Recap: Detroit Red Wings 4, Minnesota Wild 1

Bleacher ReportDec 23, 2007

The Wings once again put the Wild in their place with their second dominant performance against the boys from “Farber’s Hockeytown.”

Minnesota stayed roughly competitive for a little over a period and a half, but the Wings pulled away in the final five minutes of the second and never really looked back.

For Detroit, it was a return to their “A” game.

A few thoughts on the game:

Dominik Hasek got the start for the Wings and made 18 saves. He didn’t have to make many big stops, but he was there when required and improved to 9-0-2 in his career against the Wild. He looked a little out of position on the lone Minnesota goal, but it was deflected in off Chris Chelios so it may not have made any difference. With the Wings dominating puck possession, Dom was mostly along for the ride, anyway.

At the other end of the ice was Niklas Backstrom, and I think he deserves a good chunk of credit for stopping 47 shots, many of which required monster saves. He robbed a couple Wings, including Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula—though the Wings scored a split second later on that latter chance. Backstrom is the only reason this game wasn’t a rout on the scoreboard, as opposed to just about everywhere else.

As I wrote above, the Wings’ first goal came just after a glorious Filppula chance was denied by Backstrom. Filp had the whole right side of the net to shoot at, but Backstrom managed to knock it down with his glove and stick as he dove across. He didn’t control the puck, however, and Pavel Datsyuk immediately followed up by knocking it into the net. You can’t fault Backstrom for that one, as the puck squirted out to Filppula after coming at the net from the left point and Datsyuk was left unmolested in front of the net.

It doesn’t appear in the play-by-play, but early in the second period, while on the power play, Brett Lebda put the puck in the net at the tail end of a flurry that included the bowling over of Johan Franzen by a Wild defender into Backstrom. Backstrom ended up essentially on his back with the puck between his legs. The down low official stepped up, into the crease, to see if it was still live. It ended up getting picked up by Lebda, whose shot glanced off the officials calf on it’s way in. That ref signaled it was a goal, but the play went immediately to review because of the ref at center ice.

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At first, the consensus was that something was being called on Franzen for having fallen into Backstrom. However, that theory was soon ruled out as it was noticed that the puck had gone in off the ref. The goal was waived off because of Rule 85.4:
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If a goal is scored as a result of being deflected directly into the net off an official, the goal shall not be allowed.
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Okay. I can accept that. I just want to know what the heck the ref was doing in the crease. That was a major brain cramp on the part of that official (I’m not sure if it was Chris Lee or Dennis LaRue).
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At 15:14, Johan Franzen made it 2-0 with a nice individual effort. Jiri Hudler intercepted a Wild outlet pass sent it to Mikael Samuelsson, who dropped it for Franzen along the left-wing boards. Johan carried the puck around behind the net and back out front on the right side. For whatever reason, Backstrom didn’t hold the post and Franzen roofed it on what should have been a fairly routine save. The goal pretty much came out of the blue.

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There has been some debate in the media about the value of second assists, but I have to say that Hudler’s was deserved on this one. Had he not made the play on the Minnesota pass, Franzen never would have had a chance to make Backstrom look foolish.
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The Wings scored again 45 seconds later. This time, it was Dan Cleary, who benefited from a beautiful long pass by Nick Lidstrom and broke in on Backstrom all alone. He put a quick blocker-side wrister into the net with Brent Burns trailing to make it 3-0 Wings.

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Brett Lebda got the second assist—and this time, I think it was a bit of a crock, since the puck did nothing more than glance off his skate when the Wild shot it into the Detroit end. Lidstrom’s great pass was all the assistance Cleary required. Nick’s awareness that Minnesota was going through a line change—which was well-outlined by the FSN crew—and the accuracy of the pass made it all happen.
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At 18:27, Valtteri Filppula was called for holding. I don’t recall ever seeing a holding penalty called when neither of a player’s hands ever left his stick, so this was new to me. Fil was trying to split a pair of defenders, and used his right arm in a battle for the puck, the possession of which he had only just lost. I believe the official behind the play made the call, which may explain it. It looked like an innocent battle for the puck from the front, but perhaps from the back it looked like that most heinous of all hockey penalties—the offensive-zone hold.

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What made the penalty even more untimely was the fact that the Wild scored on the subsequent power play. The really unfortunate part of that sequence was that a Red Wing clearing attempt was masterfully blocked by the linesman. The puck stayed in the zone and it wasn’t much later that the Wild got within two. The puck went in off a diving Chelios and left a somewhat out-of-position Hasek with little chance at stopping it.
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Given that they scored at 19:51 of the second period, you would have thought the Wild would have had a boost going into the third. Whatever they had hoped to do, however, was thwarted by one of the Wings' more impressive defensive performances of the season.

"Minnesota managed just two shots in the first eight minutes of the period and five total in the third. They had managed just seven in each of the first two periods. The Wings put up 16, 17, and 18 for a total of 51, dominating offensively while maintaining a high defensive standard."

Tomas Kopecky rounded out the scoring at 9:59 with a gritty goal right on the doorstep. He seems to be getting better every night.

In the absence of Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula and Dan Cleary really stepped up their play, seeing time on the same line with Pavel Datsyuk.

"Fil has been on the verge of breaking out all season, and it appears we are finally witnessing his transition from a somewhat bumbling second-year player to a mature two-way dominant force. Cleary is showing once again that he can both grind it out on the third line and skate with the stars."

All in all, it was another strong win for the Wings, who enter the Christmas break on a high note, despite uncertainty about the health of two of their stars. The Wings obviously want Hank and Holmstrom back as soon as possible, but they showed last night that they can still win if other guys step it up. The Wings demonstrated their depth last night and showed why they have to be considered the best team in the NHL at this point in the season.

That’s especially encouraging, given the chance that Zetterberg’s back could keep him out of some games in the future. Personally, I’d like to think about that contingency as little as possible, but you know the Wings have considered it.

If the trade deadline were tomorrow and the playoffs started the day after that, I wouldn’t change a thing about the team as it stands now, but with the news that Hank’s back isn’t always fine, trade (or free agent) possibilities are on the table.

Over at Abel to Yzerman, IwoCPO looks at some trade options.

There is, of course, always the chance that Hank’s back could turn out to be nothing to worry about, and he may return to the lineup right after the Break, seemingly none the worse for wear. We can only hope.

Other than the Links, I have just one more thing to point out. After the game, Kris Draper was asked where he was going. His answer?