Red Wings Game Analysis, After-Action Report for Saturday February 14th: Detroit Red Wings 4 – Winnipeg Jets 5 (SO)

The Red Wings returned home for a Saturday night tilt against the Winnipeg Jets. The game was more high-scoring than we’re used to, as the special teams had a good night for both sides. In the end, the Wings’ inability to score in the shootout did them in as they lost 5-4 in the skills competition.

Box Score Here

This game was not reffed well, as a tight standard loosened at very odd times. I feel the refs didn’t ever recover from giving the Wings a two-minute 5-on-3 in the first period and that ended up to the detriment of both teams. Detroit went 2-for-5 on the power play and Winnipeg was 2-for-4. Shots were 38-29 in favor of the Jets.

Jimmy Howard looked very rusty in his first start since coming back from his injury (although not his first game action). If Howard were on his game, I don’t believe this one makes it to overtime.

Guide to plus/minus adjustments

The Goals

1st Period 02:36 – Winnipeg Goal: Chris Thorburn (tip-in) from Jacob Trouba and Dustin Byfuglien
Winnipeg scores on their first shot of the game as Thorburn tips one above the crease that slides through Howard as he goes post-to-post. The Jets dump it in and Lowry/Thorburn combine to get it back away from Smith, Marchenko, and Tatar. Lowry feeds it to Byfuglien at the point, who crosses to Trouba for the shot that Thorburn tips in front. I don’t like this goal getting through Howard, but I’m not clearing any minuses. This goes through everybody. Smith, Marchenko, and Tatar will each pick up an extra half-minus for losing the battles down low.

1st Period 16:54 – Detroit Goal (PP): Niklas Kronwall (slap shot) from Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist
Detroit ties it on a 5-on-3 as Kronner blasts a roofer after collapsing the point. This one is a nice eventual setup in a common 5-on-3 job. I’m not going to go into details here to save space. It took too long to create this, but Justin Abdelkader will get a screener’s assist. Hutchinson is peeking around Abby when Kronwall blasts it by.

2nd Period 02:00 – Detroit Goal (PP): Darren Helm (backhand) from Tomas Tatar and Pavel Datsyuk
The Wings take the lead on an early 2nd period power play as Helm gets his own rebound at the side of the net and chops it in. The draw gets scrambled and Sheahan nearly scores four seconds in. Datsyuk collects off the rebound and puts it behind the net for Tatar on the other end to sneak in before feeding Helm below the goal line. Helm steps out front and tries to feed it over to Datsyuk on the back door only to have it blocked. This time, Helm puts it right back on net and in. Nice job by Helm sticking with it, but no adjustment on this one either. This is expected puck movement for the power play.

2nd Period 05:55 – Deroit Goal: Pavel Datsyuk (backboard) from Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar
Darren Helm bounces one into the net off of Datsyuk to let him know how it feels to be Justin Abdelkader. Ericsson makes a pass to Datsyuk coming into the zone that he can’t quite control. As Trouba gets in on it, Datsyuk pokes it away from him down low where Tatar gets to it first, dragging Stuart with him. Tats plays it around the boards where Helm picks it up in the corner with plenty of space. As Trouba comes in to challenge, Helm jukes him and throws it at the front of the net where it bounces in off Datsyuk’s arm. I’m going to give Helm a plus and Datsyuk/Tatar each a half-plus for their forechecking work on this.

2nd Period 07:04 – Winnipeg Goal: Blake Wheeler (wrist shot) from Tyler Myers and Bryan Little
The Jets bring the lead back down to one as Wheeler picks up some garbage on the doorstep after the Wings’ defense gets caught flat-footed after a potential line change gets ruined. Glendening feeds a puck up to Jurco’s feet at center ice for the Jets to recover. Little throws it past Glendening and has it bounce off the open Jets’ bench door right to Myers stepping into it. Quincey is caught by surprise by this bounce as Myers guns up the left side with it. Myers steps around Quincey and gets a shot on net that Howard stops. Wheeler is the first man to the loose puck in the crease and he slaps it in before anybody can get it away. I’m going to give Zetterberg’s minus on this play back to Sheahan and then I’m going to clear Sheahan (for accuracy’s sake). Jurco and Glendening keep their minuses on this play as the reason the puck got back into the zone. DeKeyser will keep his minus for dragging behind Myers away from the net-front where he should have stayed. Quincey will get an extra half-minus. This would be much worse for him, except he’s completely justified when he’s pointing out that this play should have been blown dead. The extra is for not being able to recover from being put in a bad position by bad officiating.

2nd Period 09:48 – Winnipeg Goal (PP): Drew Stafford (backhand) from Tyler Myers and Michael Frolik
Winnipeg ties it on a soft power play goal. Stafford carries up the left wing side and throws a backhander from the low circle on Howard that the Red Wings’ goalie can’t squeeze down on as he lets it trickle through him into the net. This is a bad goal. No adjustment.

3rd Period 04:38 – Winnipeg Goal (PP): Andrew Ladd (wrist shot) from Bryan Little and Dustin Byfuglien
The Jets take a 4-3 lead early in the third as Ladd finds room in a dangerous area and snipes it through. The Jets almost score on the entry as Kronwall steps up in the neutral zone and Andersson turns the wrong way on an entry pinch, creating a 2-on-1 down low that doesn’t become a goal simply because Wheeler misses it. Wheeler recovers and sweeps it to Byfuglien at the point, who goes to Little backing to the opposite point. The Wings’ PKers are stretching back out to cover when Little bounces the Byfuglien pass to Ladd circling across the high slot. Ladd takes it to the inside of the left faceoff circle and wires a shot past Howard with a screen out front. I’m going to give Joakim Andersson a coverage minus for both allowing the dangerous entry and then not adequately covering Ladd.

3rd Period 13:27 – Detroit Goal: Pavel Datsyuk (wrist shot) from Brendan Smith and Danny DeKeyser
Detroit ties it up as Brendan Smith makes a great zone entry play and then an amazing pass to break Datsyuk in to do Datsyuk things. Detroit gains possession as Smith takes it from Lowry at center, allowing the Wings to cycle back into their own zone and get a line change. DK goes back to Smith, who immediately takes it around behind his own net and comes out with speed coming out of his zone. As he crosses the center stripe, Smith dumps it in on goal and then quickly follows up his shot to beat Dustin Byfuglien to the rebound in the circle. Smith is able to use his speed on the puck to circle back up to the half-wall and turn to the inside with Thorburn and Lowry watching him closely. As Thorburn gets on him, Smith makes an area pass above the circle that Datsyuk skates in to off the bench. Pavel gets to the slot and wires it into the net to tie it up. I’m going to give DeKeyser back the plus that Marchenko got for stepping on the ice behind the play. I‘m going to give Smith a plus and a half for great work creating this play with the rush and pass. I’m also going to give Tatar a screener’s assist on this. He jumps right through Hutchinson’s field of view right before Datsyuk releases this shot, which changes how the goalie is looking for the puck.

The Penalties

1st Period 15:16 – Blake Wheeler (boarding) against Luke Glendening: After Ericsson and Ladd go into the corner to start a puck battle, Glendening comes in to help only to get smoked by Wheeler in the numbers. This is a penalty. No adjustment for this one.

1st Period 15:16 – Andrew Ladd (holding) against Jonathan Ericsson: On the previous going into the corner, Ladd takes a penalty for grabbing onto Ericsson after losing the position battle. Ericsson will get a plus for the good positioning.

2nd Period 01:44 – Tyler Myers (slashing) against Justin Abdelkader: Myers isn’t moving his feet as Abby goes for a loose puck along the boards in the Winnipeg zone and he chops down on Abby’s stick to try and eliminate the advantage. No adjustment. Dumb play by Myers

2nd Period 08:15 – Alexey Marchenko (interference) against Blake Wheeler: Detroit goes shorthanded for the first time as a puck is dumped in on Howard, who covers it. Marchenko shoves his hip into Wheeler as they both skate in on Howard and Wheeler goes down. Marchenko will get a minus. This is pretty clear-cut interference.

2nd Period 14:03 – Mark Stuart (hooking) against Tomas Jurco: Ericsson feeds Jurco with speed across the Jets’ blue line and Stuart reacts by hooking his man. Jurco and Ericsson will each get a half-plus for the combination play that draws this one.

2nd Period 19:40 – Jonathan Ericsson (holding) against Drew Stafford: Riggy uses a free hand trying to slow down Stafford as the Jets’ new toy protects the puck from him. The Ref gives Ericsson two minutes for intent and for doing all of the correct motions to hold without actually doing it. Either way, I’m still going to give Ericsson a half-minus. No need to use the free hand.

3rd Period 03:59 – Tomas Jurco (tripping) against Dustin Byfuglien: Jurco slew foots a guy and goes to the box. Minus for Jurco. Bad play here.

3rd Period 06:39 – Andrew Ladd (slashing) against Stephen Weiss: Weiss gets his stick chopped coming out of the Wings’ end, but the Winnipeg stick breaks. Apparently this is a penalty on the Jets so whatever. No adjustment.

Overtime 02:50 – Kyle Quincey (roughing) against Bryan Little: The refs decide that Quincey being tripped into the end boards isn’t insulting enough and give him a roughing call as he battles in front of the net against Little. The Winnipeg forward takes a fall and Quincey sits. No adjustment. This is a disgusting call.

Total Adjustments

Full Season Chart Here

Possession Metrics

Even-strength Corsi numbers provided thanks to NHL.com via War-On-Ice.com.

Good on the Marchenko-Smith pairing for their work at even strength, especially considering the zone starts. Things were closer than they seemed at even-strength, but they were not positive for the Wings. We’ve got to have more than one line moving the puck forward.

Not a great deal of offensive zone starts to go around, but would liked to have seen fewer wasted ones.

Check out more from war-on-ice.com, including the visualized shift chart here.

Final Say

Let’s just be happy with what the Datsyuk line provided, because there’s not a ton else to be happy about here. This is not a good loss.

Corsi Timeline from Hockeystats.ca