Red Wings-Blackhawks: Defending Champs Humble the Up-and-Coming Challengers

It’s been touted by some learn-ed one (guru), that Henrik Zetterberg would make the difference for the Detroit Red Wings in their series against the Chicago Blackhawks. However, he didn’t make any startling appearance in game one. He did get an assist on the Red Wings’ fourth goal, and he did put the puck into an empty net during a 5-2 victory.

But perhaps he has yet-to-fly.

The Hawks came out like predators in the opening minutes of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Wings, and Adam Burish scored, unassisted, five minutes into the first. The Wings appeared on-the-run until Dan Cleary’s unassisted goal at 8:23 toned down the Hawks’ charge and the Red Wings were back in the fray.

As a power play for Detroit ended with less than five minutes left in the first frame, they gave up the puck and a breakaway goal was averted, but only because of Chris Osgood's alertness.

Detroit once again had several chances to score on their power play in the opening four minutes of the second, but Nikolai Khabibulin shut them down like a brick wall!

The last six minutes of the second period included fast action from both sides, but it seemed that the Red Wings, again, had more opportunities. Finally, Johan Franzen put an unassisted goal away at 16:38 to put Detroit ahead 2-1 on a big giveaway from the young Blackhawks’ defence.  Franzen out-muscled Duncan Keith behind the Hawks’ net, then scored on a quick wraparound.

The first three goals in this game were all unassisted, an unusual occurrence.

Keith and Brent Seabrook were strong up to this point in the playoffs, but struggled in the first half of game one.

“They’ve really been great this playoff,” Cleary said of Seabrook and Keith. “We came in making sure we got it behind them and forced them to play defense. We try to be physical on them. But they’re two good players. Seabrook’s physical and Keith’s a great skater, so you’ve got to make sure that you pick them up when he’s coming up ice and you’ve got to have your head on a swivel with them.”

The Detroit defence shut down the top Hawks' players, as Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were unable to demonstrate their skill and were not given any quality scoring chances, while Chicago’s defence failed to slow down Zetterberg, Franzen and Cleary late in the game.

With the game tied 2-2, Mikael Samuelsson and Cleary scored just 1:27 apart to secure a 4-2 lead and a Game 1 victory. It was Cleary's second goal of the game. What is amazing is that while Detroit's focal players contributed in a big way, Chicago’s Seabrook, Keith, Kane and Toews combined for a minus-10 rating.

“I thought we had some good backside pressure…that makes our job a little easier,” Lidstrom said. “You try to push them to the outside. They’re good hockey players and they’re good at hanging on to the puck. I think the players out there against that line did a real good job defensively.”

“You’ve got to spend some time in their end because you know you’re going to be in your end a little bit,” Blackhawks’ coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ve got to be better.”

Chicago’s defense seemed to be backing up on Detroit through game's end.

If not for Khabibulin, the 5-2 win for the Wings could have been somewhat higher. Three minutes into the third, on a power play, Kris Versteeg tipped one in for Chicago, to tie the score. It looked as if the Blackhawks would be able to steal one in Motown, but four minutes later Samuelsson scored to put Detroit ahead for the last time in the game.

At the 19:17 mark during the third period, Zetterbergs found the empty net and the Red Wings pulled ahead 5-2, giving them a 1-0 series lead.

Chicago will have to pick up the tempo of the games and the star players will have to be their stars. For Chicago to go far in this series, Toews and Kane will have to play years beyond their age, as game one seemed to pit boys against men.

It isn't over yet, but the fat lady is just starting to warm up her vocal cords!