Big Red Machine

I wanted to post up my three stars of the series for the Red Wings against the Coyotes, and kind of pick up again on this little weekly feature that I had done earlier in the season…

#3: Jimmy Howard
You gotta hand it to the kid. His first ever playoff series, and it goes to Game 7, and he walks away a winner.  Sure, he let up some softies at some bad times.  Sure, he didn’t stand on his head every single game, or really steal a win at any point.  But he also didn’t completely lose a game, and that’s the most important part.  He got the benefit of the doubt from me this time.  He also bounced back in a huge way after flopping in Game 3 with the shutout in Game 4.

#2: Nicklas Lidstrom
Nick showed us in Game 7 that he’s not done yet, in which he doubled his points for the post-season thus far.  But what the stats don’t show is that he’s still an amazing shutdown defenseman, and still better than a Norris Trophy candidate this year *cough*mikgreen*ahem*.  He got his job done, played big minutes, and took zero penalty minutes.

#1: Henrik Zetterberg
If you ask me, Henrik Zetterberg was just made for the playoffs.  He only scored 23 goals in 74 games for a 31% scoring rate.  This round he had 6 goals in 7 games, with 2 GWGs.  That’s absurd.  Hank lifts his game to a completely different level this time of year, and it shows offensively.  Not to mention, he’s also still a defensive force, the only player other player along with Stuart who is +6.  He’s looked like the Conn Smythe winner of 2008.

Honorable Mentions:
Pavel Datsyuk (5-3-8, +2), Valtteri Filppula (3-4-7, +4), Brad Stuart (2-4-6, +6)

That was one of those games that proves that low scoring, tight games are no less entertaining than high scoring barn burners.  That feeling of “this is fun to watch” was quickly washed out when Lebda lost Modin, who scored in OT.  In a strange way, I feel less upset about the Wings having been shutout, maybe because it was a 1-0 final score, and also because it was really a game for the goaltenders.  Ridiculous, both of them.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: none
Columbus: Frederik Modin (Tyutin, Pahlsson)

Pluses
+ The Wings finally got things started on time.  They were alert in the first, with a good amount of jump to their game.  They seemed more engaged than I’ve seen recently, crashing and banging around.  If Mason hadn’t decided to play like his Calder-winning, Vezina-nominated self from last year, I feel like the Wings would have won.
+ I remember when Brad Stuart was given his contract extension of $3.75mil per for 4 years, some people thought it was a little on the high side.  Doesn’t look like it now, does it?  He has been worth every single penny and more this season.
+ Pavel looked more like his Datsyukian self, even though he didn’t score.  I was so certain he was going to win it in OT.
+ Ritola played 9:40, with 1:35 spent on the power play.  He got 2 SOG, 1 hit, and a takeaway.  He also drew a tripping call in the 2nd.  I thought he was good–looked motivated.  He battled for pucks along the boards, and had some good defensive moments when it came to keeping the puck in the Columbus’ zone, and a nice chance on Mason.
+ Nice to see May finally do his job and drop the gloves with Boll, who had roughed up Pavel earlier.  And Janik had a less successful fight, but still good to see him with some fire.

Minuses
- Our power play still sucks.  Couldn’t score on the 5-4, 4-3, of 5-3.
– Columbus blocked a ton of shots, but I felt like the Wings weren’t really peppering Mason with too many difficult ones, anyway.  They have absolutely got to stop with the perimeter shots, because they don’t do anything.  Babcock mentioned it during an interview with Bob Harwood on VS, and I simply can’t figure out why they’re not crashing the crease, when it’s clear that’s what they both want, and need to do.
– The Wings really got outplayed physically.  Hits were 39 to 13.
– I hate listening to Joe Beninati.  Not only does his voice make me want to stab sharp things into my eardrums, but he uses such horrid, flowery, overwrought phrases in his broadcasting.

Wings don’t play again until Thursday, back at the Joe against the Avalanche.  I’ll be there.

My picks for the stars of the week 12/21-12/27

#3: Valtteri Filppula
He didn’t put any points up in his return against Columbus, but Flip was clearly a steadying force out on the ice. As I mentioned in my game recap, it was so relieving to have one of the top players back, and not have to worry about horrible blue-line turnovers

#2: Brad Stuart
The guy hasn’t really gotten any press for it, but he’s been a stalwart on the blueline this season.  He’s not putting up points, but he’s done a helluva job just being steady on defense.  He’s on the power play, penalty kill, and even strength, and is really just doing it all, quietly.

#1: Todd Bertuzzi
I can’t not go with Bert for first star, as he netted both goals against Columbus to win the game.  And I’m still amazed with his backchecking and defensive work ethic.

My picks for Detroit’s stars of the week for 11/30-12/13:

#3: The Penalty Kill
I don’t know if it’s lame to choose the entire penalty kill, but it has just been so good of late as a whole.  Babcock praised Helm and Eaves in particular, for getting into the lanes and blocking shots.  And Stuart has continued to be just a solid, sturdy defender.  This week the Wings killed 11 penalties, and allowed 1 power play goal.

#2: Jimmy Howard
Jimmy started two out of three games this week, with one win and one loss. The loss against the Blues, however, would have been a win on any other night, had the offense showed up. He played a great game against the Blues. I haven’t watched the Anaheim game from Friday, but he was named first star, made 25 saves with a .926 SV%.

#1: Todd Bertuzzi
Maybe Bert heard that Red Wings Nation collectively decided to burn an effigy of him as sacrifice to the Hockey Gods. Whatever the reason, Bertuzzi has looked like a man possessed the past two games, with 4 goals. And two of those being OT GWGs. He’s been responsible defensively all season, but hasn’t been able to make anything of his chances.  The past games he not only has scored a pair in each, but they were, for the most part, gorgeous goals. He’s confident, like someone wound the clock backwards a little bit.  So cheers, Todd.