Detroit Red Wings-Nashville Predators: Thoughts on Game 1

The Detroit Red Wings skated away with a 3-1 victory last night against the Nashville Predators in game one of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

As a Wings fan I’m happy with the outcome. However, if you watched the game, you might have noticed that Detroit didn’t look nearly as physical as they did in last year’s opening round against the Calgary Flames.

For this reason, the game was far tighter than it should have been leading up to the final minutes before Henrik Zetterberg potted his second goal of the night into an empty net.

Yes, the Wings out shot Nashville 40-20 and controlled the play most of the night although those shot totals are very misleading.

First, home teams always get a few extra clicks on the shot counter, Detroit is no exception. Secondly, too many of these shots came from the perimeter where Nashville netminder, Dan Ellis, was able to easily swat them away without much effort.

Where you need to look is the quality scoring chances between both clubs and in this regard things were far more even.

Speaking with some fans during and after the game I heard the same mantra from years past, “another no-name goalie stonewalling us”.

I hummed this same tune many times over the past six years. My song has changed as last night I finally came to the conclusion that the Wings have a habit of making the opposing goalie look far better than they should.

For stretches at a time, there didn’t appear to be any red-and-white sweaters in the vicinity of the Nashville net. The Wings, once again, seemed content to control play from the outside, while the Predators were more than happy to allow them real-estate several feet from any potential scoring areas. Any goaltender, old or young, experienced or unproven, would relish 40 shots from bad angles and long distances. It allows them to stay active in a game while gaining confidence; especially against the league leading Detroit Red Wings.

In last year's opening game against the Flames, the Wings flew out of the gate hitting everything in sight, sending a message to the visiting roughhouses from Alberta that they would not be intimidated or pushed around.

Over that 6-game series Detroit proved to be the more physical while showing more heart and emotion than Calgary. The Wings continued this trend all the way into the Western Conference Finals before they were eliminated by the Ducks.

This same level of physical play and emotion wasn’t present in last night’s opener. The Wings have had many first round upsets in the past few playoffs and part of the reason is because they are easily lulled into matching their opponent’s efforts.

In boxing, Teddy Atlas calls this ‘entering into a silent contract’ where both parties agree to a certain level of exertion without uttering a word. In the past, more times than not, it would transpire in the Wings losing a close contest where the opposing goalie was made to look better than he really was.

Dan Ellis played a very solid game last night but for the most part his job wasn’t as difficult as it should have been. I don’t want to make it sound as if Detroit played poorly because they didn’t. They exerted their strategy and earned a victory for it.

Nevertheless, if the Wings want to advance further through a very tough and taxing Western Conference they’ll have to find another level physically and emotionally. A level they’ll need to attain without an invitation from their opponent.

Henry Dyck