Recap: Detroit Red Wings 4, Dallas Stars 1

Bleacher ReportJan 2, 2008

The Detroit Wings reached 30 wins at the earliest point in the season in team history last night, setting a pace ahead even of the 62-win team.

Of course, as Bruce MacLeod points out, if you take away shootout wins, the Wings are behind the '95-'96 squad.

But let's not detract from the team’s accomplishment here. At the halfway point, the Wings look like one of the most dominant teams in the last decade, shootout wins or not. They still have a long way to go, and will be hard pressed to match the 62-win squad’s four losses in the second half, but they’re showing few signs of slowing down.

A few thoughts on the game...

...The first period started slowly, but picked up after a big hit by Niklas Kronwall on Loui Eriksson. Unfortunately, it took place off camera and I never saw a replay, but I could tell from the reaction of the crowd (loud cheers, people standing up) that it was a monster.

Just nine seconds later, Dan Cleary scored 13th of the year. From around the time of Cleary’s goal, the game’s tempo was good.

...The Stars “scored” at 5:34 of the second period, but it was immediately waived off. Replays showed that Chris Connor had knocked the puck in with his glove while falling. Nice awareness on the ref’s part there.

...The Wings were looking pretty sloppy for most of the first seven or so minutes of the period. Their passing was overly cute and, as a result, they didn’t connect as often as they should have. Things turned around after their second goal.

...Aaron Downey had a great shift leading up to the Franzen tally. He took a hit from Mark Fistric along the left wing boards in the Detroit end and seconds later, he notched his first point as a Red Wing with a beautiful pass that found Johan Franzen free a step behind the Stars defense. Johan made good use of the open ice and deked Marty Turco out of his jockstrap on his way to his seventh goal.

I noticed in this game that, while Turco is a great goalie, he gets deked rather easily.

...You can tell Valtteri Filppula has been paying close attention to Pavel Datsyuk. His puck handling mannerisms are looking more like Pavel’s all the time.

He even tried Datsyuk’s patented half-spin-pull-the-puck-between-the-feet-while avoiding-a-hit move (you know what I mean; must think of a shorter name) at one point during the second period.

It wasn’t quite as successful as Pavel generally is, but it was nice to see him try it.

...I love Henrik Zetterberg, and have since before he first donned the Winged Wheel. But his tendency to take the puck down the wing and around behind the net drives me nuts.

So rarely does that play develop into something worthwhile. I know he doesn’t necessarily have the size, but what I wouldn’t give to see him drive to the net like this!

And yes, I know it was his first game back from an injury, but it’s something he’s done all season.

I thought he looked stronger as the game went on. He certainly made his linemates better once Mike Babcock started throwing him together with guys like Matt Ellis and Tomas Kopecky.

Zetterberg made a great pass to Dallas Drake to set up the Wings’ third goal, though Drake benefited more from Turco’s puzzling slowness to get across and close his 5-hole. It was Drake’s first goal in his return to the Wings.

...Chris Osgood was stellar last night. He bailed the Wings D out a couple times, and earned a chant from the JLA crowd for a diving “save” on a shot that followed an odd bounce off the boards. It was probably going wide, but he recovered nicely from his expectation that he would be able to intercept the shoot-in behind the net.

...About seven and a half minutes into the period, Steve Ott knocked Nick Lidstrom down while the latter was already off balance at center. Seconds later, Dallas Drake stood up for his captain and got Ott to fight.

It was a short match and a relatively easy win for Ott, but it reinforced the message the Wings have been broadcasting all season: They aren’t going to stand for shots at their stars.

...Unfortunately, the result of the fight was that the Stars got somewhat rejuvenated.

Immediately afterwards, the two teams looked pretty even. As the game neared the halfway mark of the period, however, the Stars began to take over. One shift beginning around 10:00 held the Wings in the zone for a good 50 seconds.

...Despite the Stars’ improved play, the Wings took a 4-0 lead at 13:13. Valtteri Filppula carried the puck into the zone, and it ended up on Cleary’s stick after Fil’s shot went off the side of the net. Cleary dished it off to Nick Lidstrom at the point while Pavel Datsyuk headed to the net. Lidstrom faked a shot and waited for the crowd in front of the goal to clear before shooting toward the left side of the net. Datsyuk got his stick on it out front, and it changed direction to the upper right corner.

...At 13:59, the Stars got on the scoreboard and ruined Osgood’s shutout. The play began with an unfortunate turnover by Aaron Downey, who worked hard to make up for it in the subsequent seconds. Unfortunately, he just missed intercepting a pass down low from Fistric, and the Wings were inexplicably caught out of position.

The initial shot was blocked and had Osgood well out of the net on the left side, leaving the road open for Eriksson to pick up the puck and score on a wrap-around.

...To their credit, the Stars did not give up as the game wound down. The game remained exciting, if not in doubt, to the end.

...The JLA crowd was louder than usual, I noticed. While that may not be saying much, as it is generally about as loud as a restaurant, they went beyond mere cheering and actually began various chants.

The game ended to the sound of “Ozzie! Ozzie!”

...One general comment: The Wings’ defensive effort was quite strong, I thought. There was nearly always a Red Wings standing ready to clear the puck from the front of the net after Osgood made the save, so that the Stars rarely had an opportunity to follow up a shot.

As pointed out by Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond, Detroit's strategy of having one defenseman grind out the puck along the boards while the other stood in the slot worked very well. The guy on the boards would sent the puck out to the slot and the slot man would send it up ice to start the breakout.

...They announced late in the third period that Tomas Kopecky had gone down with a hand injury. His last shift ended at 13:59 (the Dallas goal), but I don’t remember anything in particular that would shed light on how he got hurt. It’s possible that the team will need to call up Mark Hartigan again.

...One more general comment: I thought the Wings did a fair job of taking it to the Stars physically. Kronwall and Lilja had a few big hits, though none of them made the NHL’s Highlight Reel.

...The Wings get a couple days of rest and practice now before they face the Stars again on Saturday for a matinée game. The Stars, on the other hand, will play tonight in Minnesota. Hopefully we can expect a result similar to this one this weekend.

Links

Highlights
Bruce MacLeod
George Malik (wrap-up)
George Malik (multimedia)
Clark Rasmussen
Abel to Yzerman

Red Wings TV postgame interviews