WELP. I’M RECAPPING ANOTHER LOSS.
Miss the game? (Author’s note: Good.)
The Red Wings started off well, pressuring the Ottawa net. A power play led to Tomas Tatar shooting from the left circle with Darren Helm doing his best Tomas Holmstrom impression for a 1-0 lead. The Red Wings decided that leads during the game suck, so they let Bobby Ryan battle the puck from behind their net in front to Clarke MacArthur, who deposited it behind Jimmy Howard. Another scramble in our zone led to Brendan Smith kicking the puck into his own net.
Most of the Red Wings’ offense in the second came from a failed 5-on-3, and the Red Wings got their second 5-on-3 of the game quickly into the third. Kronwall at the point to Datsyuk meant a goal that caromed in off Jared Cowen. Once again, the Red Wings decided they prefer to play from behind, and surrendered a 5-on-3 goal against from Bobby Ryan from a really sharp angle. MacArthur finished the scoring on a 4-on-3 with Kronwall and Ericsson in the box.
Jumbled Reviewed Knee-jerk Stuff
- I could spend all day watching stuff with that new Phantom Cam FSD was using, mostly because it takes all day to watch any one clip. (But actually, it’s a fantastic tool.)
- I’m getting really sick of the zebras blowing the play dead just to re-do a damn faceoff.
- Despite Darren Helm getting a goal on the power play from screening the goalie, the 5-on-3s suffered from shots getting through to Lehner without effective traffic, so hardly any rebounds could be had. That, and the penchant for fake-shotting slowing down any chances at actually putting the puck to the net.
- Speaking of Holmstrom, way to rub it in our faces, FSD. Yes, the Red Wings miss Holmstrom. We get it. Can you please show it in a game where we’re not getting frustrated with the Red Wings’ power play and net front presence?
- I want to complain about the refereeing in this game. I really do. I really can’t though. Both teams went 2/8 on the power play, and the Red Wings had 3 extended two-man advantages to the Senators‘ 1. The Red Wings capitalized on just 1 of these advantages.
- The Red Wings’ first goal was at 13:23; the Senators’ two goals afterward at 14:33 and 15:44. That’s a 1:10 after taking the lead, and 1:11 after surrendering a goal. After the Red Wings’ second goal at 1:08 of the third, they gave up another at 3:51 to lose the tie after 2:43. Some of the most critical shifts of any game are after a goal is scored, for or against, and the Red Wings have not been taking charge of those shifts on too many occasions this season. In addition, they’ve also been prone, based on my eye test, to giving up goals in bunches. I will happily be wrong on these points, but the mentality feels too fragile for this team at the moment.
- FSD showed two graphics on the Red Wings’ special teams. The first showed that the Red Wings had the worst power play-penalty kill differential in the entire league, getting 30 more minutes in PK than PP time. That’s not to say the Red Wings take more penalties than their opponents, but boy are they sure called for more on most nights.
- The second graphic gave me some hope for this team because I was honestly not expecting it: The Red Wings are 3rd on the PK and 10th on the PP in the NHL, putting their Bowman index number at 13. This, despite my seemingly constant complaining about the Red Wings power play.
- Brendan Smith got rocked in his fight with Chris Neil. Credit to Smith though: not many people on earth can take a cold-cocked Chris Neil punch straight to the face and stay on their skates long enough to try to put up a fight.
- Todd Bertuzzi was a scratch that I found out about right when I started watching the telecast.
- In his place, Stephen Weiss skated on Datsyuk’s wing. I’ll admit: I was feasting with friends, and it was slightly awkward watching the game while everybody was having Thanksgiving dinner before going home to their families for the week. Even though, I still struggled to notice Weiss in this game. For a guy I really liked when he first signed because I loved what he was able to accomplish in a place like Florida, I thought actually being on a good team would help him elevate his game too and make the Red Wings contenders. So far though, I’m starting to lose patience with him.
- That said, he was just coming back from injury, so if he wasn’t quite up to speed yet, I guess I can wait more for him to start producing. It was certainly an auspicious start to the game when he fell to the ice right off the opening faceoff.
- Jimmy Howard took a penalty. Someone should have made a bold prediction on that.
We didn’t even need the Daniel Alfredsson narrative in this game to make us infuriated at how it went. When he signed in the offseason, a lot of people were hoping and praying for a playoff matchup between the Senators and Red Wings. The Senators are currently out of the playoffs, but with all the scrums happening after whistles, if the Senators make the playoffs, playoff hockey and blah blah blah rivalry between these two teams and I’ll get sick of it really quickly if we keep losing to this team.
I’d rather be on the winning end of a recap for a change. Take it out on Buffalo tomorrow. Please.
UPDATE (11/24, 12:56am): Per the comments,
Wings said Pavel Datsyuk won’t play Sunday at Buffalo after taking that elbow to the head from Jared Cowen.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 24, 2013
And
Wings are taking necessary precuation with Datsyuk, in case he has concussion.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 24, 2013
You may now continue crying yourself to sleep.
