Red Wings Blog

Tonight the Red Wings moved on to Denver to play the Avalanche in the second game of their five game road trip. The Avalanche had just played the night before. Anderson was their goalie and he was also their goalie the previous night because Budaj was out with the flu. Jimmy Howard was the goalie for the Wings.

For most of the first period play went back and forth without much offense developing at either end. The puck seemed to be pinballing all over the place and nobody could really control it for very long.

With 6:26 left in the first period Zetterberg was high-sticked by Stastny and cut on the nose. Stastny got the automatic double minor so the Wings had four minutes of power play time to work with.

The Red Wings generated a ton of offense on the power play but weren’t able to score. They moved the puck very well and were in Colorado’s end for about two full minutes at one stretch but Anderson had an answer for every shot on goal.

With about a minute and half left in the first period Lebda high-sticked Stewart and was given a double minor. The Avs would have their chance at four minutes of power play time.

The first period ended with no score.

The Avs had 2:26 of carry over power play time on a fresh sheet of ice to start the second period. The Wings did a great job of killing off the rest of the power play time and the score remained zero to zero.

Shortly after the power play ended Draper was in front of the net and Cleary sent the puck his way. It looked like it hit Draper in the skates. He was able to come up with it and muscle it into the net for the first goal of the night. That made it one to nothing Red Wings.

Later in second period the puck was in the Red Wings end. Ericsson and Rafalski were trying to get control of the it and get it out but they couldn’t come up with it. Rafalski passed it to Ericsson who gloved it and dropped on the ice but he fanned on it with his stick and Stewart stole it from him. Stewart passed it to Galiardi in front of the net. He chipped it up with a backhand and put over Howard and into the net tying the game at one each. It was obviously very frustrating for Ericsson since he was the one who turned it over.

There was no more scoring in the second period so they went to intermission still tied at one. Howard made some nice saves in the final minute of the period to preserve the tie. He was having a pretty good game. He looked very relaxed and reliable out there. After two periods Detroit was outshooting the Avs 28 to 16 but the score didn’t reflect it.

In the first few seconds of the third period Holmstrom was called for hooking. On the power play the Avs pretty much had their way with the Red Wings defense. Howard was forced to make save after save and was also aided by a post at one point.

About halfway through the third period Chris Stewart took the puck into the Red Wings end. He got around Lebda and snapped it from about the top of the circle. The shot beat Howard to give the Avalanche the lead two to one.

Later in the period the Red Wings had close to four consecutive minutes of power play time and weren’t able to score thanks to Anderson’s goaltending and Colorado’s defense doing a great job clearing the puck.

With three minutes left the Red Wings got another power play when Stastny was called for tripping. That was the Wings’ seventh power play attempt of the night. When the power play was down to two seconds left and about a minute left in the game Detroit pulled their goalie before a faceoff in the Avalanche end. They also took their timeout to set up the play. However, the Wings lost the faceoff and it came to Stastny who had just exited the penalty box. He took it up ice and scored the empty net goal giving the Avs the two goal lead.

That was all she wrote for this game. The Red Wings power play was terribly ineffective tonight although they did have a lot of shots. The team as a whole had a ton of shots on goal but Anderson was just too good. I thought that once again Bertuzzi had a great game but just hasn’t been able to finish. His strength and speed are both there; he just needs to work on his accuracy. Howard played pretty well for the most part. He gave them a chance to win but in this case that wasn’t enough.

The Red Wings goal for this road trip was to win at least three of the five games. They’re going to have to sweep the rest of them to do that now. They’ve got some things to work on if they’re going to make that happen.

This 1-3 loss brings us to:
3-4-2
8 points

Tonight a talented young Colorado Avalanche came to Detroit to face the Red Wings. The Avs have been off to a great start this season but the Red Wings have been perfect at the Joe. We can’t say that they’re perfect at home because one of the two losses in Sweden was considered a home game but at Joe Louis Arena they’re undefeated.

Datsyuk was still out for this game but he’s expected back for the next one. Osgood was in net for the Wings and for the Avs it was Craig Anderson. Anderson is a big part of why they Avs have been winning; he’s just starting to come into his own and he entered this game with the best save percentage in the league. The Avs have been winning even though they’ve been outshot by an average of 9 shots per game so you really have to give Anderson a lot of credit for the wins.

Early in the game Adam Foote took a puck up high that stung him for a few minutes. It might have caught him in the jaw or the side of the face. He stayed on the bench after leaving the ice and he wasn’t bleeding so it wasn’t too bad.

Helm and Abdelkader were doing some good work together early in the first period. Then Helm took the puck to the net. He skated into the slot with all kinds of traffic in the way. He tried to stick handle to his backhand but lost the puck. Luckily he lost it to the trailing Abdelkader who slid the puck under everybody and into the net. That gave the Wings the early lead one to nothing. That was Abdelkader’s first regular season goal of his career (he’s only had playoff goals up until that one).

Later in the first period Brad May fought with Cody McLeod. It was a good fight with both guys landing a few haymakers. I’d call it a draw punch-wise but I think it gave more of a boost to the Wings than it did to the Avs.

It was a great first period for the Red Wings. They outshot the Avalanche 13 to 5 and did a really good job on the forecheck. They seemed to have a lot more energy right from the start of the game than they’ve had in any game so far this season.

Zetterberg was hooked near the end of the first period so the Red Wings had almost a minute and a half of power play time to start the second. The Red Wings were in control on the power play. They kept the puck in the Avalanche end and were moving it at will. Bertuzzi owned the front of the net. Adam Foote was trying to defend him but it looked like he was trying to move an Oak tree. Cleary passed from the top of the circle to Zetterberg at the bottom of the circle. Zetterberg sent it towards the net and Bertuzzi tipped it in to give the Red Wings the two to nothing lead. That was Bertuzzi’s first goal of the season. He’s been looking better and better every game in my opinion and it was nice to see his efforts finally pay off with a goal.

Throughout the second period the Red Wings continued their domination of the Avalanche. They were outworking and outskating the Avs every shift.

The Red Wings were called for too many men on the ice near the end of the second period so the Avs had about a minute and a half of power play time to start the third period. The Wings successfully killed off the penalty. The Avs had a pretty good scoring chance just after the penalty expired but Osgood made a nice glove save to preserve the score.

Zetterberg, Cleary and Bertuzzi had a glorious scoring chance in the third period. It was all set up by a nice takeaway by Zetterberg. He ended up getting a great feed from Bertuzzi for a one-timer but Anderson snagged it out of the air with his glove.

Williams was high-sticked just after a faceoff and cut pretty badly, so the Wings had four minutes of power play time. Williams went straight to the dressing room with a towel on his face to get stitched up.

The Red Wings didn’t score on the power play but they had several good chances and mostly continued their domination of the Avalanche.

Halfway through the third period the Avalanche broke the shutout. McLeod shot with Lebda defending him. Lebda got his stick on McLeod’s stick but the shot still made it through. It went between Osgood’s legs and into the net. That made it two to one Red Wings with over ten minutes left in the game.

A few minutes later Duchene brought the puck into the Red Wings end with Stuart guarding him. He used Stuart as a screen and shot the puck. Osgood didn’t see it until it was too late so the game was tied at two.

Then Leino set up Williams who took the puck to the net. He drew the defense and the goalie to one side. Then he put the puck in the goalie’s pads and it bounced off and sat in front of the wide open net. Leino couldn’t get a handle on it because he was blocked off the puck by his defender. But Filppula came out of nowhere and smacked it into the net. That gave the Wings the one goal lead again making it three to two. It also took a little wind out of Colorado’s sails.

With just two and half minutes left Detroit got caught in a bad line change and ended up outnumbered in their own end. It was a three on two. Osgood followed the guy with the puck but he passed it across to McLeod who had nobody guarding him. McLeod shot the puck and beat Osgood who didn’t have much of a chance to get back over to that side of the net in time. That tied the game again making it three all.

The tie held until the end of regulation. Colorado got a point that I honestly don’t think they deserved. They were badly outshot and outplayed throughout this entire game. I don’t really know how they even stayed in this game. I guess that’s their M.O. this season since they’ve been outshot in all of their games so far and have won most of them.

Colorado had a little more jump than the Wings in the overtime. I think they were energized just because of making it to OT and the Wings were probably really let down by it. Neither team scored in the OT though so it was time for a shootout.

Jason Williams went first and released a nice snapshot that burned Anderson on the glove side. Then came Svatos who faked out Osgood and beat him. Zetterberg went next. Anderson stayed with him and stoned him. Next it was Hejduk. He beat Osgood putting the Avs up by one. Leino went next and Anderson stopped him which ended the game.

That’s another win by Colorado in a game in which they were pretty much dominated. I don’t know how they continue to do this but I can’t believe it can get them very far. This will catch up with them as the season goes on.

It was a huge disappointment for the Red Wings to only get a point out of this game even though they played very well. It was by far their best game of the season to this point. At least they have that to build on for next time.

They’re off until Thursday now as they head out on their first road out west this season. They’ll be meeting the Avalanche again next Saturday in Colorado.

This 4-3 overtime loss brings us to:
3-3-1
7 points

Tonight the Red Wings were in Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche. The goalies were Conklin for the Wings and Raycroft for the Avs. Downey and Ericsson were in the lineup again tonight. Hossa was not in but he did travel with the team after the game in St. Louis. That was amazing news; he didn’t even have to stay overnight in the hospital. I guess his crash looked worse than it was. He has a stiff neck and stiff knee. All things considered that’s excellent news!

This game started out with a bit of an edge. The teams were both playing and hitting hard.

Colorado took the early lead. Liles shot the puck from the point through traffic. The puck somehow made it through a couple of Red Wings and Smyth who was in front of the net blocking Conklin’s view. I don’t think it was redirected at all but Conklin couldn’t see it so he didn’t have much chance of stopping it.

They traded some power plays with no change in the score. With the period almost over, Draper passed the puck from down low to Lidstrom in the high slot. Lidstrom one-timed it but Raycroft stopped it. Kopecky got the rebound to Filppula. He turned around and snapped one past Raycroft to tie the game. When the goal was scored the clock was not moving because of a problem with the scoreboard. The period was being timed by a stopwatch so nobody was sure how much time was left in the period. Luckily there were 19 seconds left so the goal was good.

In the second period Kopecky stole the puck when Raycroft tried to make an outlet pass. He took it to the net, made a nice move on Raycroft and almost scored. He lost it trying to get it to his backhand which would have been an easy tap in. It was a fantastic play and highlights how great Kopecky has been playing lately. He just gets better and better.

Just a few second later, Franzen decided to show Kopecky how it’s done. He did just about the same play, but he ended up scoring the goal. It was a great individual effort by Franzen. That made it two to one in favor of the Wings.

A few minutes later Detroit scored a great goal from the grinders. Downey was fore checking and caused Foote to mishandle the puck. Meech took it and passed it to Draper in the slot. Draper backhanded it for the goal making it three to one.

Most of the third period passed uneventfully. The Red Wings continued to dominate. However, with about five minutes to go in the game the Avalanche started coming to life. At one point they shot the puck from a sharp angle. It got between Conklin’s legs but it was traveling almost parallel with the goal line. The puck was bouncing around right on the goal line with Conklin out of the net. Franzen was there and he alertly swept the puck away.

The Avs continued to get a lot of shots, scoring chances and goal posts from that point on. Eventually, the pressure paid off for them. They got the puck in deep behind the Red Wings net. Smyth passed to Hejduk who was camped out in front of the net. He quickly took a shot and beat Conklin. That brought the Avs back to within a goal.

The Wings were able to shut it down from that point on even though Colorado pulled their goalie and really applied the pressure. The Red Wings looked great in this game. Kopecky, Filppula and Ericsson all had particularly good games.

This 3-2 win brings us to:
43-14-8
94 points

For this afternoon’s game The Avalanche came to Detroit to face the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. The Avs were the worst team in the West and Detroit was coming off a loss to Columbus. Raycroft was the goalie for Colorado and Osgood was in for the Wings for the third straight game.

It only took 16 seconds for Colorado to score. Osgood made an initial save and tried to shove it to Rafalski. He wasn’t able to handle the puck because he was moving too quickly and went right by it. McCormick took the puck and passed it to Laperriere in front of the net. He wasted no time shooting it in.

Colorado started the second period like they started the first. The only difference was that it took them 23 seconds to score in the second instead of 16. McCormick pinched on Samuelsson and the puck went to Salei. He ripped one with Laperriere screening in front. Osgood couldn’t see it very well and it found the back of the net.

Colorado knocked the net off on purpose and were called for delay of game. Then they hooked Datsyuk so there was a delayed call coming. Lidstrom ripped it from the point and Cleary tipped it in just below the crossbar height. That negated the first penalty but not the delayed one. Colorado argued the call a little too vehemently and were called for unsportsmanlike conduct. That gave Detroit a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes.

Just a few seconds into the 5 on 3 Lidstrom passed to Datsyuk and then got it back from him. He one-timed it and Cleary once again tipped it into the net to tie it up. Before the second penalty was up Colorado took another one so again the Wings had a 5 on 3. Colorado was able to kill off the rest of the penalty time.

A few minutes after the penalties expired Hossa released a bomb from the top of the circle that beat Raycroft over the glove to take the lead for the Wings. That was the third goal for the Wings in 4 minutes and 37 seconds.

In the third period Colorado scored in a minute and one second. Smyth made the play from behind the net to Hejduk. He passed it to Wolski at the point. Wolski ripped the shot and Svatos redirected it into the net to tie the game at three.

A few minutes later Detroit scored the go ahead goal. Rafalski shot/passed the puck from the point to Hossa near the net. Hossa redirected it off the shaft of his stick into the net.

A few minutes later Colorado scored a sloppy goal. They shot the puck and it looked like Osgood had it but it went off his glove and dropped in behind him. He lost track of where it was and Guite knocked it into the net. That tied the score at four each.

Nearing the halfway point of the period Kronwall had the puck at Colorado’s blue line. He created some space for himself and shot the puck. Raycroft made the save but the rebound came to Hudler. He one-timed a wrister into the net to retake the lead for the Wings.

A few minutes later Detroit gave up the fifth goal to Colorado. Osgood directed a rebound to the face-off circle but Smyth was there and took the puck. He passed it to Hejduk in the middle who redirected it towards the net. By that time Osgood was out of position to stop it and it trickled over the line.

As time wound down in the third period neither team was able to break the tie so the game headed to overtime. Likewise there were no goals in the overtime and the game went to a shootout.

Datsyuk was the first shooter. He went backhand to forehand and took the shot. Raycroft stopped it. Wolski went first for the Avs. He went forehand to back hand and scored on Osgood. Zetterberg came up next, delayed a bit with the shot and backhanded it into the net. Next was Svatos. He tried a wrister and Osgood stopped him. Hudler came up for the Wings. He made a great move but Raycroft still stopped him. Hejduk went next for the win but Osgood stopped him with the left pad. Then it was Hossa for the Wings and he sent it wide. It was then Smyth’s turn to try for the win. He missed high over the net.  Cleary was up next with is first shootout attempt. He tried the five hole but Raycroft shut it down. Leopold went next for the Avs. It was also his first shootout attempt. He shot a wrister that beat Osgood for the win.

The Red Wings looked pretty sloppy defensively in this game. Most of the time they played well but they just had too many breakdowns. Every time they got a break, they gave one back to Colorado. This game should have been no contest but the Avs played their best and as good as Detroit looked at times, it wasn’t their best.

This 6-5 overtime loss brings us to:
37-12-8
82 points

After losing in Nashville last night, Detroit went to Colorado for the second half of back to back games.  Conklin was in net again for the Wings and and Budaj was playing for the Avalanche.

Lidstrom was not able to go for this game because of the ankle injury he sustained blocking a shot in Nashville.  The initial x-rays showed no fracture but it was too swollen for him to play.  He will have additional tests when the Red Wings return to Detroit.

Colorado struck first with a power play goal in the first period.  The puck had squirted out to the high slot area and Salei took a shot.  It looked like it went off the inside of Conklin’s left leg, then hit his right leg and then ricocheted into the net.

A few minutes later the Avalanche scored another power play goal.  There was a hard shot that went off the back boards and came back to the side of the net right to Smyth.  Conklin didn’t get his skate to the post in time and Smyth pushed the puck into the net to give the Avs a two nothing lead.  The Wings just seemed to be scrambling on the penalty kill.  They didn’t look very good at all.

Later in the first period the Avalanche got ANOTHER power play goal.  Right off the power play’s first faceoff the Avs took a shot.  The rebound dropped out front and Stuart picked it up.  For some reason, instead of clearing it up ice, he sent it to the point where Liles took it and shot it into the net.

Three nothing in the first period on three power play goals.  All I can say after that period is that I hope Lidstrom never retires because they looked like garbage without him.

In the second period the Red Wings finally scored.  It was a power play goal.  Datsyuk shot the puck and Budaj lost sight of it because of traffic.  The shot never got through because it hit Holmstrom.  It dropped right back down to Datsyuk and Budaj didn’t know where it was.  It made for an easy goal for Pavel.  That brought the Wings to within two goals of tying the game.

Just  a few seconds later Detroit struck again on the power play.  Samuellson shot the puck from near the blue line and Holmstrom tipped it masterfully.  The shot was going well wide of the net and he redirected it perfectly in.  There was no way any goalie could have stopped that one.  All of the sudden it was a one goal game.

A few minutes after THAT, you guessed it, the Red Wings tied the game.  There was some nice puck movement and it came to Franzen who beat Budaj with a great shot.  That was the sixth goal of the game and the first one to come at even strength.  All three of the Red Wings goals game within about a five minute stretch.  That was the end of the second period so it was a whole new game heading into the third.

Early in the third period Detroit had some glorious chances on a power play and Budaj was able to keep them out to maintain the tie.  The Red Wings continued to take it to the Avs for most of the third period but Budaj came up huge with some monster saves.  This entire period had a sudden death feel to it.  There was desperation on both sides.  At the Red Wings end Conklin also made some big time saves to keep this game tied.  Thanks to a goaltending showcase throughout the third period, this game headed to overtime.

This game was three different games in one.  The first period was owned by Colorado’s offense.  The second period was owned by Detroit’s offense.  And the third period was owned by the goaltenders.

The overtime period continued in the style of the third.  Neither team was able to score so they headed to the shootout.

Colorado chose to shoot first and they started with Wolski.  He faked Conklin out of his pants and scored an easy goal.  Datsyuk was up next for Detroit.  He hit the post.  Svatos was next for the Avs.  He came in very fast and took a hard shot that Conklin stopped.  Next it was Zetterberg and Budaj stoned him.  Hejduk was up for the Avs to try for the win but Conklin stopped his shot.  It was up to Hudler to tie it back up for the Wings.  He took a shot but Budaj stopped it giving the Avs the shootout victory.

This was a strange game for the Red Wings.  Considering how bad they looked in the first period I think they’re lucky to come away from this one with a road point, especially after playing the night before.  They made an amazing comeback in the second period and then didn’t let their foot off the gas from that point on.  

This 4-3 overtime loss brings us to:
23-7-5
51 points

The Colorado Avalanche were in town tonight to face the Detroit Red Wings.  They used Raycroft as their starting goalie and Detroit went with Osgood.

Well, the old rivalry between the Avalanche and the Red Wings is clearly dead.  In the first period this had the feel of a preseason game.  Everybody on both teams looked like they were playing in slow motion.  Detroit gave up two goals in the early minutes of the period.  Osgood looked shakier than I’ve ever seen him.  He didn’t seem to have any confidence at all and he was always fighting the puck.  In fact everybody looked like they were terrified of making a mistake.  Outside of the score and shots on goal, I think there were two good indicators that the Red Wings weren’t playing well.  The first is the lack of confidence that was evident in Osgood.  The second is the fact that Datsyuk would not shoot the puck.  He had some great chances and always tried to make a pass.

Colorado’s first goal came just over a minute into the game.  It was a turnover in the neutral zone as the Red Wings were changing.  They ended up in a 2 on 0 against Osgood.  That goal was scored by Wolski; it was the first shot on net for the Avs.  The second goal was a pass across the ice to a side that had been left uncovered by the defense.  Stastny took the pass and snapped it past Osgood.

I wonder if the Red Wings got an earful from Babcock during the first intermission.  I can almost imagine him not saying a word to them.  It’s not like they don’t know what to do.  I don’t think that’s his style though.  I suspect he probably gave them an encouraging pep talk.

It took until almost half way through the second period and it was a really ugly goal, but the Red Wings finally scored.  There was a big mess in front of the net and Holmstrom had several whacks at the puck.  It dropped on the goal line behind Raycroft and trickled in.  Originally, Rafalski was credited with the goal but it was later changed to Holmstrom.

Early in the third period there was a scrum in front of Osgood.  The puck got between his legs and was trickling into the net.  Lebda dove in behind Osgood and pushed the puck back into his pads.  Because Lebda covered the puck in the crease a penalty shot was awarded to Colorado.  Leopold took the shot and scored to give Colorado a three to one lead.

A few minutes later Detroit scored right off of a faceoff to Raycroft’s right.  Zetterberg took the draw and the puck ended up loose.  Hossa muscled his way to it and snapped right between Raycroft’s legs before he even knew what hit him.  That brought Detroit back within one goal.

Although Detroit played a little better in the second and much better in the third it wasn’t enough to make up for the lackadaisical performance in the first period.  The Red Wings didn’t deserve to win this game and it’s about time they start losing games that they don’t deserve to win.  Otherwise, what’s the incentive to play hard if you can still win anyway?  I remember a few losing streaks last season that helped the Wings in the long run.  Maybe a little bit of that is what they need right now to remind them to play hard for 60 minutes.

This 3-2 loss brings us to:
20-6-4
44 points