Big Red Machine

I took some pictures from the Red Wings v Rangers pre-season game on the 21st.  Most are from the warmup, and a few from the game (All photos © Ellen Manuszak).

Also, I had posted this on Twitpic, but it’s true–Dan Cloutier was between the pipes in a Red Wings uniform.

Yes it’s just the pre-season, but I’m still upset that we lost. The Red Wings had a fairly atrocious first period, but got it back together in the 2nd and 3rd. The finishing isn’t quite there yet.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit – Leino (Filppula, Ryno); Maltby (Abdelkader, Delmore)
New York – Prospal (pp; unassisted); Lisin (pp; Gaborik, Sanguinetti); Callahan (Grachev); Anisimov (empty net)

I was at MSG for the game last night, and did a decent amount of twittering. You can check my twitter page, and most of my recap will be from those same tweets.

• Pavel Datsyuk is stupifyingly amazing, even just watching him warm up.  The things he can do with the puck are really ridiculous.
• The Rangers scored stupidly early into the start of the game (1:34), but it was waved off due to a penalty by Ericsson. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game.
• PIMs were 18 to 10, Detroit, but I will tell you that I have a hard time recollecting New York even getting 5 penalties all game. Absolutely way too many trips to the box. I don’t care if the refs were calling ticky-tack penalties, they need to be aware of what’s being called and play accordingly.
• Marian Gaborik is a beast, and bulldozed his way around the Detroit net for Vinny Prospal’s goal, the first of the game.
• The PK was not good. The first two Rangers goals were on the power play.
• Along those lines, Larsson didn’t look incredible. I thought he was shaky and looked to be fighting the puck a bit.
• I also still cannot believe that I actually saw Dan Cloutier in a Red Wings uniform with my own eyes. He managed to get a holding penalty shortly after taking the net over, and also got into a bit of a scrum with Aaron Voros.
• Meech was absolutely brutal on defense. As was Andy Delmore–they don’t call him “Any Elmore” for no reason. I cringed every time I saw them out on the ice.
• The first period shots were 18-4, New York. That also led to 3 goals for the Rangers, and 1 for Detroit. Hey, at least Detroit had a better shot:goal ratio, right? Right…
• Matt Gilroy is the real deal, and I will be stunned if the Rangers do not sign him with the big club for this season. They look like a different team with a puck-moving defenseman. They finally have a quarterback for the power play.
• No, seriously. Dan Cloutier. He really played. He only faced 8 shots, but at least he saved them all. There were a few overly dramatic moments, but oh well.

H/T to Babcock’s Death Stare for the tip off that Dan Cloutier is attending Red Wings’ training camp on a tryout.

As with most of us, I think the thing we think of immediately when considering Dan Cloutier is this:

Apparently Cloutier called the Red Wings and asked if he could come on a tryout. What, is he dillusional? Did all the media hyperbole about how bad the Red Wings’ goaltending is going to be this season convince him that he has a shot? Sure, the goaltending situation is a little more questionable than is has been in past years, but it’s certainly not desperate enough that they’d go to Dan Cloutier of all people.

Does he actually think he has a chance, or is he just hoping to be relevant again? If he seriously wanted to try and gain a spot via tryout, why wouldn’t he have contacted a team that has much more questionable goaltending? Colorado is still stuck with Peter Budaj and picked up Craig Anderson during the off season.

I hope someone brings up the Lidstrom goal during training camp.