The Wings came out of the All-Star break kind of like you’d expect them to. They were a bit rusty and a bit sloppy, but at the end of the day, they got their sixth straight win by downing the Panthers 5-4 in Sunrise.
The reffing in this game was just south of atrocious and the diving by the Panthers was embarrassing. The Wings did get a shorthanded goal, but failed to score on their one power play attempt while allowing the Panthers to go 3/5 with the man advantage. Score effects aren’t the only reason the Wings got outshot 41-27.
Petr Mrazek didn’t have a very good night, but he allowed four goals and still had a save percentage over .900, so that says something about the way the whole team performed. I thought he made things a bit more difficult on himself than he should have, but he also made big saves when it counted. Luongo got chased and also didn’t play terribly well. The goals weren’t exactly soft, but he probably wishes he were a bit more solid.
Guide to plus/minus adjustments
The Goals
1st Period 08:06 – Detroit Goal (SH): Drew Miller (backhand) from Jonathan Ericsson
The Wings score first on a shorthanded breakaway. Detroit clears it on a defensive zone faceoff win by Glendening. Florida tries a re-entry as the puck crosses the Detroit blue line on the right wing side before an attempted dump-in to the opposite corner. Ericsson is the center back defenseman on this play and he is able to reach back and pick it off before it gets by him, throwing it back up off the boards and out of the zone past Ekblad. Drew Miller is the high man on this play as Ekblad turns to chase it. Miller has the jump and is able to get it away from a diving poke attempt by Ekblad. As Miller skates in alone on Luongo, he fakes bringing it wide on the backhand before sliding it under Luongo as he sprawls. This is a great play by the PKers. Ericsson will get a full plus while Miller and Glendening will each get half-pluses. The dump-in pickoff is the important play, but Miller jumping up and Glendening winning the faceoff contributed to how this went down.
1st Period 09:08 – Florida Goal (PP): Aleksander Barkov (wrist shot) from Nick Bjugstad and Aaron Ekblad
Florida ties it on a 5-on-3 cross-ice feed for Barkov. After an initial clear, Florida regains the zone and gets set up with Ekblad and Huberdeau switching off at the top of the zone while their forwards set up low and the Wings have Ericsson, Glendening, and Miller on. Ekblad feeds to Bjugstad in the left faceoff dot and he finds the lane to Barkov across the ice. The lane is created by very good puck movement from the Panthers. Ericsson is tied up with Hayes at the net-front and just can’t reach it while the lane coverage between Miller and Glendening overlaps by a brief half-second. When Miller comes low to watch both straight-back high to Ekblad and opposite-point high to Huberdeau, Glendening is just coming down from the coverage of Huberdeau and can’t quite get into the lane to Barkov quick enough. No adjustment. This is a razor-thin margin on 5-on-3.
1st Period 10:16 – Florida Goal (PP): Brandon Pirri (slap shot) from Brian Campbell and Jussi Jokinen
Florida scores again on the power play as one squeaks through Mrazek. Andersson wins a defensive zone draw, but Sheahan can’t get a clear and the Panthers recover on some hard work forechecking. Detroit’s PK unit chases aggressively, but the Panthers are able to stay a bit ahead of it as they cycle low around the boards before Campbell gets it at the left point and finds Pirri wide open at the top of the right circle. Pirri controls and takes a step toward the goal before winging up and blasting a shot. Mrazek gets most of it, but the puck trickles behind where DeKeyser can’t quite sweep it out in time. This is a case where Pirri should never be able to get this open from where he is. Kronwall is stuck covering Bolland at the net-front so he can’t go out to challenge. The blown coverage here is caused by Sheahan and DeKeyser getting aggressive in the left-side corner. If it works, they get a clear, but it doesn’t work, which freezes Kronwall low and Andersson high. Neither player can stop this pass to Pirri. Sheahan and DeKeyser will each get a half-minus for the lost gamble here.
2nd Period 00:32 – Detroit Goal: Henrik Zetterberg (wrist shot) from Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist
Detroit ties the game early in the 2nd as Zetterberg finds himself all alone out front and makes the Panthers pay for letting it happen. Abdelkader dumps it into the zone where Luongo picks it up and clears it up to the half-wall. Nyquist pinches in and gets around Bergenheim to steal the puck and push it low behind the goal. Nyquist next steps around Mitchell to get back to the puck and throws a centering attempt out front. Abdelkader can’t control it, but he manages to tip it straight to Zetterberg completely uncovered in the slot for the quick strike goal. This is great hustle work by Nyquist which will earn him a plus. It’s also some awful defensive zone coverage for the Panthers, who had three players behind the goal line when this pass came out.
2nd Period 07:07 – Detroit Goal: Luke Glendening (wrist shot) from Stephen Weiss and Riley Sheahan
Detroit takes the lead as Luongo stones Weiss in front, but Glendening gets the rebound over top for the score. Dylan Olsen holds behind his own net while both the Wings and Panthers change lines. The Wings’ forwards get in to take away lanes as Sheahan covers low to the strong side corner where Gudbranson is hanging out and Weiss lightly pressures Olsen from the other side. As Weiss gets his stick near, Olsen flubs his handling of the puck straight to Sheahan, who feeds it to Weiss right out front. Weiss goes forehand-backhand and tries to roof it, but Luongo stops the puck. Fortunately, Glendening is the first man back and he lifts it over the downed goalie. I’m going to give Sheahan and Weiss each a half-plus for the patient forechecking work on this play.
2nd Period 08:26 – Detroit Goal: Stephen Weiss (wrist shot) from Riley Sheahan
Detroit extends the lead to two as Weiss picks up a pass on the back door after a strong push to the net-front. As a shot attempt in the Wings’ end goes wide, Kronwall ties up MacKenzie in the corner to allow the puck to roll to the point where Weiss waits to pick it up before heading up ice with his linemates. When Kopecky angles over on Weiss at center, he throws it across ice to Sheahan at the Florida blue line to skate in. Olsen steps over to cut Sheahan off, but Riley finds another gear to push around him and give himself a lane to the near-post from the low outside circle. Gudbranson now has to worry about Sheahan cutting across the net-front and Glendening crashing the center lane to worry about on top of Weiss going to the far post. All of this turns out to be too much for Gudbranson as Sheahan gets it across to Weiss on the back door for the put-home. I‘m going to give Kronwall and Ericsson back the pluses they lost to Smith and Ouellet caused by the line change behind this play. I’m also going to give Kronwall a half-plus for how he helps drive this transition by tying up his man down low on the shot. Sheahan will earn a plus for great work on turning the zone entry into something special with his speed and puck control.Weiss will get a half-plus for his work on this play to get the puck up ice and get his ass to the post.
2nd Period 11:19 – Detroit Goal: Luke Glendening (snap shot) from Stephen Weiss
Glendening and Weiss make a Eurotwins-like play to get it to the front of the net and snap it past Luongo to make it 5-2. The play starts at Glendening blocks a shot from Jussi Jokinen above the slot. Jokinen recovers, but can’t keep it in as he tries dumping it back deep only to have Weiss pick it up and get it into the Florida zone thanks to Sheahan doing a cross-over right in front of him to make a little bit of space. Weiss is in the middle lane facing three Florida defenders as he goes while Glendening comes from the left wing side to the center lane drive in front of Weiss, who is drifting over to the left. As this crossover happens, Weiss flips the puck to the slot area where Jokinen knocks it down with his glove, but can’t control it. Glendening has already pushed past Jokinen and gets his stick on it first, snapping it in using one fluid motion. It’s a bit lucky that things worked out how they did on this play, but Glendening will get a half-plus for the good shot block and hustle that led to this puck coming up ice as it did. Additionally, Smith and Ouellet will get their pluses back from Ericsson and Kronwall for the same behind-the-play change that created the opposite problem on the previous goal.
2nd Period 15:38 – Florida Goal (PP): Nick Bjugstad (magic) from Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov
Florida gets their third power play goal of the game on a weird sharp-angle roof job by Bjugstad. Florida dumps it in and uses their numerical superiority to regain control of the puck, setting up at the top of the zone. The Panthers move it down low and cycle a bit before going back to Ekblad at the top of the zone in the middle for a one-timer that misses just wide. The puck bounces off the end boards and comes right to the top point of the trapezoid when Bjugstad swings at it, getting a fortunate ramp up off Kronwall’s stick and bouncing in off Mrazek’s shoulder. This is a weird play. This looks soft, but Mrazek is reading that there’s no way Bjugstad should be able to elevate this puck, so he’s covering low. Kronwall gives Bjugstad the help he needs to make this play fluke like it did. I’m going to give Kronner a half-minus on this play though. It’s a bit unlucky for him, but he’s got to win that race or he’s got to deflect the puck anywhere but into his own net.
3rd Period 10:54 – Florida Goal: Brad Boyes (tap-in) from Aleksander Barkov
Florida cuts the lead to one on a very pretty feed to the front of the net to give Boyes an easy tap-in. Huberdeau carries in on the left wing side and gets to the dot before throwing a contested shot at the near post that Mrazek kicks off to the corner. Zetterberg is able to pull it out of a five-man scrum at the half-wall and try to move it up ice, but Barkov is in on him immediately, swiping the puck away with space to turn to the inside of the ice off the boards. Barkov makes the turn and gets all the way back to the dot where the Huberdeau shot originated before throwing it past Kronwall’s shot-blocking attempt to Boyes directly in front of the net uncovered. Boyes deposits it in and it’s butt-clenching time. Justin Abdelkader will be the only minus cleared as he’s the opposite point cover man in this play and doesn’t have the puck go right through him. Boyes being uncovered up front is directly on Ericsson, who will get a coverage minus on this play. There is some mitigation as Ericsson is also covering Huberdeau in the slot, but he has to recognize the need to cover the low guy. If the pass gets to the high guy, he still has a chance to block it. . The reason Riggy is trapped here is because of the Zetterberg turnover and slow-turn coverage. Hank will get a minus for the turnover and a half-minus for the coverage error in the turnover to Barkov. He should have been able to get back into the middle to help out against cross-ice passes. Kronwall will get a half-minus for the lost board battle/failed pass block here. Nyquist keeps his minus for his part in the scrum as well.
The Penalties
1st Period 07:32 – Danny DeKeyser (delay of game): The Wings can’t get the zone cleared and end up taking a penalty with a puck over the glass. I’m going to give DeKeyser a minus for screwing up this clear, but I’m also going to give Helm a half-minus. A part of the team’s inability to clear the zone came off a turnover to the middle of the ice by Helm. This needlessly extended zone time and led to the mistake.
1st Period 08:46 – Kyle Quincey (slashing) against Brandon Pirri: Detroit goes down two men as Kyle Quincey brings his stick down on Pirri’s stick and gets treated to a wonderful display of acting as Pirri demands a call and gets one. This is a pillow-soft call. No adjustment.
1st Period 16:18 – Brian Campbell (interference) against Drew Miller: The fourth line is out forechecking aggressively when Andersson has a shot blocked to the corner. Miller has the right angle on it until Campbell steps into him to check a guy away from the puck. Miller will get a plus for moving his feet.
2nd Period 03:27 – Detroit Bench (too many men): The Wings make a stupid line change and go shorthanded. This one is on the coaching for not having them work their changes better. No adjustment.
2nd Period 14:21 – Brendan Smith (roughing) against Jussi Jokinen: For some reason, Brendan Smith punches Jussi Jokinen in the face. This is dumb. Smith will get a minus.
3rd Period 17:28 – Drew Miller (interference) against Jonathan Huberdeau: Miller and Huberdeau are battling for position at the net-front when Huberdeau takes a fall and draws the call. No adjustment. The diving in this game is ridiculous.
Total Adjustments
| Player | GP | Official +/- | Adjusted +/- | G+ | Cov- | Turn- | Plty- | Plty+ | Chg+ | Chg- | PP+Lost | PK-Clear | GA-Clear | GSaved+ | Adj Diff |
| Stephen Weiss | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Henrik Zetterberg | 1 | -1.5 | -0.5 | -1 | -1.5 | ||||||||||
| Dan Cleary | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Justin Abdelkader | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Tomas Tatar | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Riley Sheahan | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1.5 | -0.5 | 1 | |||||||||
| Joakim Andersson | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Gustav Nyquist | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Darren Helm | 1 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | |||||||||||
| Pavel Datsyuk | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Luke Glendening | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Drew Miller | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 1.5 | |||||||||
| Niklas Kronwall | 1 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.5 | -1 | 1 | -1 | 0 | |||||||
| Jonathan Ericsson | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 1 | -1 | 0 | |||||||
| Brendan Smith | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 1 | -1 | -1 | ||||||||
| Xavier Ouellet | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Kyle Quincey | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Danny DeKeyser | 1 | 1 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -1 | -1.5 |
| Player | Screener’s Assists |
| Justin Abdelkader | 8.5 |
| Darren Helm | 4 |
| Riley Sheahan | 4 |
| Luke Glendening | 3.5 |
| Johan Franzen | 2 |
| Tomas Tatar | 2 |
| Drew Miller | 1.5 |
| Tomas Jurco | 1 |
| Stephen Weiss | 1 |
| Joakim Andersson | 0.5 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 0.5 |
| Brendan Smith | 0.5 |
Possession Metrics
Even-strength Corsi numbers provided thanks to NHL.com via War-On-Ice.com.
| Name | Pos | iCF | C+/- | F+/- | ZSO | ZSD | ZS% | TOI | CF60 | CA60 |
| Tomas.Tatar | L | 6 | 18 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 16.7 | 86 | 21.5 |
| Darren.Helm | CL | 6 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 16 | 86.1 | 22.5 |
| Pavel.Datsyuk | CL | 5 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 18 | 83.3 | 26.7 |
| Danny.Dekeyser | D | 3 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 62.50% | 16.8 | 78.6 | 28.6 |
| Kyle.Quincey | D | 2 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 62.50% | 18.3 | 72.2 | 36.1 |
| Petr.Mrazek | G | 0 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 14 | 57.58% | 50 | 58.7 | 48 |
| Brendan.Smith | D | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 71.43% | 19 | 53.8 | 41.1 |
| Xavier.Ouellet | D | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 71.43% | 20.2 | 50.5 | 44.6 |
| Joakim.Andersson | CL | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 100.00% | 7.6 | 47.4 | 39.5 |
| Gustav.Nyquist | RL | 2 | -1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 77.78% | 12.7 | 37.9 | 42.6 |
| Daniel.Cleary | LR | 2 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.00% | 7.7 | 31.2 | 46.9 |
| Henrik.Zetterberg | CL | 4 | -3 | -2 | 7 | 2 | 77.78% | 14.5 | 33.1 | 45.6 |
| Stephen.Weiss | C | 2 | -3 | -3 | 3 | 7 | 30.00% | 11 | 60 | 76.4 |
| Drew.Miller | LR | 1 | -3 | -2 | 3 | 0 | 100.00% | 8.2 | 43.9 | 65.9 |
| Justin.Abdelkader | RL | 1 | -3 | -2 | 7 | 2 | 77.78% | 14.7 | 32.7 | 44.9 |
| Riley.Sheahan | C | 2 | -5 | -5 | 4 | 7 | 36.36% | 11.3 | 63.4 | 89.9 |
| Luke.Glendening | C | 5 | -6 | -6 | 4 | 7 | 36.36% | 11.7 | 61.5 | 92.2 |
| Jonathan.Ericsson | D | 3 | -6 | -5 | 4 | 6 | 40.00% | 12.8 | 47 | 75.2 |
| Niklas.Kronwall | D | 0 | -7 | -5 | 4 | 6 | 40.00% | 13.1 | 45.8 | 77.9 |
Well ok, we can match this one up pretty well to the eyeball test. Datsyuk and Tatar played well together in this one. The Glendening-Sheahan-Weiss line that dominated the 2nd period didn’t have much of a third period. However, you’ll also see that the Wings’ overall possession in this one was positive, despite being heavily outshot.
| Name | Pos | iCF | C+/- | F+/- | ZSO | ZSD | ZS% | TOI | CF60 | CA60 |
| Joakim.Andersson | CL | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 100.00% | 7.6 | 47.4 | 39.5 |
| Daniel.Cleary | LR | 2 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.00% | 7.7 | 31.2 | 46.9 |
| Drew.Miller | LR | 1 | -3 | -2 | 3 | 0 | 100.00% | 8.2 | 43.9 | 65.9 |
| Gustav.Nyquist | RL | 2 | -1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 77.78% | 12.7 | 37.9 | 42.6 |
| Henrik.Zetterberg | CL | 4 | -3 | -2 | 7 | 2 | 77.78% | 14.5 | 33.1 | 45.6 |
| Justin.Abdelkader | RL | 1 | -3 | -2 | 7 | 2 | 77.78% | 14.7 | 32.7 | 44.9 |
| Brendan.Smith | D | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 71.43% | 19 | 53.8 | 41.1 |
| Xavier.Ouellet | D | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 71.43% | 20.2 | 50.5 | 44.6 |
| Danny.Dekeyser | D | 3 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 62.50% | 16.8 | 78.6 | 28.6 |
| Kyle.Quincey | D | 2 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 62.50% | 18.3 | 72.2 | 36.1 |
| Petr.Mrazek | G | 0 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 14 | 57.58% | 50 | 58.7 | 48 |
| Tomas.Tatar | L | 6 | 18 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 16.7 | 86 | 21.5 |
| Darren.Helm | CL | 6 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 16 | 86.1 | 22.5 |
| Pavel.Datsyuk | CL | 5 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 18 | 83.3 | 26.7 |
| Jonathan.Ericsson | D | 3 | -6 | -5 | 4 | 6 | 40.00% | 12.8 | 47 | 75.2 |
| Niklas.Kronwall | D | 0 | -7 | -5 | 4 | 6 | 40.00% | 13.1 | 45.8 | 77.9 |
| Riley.Sheahan | C | 2 | -5 | -5 | 4 | 7 | 36.36% | 11.3 | 63.4 | 89.9 |
| Luke.Glendening | C | 5 | -6 | -6 | 4 | 7 | 36.36% | 11.7 | 61.5 | 92.2 |
| Stephen.Weiss | C | 2 | -3 | -3 | 3 | 7 | 30.00% | 11 | 60 | 76.4 |
The best line for creating offense got the worst of it start-wise and the invisible 4th line wasn’t trusted enough to have a single defensive zone start. Makes sense.
Check out more from war-on-ice.com, including the visualized shift chart here.
Final Say
When you factor in the fact that Florida had 15 of their 41 shots on the power play and further factor in that two of the Panthers’ power play opportunities were awful calls (combined with the fact that the Wings only got two minutes of power play time as well), I’m less concerned about this being an “escape with two points” game like it seems. The PK was a problem to be sure, and Mrazek had an off game, but overall, the Wings did play pretty well.
Corsi Timeline from Hockeystats.ca
