1:00p ET, United Center
Chicago, IL
TV: NBC, CBC, RDS
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Blackhawks Blogs: Second City Hockey
Well Game 1 certainly went exactly how we all planned, right?
Let’s be honest. It was pretty bad. The Red Wings held their own and played a decent to solid 1st period. We were all thinking, “hey man! 1-1 tie, not too shabby. Wings can hang.”
Oops.
It was a nightmare after that.
We knew the Red Wings were the inferior team heading into this thing and we sure as hell knew if they were going to win it wasn’t going to be easy. That 4-1 score doesn’t look good, but it could have been a lot worse. We’ve talked about the kids on this team gaining experience throughout the playoff run. Game 2 today is a perfect example.
Detroit got their asses kicked. Some of the youth — including a player I may or may not be a fan of — played downright awful. Shitty ass playoff games happen. How the kids bounce back today is going to be huge. You know Pav and Hank will be better. You know Jimmy will be Jimmy. What the Wings need is Smith & Co. to take it to the next level.
The Red Wings are not out of this. It’s only one damn game. This team can play better and they will. Rome wasn’t built in a day and playoff series aren’t won in a single game. There’s too much pride in that dressing room and too much leadership to let what happen on Wednesday happen again. The Wings’ legs will be back. They’ll play a heavy game. They’ll get this series tied up at 1.
The Expected Lineup
Henrik Zetterberg – Pavel Datsyuk – Justin Abdelkader
Johan Franzen – Valtteri Filppula – Daniel Cleary
Gustav Nyquist – Joakim Andersson – Damien Brunner
Patrick Eaves – Cory Emmerton – Todd Bertuzzi/Drew Miller
*
Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson
Carlo Colaiacovo – Jakub Kindl
*
Jimmy Howard (starting)
Scratches: Ian White, Brian Lashoff, Jordin Tootoo. Mikael Samuelsson and Todd Bertuzzi/Drew MIller
Injuries: Danny DeKeyser (thumb) and Darren Helm (back)
| RED WINGS | PLAYOFF MATCH-UP | BLACKHAWKS |
| 4-4 | Record | 5-1 |
| 2.38 (9th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 3.50 (2nd in NHL) |
| 3.12 (11th) | Goals Against Per Game | 1.33 (1st) |
| 21.4% (7th) | Power Play % | 18.8% (9th) |
| 71.4% (13th) | Penalty Kill % | 100.0% (1st) |
| 3 tied with 3 goals | Goal Leader | Patrick Sharp (6 goals) |
| Henrik Zetterberg (8 points) | Points Leader | Patrick Sharp (9 points) |
- The Red Wings are 35-40 (W-L) all-time against the Chicago Blackhawks in the postseason. Chicago has won 8 of the 15 series between these clubs.
- Last time these two teams met in a Game 2 in the postseason was May 19, 2009. Detroit won 3-2 in overtime. Brian Rafalski scored the Wings first goal, Cleary followed that up and Samuelsson had the game winner in OT. Chris Osgood made 37 saves.
- Howard is 4-2 with a 3.17 GAA and .907 SV% all-time in Game 2s during his career. He is 3-2 in Game 2 after losing Game 1. Crazy that in his 7 career playoff series the Red Wings have only won Game 1 once.
Prediction: Detroit wins 2-1 (OT).
Let’s Go Red Wings.
