After falling behind 1-0 with less than a minute played in the first period, the Red Wings would rally and rally hard with a 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks to tie the series at 2 games a piece heading back to Hockeytown. Here’s what some of the players, coaches, and bloggers around the net are saying:
Ansar Khan of mlive.com has some good quotes but this is my favorite:
“We talked it about before the game, this is our first real test of character in the playoffs,” Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart said. “We’ve had situations throughout the season that tested our character and most of the time we were able to come through.”
With Tomas Kopecky being injured in his fight last night with Francois Beauchemin and the extent of that injury unknown yet, Detroit could see any number of replacements not named Kris Draper:
According to Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids Press, the Red Wings will have five new faces soon … goalie Jimmy Howard, defenseman Jakub Kindl and forwards Ville Leino, Aaron Downey and Justin Abdelkader.
Matt Saler of On The Wings:
This series isn’t over, but it took a turn in the Wings’ direction with this win tonight.
Two more things. First, the line switch-up paid off bigtime. Not strictly a genius move by Babcock, who probably waited too long to do it, but better late than never. The shortage of centers with Draper out doesn’t excuse stubbornness.
Second, I was shocked at the Ducks’ lack of thuggery tonight. Despite all their talk about Holmstrom, they didn’t make him, or anyone else, a special target. It was a relief, but if things don’t go their way Sunday, they may not be so docile.
I know Hiller let in 5 goals but is head coach Randy Carlyle a little too blunt about this one?
“The first goal was a goal that should have never gone into the net,” Ducks coach Randy Carlye said. “We weren’t just good enough as a team and goaltending is part of the team and that’s the bottom line. We weren’t good enough.”
This little bit is from me.
Hiller went from a save percentage of 95% in games 1-3 to a 84% in last night’s game. The big reason for success in my opinion was the Wings not telegraphing their shots and taking them quickly, and just plain luck on a few. Franzen’s first goal was a quick shot from the Filppula pass, with Fil covering him up until the last second. Franzen’s second goal was one pretty much no goalie would have stopped. Hossa’s two and Sammy’s goal were great and great for the Wings because they showed Hiller is indeed a human and showed his weaknesses, stickside and quick 5-hole shots. The Wings solved Hiller last night but the big question will be whether or not he makes adjustments for the next game or if these are his persistent problem areas.
