The series is tied 1-1, and the lucky goals are tied up at two apiece. This is turning into a better series than game 1 would’ve indicated. Detroit managed to find some life after going down 1-0 in the first, but they are still having some major problems with their even strength play. They’re still scoreless in five on five play in two games and they can hardly get the puck out of their own zone.
On the other side, Anaheim needs to fix their special teams as they are without a power play goal in two games and have given up a shorty making them now a -1 in 5-4 situations. Penalty kill is even worse. Anaheim is a team that takes a lot of penalties. A lousy job killing penalties can wipe out the best five on five team as we nearly found out last night.
First team to put it all together will win the series.
Finally got to see more than a couple of minutes of the Eastern game on Saturday. Looks like Buffalo’s as dead as Julius Caesar. I know that’s hasty after only two games, but it looked to me like, whatever Buffalo did, Ottawa had an answer. That late goal to send the game into overtime only prolonged the agony. I’ll be surprised if this one goes more than 5 games.
On the other side, it sure looks like Wings-Ducks is going 7 games. It felt like the Ducks carried most of the play yesterday, but not far enough to get more than that overtime win. Certainly not far enough to get the Wings down and hold them there over the course of the next few games. And even if they do, Hasek is playing vintage right now. I can’t see anything but a long series here. Should be very enjoyable.
Ottawa wins Game 3 1-0, and had Ryan Miller not made a series of tremendous saves it would have been about 7-0. Ottawa just barely missed chance after chance. Buffalo had 15 shots.
It’s not impossible to come back from 3-0, but Buffalo looked like a completely beaten team.
Ottawa has a chokehold on Buffalo – emphasis on the “choke”. Miller played great, but as we saw in against Brodeur, if the opposition offence can’t produce anything eventually the Sens will score against anyone.
Saw the last half of last night’s game. Even though it was only 1-0, it never felt like Buffalo was going to tie it up. Watching that game was like seeing a big guy and a little guy, with the little guy swinging furiously at the big guy, but the big guy has his hand on the other’s head holding him off at arm’s length away, completely untouchable. No chance.
I was thinking about this today. There may be three nominees, but there are four previous winners. That fuckin’ zombie freak Chelios is a multiple Norris winner, as is Lidstrom. Pronger and Neidermeyer have only won once each. If hardware is your measuring stick, Detroit has the Ducks beat.
5-0 tonight. I expect that score will likely be a blip in an otherwise very tight series. The Ducks are having a Vancouveresque dearth of power play goals which will obviously kill them if it continues. Sadly I couldn’t tune in until the third, when the game was pretty over. Decided to save my hockey watching credits for the next game.
Looks like the Wings solved their little five on five problem. I hope they haven’t used up all of them. There’s still at least two more games left and likely more.
Right now the Wings have nothing to worry about. Last night was about as close to a perfect game as you can get. They scored four even strength goals and racked up another power play goal while holding Anaheim scoreless. Hasek looked great in net and the defense helped by limiting second chances. Offensively, Babcock’s line juggling seemed to confuse the Anaheim defense.
On the other hand, Anaheim has quite a bit to worry about. Biggest is the likely loss of Pronger due to suspension for his headhunting Holmstrom. When he comes back or if he doesn’t get suspended, he’s still a concern. One of the reasons that Edmonton went to the Finals was Chris Pronger getting his temper under control and playing solid physical defense. Last night, no control. He got lucky that Neidermayer wound up with his penalty and ejection, and later lost his temper after a roughing call.
And Anaheim still has to work on their own penalty problems. They haven’t been able to keep the wings power play contained while their power play continues to be worthless. Detroit isn’t wilting from the physical pressure. They’re scoring on it. It’d almost be better for them to give up on their aggressive style of play and start declining penalties.
Detroit is going to have to watch out next game. Anaheim will likely come back in a big way after last nights loss. The only question is will they come back scoring, or sitting in the box.
Aye on the 1st count…Debatable on the second, since I was indeed looking at the nominees for this year…but I am amazed that Chelios is rising to the occasion since Schneider got injured. Holmstrom got under Pronger’s skin last night and Pronger retaliated with a high hit to the back of the head…he might get a game or two suspension for that…not good for the Ducks.
Ducks were 0-4 in PP last night…not much to capitalize on. Even if they went 4-4 on the PP, it still would have been a loss although a dramatic one…props to the Red Wings for playing smart hockey and they at least got 1 PPG on 9 PP including the 5 minute boarding penalty by Neidermayer which should have gone to Pronger instead.
Probably Hasek’s best game so far and Giguere’s worst.
I’m pretty sure Carlyle read the Riot Act to Pronger. When he comes back, he will be the most disciplined player on the ice. You can’t let your own team down like that.
I can’t see Anaheim giving up on their aggressive style of play…it’s their bread and butter. They just have to be more disciplined with their sticks and hits, but keep the intensity up. Actually, their penalty kill was not too bad considering game 2’s penalty kill. (1-9 on game 3 vs. 2-9 on game 2) Same number of penalties each game, but different results due to Detroit’s discovery of 5 on 5 scoring.
I can see Anaheim getting 9 penalties again…but will Detroit still have only 4 (actually, 3.07) for next game? PPG are a must for Anaheim to win and advance, but damn…only 3 power plays just isn’t enough opportunities. Missing Kunitz was obvious as well, but hey…that’s hockey. Again, I have to give Detroit props for excellent goaltending, smart and disciplined play and able to take the body without intimidation. Anaheim better respond on the scoreboard next game or they are toast.
True, but the Wings power play may have been more active had the game not been out of reach as early as it was. For Anaheim, it has to be one or the other: get the penalty kill clicking or step back from the edge a bit. Losing Pronger is going to make the penalty kill less effective than it has been. That’s a big wingspan to lose in the passing lanes.
The Wings have made it this far without losing their cool. Can’t imagine they’d start letting it slip now.
Momentum is definitely on the Wings side with the win and the suspension. They have a real chance to put a very good team on the ropes before going back to home ice. I expect Anaheim to come out with a major effort, and Detroit is going to have to make sure they don’t get in trouble with hooking/holding calls when the opposing forwards press.
That was a pretty dirty hit that Pronger delivered. I want to say that the suspension should be longer, but it’s the playoffs and one game may be enough.
Can’t say I’d have pictured the Wings throwing 5 on the Ducks, though.
Just want to pop in and say the Wings are showing me a lot more than I thought they had. If they can throw 5 up on Anaheim–I didn’t see most of the game, so I don’t know how it happened (good offense vs. defensive breakdowns)–then they’ve got way more going for them than I ever would have believed.
But I’m still hoping Ottawa comes up golden at the end of this thing.
Buffalo lives to see another day, despite being generally outplayed most of the game. It seems awfully unlikely they’re going to win three more in a row but I guess stranger things have happened.
Now the series is even in more ways than one. Game before, Giguere had his worst game in the series. This game, Hasek had his worst of the series. Game before, Detroit solved their big problem and got their even strength mojo working. This game, Anaheim finally got their power play going and got Teemu Selanne to put a puck in net, something he had yet to do in this series. Anaheim played the game they needed to play and the Wings didn’t.
As I said earlier, this was the best chance the Wings were going to get to put Anaheim down to the mat. They failed, going down 3-1 before coming back in the second and eventually losing 5-3. Hasek is the obvious goat letting in four goals on 22 shots and looking far less than dominating, but Detroits top line was held scoreless as well. That said, Detroit got another goal from Bertuzzi who seems to be getting stronger as the playoffs go on (it’d be nice if the Wings could resign him in the off season) and two from Dan Cleary. Their power play continues to be strong, scoring two. Next game Hasek is going to have to be stronger and the defense may have to bail him out a bit if he looks shakey.
Anaheim looked better, but they have yet to dominate Detroit. 5-3 looks nice until you take away the empty netter and factor in that Detroit came back from two goals down in the second. Their penalty kill continues to struggle against the Wings. From the words coming out of Burkes mouth and not coming from Prongers, the big D man is going to come back with his temper still in game 3 mode. That’s not going to be helpful.
The one thing I’d note about last night’s game is, Hasek may have had a bad game, but conversely Giguere needed to be super sharp to keep the puck out of the net on a number of plays, especially in the third period. Anaheim’s back even in the series, but they still need to shore up their defensive play or Detroit will just take them. If they don’t win game 5 in Detroit, so they can close it at home in game 6, they might have no chance in a game 7.
Kudos to Ric Jackman who filled a huge pair of skates last night, scoring in his first shot on his first playoff game. He certainly took the sting off of the Prongerless Ducks. Selanne scoring in this series is also a relief of sorts as well as increased traffic (Marchant) in front of Hasek for Getzlaf’s game winning goal.
The penalties were moderate and close to even as well as the PPG for both teams, an improvement for the Ducks. The hooking penalty to Rob Neidermayer was very weak…actually non-existent…but it did set up the PPG for Cleary to tie the game in the 2nd period at 3-3. Smack the ref on that one.
Hasek caught Giguere’s sieveritis from game 3…18-22…how human they both look now.
Momentum doesn’t seem to be a factor at all in this series. Every night it seems that both teams are shooting craps on the ice. It’s shaping up to be a hell of a series.
And Ottawa wins it 3-2 in OT. Woo-hoo! Goin’ for the Cup, baby.
And for the first time, NBC carried the game, which meant I got to watch the whole thing…until the beginning of overtime, whereupon they went to ridiculous hour-long precap of the Preakness, and I had to go back to “watching” the game on the computer.
Lousy interference call by the ref on Comrie’s sliding into the net. He dove across the ice to stop a shot and couldn’t stop. Other than that, I was pretty pissed at the Sens for catching so many bloody penalties. They could’ve gone home after the 3rd if they’d kept their heads.