Game Recap Boston 3 Detroit 0

1st Period:

There’s not much for me to say. This was 20 minutes of pure unadulterated horseshit bush league hockey by Detroit. They were out-shot, out-hit, out-played, pretty much everything that has to do with hockey Detroit did wrong. They ended the period down 2-0. First goal from Dougie Hamilton on a softie from Jimmy Howard. He really needs to not do that. I love you Jimmy, but come on. Second goal came from a line change that I swear to god I have seen in peewee hockey. Detroit changed like they have never played a game before and Boston’s 4th line buried it on a goal from Jordan Caron. Not only was this Detroit’s worst period of hockey this season, it was probably the worst I have seen them in five-or-so years. The official stats indicated that Detroit had ZERO (none) scoring chances. I know this was a team effort, but I really cannot help but to notice how unbelievably lethargic Johan Franzen is every shift. It’s a travesty that he isn’t able to turn it on when his team needs him most. I will never defend him again. Ever. But hey, it’s not his job to score goals or something.

2nd Period:

This set of 20 minutes was a lot better because we didn’t get scored on. Unfortunately Detroit was unable to score even after having a two man advantage for 30 seconds. I think that makes them 0 for 8 in this series. That’s not good, and doesn’t bode well if you’re trying to win hockey games. Brendan Smith had a very stupid idiot moment and went knee-to-knee with Brad Marchand. I don’t think this was intentional, but it was definitely reckless. Marchand went down and stayed down for a good few minutes then was helped off the ice. Take a look at this gif real quick.. Notice anything… Strange about it?

Yes, Marchand grabs at the knee that Smith didn’t collide with and wouldn’t you know, despite acting like he was just shot point blank with a crossbow, Marchand, the hero, bravely skated back out onto the ice to take a shift two minutes later. Looked fine. Skating at full-speed…
At this point Detroit is shooting 40% CF%. So, yeah. Still getting murdered on puck possession. During the intermission, the Tampa Bay Lightning came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Montreal Canadiens. Can Detroit overcome their two goal ditch?

3rd Period:

The Red Wings weren’t able to score any goals and they lost the hockey game due to an awful first period. My boy Nick Cotsonika summed it up quite well:

Campbell almost got hit by an octopus. Most threatening the Wings have been all night.

— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) April 23, 2014

So yeah, bad game. Horrid game, really. Hard to win when your special teams is dead and you can’t score on even strength. Boston pulls ahead in the series two games to one. Series isn’t over yet, but Boston just took back home advantage so the odds are even less in our favor now. Two goals in three games isn’t very good so I really hope Babcock has something up his sleeve to ignite this team into what we saw a couple of weeks ago. Even a simple restructuring of the lines could do the trick, but I’m not a coach.

“Don’t hang your head, it doesn’t do you any good.”
-Dr. Mike Babcock
LGRW

CAN WE DO IT?