Game 1 Recap: Wings vs Hawks

The Blackhawks didn't take long in showing us why they were the best team in the regular season. Almost scoring in the very first 20 seconds after a blown coverage by a Wings defenseman made my heart almost stop beating. But just ten minutes into the 1st period, Toews found Hossa where he buried a one-timer passed Howard. Damien Brunner did tie things up shortly after Hossa's laser to give Wing's fans a sigh of relief and we made it through the first period with one goal a piece. It was a close game in the first and shots were 8-7 in favor of Detroit.

But then came the second period where Chicago turned it up to a different level of play. Blasting shot after shot and net-minder Jimmy Howard, the Hawks were knocking on the door. Bolland had a break away chance late in the second period and couldn't get it passed the reach of Howard's left pad. Howie, played great as always showing us why he has been our MVP in these playoffs. Howard was in great position throughout most of the night and made fantastic glove saves on great shots by the Hawks. At the end of the second period, tied 1-1 still, shots were now 23-12 in favor of Chicago and you could just sense where this game was going.

Wings lost their legs in the third period and Chicago seemed like they had 8 skaters on the ice at all times. They were everywhere, getting to every loose puck and it seemed we couldn't get the puck out of our zone.

“We just turned the puck over far, far too much,” Howard lamented afterward. “It seemed too much like every time we got it just past our own blue line, they were pushing back into our zone. We’ve got to clean that up.”

We turned into the team we were in the beginning of the season, scared of taking charge and started dumping and chasing. The Hawks forecheck was outstanding and the puck stayed in our zone like it was pulling an all-nighter. Hawks opened the game up with two goals mid-way through the third period from Oduya and Kruger and then getting there last one on an empty netter finishing the game 4-1 and leading the series 1-0.

My take on this game is that the Hawks were simply better than us. They are a very healthy and deep team that skates with four goal scoring lines. Sounds familiar to the Wings when they had Scotty Bowman as coach and we had dynamic goal scorers on multiple lines. Stan and Scotty Bowman are playing a key role in the success of building this Hawks team and its showing. We played well enough in the first and second periods and fell off the face of the earth in the third period. The Wing's achilles heel in the playoffs so far has been their third period play. Once again giving up 2 or more goals in the third which led the opposition to run away with game 1.

“In the third period we were giving up too many chances again,” Wings defensemanJonathan Ericsson said. “They were coming with breakaways and stuff like that. We’ve got to clean that up. It’s frustrating, but it’s only the first game.”

Wings had chances to pounce all over Crawford with a few open shots but we tried to get cute, forcing passes into lanes that were covered up by Hawks defenseman.  We are not going to get a ton of chances against this Hawks team and when we do, we have to take advantage of it. The refs blew two calls early in the game and Hossa showed us his theatrical skills while diving to the ground forcing the refs to put up his hand. Blown calls are frustrating to anyone, yet we didn't use our power play opportunities to get goals so it cancels itself out.

In the end of the day, Detroit kept themselves in the game keeping it 1-1 mid-way through the last period and then we fell apart. Hawks outshot the Wings 36-14 in the last 2 periods which is unacceptable and we must figure out a way to make it easier on Jimmy Howard or this series could be a short one.  It's time to move on and look forward to game 2.  We have a few days of rest and are already back in Detroit after flying home last night.  Lets rest up, re-evaluate and come to play Red Wings hockey Saturday early afternoon!!

We'll come back just like we did against Anaheim and split the series 1-1.  LETS GO WINGS!!!

OPERATION: BLACKHAWK DOWN!!

The time has come for the biggest rivals in the NHL today to go head to head for the chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals!  The Wings and Hawks have played the most head to head games in league history and tonight will be the 725th time these two squads go at it.  They have battled as Original Six foes, for the Stanley Cup Finals and butted heads in the Central division for years.  In the last five years both teams have hoisted the cup above their shoulders as Stanley Cup Champions (Wings have done this 11 times tho, might I add) and are squaring off once again and for the last times as Western Conference teams.

The Red Wings have served the Western Conference for many years helping to build a more traditional feel to it and next year will finally be moving to where they belong.  No more traveling to Vancouver, San Jose, and Los Angeles for road trips that never end wearing while wearing us out in the playoffs on a nightly basis.

The Wings and Hawks come into this series in much different roles than we are used to.  The Hawks finished the regular season with an NHL-best 77 points, 21 more than the Wings and 11 more than any other team in the Western Conference.  They are the 1 seed and WE are the 7 seed.  Chicago finished up the Minnesota Wild in an easy 5 games, while we busted our tails and beat the Ducks in a grueling 7 games.  Chicago is the favorite, the best team in the NHL and is "supposed" to win...BUT, lets not forget, for ONE SECOND, who they are playing...THE DETROIT F'N RED WINGS!!!

We all know what the Red Wings did in the last week of the regular season and what they just accomplished in beating the 2nd best team in the Western Conference.  Wings have not only won 8 of their last 11 games (which have basically all been playoff type games), they also have matured as a whole.

We topped the list this year in injuries throughout the season/1st round and our replacements have stepped their game up on the big stage!  The Andersson's, Lashoff's, Nyquist's, of the world have experienced so much and are in a groove right now.  We are mixing our veteran leadership with our young talent and its turned into greatness!  Now we move onto the second round where Chicago will be waiting to take advantage of that new growth but we will not let that happen people!

Let's get this out of the way right now, I HATE the blackhawks!  I DESPISE the blackhawks!  And blackhawks FANS DISGUST ME and deserve to rot in a filthy, dark hell!!!  In case you didn't know, my history with b-hawks fans goes back to 2009 Winter Classic where 8 hours after the Wings beat down the hawks at Wrigley Field, a blackhawks fan decided to cold cock me from BEHIND and broke my jaw in 2 places.  Putting my mouth on the IR for 2 months, wired shut!!  So for this series, PLEASE allow me to put my Angst towards this terribly, awful team on full display.

First of all, Hawks fans are the all-time worst.  Your existence probably began somewhere around the 2010 season when they won their 1st cup since anyone can remember OR you still have the creases in your brand new jersey bought this season when they went on their long winning streak to start the season.  Most of you came from some city in the Midwest where hockey wasn't the sport of choice or your home state simply didn't have a team.  So, you jumped on the next best thing coming down the street which was the Whackhawks bandwagon playing that stupid song they play when goals are scored (you thought it was catchy/trendy)!

I know "your" team is #1 in the NHL and played the best in the regular season, and beat the Wild 4-1 in round 1, BUT you are about to face off against a storied team with the best General in the land in Mike Babcock!  I know you went 4 for 4 against us, but let's be clear on this, 3 were in OT where two were won in a shootout (otherwise known as a skills competition).  We'll disregard the 7-1 outlier.  In the playoffs, games aren't won with shootout goals where Kane, skating slower than my grand mother, takes all the time in the world and finds a hole.  ANYONE can do that.  Playoff games are won with 5-5 hockey where the better, stronger team prevails.  And we've shown that 3 times against the Ducks in OT and are ready to bring that momentum to the UC tonight!

At this point, the Wings are playing great hockey and are bringing that swagger to this series.  No more flying back and forth from CA-MI/MI-CA, every other night switching multiple times zones.  Simply on and off a short flight so we can focus on the task at hand now.

We learned how to shut down the Ducks best scorer in Corey Perry and will adapt to the Hawks and continue to keep Kane and Toew's point totals down.

After playing a 7 game series against a top team in Anaheim, we know what it takes to win clutch, away games and will look to surprise everyone here in Chicago.

The Hawks are getting rusty with almost a week of sitting around while the Red Wings have been playing great playoff hockey for over 3 weeks!

We know what to expect tonight at the UC as we have been there before and taken you down 4-1 in the last playoff meeting to go on and win the Stanley Cup in 2009 AND will do it again!  This will be the last series that we play as Western Conference Foes so we are going to leave our mark.

This series is going to be a test of toughness, stamina, and coaching ability.  If our veteran's continue to produce, our young studs continue to develop, our MVP Jimmy Howard continues to amaze, and we skate like there is no tomorrow...I predict Wings move onto the Western Conference Finals beating the Hawks in 7 games!!

The United Center will be loud tonight at puck drop (8:30 pm EST) but the TIN LIZZIE will be rocking with "LETS GO RED WINGS" chant's flowing out the open facade window.  Get ready for a great series hockey fans, but more importantly Wings players, go out and beat up these bitches!!

LETS GO WINGS!!!

Red Wings Win Game 7, Advance to play Blackhawks!

Those pesky, pesky Ducks! They took us to a 7 game series that took years off my life, broke Dekeyser's hand, and included 4 OT's (Wings winning 3). They never gave up, coming back from multiple games where they were down by at least 2 goals in the 3rd period to tie and force overtime. The series went back and forth with neither team being able to win consecutive games...UNTIL last night!


The Red Wings played a fantastic game last night doing what I said they had to...score early and FIRST! Our goal scorer's in order from first to last were Zetterberg, Abdelkader and Filppula. Abdelkader scoring his on a short handed break away and Filppula getting his first of the series on a backhanded wrister which started with a great pass from the Captain!


The Ducks did not quit and got another goal late in the third making it 3-2 which had Wings fans thinking "not again!" But in this game we didn't give up the lead and go to OT, we battled hard and stuck it out. We won those 50/50 pucks, we battled hard on the boards and we made Hiller's night hell by getting men to the net. Our defense shutdown their scoring chances and Howard was magnificent once again! Great team effort tonight from a Detroit team that truly NEVER GAVE UP! (NGU)


“I just thought we had played so well and we were playing hard enough that we were going to be rewarded,” coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought our guys were great tonight. I thought we were organized, I thought we were prepared, I thought we were pretty loose. We started on time. We had lots of good players.”


Now we look forward to the series that the hockey world has been salivating over. Two original six teams that absolutely hate one another. The last time we met in the playoffs, the Wings beat the Hawks 4-1 in the Western Conference finals (where we lost to the Penguins in Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals). This series is filled with bad blood and I can't wait to see the Wings go toe to toe with the best regular season team this year! Hawks won all 4 meetings this season with 3 going to overtime and 2 ending in a shootout.


As for right now, I am living off of last night's amazing game 7, series ending win by my Wings and will continue to do so until the end of my work day today. Real soon, my blood will start to boil and all of my angst, hate and animosity towards the Chicago Blackhawks will be put on full display as we prepare for round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!!  GET READY!!

GO WINGS!!

HIGHLIGHTS in case you missed it:
Highlights from Game 7

GAME 7 GAME 7 GAME 7!!!

WOW!! This is it, must win, do or die game for the Detroit Red Wings tonight in Anaheim. This is the first game 7 tonight for Detroit but the Wings have been playing game 7 type hockey over the last few weeks of the season. With 4 games to go in the last week of the season, Detroit had their backs against the wall and had played 4 must win games and won all 4 of them! With veteran leadership and the young guys stepping up, we made it into the playoffs as a 7th seed. Wings had to win Friday night in Detroit to force a game 7 and we showed our grit and determination while winning another overtime thriller. 

Their have been 4 OT games in this best of 7 series with all of Detroit's 3 wins coming in dramatic OT fashion. Goals by Nyquist in game 2, Brunner in game 4 and most recently our captain Zetterberg's winner in game 6. The last time Detroit and Anaheim met for game 7 was on May 14th 2009, Detroit won 4-3 on goals from Jiri Hudler, Darren Helm, Mikael Samuelsson and Daniel Cleary.



Detroit's series against Anaheim has been the best series by far! Besides Montreal/Ottawa's physical series that seemed like their was a fight every 5 minutes, our series has packed a physical punch. We represent the first and only game 7 matchup so far in these playoffs and are the last remaining series in the Western Conference. Play from Jonas Hiller and Jimmy Howard has been superb keeping these games real tight and fairly stressful. No team has won back to back games but this is game 7 and anything can happen!

“We have played them six times,” Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Both teams know each other in and out. It’s tight. There are a lot of emotions. You don’t do it often and that’s why it’s special.”


“It’s two teams that match up really well,” Kronwall said. “It’s really tight out there. It’s going to be a battle. It’s probably going to be a one-goal game again.”


The veterans have been great as of late with Zetterberg and Datsyuk stepping up in game 6 combining for 3 goals, more importantly the game 6 clincher by Zetty! They (Z and Pavs) will always play well, its our young studs that must continue growing and playing with a sense of purpose. The wings used to be the team with a roster full of old vets, the wings are different today and are younger than they've been in years. Our young guns are have matured and have played through tough games with everything on the line and they need to be GREAT tonight!!


“You have to keep control of your emotions,” Kronwall said. “Don’t think too much. Just play like you have all season long. We have some great talent. Everyone has been more mature. Sure we have made mistakes, but on average, the mistakes we make now are not the same mistakes that we did earlier this season.”


Two things that we need to focus on today, our Mother's and the Red Wings winning this GI-NORMOUS game tonight to advance to the second round (which means the Blackhawks, YES!!). Not getting ahead of myself though because we still have the Ducks standing in our way, on their home ice. But tonight, every Red Wing will be playing hard, smart, and to show the world how well we (Detroit) responds to adversity. The Honda Center will be going nuts and like game 6 we need to get that first goal, taking the crowd of it.


It's another late one on the west coast, so get your coffee brewing, beer mugs ice cold, wearing your Sundays best (wings gear), because we are in for a treat tonight and most of us will be calling in sick come Monday morning!



LETS GO RED WINGS!!

BATTLE: NHL PLAYOFFS vs SPORTSCENTER!

What is wrong you ESPN and Sportscenter?!?!? I watch your station everyday, I am loyal, and you slap me in the face every morning during these NHL playoffs. You spend 10 minutes on the Spurs/Warriors game alone and only give the entire night of NHL playoff hockey 1.5 MINUTES?!?!

Their were FOUR NHL playoff hockey games last night and THREE OF THEM WENT INTO OVERTIME with thrilling finishes! Not to mention, there have been tons of vicious hitting, fighting, suspensions, etc. What more can you ask for??

The NBA is so fucking boring! A player twists an ankle and they are out for the game. ESPN spends 15 minutes every hour talking about wether or not Derrick Rose will hike up his skirt and suit up for a game that requires you to dribble and shoot a ball. First of all, man up D-Rose! Either suit up or STFU!! I don't need ex-NBA players (like Bruce Bowen and his fruity bow tie) coming on Sportscenter to figure out how much of a pussy you are being. (I understand his situation, but we know your not playing at all during these playoffs so put an end to your daily soap opera and tell the world your out! If not, take out your tampon and get your ass on the court because Miami just put a beat down on your bulls!!)

The NHL playoffs are better and better every game and viewership is at an all time high. Every night there are multiple overtime nail bitters that keep you on the edge of your seat. Goalies are making jaw dropping, finesse saves on quality scoring chances night after night that make head spin. Players like Pavel Datsyuk are scoring goals that should be #1 on your top ten plays (yet they don't even make the segment) But, instead you'd rather insert a simple dunk from player who's 6'10''...ooh wow! Half of these top ten dunks are the equivalent to me dunking on a 6 foot fisher price hoop in my backyard!!

It's even more pathetic when the only sportscenter segments that get a tiny block of NHL highlights are when certain anchors like Linda Cohn, Steve Levy, and Barry Melrose happen to be on. I bet they have to fight the producers every morning over a cup of coffee to get a 1 minute "highlight express" of the entire night of hockey.

This is bullshit and it needs to end ASAP!! You are killing your NHL fans who watch ESPN everyday. The NHL is the only sport where if you look away for more than 10 seconds, you may miss a fantastic move, jaw dropping save or a malicious check that knocks the opponents teeth out! I am not asking for full game analysis (because that will never happen). All I ask is that you give us full game highlights of every game so the world/NHL fans can see the greatness that is the NHL PLAYOFFS!!

LETS GET IT WINGS!!! GAME 5 X-factors

We are back in the damn sunny state of California again where crucial game 5 will be played.  With the series split 2-2, Game 5's outcome will tell us a lot about where the Red Wings and Ducks will be next week.  I sure as hell hope that outcome is taking game 5 and 6 and landing here in Chicago ready to play game 1 at the UC because I will be scratching and tugging my way on Craiglist/Stubhub to get myself a ticket!

I am not here to talk about how travel might affect the wings (because its playoff time) or what historical data says about who wins this series or how our lack of depth may come into play.  THROW ALL THAT OUT because we played 4 games against the ducks, we have dealt with travel/injuries already and we know what to expect tonight at the Honda Center!  The fans are going to be extremely loud, Hiller is going to be on his game, and the ducks skaters will be very physical.  We just need to understand all those factors and do our very best to neutralize it...very simple right?

With Justin Abdelkader out for one more game, Samuelsson will be receiving more minutes tonight on the top line with Zetty-B and Pavs.  He will need to contribute a great amount and our top veterans should make it easy on him as long as he gets to the net and is more physical.  The 36 year old Swede can still play and needs to perform on the top line tonight.

“I felt good actually,” Samuelsson said Tuesday afternoon at the team hotel. “I shouldn’t say surprising, but I felt like I’ve been in (all along). I felt fresh and like I can go tomorrow again.”

Another old vet that will need to be huge for the Wings tonight is Todd Bertuzzi.  He played in Game 2, sat out in Game 3 (where we got dominated) and added extra value to the 4th lines in Game 4 with Eaves and Emmerton.  I love Bertuzzi and he needs to be strong tonight  with his passing and forechecking to be effective.  

“I had been out for three months so kind of understand what it takes in order to come in,” said Bertuzzi, who has dealt with a sore back all season. “The other lines have been pretty much playing pretty well so it’s just something you got to adapt to. You have to change your game. It’s a little bit different. You can’t afford to make those high-risk plays in our end. You’ve got to keep it simple and go from there.”

Tonight is going to be a late one, but I can't wait to see our wings come out to play tonight!  No team has built enough momentum to record back-to-back wins in this series and there is no better time than tonight's game 5.  

“I concur with that but I'm a believer that's how the playoffs are,” Babcock said. “You just keep playing and you take them one at a time, the highs and lows of it. There's huge highs and huge lows, that's just the playoffs each and every year. One minute you think, 'Oh, my God we're never winning!' and the next minute you think you're going to win the series.”

Gotta win the puck battles against the boards, find the loose pucks and get them to the net, mirroring what we did to Hiller with 49 shots on Monday.  Sharpen up our defense to eliminate their scoring chances and make life a bit easier for Howard (even though he's has been sensational so far).

Wings need a full team effort but it definitely starts with our veteran fill-ins Samuelsson and Bertuzzi since their role has increased.  Puck drop 10pm EST/9pm CST so wings fans get ready for a great one tonight!!

LETS GO RED WINGS!! #LGRW

Sweet, Swede Redemption! Game 4 Recap Red Wings vs. Ducks.

Last time Damien Brunner was on the ice in front of the net, Getzlaf picked his pocket and scored in Game 3.  Last night, Damien Brunner was in the right spot at the right time and put home the OT game winner over Hiller's left pad to tie this series at 2 games a piece!!  What a moment for the SWEDE!!

"We used [Brunner] more sparingly tonight because other guys were playing heavier on the puck," Babcock said. "He's a guy that just flat-out scores, knows how to score. He's going to be a good Red Wing in time. He's going to learn how to play right, and how to play heavy. You don't have to be heavy to play heavy, but he'll figure all that stuff out."

This game had it all and the wings NEVER GAVE UP showing how resilient they can be!   Down 2-1 in the game and the series, Pavel Datsyuk got our wings right back in it with a top shelf lazer of a goal that sent Hiller's water bottle flying!  We possessed the puck, had great forechecking and blasted Hiller with 49 shots!  Our 3rd and 4th lines played fantastic and props to Babcock for being the brains behind creating that wonderful chemistry all night between Bertuzzi and the young guns.  

KRONWALLED:

The Wings had great play from so many players in Game 4 and I could name almost every player on the roster who had ice time, but their are a few that really stood out to me.  Bertuzzi TOI: 14:55 with 4 shots was superb! It's so nice to have a big bodied skater like Bertuzzi with such great hands to shovel the puck around the ice to the right teammates.  Eaves, probably had the best game of the season with 4 shots as well as great decision making.  Congrats to Brendan Smith finally getting on the board with his 1st Stanley Cup Playoff goal!  

Such a great win for the wings as they skated hard to every puck, really kept the ducks on their heels and we got the OT victory to send it back to Anaheim 2-2.  The Wings did have some defensive hiccups and we gave up wide open nets that Perry doesn't normally miss.  This game could've gone either way with the way our defense played and we need eliminate the mistakes in our on zone.  

You all know I love Howard and he is by far our best player on the ice.  With how bad our defense played at times, Howard was there to bail us out with his great goaltending.  Howard was amazing last night and showed how a hot goalie can keep a team in it! 

Game 3 and 4 were polar opposites but we are in good position to win this series.  It's a best of 3 series at this point and all the pressure is on the Ducks.  The longer the series goes, the better I like our chances!

LETS GO WINGS!!

Full game highlight of game 4:

http://redwings.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2012030164

FUNNY FAN MOMENT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BurDAlX77RU&sns=em