Big Red Machine

I’m not a game wrecker! I was seriously afraid that I was going to have to take up the mantle of Game Wrecker of the Red Wings lost tonight. Thank God that didn’t happen.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Pavel Datsyuk (Zetterberg, Lidstrom); Dan(ny) Cleary (Zetterberg, Lidstrom); Kris Draper (pp; unassisted; empty net)
New York: Brian Boyle (Higgins)

Pluses
+ Right off the bat, Detroit looked much more awake than on Saturday.  They outshot New York in the first 14-6.
+ A relief to see Rafalski taking warmups and play.
+ Nicklas Lidstrom is absolutely unreal.  There’s a reason the team calls him the Perfect Human–he held Marian Gaborik to 0 points, 0 shots on goal.  The Rangers fans would start to cheer if there was a 1-on-1 opportunity, but it was always Lidstrom who was back,  and to be honest, those chances didn’t make me nervous because I knew Nick wasn’t going to get beat alone.  Like I said, one of his better games of the season, with two assists, 3 SOG, +3, and innumerable plays on defense.
+ Classy of the Rangers to honor Brendan Shanahan, who was in the Garden to take in the game.  He wasn’t a Blueshirt for very long, but they love him there.  He’ll be starting his job at the NHL offices tomorrow, and I’m already plotting how I can stalk him, as my office is catty-corner from the NHL.
+ Pavel scored because he was positioned on the side of the goal to pick up the rebound and stuff it in.  See, boys?  It really helps when you do that, instead of letting rebounds be cleared.
+ Howard looked great.  He looked like he wanted to prove that Thursday’s game against Edmonton was a fluke.
+ What a hit by Stuart, when he decked Anisimov.  Kid’s gotta learn to keep his head up.
+ Maltby looked like a real hockey player again tonight!  He had some good solid hits, a couple shots, and did his job on the PK.
+ And the PK went 4/4, which was an incredible relief.  There was that short parade to the box in the 3rd which honestly had me assuming that they’d give up a goal sooner or later if they kept it up.
+ Lastly, they looked like the Red Wings.  They let up a little in the 2nd, and did have penalty problems in the 3rd, but for the most part they worked hard to grind out a win.  They came back, held onto the tie, and won.  Which is something we want to see more often from them, because games aren’t going to be won easily anymore.

Minuses
- Howard let in a goal on the Rangers’ 4th shot of the game.  I couldn’t see all that well, seeing as i was seated on the entire other end of the rink, but I heard that it was due to poor defensive coverage.  I don’t particularly care about the reason, because letting in a goal on the 4th shot is pretty poor no matter how you look at it.
– Before the Rangers’ scored, it felt like we couldn’t even buy a goal.  It doesn’t help that Lundqvist is a world-class goaltender.
– Avery’s a jackass.  I admittedly like what he brings to the Rangers, and deeply feel that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship–he clearly doesn’t fit as well with other teams.  But he was his usual super-pest self tonight.
– Along that line, I can’t believe the people who think that Zetterberg should be suspended for hitting Avery.  Who dove.  It was a hip and shoulder hit, not to mention that Z’s never been called for a questionable hit, or intent to injure.  Add to that the fact that the refs merely called it for tripping, and I don’t think anyone has a case for Hank to get a suspension.  It’s just silly to even consider it, though I know it’ll be making the rounds on the blogosphere.
– The power play was awful.  The PP goal by Draper hardly counts because it was an empty netter.
– There was an older gentleman wearing a Red Wings jacket on the escalator in front of me as we were leaving the Garden, who said, “it’ll be a miracle if we make the playoffs.  I’d rather not make it then lose in the first round.”  If that’s how you feel, sir, then you’re free to get off the bandwagon.

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.

[liveblog]3[/liveblog]

Tonight the New York Rangers will be rolling to Joe Louis Arena to take on the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit’s second game of the pre-season.

Fresh news out of Detroit, Zetterberg’s not playing due to a flareup in his sore groin.  I’m not freaking out about this.  They’ve got 6 more games after this one before they head to Sweden, and quite frankly, I doubt Zetterberg needs to play all that many to get back into game-shape.  He’ll be fine with 3-4 games, and some more time to let his groin heal.

So here’s the lineup tonight:

Forwards
Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Cleary
Leino-Filppula-Jason Williams
Ryno-Emmerton-Maltby
Ritola-McGrath-Mursak

Defense
Kronwall-Janik
Lebda-Stuart
Meech-Kindl

Goalies
Osgood
McCollum

I don’t have the lineup for the Rangers, but it sounds like Marian Gaborik is still not ready to play.

MSG is airing the game, which starts at 7:30.  FSDetroit is not showing it.  I’ll be live blogging from the start, so be sure to check back!

Update 2:04pm

Steve Zipay has more on who the Rangers will and will not be icing for tonight’s game:

So, it appears that Henrik Lundqvist and Matt Zaba will share duties in net tonight, and the defense will be Redden,  Rozsival, Girardi, Heikkinen, Semenov, Potter.

Along with Gaborik, Prospal, Kotalik, Staal, Del Zotto, Gilroy and Sanguinetti will not be playing tonight.  I’m a little disappointed, because I’d love to see what Gilroy does faced with an offensive corp like Detroit’s.  But it’d have been almost a moot point anyway, now that Z’s sitting out.  Hopefully Gilroy will play when the Red Wings visit MSG on Monday.

Update 3:49pm

Here are the line combinations for the Rangers tonight:

Higgins-Drury-Callahan
Brashear-Boyle-Voros
Avery-Crowder-Parenteau
Grachev-Anisimov-Lisin

Redden-Rozsival
Heikkinen-Potter
Semenov-Sanguinetti

The Red Wings played their first pre-season game tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.  I didn’t get a chance to watch, or listen, but the final score was DET 3, PHI 1.  Goals by Draper, Jamie Tardif, and Jeremy Williams.  James van Riemsdyk scored the lone goal for the Flyers.

With pre-season underway, it can only mean one thing…

Hockey season is almost here.

I’ve got tickets to the Red Wings @ Rangers pre-season game on the 21st, and can hardly contain myself at the first chance this year to not only see the Wings, but also see some of the prospects.  The only prospect I’ve seen play (beyond Helm, Abdelkader), is Jordan Pearce, when he was at Notre Dame.

As a Red Wings fan stranded in New York, I’m actually going to be able to see the Wings play in person quite a few times this season.  They are making their way to the Tri-State area for back to back games in December against the Devils and then the Rangers, which I have tickets for.  And they’ll be back to play the Islanders in January.  I’ll also likely make the trip to Washington for that game a couple of weeks after they visit the Island.  And if I’m lucky, I’ll catch a game in Columbus and/or Detroit.

Drop the puck already, I don’t think I can wait any longer.

The New York Times Style section has a surprisingly long feature on the return of Sean Avery to the New York Rangers. The Style section has a strange infatuation with Avery, largely because of the fact that he runs around in fashion circles.

It’s an interest look at another side of Avery.