The Red Wings played what is probably one of their two or three worst games of 2015 so far against he Columbus Blue Jackets and somehow came away with what was only a 3-1 loss somehow.
The reffing in this one wasn’t consistent. The bad calls benefited Detroit much more than Columbus, as the Wings got six power play opportunities (1 goal) while Columbus got three (1 goal). Shots were 42-26 for the Wings.
Jimmy Howard faced significantly fewer shots and allowed three times as many goals, but if it weren’t for him, the game could have been a real stinker. Sergei Bobrovsky caught everything that came near him and hardly allowed any rebounds. It was a heck of a performance by Columbus’ goalie.
Guide to plus/minus adjustments
The Goals
[Ed Note: Due to technical difficulties, I don’t have full replays on the first three goals of this game. When I have the ability to go back farther than highlight videos allow, I will re-look at each of these goals. In the meantime, I’m going to give adjustments based on what I have available.]
1st Period 07:49 – Detroit Goal (PP): Justin Abdelkader (tip-in) from Marek Zidlicky and Gustav Nyquist
The Wings get the first of the game in the second half of a double-minor power play as Marek Zidlicky blasts one from up top that Abdelkader tips past Bobrovsky. There’s really nothing special worth reporting on this one. It’s a good power play setup in the third minute of man advantage. No adjustment.
1st Period 12:24 – Columbus Goal: Fedor Tyutin (wrist shot) from Nick Foligno and Artem Anisimov
The Jackets run Detroit ragged in their own zone with a very good forecheck and cycle culminating in Tyutin collecting a pass on the weak side and popping it in. Anisimov gets it on the outside of the right circle, threading a pass to Tropp in the slot that he gets off a quick low wrister on. The puck hits off Andersson battling Foligno at the net front and bounces onto Foligno’s stick for a pass to the far side where Tyutin is jumping in for the goal. I’m not clearing any minuses, but Kronwall will get a half-minus for not having his stick in the right spot to prevent the anisimov pass. Miller will get a minus for blowing the coverage on Tyutin. He gets caught trying to cover Tropp, which is Ericsson’s man and leaves his own open.
1st Period 16:24 – Columbus Goal: Scott Hartnell (snap shot) from Marko Dano and Artem Anisimov
Detroit falls down 2-1 as the Wings leave Hartnell all alone in front and he gets a shot in past Howard. Glendening helps out Zidlicky against Hartnell by jamming the puck below the Wings’ icing line where Anisimov gets to it and tries to center it only to have it bounce off Andersson’s foot directly behind the net. Dano is cutting to the near post and already has the momentum to get to this one first. Smith chases Anisimov to the corner while Zidlicky posts up at the net-front and Andersson chases to the far post to keep Dano from trying a wrap-around. Instead, Anisimov comes back from the corner and takes a pass behind the net just before he gets to the post and is able to throw that to Hartnell, who has backed up to just below the hash marks. Zidlicky is not close enough and can’t stop Hartnell from immediately snapping it in on the doorstep. Glendening will get a turnover half-minus. Smith and Zidlicky will each get a coverage minus and Andersson will get a coverage half-minus.
2nd Period 18:30 – Columbus Goal (PP): Cam Atkinson (wrist shot) from David Savard
Columbus opens it up to 3-1 as Atkinson burns into the Wings’ zone and snaps it top corner. Savard carries up through center in a late zone entry attempt while the power play winds down. Glendening steps up on him and Savard makes a drop pass to Atinkson, who motors with speed. Glendening is completely flat-footed as Atkinson blows by him and Ericsson turns the wrong way as Atkinson blows into the zone. This gives the Columbus forward space to get inside the faceoff dot and snipe it top shelf. Glendening will earn a minus while Ericsson gets a minus and a half. There really is no excuse for how monumentally bad this defensive play is.
The Penalties
1st Period 05:04 – Luke Adam (high sticking) against Tomas Jurco: The Wings are cycling well and causing the Jackets to chase around when Luke Adam misses a stick lift and gets Jurco for a double-minor high stick. Both Jurco and Zidlicky will get a half-plus. The stickwork is accidental, but it’s caused by good puck movement.
1st Period 13:58 – Kevin Connauton (high sticking) against Erik Cole: Another missed stick-lift creates another penalty on Columbus. Cole will get a half-plus here as he wins the board battle to create trouble for Connauton.
2nd Period 02:33 – Drew Miller (interference) against Mark Letestu: Miller hits a guy late an sits for it. Easy call to make. Minus for Miller.
2nd Period 05:10 – Cam Atkinson (high sticking) against Tomas Tatar: The THIRD missed stick-lift that catches a guy in the face for the Jackets. No adjustment this time. Just a dumb play.
2nd Period 05:27 – Marek Zidlicky (tripping) against Alexander Wennberg: Zidlicky evens up the manpower situation early as he trips Wennberg in the corner of his own zone. Lazy stickwork earns Zidlicky a minus.
2nd Period 10:20 – Kevin Connauton and Justin Abdelkader (fighting): This fight starts about 60 seconds earlier as Cole, Zetterberg, and Abdelkader get upset about a bit of an ugly trip against Zetterberg. Refs let things get to their natural conclusion and both players sit. No adjustment.
2nd Period 16:40 – Justin Abdelkader (hooking) against Marko Dano: Abby gets out of the box for fighting and goes right back in for hooking. Minus for Abdelkader. Easy call to make.
3rd Period 06:22 – Fedor Tyutin (hooking) against Tomas Tatar: Detroit gets a power play as Sheahan steals a puck and goes to set up Tatar heading to the net-front only to have Tyutin bring him down. Tatar will get a plus and Sheahan a half-plus.
3rd Period 10:58 – Nick Foligno (goaltender interference): This is a pretty soft call on Foligno following a Columbus scoring chance. No adjustment.
Total Adjustments
| Player | GP | Official +/- | Adjusted +/- | G+ | Cov- | Turn- | Plty- | Plty+ | Chg+ | Chg- | PP+Lost | PK-Clear | GA-Clear | GSaved+ | Adj Diff |
| Tomas Jurco | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||||||||||
| Joakim Andersson | 1 | -2 | -2.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | ||||||||||
| Teemu Pulkkinen | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Justin Abdelkader | 1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | |||||||||||
| Tomas Tatar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Riley Sheahan | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||||||||||
| Henrik Zetterberg | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Gustav Nyquist | 1 | -1 | -1 | 0 | |||||||||||
| Erik Cole | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||||||||||
| Pavel Datsyuk | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Luke Glendening | 1 | -1 | -2.5 | -1 | -0.5 | -1.5 | |||||||||
| Drew Miller | 1 | -2 | -3.5 | -0.5 | -1 | -1.5 | |||||||||
| Niklas Kronwall | 1 | -1 | -1.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | ||||||||||
| Jonathan Ericsson | 1 | -1 | -2.5 | -1.5 | -1.5 | ||||||||||
| Brendan Smith | 1 | -1 | -2 | -1 | -1 | ||||||||||
| Marek Zidlicky | 1 | -1 | -2.5 | -1 | -1 | 0.5 | -1.5 | ||||||||
| Kyle Quincey | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Danny DeKeyser | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | Screener’s Assists |
| Justin Abdelkader | 10 |
| Darren Helm | 5 |
| Riley Sheahan | 4 |
| Luke Glendening | 4 |
| Johan Franzen | 2 |
| Tomas Tatar | 3 |
| Drew Miller | 2.5 |
| 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 | CP60 |
| Tomas.Tatar | LR | 5 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 57.14% | 15.5 | 89.1 | 38.7 | 127.8 |
| Pavel.Datsyuk | CL | 4 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 70.00% | 13.4 | 103.3 | 44.9 | 148.2 |
| Brendan.Smith | D | 8 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 70.00% | 16.4 | 73.1 | 32.9 | 106 |
| Jimmy.Howard | G | 0 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 12 | 61.29% | 41.5 | 63.6 | 47.7 | 111.3 |
| Riley.Sheahan | C | 4 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 64.29% | 11.5 | 88.4 | 36.4 | 124.8 |
| Marek.Zidlicky | D | 2 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 69.23% | 17 | 60.1 | 28.3 | 88.3 |
| Luke.Glendening | C | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 42.86% | 14.2 | 67.6 | 42.3 | 109.9 |
| Teemu.Pulkkinen | LR | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 62.50% | 9.3 | 77.1 | 45 | 122 |
| Gustav.Nyquist | LR | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 55.56% | 10.5 | 79.7 | 56.9 | 136.6 |
| Erik.Cole | LR | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 83.33% | 11.4 | 42.2 | 31.6 | 73.8 |
| Kyle.Quincey | D | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 50.00% | 14.6 | 53.5 | 49.4 | 102.9 |
| Danny.Dekeyser | D | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 14 | 55.8 | 51.5 | 107.3 |
| Niklas.Kronwall | D | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 63.64% | 11.7 | 66.7 | 66.7 | 133.3 |
| Jonathan.Ericsson | D | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 57.14% | 9.4 | 76.9 | 76.9 | 153.9 |
| Tomas.Jurco | RL | 1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 25.00% | 5.3 | 33.9 | 45.1 | 79 |
| Henrik.Zetterberg | CL | 2 | -2 | -3 | 6 | 1 | 85.71% | 10.7 | 39.3 | 50.6 | 89.9 |
| Justin.Abdelkader | RL | 0 | -2 | -3 | 6 | 1 | 85.71% | 10 | 30.1 | 42.1 | 72.1 |
| Joakim.Andersson | C | 0 | -7 | -4 | 1 | 2 | 33.33% | 5.3 | 22.6 | 101.6 | 124.1 |
| Drew.Miller | RC | 1 | -8 | -6 | 1 | 3 | 25.00% | 7.4 | 16.3 | 81.4 | 97.6 |
Boy, that’s a bad performance by one of your top two lines against a team that’s supposed to be hurting and shallow.
| Name | Pos | iCF | C+/- | F+/- | ZSO | ZSD | ZS% | TOI | CF60 | CA60 | CP60 |
| Henrik.Zetterberg | CL | 2 | -2 | -3 | 6 | 1 | 85.71% | 10.7 | 39.3 | 50.6 | 89.9 |
| Justin.Abdelkader | RL | 0 | -2 | -3 | 6 | 1 | 85.71% | 10 | 30.1 | 42.1 | 72.1 |
| Erik.Cole | LR | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 83.33% | 11.4 | 42.2 | 31.6 | 73.8 |
| Pavel.Datsyuk | CL | 4 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 70.00% | 13.4 | 103.3 | 44.9 | 148.2 |
| Brendan.Smith | D | 8 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 70.00% | 16.4 | 73.1 | 32.9 | 106 |
| Marek.Zidlicky | D | 2 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 69.23% | 17 | 60.1 | 28.3 | 88.3 |
| Riley.Sheahan | C | 4 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 64.29% | 11.5 | 88.4 | 36.4 | 124.8 |
| Niklas.Kronwall | D | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 63.64% | 11.7 | 66.7 | 66.7 | 133.3 |
| Teemu.Pulkkinen | LR | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 62.50% | 9.3 | 77.1 | 45 | 122 |
| Jimmy.Howard | G | 0 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 12 | 61.29% | 41.5 | 63.6 | 47.7 | 111.3 |
| Tomas.Tatar | LR | 5 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 57.14% | 15.5 | 89.1 | 38.7 | 127.8 |
| Jonathan.Ericsson | D | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 57.14% | 9.4 | 76.9 | 76.9 | 153.9 |
| Gustav.Nyquist | LR | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 55.56% | 10.5 | 79.7 | 56.9 | 136.6 |
| Danny.Dekeyser | D | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 54.55% | 14 | 55.8 | 51.5 | 107.3 |
| Kyle.Quincey | D | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 50.00% | 14.6 | 53.5 | 49.4 | 102.9 |
| Luke.Glendening | C | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 42.86% | 14.2 | 67.6 | 42.3 | 109.9 |
| Joakim.Andersson | C | 0 | -7 | -4 | 1 | 2 | 33.33% | 5.3 | 22.6 | 101.6 | 124.1 |
| Tomas.Jurco | RL | 1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 25.00% | 5.3 | 33.9 | 45.1 | 79 |
| Drew.Miller | RC | 1 | -8 | -6 | 1 | 3 | 25.00% | 7.4 | 16.3 | 81.4 | 97.6 |
I’m kind of surprised the zone starts were this close considering how many whistles Bobrovsky held on for.
Check out more from war-on-ice.com, including the visualized shift chart here.
Final Say
Can’t crumple this one up and throw it away. The fourth line was bad, the Zetterberg line was bad, the Datsyuk line had no finish, an the Kid Line was just too inconsistent. There wasn’t a great defenseman performance, but the third pair was the only one that generally looked good.
Corsi Timeline from Hockeystats.ca
