Summary:
After a satisfying win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Red Wings had a light “practice” this morning, consisting of warming up and stretching and workouts off the ice. With the tournament being four games in five days, fatigue can easily become an obstacle if teams aren’t careful. Unfortunately, the team wearing the Winged Wheel that hit the ice on Saturday, looked quite different than the team we say on Friday. The only change to the Wings lineup for their second game of the tournament, was Alex Globke coming into the lineup on the wth line right wing, and Justin Brazeau coming out. What happened in the game, was Chicago whooped the Wings butts. A final score of 5-0 was appropriate given how well Chicago played and how little the Wings could generate offensively after the first period.
Lines:
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Kyle Criscuolo – Evgeny Svechnikov
Dylan Sadowy – Dominic Turgeon – Zach Nastasiuk
Givani Smith – MIke Borkowski – Mathew Santos
Luke Coleman – Jeff De Wit – Justin Brazeau
Defensemen
Joe Hicketts – Robbie Russo
Dan Renouf – Filip Hronek
Dylan Coghlan – Jordan Sambrook
Goalies
Jake Paterson
Connor Hicks
Scratches
Stephen Dhillon
Matthew Caito
Adam Marsh
Justin Brazeau
Luke Kirwan
Penalty Kill
Nastasiuk – Turgeon
HIcketts – Russo
Globke – Borkowski
Renouf – Hronek
Power Play
Bertuzzi – Criscuolo – Svechnikov
Hicketts – Russo
Sadowy – Turgeon – Nastasiuk
Coghlan – Sambrook
Recap:
From the first puck drop, it looked like this was going to be a good game, meaning the teams appear relatively evenly matched. Unfortunately for the Wings, the Blackhawks got the first goal just five minutes into the period when Alexandre Fortin ripped the puck past Jake Paterson through traffic. The Wings retaliated by crashing the Hawks net and had several great scoring chances, but the puck just wouldn’t go into the net. Givani Smith, who isn’t shy about liking to mix things up and be a disturber of the peace, took an offsetting roughing minor while crashing the Hawks net and being a general pain in their rear ends. Again, the Wings were dangerous and had a couple almost goals, but you know what they say about almost. The Hawks keep pressing for a second goal and with two minutes left in the period, they were successful. The Wings had a miscommunication beside and behind their own net and Dylan Coghlan put the puck right out in front of Paterson and Alexandre Fortin did not return this gift. He buried the puck giving the Hawks a two goal lead after twenty minutes
The second period was mostly the Hawks time to shine, as they scored two more goals, had a great penalty kill on two occasions, and carried most of the play and momentum. Even on the power play the Wings couldn’t get much going in their favor at all. The Hawks were in the Wings zone a lot, and their forechecking and pressure resulted in several Wings mistakes that required Jake Paterson to come up with some big saves for his team. The Hawks scored an even strength goal thirty-one seconds into the middle frame, then added a power play goal five minutes later, and that 4-0 lead held through the buzzer. With just a few seconds left in the period, Kyle Criscuolo put the puck into the net behind Brent Moran, but the goal was waived off and the excitement of finally getting on the scoreboard was erased. The Wings did have some extra energy for the remainder of the period, but a 4-0 deficit with only a period left is a big hole to come back from.
You should probably just skip the recap of this period. It was mostly all Hawks highlights as they carried the majority of the play and scored yet another goal to secure their 5-0 win. The Hawks carried most of the momentum and the Wings looked slow, behind, and for several painful seconds, were literally tripping over themselves in their own zone. It was uncharacteristic of the team, and that’s all I’m going to say about the period. It was not good.
Bright Spot:
There was something that kept jumping out to me in the last half or so of the game, and I think it’s worth sharing. You know when you’re watching a hockey game, and things look really bad and your team just can’t seem to get a darn thing to go right? And sometimes there’s a player who, more than the rest, appears to be gritting his teeth, digging in his feet and trying to push his team forward? I do not mean at all that the rest of the players don’t care, aren’t trying, or aren’t putting forth extra effort. However sometimes there’s just someone that is noticeably trying to put the team on his back and carry them to something.. Anything good. That player today, was Dominic Turgeon. Particularly in the last half or so, definitely the last period, every time he was on the ice it was clear he was doing everything in his power to get his team a goal. I’m not really sure how best to describe what I’m trying to say here, but I think we’ve probably all seen this from various players while watching hockey. Maybe the best way to describe it, is to say he stepped up and was leading his team, leading by example and trying his darndest to lead by example. Unfortunately he didn’t get a goal (obviously), but he did have several changes, including a shorthanded one, and there was at least twice in the last period where he just powered through the neutral zone with the puck and gained the offensive zone, while two or three Hawks players were all over him trying to poke the puck away or knock him down. Seeing this was inspiring, even in a game that was very not inspiring, and it’s obvious watching Turgeon why he was the Captain in Portland. In a very lackluster game, Dominic Turgeon was my bright spot.
