The Red Wings lost a winnable game as they were unable to solve Carey Price or to avoid making the one huge mistake that you have to avoid to win games like these. 2-0 was the final score, although it may as well have been 10-0 with how scrote-kickingly painful this one turned out to be.
Both sides have enough room to complain about the reffing, but I feel the (extremely loose) standard was at least applied consistently. Detroit got one more power play than the Habs did, but neither team scored on the man advantage. Shots ended up 29-25 in favor of the Canadiens.
Jimmy Howard lost a goaltending battle to the guy who is almost certainly going to win the Vezina. C’est la vie.
Guide to plus/minus adjustments
The Goals
3rd Period 17:30 – Montreal Goal: Tomas Plekanec (slap shot) from Dale Weise and Max Pacioretty
Montreal finally breaks the goose-eggs as Plekanec blasts one from the slot with 2:30 left in the game. After a Wings’ shot is blocked wide, the Habs get it up ice as Dale Weise puts it around Ericsson to get Pacioretty in on the right wing side with Niklas Kronwall having to come all the way across to keep him from cutting to the middle. This gives Pacioretty space to get a dangerous shot off from the dots that Howard is able to blocker away. As the puck bounces out to the far-side half-wall, Ericsson chases Weise down as Nyquist comes in to also pinch in on him. Datsyuk circles around to this side from the center lane watch position as well. Without wasting much time, Weise skates into the puck and tips it between his own legs to the center of the ice where Plekanec jumps into it off the bench. Datsyuk tries turning back into position, but falls down at the top of the circle, giving Plekanec all the room he needs to get to the high slot. Kronwall is immediately covering Pacioretty, but once Datsyuk falls down, he goes out to challenge the puck-carrier hoping to block the shot. Unfortunately, Kronwall ends up screening Howard as Plekanec holds it just a little bit before firing it in. The accidental screen by Kronwall is unfortunate, but he’s the victim of a whole lot of screwups from his teammates, so Kronner will keep his minus without getting what otherwise would be a punishment. Nyquist will keep his minus for letting Weise make the pass he does. Helm will be cleared as he’s changing behind the play after being called over to do so. Ericsson is going to pick up an extra minus for the bad play at the offensive blue line which breaks Pacioretty into the zone in the first place. Patches scoring from the dot wouldn’t have been surprising here and that’s on Ericsson. Datsyuk will get a minus and a half. His path to the side of the zone is inappropriate, considering that Nyquist is doing the same thing and falling down on his coverage man gives the Habs the game-winner.
3rd Period 19:50 – Montreal Goal (EN): Max Pacioretty (wrist shot) from Tomas Plekanec
The Habs salt it away with an empty-netter. Plekanec gets a loose puck at the side of the net after Datsyuk drives to the front and is able to bounce the puck up the boards around Tatar where Pacioretty wins the race and puts it into the open net from just inside the Wings’ blue line. No adjustment. Everybody on this shift had a chance to keep this from happening.
The Penalties
1st Period 03:11 – Alexei Emelin (cross-checking) against Tomas Tatar: Detroit gets an early power play as Tatar threatens to dance around Emelin only to get cross-checked for his trouble. Tatar will get a plus for the move to draw this.
2nd Period 00:38 – Andrei Markov (hooking) against Pavel Datsyuk: Pavs gets a chance to create a dangerous scoring chance after getting body position on Markov and draws a hook. Datsyuk will get a plus.
2nd Period 13:27 – Kyle Quincey (roughing) and Brendan Gallagher (high-sticking): Not nice things by two guys battling hard on a shift in the defensive zone. Honestly, Quincey is probably lucky he’s not the only one who went here. No adjustment.
2nd Period 16:14 – Gustav Nyquist (tripping) and Andrei Markov (cross-checking): This time, the play where both players could have gotten two or three penalties apiece happens in the Canadiens’ end and it’s the Habs player who is probably lucky. Oh well. No adjustment.
2nd Period 17:54 – Riley Sheahan (hooking) against Nathan Beaulieu: Montreal gets a short 4-on-3 turning into a 5-on-4 power play as Sheahan commits an obvious hook in the offensive zone. Sheahan will get a minus.
Total Adjustments
| Player | GP | Official +/- | Adjusted +/- | G+ | Cov- | Turn- | Plty- | Plty+ | Chg+ | Chg- | PP+Lost | PK-Clear | GA-Clear | GSaved+ | Adj Diff |
| Stephen Weiss | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Henrik Zetterberg | 1 | -1 | -1 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Tomas Jurco | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Justin Abdelkader | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Tomas Tatar | 1 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Riley Sheahan | 1 | -1 | -2 | -1 | -1 | ||||||||||
| Joakim Andersson | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Gustav Nyquist | 1 | -2 | -2 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Darren Helm | 1 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Pavel Datsyuk | 1 | -2 | -2.5 | -1.5 | 1 | -0.5 | |||||||||
| Luke Glendening | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Drew Miller | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Niklas Kronwall | 1 | -2 | -2 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Jonathan Ericsson | 1 | -1 | -2 | -1 | -1 | ||||||||||
| Brendan Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Alexey Marchenko | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Kyle Quincey | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Danny DeKeyser | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | Screener’s Assists |
| Justin Abdelkader | 10 |
| Darren Helm | 4 |
| Riley Sheahan | 4 |
| Luke Glendening | 4 |
| Johan Franzen | 2 |
| Tomas Tatar | 3 |
| Drew Miller | 1.5 |
| Tomas Jurco | 1 |
| Stephen Weiss | 1 |
| Joakim Andersson | 0.5 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 0.5 |
| Brendan Smith | 0.5 |
Possession Metrics
Even-strength Corsi numbers provided thanks to NHL.com via War-On-Ice.com.
| Name | Pos | iCF | C+/- | F+/- | ZSO | ZSD | ZS% | TOI | CF60 | CA60 |
| Gustav.Nyquist | LR | 4 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 66.67% | 13.1 | 86.9 | 18.3 |
| Jimmy.Howard | G | 0 | 15 | 6 | 20 | 12 | 62.50% | 48.4 | 58.3 | 39.7 |
| Darren.Helm | C | 2 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 66.67% | 13 | 87.7 | 18.5 |
| Pavel.Datsyuk | CL | 2 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 66.67% | 12.8 | 89 | 18.7 |
| Danny.Dekeyser | D | 4 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 50.00% | 16.8 | 64.4 | 32.2 |
| Alexey.Marchenko | D | 2 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 87.50% | 14.4 | 54.2 | 20.8 |
| Brendan.Smith | D | 3 | 5 | -4 | 7 | 1 | 87.50% | 16.4 | 51.2 | 32.9 |
| Kyle.Quincey | D | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 53.33% | 16.9 | 56.7 | 39 |
| Tomas.Tatar | LR | 4 | 3 | -5 | 8 | 4 | 66.67% | 13.6 | 75.1 | 61.8 |
| Justin.Abdelkader | RL | 2 | 3 | -5 | 8 | 5 | 61.54% | 12.7 | 80.1 | 65.9 |
| Henrik.Zetterberg | CL | 5 | 2 | -6 | 8 | 5 | 61.54% | 13.7 | 74.7 | 65.9 |
| Stephen.Weiss | LC | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 71.43% | 11.8 | 40.9 | 30.6 |
| Luke.Glendening | C | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 55.56% | 14.1 | 38.3 | 29.8 |
| Jonathan.Ericsson | D | 2 | 2 | -1 | 6 | 4 | 60.00% | 16.5 | 61.9 | 54.6 |
| Niklas.Kronwall | D | 2 | 1 | -4 | 5 | 4 | 55.56% | 15.8 | 60.9 | 57.1 |
| Riley.Sheahan | C | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 62.50% | 14.6 | 32.8 | 32.8 |
| Tomas.Jurco | RL | 1 | -3 | -2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00% | 8.2 | 22 | 44 |
| Joakim.Andersson | C | 1 | -3 | -2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00% | 7.1 | 16.9 | 42.2 |
| Drew.Miller | RC | 1 | -6 | -5 | 1 | 2 | 33.33% | 10.6 | 17 | 51 |
When the time for calm reflection instead of reflexive rage-twitching comes, this is just going to look like the typical Montreal victory where they get badly outplayed and Carey Price gets them the win. Overall, the Wings played a good game. It just wasn’t good enough.
| Name | Pos | iCF | C+/- | F+/- | ZSO | ZSD | ZS% | TOI | CF60 | CA60 |
| Alexey.Marchenko | D | 2 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 87.50% | 14.4 | 54.2 | 20.8 |
| Brendan.Smith | D | 3 | 5 | -4 | 7 | 1 | 87.50% | 16.4 | 51.2 | 32.9 |
| Stephen.Weiss | LC | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 71.43% | 11.8 | 40.9 | 30.6 |
| Gustav.Nyquist | LR | 4 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 66.67% | 13.1 | 86.9 | 18.3 |
| Darren.Helm | C | 2 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 66.67% | 13 | 87.7 | 18.5 |
| Pavel.Datsyuk | CL | 2 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 66.67% | 12.8 | 89 | 18.7 |
| Tomas.Tatar | LR | 4 | 3 | -5 | 8 | 4 | 66.67% | 13.6 | 75.1 | 61.8 |
| Jimmy.Howard | G | 0 | 15 | 6 | 20 | 12 | 62.50% | 48.4 | 58.3 | 39.7 |
| Riley.Sheahan | C | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 62.50% | 14.6 | 32.8 | 32.8 |
| Justin.Abdelkader | RL | 2 | 3 | -5 | 8 | 5 | 61.54% | 12.7 | 80.1 | 65.9 |
| Henrik.Zetterberg | CL | 5 | 2 | -6 | 8 | 5 | 61.54% | 13.7 | 74.7 | 65.9 |
| Jonathan.Ericsson | D | 2 | 2 | -1 | 6 | 4 | 60.00% | 16.5 | 61.9 | 54.6 |
| Luke.Glendening | C | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 55.56% | 14.1 | 38.3 | 29.8 |
| Niklas.Kronwall | D | 2 | 1 | -4 | 5 | 4 | 55.56% | 15.8 | 60.9 | 57.1 |
| Kyle.Quincey | D | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 53.33% | 16.9 | 56.7 | 39 |
| Danny.Dekeyser | D | 4 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 50.00% | 16.8 | 64.4 | 32.2 |
| Tomas.Jurco | RL | 1 | -3 | -2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00% | 8.2 | 22 | 44 |
| Joakim.Andersson | C | 1 | -3 | -2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00% | 7.1 | 16.9 | 42.2 |
| Drew.Miller | RC | 1 | -6 | -5 | 1 | 2 | 33.33% | 10.6 | 17 | 51 |
The whole team was over 60% offensive zone faceoffs.
Check out more from war-on-ice.com, including the visualized shift chart here.
Final Say
Yet another game to build off of.
No Corsi timeline for this one. Sorry.
