Motor City Sports Blog » NHL Playoffs

It’s all over … Penguins take the Cup on our ice

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:29:14 +0000

It’s been a long season and yet if we could have had another 10 minutes or so … maybe it would have been different.

The Red Wings were stoned by Marc Andre Fleury and the crossbar, and they came up short against the wunderkind of the NHL, Sidney Crosby and his Russian buddy-in-uncalled-penalties Evgeni Malkin.

Yes, Malkin’s first goal should have been whistled down for icing. But it was clear at some point in the second period in Game 6 that the Wings were simply out of gas.

Call it fatigue, call it injuries, call it fatigue and injuries, the fact is that it takes 16 wins to take the Stanley Cup home to Sweden for the Summer. The Wings could only manage 15 wins this playoff season.

No Joe Vision? Can we blame that on Bettman too?

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:56:18 +0000

We’ve got another casualty in 2009’s War on Everything Detroit, and this time it has nothing to do with the auto industry.

For the first time in more than 15 seasons, fans of the Red Wings will not be able to watch a Red Wings playoff game at Joe Louis Arena, a tradition that’s been named “Joe Vision.”

It’s all because the Red Wings couldn’t obtain rights to broadcast the game.

The Detroit Free Press reports a rumor that the NHL’s request to NBC (Nothin’ But Crosby) and CBC was the reason the Wings couldn’t obtain the rights.

Sad, sad news indeed.

Yahoo! Sports comments on the joke that has become the NHL rules committee

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:37:13 +0000

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports makes some good points about how the NHL’s decision to give a pass to last-minute-instigator Evgeni Malkin makes a joke of the league’s rules and undermines the credibility of the rule makers.

NHL uses only rules that are convenient – NHL – Yahoo! Sports

Two down, two to go. Wings need one more win to put the penguins on the brink.

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:47:29 +0000

I think it’s notable that the NBC and NHL Network suits find it necessary to continually pump up the value of Sidney Crosby and last-minute-puncher Evgeni Malkin. Their memes (bouncy boards, lucky rookies) suggests that the Wings are nothing more than an underclass team who’s getting lucky against the best two hockey players in history. What they ignore is that the Wings have a plan that works and they’ve drafted (and occasionally signed) talented players who will fit into our system. IMHO, the real meme of the first two games of this series should be a discussion of how this kind of system builds team well-suited for playoff success.

OK, that’s enough ranting from me. Justin Abdelkader continues to stand out as the surprise story of this year’s playoffs and Goalie Chris Osgood has got to be a Conn Smythe candidate at this point.

Anyway, here’s a link to Mitch Albom’s column covering Sunday night’s Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals.
With a pair of 3-1 thrillers, Wings halfway to 12th Cup | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Wings get the win in game one, everyone talks about the Joe’s boards

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:55:20 +0000

I’ll update more during tonight’s game, but the one thing that’s been driving me crazy about the coverage from last night’s game is the obsession that the sportswriters have had with the boards at the Joe.

Boards frustrate Pens as pucks bounce Wings’ way – NHL – Yahoo! Sports

Video: Niklas Kronwall Hit on Martin Havlat

admin — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:42:31 +0000

Maltby back in lineup for Wings, Abdelkader to sit on Friday

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:42:47 +0000

The Detroit News followed up on Coach Mike Babcock’s post-game press conference promise to get Kirk Maltby in the lineup for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

Most of the Red Wings regulars weren’t on the ice Wednesday morning, but Kirk Maltby was. Then again, Maltby has been a healthy scratch the last three games. That’s about to change, though, as he will return to the lineup in Game 3 in Chicago.

It’s likely rookie Justin Abdelkader will be scratched, although coach Mike Babcock would not say Wednesday.

Detnews.com: Kirk Maltby off scratch list for Game 3

Wings finally pluck Ducks, Cleary goal advances team to Conference Finals

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:58:06 +0000

Thanks to a Dan Cleary goal with 3 minutes left in the third period, the Detroit Red Wings finally closed out their series against the Anaheim Ducks. It was a series as close as expected and the first seven game series since the Wings closed out the Colorado Avalanche in 2002.

Anaheim stood tall, coming back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits with goals by Teemu Sellane, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan. But even with the stellar play of Jonas Hiller, the Ducks could simply not stop the Wings.

It’s obviously great to see the Wings advance, but I can’t help but think that this was the real series that determined the team who would ultimately win the Stanley Cup. Obviously, there are eight more games to win. But few of the remaining teams posess the depth and strength of the Ducks.

For the Wings, there is still an opportunity to play better. The Datsyuk-Hossa-Holmstrom line was offensively offensive but defensively delightful in the Ducks series. Their defense has been stellar and effectively neutralized Anaheim’s best players. Role players like Darren Helm and Clearly have effectively closed some of the gap in scoring and have significantly outplayed the third and fourth lines of Anaheim, but the Datsyuk-Hossa-Holmstrom line will need to find some of their scoring touch if the Wings wish to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Yahoo! Sports: Game 7 Recap

Franzen, Hossa lead resurgent Wings to 6-3 win, series tie

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:30:13 +0000

The Wings played exactly the kind of game they had to last night, crushing the Anaheim Mighty Ducks by a score of 6-3 in order to tie their second-round series at 2-2.

The local media has talked, with great obviousness, about how the Wings don’t want to go down 3-1 to the Ducks. Over ninety percent of the teams who take a 3-1 lead go on to win a series. Given the small margin of error in playoff hockey, along with the Ducks ability to clamp down and shut off a team’s scoring, it’s hard to say that the Wings could pull themselves out of that hole.

But more than the stats and likehood of a series win, what most impressed me about last night’s win was something intangible — the urgency of the team.

Hossa, who scored his second and third, oh wait, first and second goals of the series, was obviously motivated by the bad call that ended game 3. And Johan Franzen, who continues the tear he went on in last year’s playoffs, is solidifying his reputation as “Mister April,” a team leader who steps up when the team’s first-line scoring threat is smothered by an opposing defense.

Franzen and Lidstrom congratulate Osgood after the Wings' 6-3 in Anaheim.

I think this win is a sign of good things to come. It shows that the Wings are poised and able to overcome adversity. This is something that we rarely saw from the team in the 90’s and the earlier part of this decade. As talented and as skilled as that team was, as a fan I couldn’t help but think that they needed to occasionally toughen up.

Looking forward to Sunday’s game 5 in Detroit.

Recap: Yahoo! Sports

Wings lose in triple-OT, lucky Ducks tie series

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:29:48 +0000

Detroit, we’ve been here before.

The Red Wings dominated the play for much of the third period and overtime in today’s second round game 2. And still, they skated off the ice with a loss after an opponent’s role player scored the winning goal.

I don’t know what the root cause is here, but I do know this: this is going to be a long series, unless the Wings’ stars continue to disappear. Anaheim is all over Zetterberg and Hossa and Datsyuk, but if we’re going to have a chance in this series, these are the players that have to get it done.

Yahoo! Sports:Ducks’ Marchant scores in 3rd OT to beat Red Wings

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap?gid=2009050305