drew is canceled out by the embarrassing dive.

3rd Period 10:29 – Marc Staal (holding) against Pavel Datsyuk: Staal is doing everything he can to keep Datsyuk from scoring as the puck bounces around, finally going off for one of his infractions. Datsyuk will earn a plus for taking all this.

Overtime 00:46 – Pavel Datsyuk (tripping) against Martin St. Louis: Pavel Datsyuk is handling the puck when St. Louis comes in and trips himself over Datsyuk’s stick. Somehow the refs give the penalty to the guy with the puck. No adjustment. this is a bad call.

Total Adjustments

Full Season Chart Here

Possession Metrics

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

LOL that chart.

Vignault got Babcock away from sheltering the offensively-talented guys and gave the fourth line more zone starts than they’re used to.

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

Final Say

The Wings would make it a bunch easier on themselves if they stopped sucking in the first period.

Corsi Timeline from Hockeystats.ca