Another two goal lead lost by the Wings and another point lost to a Western Conference team.
I’m taking the cheap, less anger inducing way of recapping the goals:
- Detroit 1-0: Old fashioned great passing from Henrik Zetterberg to Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk roofs the shot to Ilya Bryzgalov’s glove side. Sweet play.
- Tie 1-1: Scottie Upshall dives to put a rebound past Jimmy Howard on the power play to tie the game.
- Phoenix 2-1: Radim Vrbata finds Keith Yandle streaking to the net and the shot was too easy for Yandle to miss.
- Tie 2-2: 11 seconds later, Patrick Eaves puts the puck in the net for the Wings to relieve the heartache…for now.
- Detroit 3-2: Nick Lidstrom takes the puck from the blue line, skates low and backhands a shot past Bryzgalov
- Detroit 4-2: Lidstrom gets a slick pass from Todd Bertuzzi and fires into the empty net on the power play. All is well it would seem.
- Detroit 4-3: Keith Yandle drives one from the point past Howard on the power play.
- Tie 4-4: Pulled goalie and Ed Jovanovski slams the puck home right in front of the crease while all 3 defenders and goalie for Detroit are looking the wrong way. Un-freaking-believable.
- Phoenix wins 5-4: Shane Doan scores in OT past a diving Jimmy Howard, caps Coyotes comeback.
The Good
- Lidstrom looked really solid offensively tonight. Even on plays when he didn’t score, he had his head up and was making smart plays with the puck as usual.
- It was good to see the Zetterberg/Datsyuk combo score. Great pass from Hank to Pavel and a good finish by Pav. Top shelf is necessary on a goalie sliding across the ice taking away the lower part.
- Patrick Eaves nets another. Get that contract ready, Kenny.
- Powe rplay was alright. 1 for 3. The two non-goal producing advantages were slim in chances.
The Bad
- Everything in the last 4 minutes. And I mean nearly everything. Can anyone tell me what happened on the tying goal at the end of the game? Four Wings (including Howard) were in the vicinity of the crease and they all watched the wrong thing. It seemed only Jovo knew where the puck was.
- The PK was atrocious. Two goals and they weren’t even quality goals. Bad defense on the first one allowing Upshall to just hang out at the net and then bad defense again by allowing Yandle to fire away from the point without a man in front of the shot.
- NEVER GET A TWO GOAL LEAD AGAIN. This time, there was very little time to get complacent and it wasn’t exactly complacency that killed the Wings bid for the win tonight. Just bad defense and an inability to hold off a team when the game is on the line. Does not bode well down the stretch.
- Gotta feel for Brad Stuart. A -3 rating from a guy that has been solid all year long with the exception of this game and the one bad turnover against the Islanders. I find it odd how people are so quick to jump on Stuart when he falters but hardly ever praise him when he plays well. To quote commenter Baroque:
“It just sucks the chrome off a trailer hitch that he had to have such a colossally bad game tonight.” - I can’t really express my frustration right now so that’s all I got folks. Don’t expect a morning skate post with such a quick turnaround.
Player of the game: Nicklas Lidstrom, no doubt. 2 goals, 26 minutes of ice time.
Feel free to vent below…
