The Red Wings lost and find themselves in a horribly deep hole.
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Goalie Ratings
Jimmy Howard was outplayed and will get a -1 in the head-to-head rating. He’s also going to pull a -2 overall rating. He has got to play better on that game-winner.
Scoring and plus/minus analysis after the jump
The Goals
1st Period Penalties:
07:38 – Roman Josi (interference): Forechecking by Zetterberg forces a bad clearing attempt by Nashville which culminates in Josi running into Hudler as he goes for the front of the net. Zetterberg and Hudler will each get a half-plus for helping this play develop.
11:37 – Todd Bertuzzi (elbowing): It was certainly interference, but not elbowing. Still, a penalty is a penalty. Bertuzzi will get a minus.
12:18 – Alexander Radulov (tripping): While the Preds are on a power play, Alex Radulov evens things up by jabbing Jonathan Ericsson’s skate out from under him behind the Detroit net. This is really all on Radulov. Ericsson does exactly what he’s supposed to do, but he doesn’t do it so well that he forces a guy to take a penalty. No adjustment.
14:27 – Roman Josi (cross-checking): Man, this guy can’t stay out of the box. Bertuzzi goes to the front of the net and Josi plants him into the ice with a cross-check. No adjustment.
15:08 – Pavel Datsyuk (tripping): In a chase for a loose puck to the side of the net on the Red Wings’ power play, Pavel Datsyuk is dragged down by Shea Weber. As he reaches for a puck, Nick Spaling comes through and trips over Datsyuk’s stick. Pavel’s being interfered with here creates this penalty. No adjustment.
2nd Period Penalties:
14:01 – Francis Bouillon (hooking): This is a pretty awful call as Bouillon and Abdelkader fight for positioning on their way to the net. Bouillon’s stick does get up a little, but he interferes with Abby as much as Abby interferes with him. No adjustment.
Non-Goal Adjustments: At 1:28 of the third period, the Predators get a goal that doesn’t end up counting because the of a bad call and some intent-to-blow nonsense. I’m not going to let the Wings’ mistakes compound with the ref’s here. Bertuzzi will get a coverage minus and Howard will get credit for a bad goal on this shot. Bert gets behind Legwand and never has good coverage on him, but Howard doesn’t have the near post covered when he sneaks a shot in from behind the net.
3rd Period 01:55 – Nashville Goal: Gabriel Bourque (snap shot) from Alexander Radulov
Not long after the bad no-goal call, Nashville gets one anyway. Abdelkader gets himself tossed from the faceoff circle and then loses a race to a loose puck after Miller scrambles it. Radulov plays it behind the Detroit net where Bourque gets to it just before Stuart and tries to put it out front. The puck hits Stuart’s skate and goes to the faceoff dot where Kronwall chops it to the corner and then bodies off Radulov. Unfortunately, he moves too far away and there’s not enough puck support for when Bourque comes in at the high corner and picks up the loose puck. Bourque feeds it to Legwand high in the middle, but Bertuzzi is there to stop an immediate shot attempt. Instead, Legwang backs to the point and tries to throw a wrister into traffic. Here, the puck bounces off of Miller in the high slot and goes to the same low corner from where it had just originated. Abdelkader is on it first, checked immediately by Bourque. As these two scrum, Radulov and Kronwall come in to join the fun. As Legwand and Stuart also come in to join the fun, eventually Bourque gets the puck from on his knees, escapes a sweep check from Kronwall, and passes it to Radulov skating behind the net with a step on Kronner. Radulov gets extra room here as Francis Bouillon has positioned himself at the far post to create a pick around which Radulov can turn and escape Kronwall if he wants. Instead, He throws a backhand bad-angle shot at the front which hits off Bertuzzi’s stick and bounces right to Bourque wide open on the back door for an easy put-away. The final bounce to Bourque is bad luck, but Abdelkader getting tossed out of the faceoff and then losing a race to a loose puck and a board battle and THEN chasing behind the net when he’s supposed to stay with Bourque will earn him and extra 2.5 minuses. Kronwall also makes mistakes on this play which will earn him an extra minus when he backs Radulov off too much to allow Bourque to get the loose puck and then lets Radulov escape behind the net.. Everybody else keeps his minus.
3rd Period 03:14 – Detroit Goal (PP): Jiri Hudler (tip-in) from Niklas Kronwall and Kyle Quincey
The Penalty – Nashville Bench (too many men): Not a drawn penalty. No adjusmtent
The PP faceoff gets scrambled, but Detroit gains possession when Filppula pressures Gaustad into clearing it directly to Kronwall at the point. Kronner goes over to Quincey, who fires a shot that’s blocked by Gaustad to the corner and retrieved by Hudler to reset back to the point. Q walks to the middle and passes off to Zetterberg at the half-boards. Z walks it to the low corner and doesn’t see anything, so he goes back to Quincey up top. This time, Quincey goes from the middle of the umbrella to the left-side point before throwing it all the way to Kronwall at the right point. While the Nashville PKers spread out, Filppula heads to the half-boards near Kronwall, Hudler stays at net-front, Quincey stays at the left point, and Zetterberg mans the left-side half-boards (a very spread-out formation). Kronwall skates back toward center before dishing it back to Quincey, who faces the net and winds up for a slapper before finally throwing it back Kronner’s way directly in the middle at the top of the umbrella for a one-timer that Jiri Hudler tips past Rinne to tie it. The amount of times I mention Quincey in this write-up is enough to warrant a bonus assist for him. This is a good job quarterbacking the power play and keeping the PKers honest. Zetterberg will also get a half-assist for his decoy run to help spread out the defense and Filppula will get a half-plus for the pressure on Gaustad which forces him to flub the clear to Kronwall.
3rd Period 06:25 – Nashville Goal: Kevin Klein (wrist shot) from Martin Erat
The Wings get some good offensive pressure broken up as Erat gets a loose puck in his own zone and heads up ice with it. While Hornqvist skates to the right corner of the blue line, Lidstrom and Ian White stack one atop another watching Erat while Hudler backchecks. Lidstrom doesn’t get to the inside of the ice well and Erat keys on this with a burst of speed into the zone. Hudler gets back to keep Erat from getting off a clean shot by knocking the puck off his stick, but it doesn’t do much when he gets the puck back at the bottom of the circle and finds that Hudler, Lidstrom, and White have all chased him to the corner with Jimmy Howard also coming out to challenge his angle aggressively. Erat wakes up on Christmas and easily threads a pass through all three guys to Kevin Klein jumping up in the middle all alone for a stupidly easy goal. Zetterberg and Filppula will be cleared here, a they are backchecking in transition, but are not responsible for what the three other idiots on the ice are doing. I don’t like how overly aggressive Howard is, but I’d like it even less if Erat scores on the short side there because Howard doesn’t trust that one of the three boobs in front of him is going to pick up his man and he leaves his post. White and Hudler are the guys who are supposed to be covering Klein and Hornqvist (who is just as wide-open as Klein is). Hudler will get an extra minus on this play for abandoning their coverages. Lidstrom will pick up an extra 1.5 minuses. His bad play to let Erat get the burst of speed causes this confusion and it’s he who has to stop this pass. If White Hangs back instead of chasing a guy he should see that both Hudler and Lidstrom are already chasing, he might be able to make a play here. White will get an extra -1.5 for this.
Penalty Adjustment (x2):
07:15 – Andrei Kostitsyn (interference): Kostitsyn responds to his brother getting Kronwalled by throwing a stupid check at Brad Stuart away from the play. No adjustment.
13:41 – Matt Halischuk (interference): As the Wings enter the zone, Halischuk throws a hip-check style block into Zetterberg away from the puck. No adjustment, as Zetterberg didn’t draw this one.
3rd Period 19:21 – Nashville Goal (PP): David Legwand (wrist shot) unassisted
The Penalty – Henrik Zetterberg (high-sticking): Zetterberg’s got to be better with his stick. Minus for Zetterberg.
There’s less than a minute to go and the Wings are short-handed and hemmed in their own zone. Therefore, I don’t put any extra blame on Cleary when Jonathan Ericsson digs a puck out behind the Wings net and Cleary tries to carry it out up the middle of the ice only to see Legwand pop the puck off Cleary’s stick and under Howard. Also, I’m not mad at Cleary because this is a bad goal for Howard, who needs to have his paddle down and the near side completely covered during this play.
Bonus Ratings
-1 to Jiri Hudler: Despite scoring the goal, Hudler had a fairly bad night as far as puck possession went. He did not control the puck well, did not get open, and made bad passes.
-1 to Ian White & Nicklas Lidstrom: White struggled to get pucks out of the Detroit zone and did not do well in transition. Nick LIdstrom has to do more with the puck when he has it. Disappointing night for these two.
Honorable Mentions:
Nobody
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