Wings 2, Blues 1
posted by matt saler @ 11/30/2003 02:10:00 PM ::
0 comments
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Boyd Devereaux scores a rare goal late in the 3rd period, which turned out to be the game winner for the Wings last night in St. Louis
The Wings earned an important victory last night, beating the St. Louis Blues 2-1 off a goal from Boyd Devereaux with 2:23 left in the game. The win put the Wings in the top spot of the Central Division where the Wings can now work to keep rather than work to get there.
The Wings stuck with what was working and played Manny Legace, who had 21 saves in his third consecutive start.
Brett Hull scored the other Wings goal and tied the game at 1 late in the second period.
It was nice to see Boyd Devereaux actually do something to justify his being on the ice for once. He finally scored a goal after blowing it on so many slam dunk chances that just about anyone else would convert into goals. He might have been the luckiest player on the team for how many times he had a real chance to score but that's where the luck stopped. I had really started considering him to be the most worthless player on the team because it had become a given that he wouldn't score if given the chance. It's not that he doesn't work hard, it's just that he's been in a terrible rut. It was good to see him score finally, especially such an important goal. Thanks, Boyd!
I unable to watch much of the game and so I was a little shocked when I turned it on and saw that it was in St. Louis. I had a friend who was supposed to go to "the game this weekend" and for some reason I assumed it was last night's game though now I realize it was Friday's game. One of those embarrassing brain farts, I guess. I feel like an idiot........
The Wings are now 14-9-2-0, have won 8 of their last 11 and are on a 3-game winning streak.
Next up: vs. Anaheim, Wednesday, 7:00 EST
News | ESPN | Box Score
Lines-
Shanahan-Yzerman-Devereaux
Maltby-Draper-Mowers
Thomas-Datsyuk-Hull
Robinson-Williams-Bootland
Maltby-Mowers-Devereaux
Shanahan-Yzerman-Draper
Schneider-Dandenault
Fischer-Woolley
Lidstrom-Chelios
Woolley-Dandenault
PP-
Shanahan-Yzerman-Draper
Thomas-Datysuk-Hull
Lidstrom-Schneider
Woolley-Chelios
PK-
Maltby-Draper
Shanahan-Yzerman
Datsyuk-Hull
Lidstrom-Chelios
Schneider-Dandenault
Fischer-Dandenault
LIdstrom-Schneider
Net-
Manny Legace
Manny Legace makes one of his 30 saves for the Wings in last night's shut out win over the New York Islanders
The Wings skated to another easy win last night, shutting out the New York Islanders 6-0. The Isles hardly put up a fight all night and made it very easy for the Wings. It was about as good a game as I've seen the Wings play all year, though there wasn't much competition. They were very efficient offensively and fairly tight defensively, though they were outshot 30-27.
Manny Legace got the start after all for the Wings. He earned his first shutout of the year and the fourth of his career. He wasn't really tested too often but made key saves when he had to.
Pavel Datsyuk had a great night. His assist on Thomas' first goal was amazing as was his set up to Brett Hull for Hull's goal. It's kinda cheap that Chelios gets credit for the Wings' fourth goal when Pavel had the presence of mind to scoop up the loose puck and roof it but that's how it goes, I guess.
Steve Thomas also had a great night. He scored the Wings' first two goals, the second unassisted and after stealing the puck in the offensive zone. He came very close to getting a hat trick a couple times and I was pretty disappointed when he didn't get it. He's looking to be a great addition to the Wings, that's for sure.
Shanahan and Draper, who are both on a scoring tear, scored the other Wings goals.
Nathan Robinson was called up from the Griffins to replace Tomas Holmstrom. He wore #38 and impressed me with his good passes and decent puck control. He certainly did nothing to hurt the Wings and played a very steady first NHL game. He had a semi-breakaway in the third period but was hauled down as he neared the net. It was a situation where I would have like to have seen a penalty shot but the current rules require the player to be a step ahead, which Robinson was not. I wish the league would loosen the rule up, though. Why not have more penalty shots?
It's too bad for Darryl Bootland that last night was the only time the Wings play the Islanders this year because he'll have to wait until next season to have his revenge on Eric Cairns. Bootland and Cairns had been talking trash and taking little shots at each other all night. Cairns finally lost it in the second period when Bootland went in to defend Jason Williams who had gone in to defend Mathieu Dandenault who had been run into the boards from behind by Jason Blake. Cairns came up behind Bootland and started beating the back of his head. Bootland was tied up with another Isles player and couldn't do anything to defend himself. Cairns got two minutes for roughing, another two minutes for roughing, a game misconduct (for starting a fight when another was already going on) and a ten minute misconduct. Bootland got two minutes for roughing Cairns and robbed of his chance to get back at that goon.
The Wings needed a win last night and they got it. They put forth a decent effort and made it a good game to watch. They are now 13-9-2-0 and tied with the Blues, who tied the Lightning 2-2 last night, for first place in the Central Division. The Wings have won two blow-outs in a row, albeit against lesser teams, and should have a lot of momentum going into tonight's game injures or not.
Next up: vs. St. Louis, tonight, 8:00 EST
Darryl Bootland celebrates his first career goal during the first period of the Wings 7-1 win over the Oilers
The Wings earned an easy win last night over Edmonton down at the Joe. They outshot the Oilers 43-16 and went 4-for-8 on the power play. The Oilers didn't out up much of a fight, playing a very sloppy game and pretty much handing the win to the Wings. Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish had this to say about the game "I realized it was going to be a long night in the middle of the second shift." Gee, that's a great attitude to have for a whole game. The Wings pretty much dominated all three periods, though they did not have a perfect game by any means.
Manny Legace got the start but did not get much work and only had to make one or two tough saves. He looked like a fool on the one Oilers goal when he flubbed a centering shot from the corner. It was deflected a little but he still should have had it. The Wings were already up by three so it didn't have much impact on the game.
Though they won 7-1, the Wings still looked a little sloppy on offense and somewhat iffy on defense. Still too many lazy passes and too much half-hearted puck pursuit. Defensively, they are still giving up chances though last night was a big improvement over other nights.
Bonehead play of the night: Tomas Holmstrom, after breaking his stick near the blueline on a shot, flew into the corner and attempted to lay a hit on an Oilers player. Of course, the Oiler saw it coming and side stepped the flying Holmstrom, who went flying into the boards shoulder first. Homer returned to the Red Wings bench and soon after, left for the locker room and never came back. Apparently, he separated his shoulder and will be evaluated in a couple days when the swelling goes down. Dave Lewis says "Homer is going to be out for a while. Weeks more than days." Wonderful. Just what the Wings needed, another forward injury. They already have McCarty, Whitney and Zetterberg out. Now they have one of their key players on the power play gone. The Wings are thinking about bringing another player up from Grand Rapids but I think it's time for a trade of some kind.
The Captain scored his 670th goal in his 1,400th game and it's looking like he may be able to hit 700 goals after all.
Brett Hull scored his 726th goal and is now within five goals of Marcel Dionne for third place on the all-time list.
Steve Thomas scored a beautiful goal off an amazing feed from Pavel Datsyuk, who had just stolen the puck near the blue line, to make it 7-1. Datsyuk was down on the ice as he dished off the puck to Thomas who deked around Stephen Valiquette (who replaced Ty Conklin in the third period) and backhanded it into an open net. It was a beautiful thing.
Kris Draper had two goals last night and is having a career start. He demonstrated a rare set of hands on his second goal when he shot it into the top-left corner, threading the needle between Valiquette's shoulder and the post. I never would have expected such a shot from Draper, who may have some of the worst hands in the league (he can't score on a breakaway to save his life) but that was a goal-scorer's goal, for sure. He's had a great year so far and is a close second to Steve Yzerman for team MVP to this point. His nine goals are a reward for all the hard work he has put in.
Darryl Bootland scored his first NHL goal last night with 18.8 seconds remaining in the first period. Draper got the puck from Conklin, making up for cutting Bootland's nose in the celebration. Congratulations, Booter! I'm wondering if Dave Lewis got to Bootland (either that or shaving off his tough guy goatee had an effect) because he had at least two opportunities to have a fight last night but he backed down and instead drew a penalty. That's a good thing but I found myself feeling disappointed when there wasn't a fight. Bootland restrained himself until the where period where he fought Steve Staios and drew another penalty in the process. He had a good game, in my opinion. He almost had a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a fight) but didn't get an assist.
Brendan Shanahan scored the other Wings goal. He still seems to be AWOL, however, and only checks in with a goal every once and a while. Come on, Shanny, get it together.
Boyd Devereaux has got to go. I feel bad for him but he's pretty much useless on the ice. He whiffs on slam-dunk chances and in the rare instances where he gets points it's only because he was alive on the ice at the time. He has done very little to justify his existence on the team so far this season which is too bad because a couple years ago, he was pretty valuable. I wish the Wings could trade him somewhere and get someone who will do something on the ice in return. Sorry, Boyd.
It was a much needed win for the Wings and something they'll need to build on for the next week or so. Hopefully, they'll hold on to this momentum going into Friday and Saturday and pull off wins in those two games as well. They have to if they want to get out of the knot that is the Western Conference. They are now 12-9-2-0 and are trailing the Blues by 1 point.
Next up: vs. NYI, tomorrow, 7:30 EST
Manny Legace (left) skates in to replace Curtis Joseph (right) during the first period last night
The Wings dropped a 4-1 decision to the Caps last night at the Joe in one of their worst displays this season. They were awful defensively and weak offensively, making it easy for the NHL's worst team to get a confidence building win. Even facing a goalie in his first NHL start, the Wings could only generate one goal of offense after 39 shots.
Curtis Joseph was pulled in the first period after allowing three goals on nine shots. However, no blame should be placed on him because the rest of the team gave him zero support. Honestly, the Wings should be ashamed of themselves for their play in front of their former #1 goalie. I would hope they all apologized for their lack of defensive coverage and that they'll get it together next time Joseph plays. It's disturbing to me to see the difference in the Wings when Joseph is in net. It's as though they don't think they have to play hard because he's going to be traded anyway and he's not really their goalie. It's sick. I'm really feeling bad for Curtis because the Wings completely left him out to dry last night. I'm glad the fans at the Joe had enough class to cheer him when he left the ice, knowing it wasn't his fault. It's too bad the Wings don't seem to have that same amount of class.
The Wings were weak and unexciting offensively, with many slow and inaccurate passes causing repeated setbacks. Their power play was poorly executed and a total failure. For some reason, their strategy was to all stack on one side of the ice so that any rebounds would go to the opposite side, where there were only Caps players. This went on all night and was not corrected. They did their usual job of making the opposing goalie look good by hardly putting any pressure on the kid the whole night. Everyone looked out of sync and it makes me wonder how seriously Lewis and the Wings took the practices leading up to the game. They obviously took the Caps' problems for granted and expected a roll-over win. That's also disturbing to me because the Wings have usually been smarter than that in the past.
Ray Whitney once again did not play, making the game his fourth consecutive missed. He may miss some more, apparently. He participated in pre-game skate but still has soreness that is keeping him out.
One of the scariest moments of the season: sometime during the 3rd period, Nick Lidstrom took a high stick to the face. It was completely accidental but scared the crap out of me. I appreciated Kip Miller, the guy responsible, for being a total class act by making sure Nick was okay and sticking around, instead of skating away but I was still frozen for minute or two. Lidstrom was down on his hands and knees for a little while and I very worried that it was his eye. Thankfully, it was not and Nick just skated away, coming back the next shift. The Wings dodged a bullet there, for sure. If the Wings have one guy they cannot lose, it's Nicklas Lidstrom.
I kept hearing over and over again on the radio and from people I talked to yesterday that "the Wings have an easy win tonight." I kept telling them that the Wings would probably blow it, as they typically do in games like that. I even mentioned it in my 
Curtis Joseph makes the save with Andrew Brunette (left) and Antti Laasksonen (right) hovering nearby
The Wings avoided losing their second straight last night with a well-played win over the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul. The Wings went down 2-1 before coming back and pulling out the 5-2 win.
Curtis Joseph made the start for the Wings. After allowing a weak goal on Richard Park, he settled down and played a good game. He didn't have a very high opinion of his game, especially of the Park goal, but I think he's just being hard on himself. The Wild's first goal was soft but he rebounded nicely. I think it's good to see a guy as unwanted as CuJo playing so well. He's had a great level of professionalism in all this, at least to us outsiders, and his play is a reflection of that. I really hate to see this happen to the guy and every game that Dominik misses because of that groin injury makes me feel worse about it. So far, the Return of the Dominator has been pretty much a failure and has laid all this stress on the team for nothing. I just hope that Hasek will heal 100% very soon or realize that it really is over. I'm getting tired of waiting for him and I'm about ready to just stick with Joseph.
Pavel Datsyuk finally scored on Roloson. After failing on last week's penalty shot and at least a couple more great chances in the two games played in Minnesota, he pulled a different move from his bag of tricks and scored a beautiful half-breakaway goal with two seconds left. It seemed like it was Pavel's revenge for a robbing of a goal by Roloson earlier in the game where all Datsyuk could do was shake his head and smile. Instead of going from backhand to forehand, Pavel did a double take on the backhand, sending Rolosson to the deck and the puck into the net. Another amazing goal by an amazing player. The line of Thomas-Datsyuk-Hull was the best on the ice by far, which is no surpise considering everyone who plays with Datsyuk seems to play better, especially Brett.
Steve Thomas got his first assist as a Red Wing when he dished off the puck to Mark Mowers , who in turn fed Brett Hull, who went down on one knee and scored a slam-dunk goal from the side of the net. Mowers, who also got his first assist of the season, has been impressive in his few games with the Wings. He is playing in place of Ray Whitney, who may practice today and could be ready for tomorrow's game against Washington.
Bootland continues to impress with his energy and physical play. Though Darren McCarty was scheduled to skate today, he is not quite ready to go yet so "Booter" will continue to be in the lineup for the injured forward.
Devereaux finally justified his being on the ice and scored a goal, which just happened to come 23 seconds after the Wild scored their go-ahead goal. It was an important goal, for sure, but Boyd has been a real disappointment so far this season. He's whiffed on a lot better chances than one he scored on last night and it was probably more dumb luck than anything else. He also needs to watch out where he's going. That collision with The Captain early on in the first period was scary and I'm sure made many hearts in Detroit skip a couple beats. Not something I want to see. Thankfully, Yzerman came back soon after and finished the game.
I flipped back and forth a lot between the Wings game and the Heritage Classic and I probably would have been better off choosing just one to watch because a lot of the games were lost in the changing of the channels. Still, I enjoyed both games and I'm very impressed with the Oilers and Habs players, playing in those temperatures and in such an energetic game. It was good to see something like that happen and I'm glad the NHL went through with it. Even Gary Bettman can't make mistakes all the time and last night was one example of that. I think the scheduling of the game may have been a little unfortunate, considering how important this weekend was in college football and how many people were watching that instead but you can't have everything. It's also too bad no American networks broadcast the game but that's just a result once again of college football. CBC does a great job anyway and there's no way I would have watched Gary Thorne and Co. announce a game as important to hockey as that. Hat tip to the Oilers organization for thinking that idea up and I hope we'll see more of those games in the future. Perhaps one in Comerica Park......Hmmmmm.....
The Wings are now 11-8-2-0 and have just one loss in their last 6 games. They are most definitely on the mend but also equally definitely not all there yet.
Next up: vs. Washington, tomorrow, 7:30 EST
Nick Lidstrom and Pascal Dupuis chase the puck along the boards during last night's game
The Wings almost completed a comeback of their own last night but fell short of the win in the end and had to settle for the 1-1 tie with the Wild. The game was mainly a defensive and goaltending match between the two clubs, with not very much offensive excitement, at least until overtime, when things finally heated up and both teams came very close to winning the game.
Dominik once again kept the Wings in the game when they were lacking defensively. I've been fairly impressed with his play so far this season. Even though it has not been to the same level as it was two years ago, he has played well enough to keep the Wings in games that maybe they should not have been in. I don't necessarily think he has done a better job than CuJo did up to this point of last year's season but I don't think he's done worse. The difference between the two goalies will be more apparent during the playoffs, when it matters most.
Once again Steve Yzerman showed why he is the best leader in hockey and one of the sport's best players. His team-leading 9th goal got the Wings their point and kept them from being shut out. It isn't to the rest of the Wings players' credit that a man practically playing on one leg is leading the team in scoring but it certainly is to Yzerman's. He has set a great example thus far and hopefully, the rest of the team will soon follow and play like we know they can. One more thing about Yzerman, check out this 
The Wings celebrate Shanny's game winning power play goal in overtime last night
The Wings put together another good effort last night in their win over the Blackhawks at the United Center in Chicago. I wouldn't say it was a complete effort, however, because their third period play was definitely weaker than it was in the other two periods but at least this time it didn't cost them the game.
I thought Dominik looked strong once again, though he looked bad on the Hawks' second goal, when he let the initial shot trickle out in front of the open net where a Chicago player was waiting uncovered by anyone (come on, Woolley!). Dom probably kept the Wings in the game later on in the 3rd period, though, when the Wings had fallen asleep a little. He improved to 7-3.
The Wings were lucky to get that power play to start overtime. That was the sort of call that could have gone either way, I think, because of the inconsistency in officiating from game to game. On another night, they easily could have called Yzerman for diving (though I personally don't think he did) or they may not have called anything at all on the play. Blackhawks head coach Brian Sutter called it a "borderline dive" but Yzerman said this about it: 
Two captains meet: Mike Modano falls to the ice as Steve Yzerman skates by
Steve Yzerman and Pavel Datsyuk both scored two goals in last night's thumping of the Stars by the Wings. The Wings looked good overrall, though two major defensive lapses led directly to Dallas goals. Hasek was there to make the save the majority of the time and looked good, again. Because the Stars hit the post three times, the game was a little closer than the score indicates. Even so, the Wings pretty much dominated offensively and played competant defense.
Steve Thomas looked great in his debut. He had only skated once with the team, in the pre-game skate, yet he played with good pace and demonstrated hockey smarts which have kept him in the game for 20 years. He drove to the net agressively and scored a goal as a result, tipping in Bootland's centering pass from the corner. Both players got their first points as Red Wings on the play. The goal was Thomas' 76th career GWG and his 412th goal overral.
Bootland, by the way, has been impressive in the three games he's played with the big team. He is agressive and decent with the puck. He brings an element we haven't had since Sean Avery was traded, though maybe not to the same level Avery brought. He's a good fighter and made up 1/3 of what was probably the best line last night (Bootland-Williams-Thomas).
The best news of the season: Pavel Datsyuk is shooting the puck instead of always passing it off in an admittably brilliant (usually) though seriously maddening way. It seems like all Pavel does is undress a defenseman with some impossible puck-on-a-string move and then make the last pass you'd expect when he has a clear shot on goal. That could be changing now. Pavel's first goal was an example of a situation where the "old" Pavel would have passed the puck. Instead, he shot it and put it right past a helpless Turco. His second goal was completely different because it was a breakaway but wow, was it a beautiful goal. Click 
#41 Ray Whitney celebrates his 2nd period goal with #27 Darryl Bootland and #26 Jiri Hudler
Obviously, the Wings' team meeting on Sunday had the desired effect because they played a solid game last night and shutout the Blackhawks at the Joe. Their performance was much improved over that of Saturday, with few defensive lapses and much less lazy play. They led 3-0 after 40 but did not give up their lead in the 3rd by playing poor defense. The Hawks only got three shots on net in the last 20 minutes of the game and Dom made the necesary saves. There was a noticeble level of effort that had been lacking in previous games.
Offensively, the Wings played a much cleaner game. There were fewer turnovers and more exciting plays than have been common recently. The game was fairly closely fought until the 2nd period when the Wings scored their 3 goals and pulled away. Datsyuk, Whitney and Shanahan scored the Wings' goals.
Surprisingly, Boyd Devereaux had a good game. Maybe the rumor in the Toronto Sun about him going to Pittsburgh for Straka gave him a little extra motivation to perform. He's had an awful year so far but maybe he's turning it around.
Another player who seems to be turning it around is Brendan Shanahan. He's had a poor year as well but his last couple games have been good. He has 4 goals in 3 games and has actually been an offensive threat.
It was good to see Dom in net again. In contrast to his last game, he was sharp and looks to be about fully recovered from his groin injury.
Darren McCarty did not play last night because of his back and will not make the three game trip with the Wings.
It's a heck of a lot harder to write on lasts night's win than it is to write on the Wings' losses. When I'm not in rant-mode, I can't think of as much to say and when things are going badly in a game, I seem to remember much more detail than when they go well. So I apologize if this post was a little less in-depth than others. Maybe when it's not such an enormous shock for the Wings to win in such an fashion, I'll be able to go in to more detail.
Now, the Wings just have to win tomorrow and Friday in Dallas and Chicago. Their performance in these next two games will show us just how recovered they are and whether last night's game will be another 3-0 Calgary win or not.
I have enough confidence in the Wings' professionalism that they will not be satisfied with a win-lose-win-lose pattern for the rest of the season, though 
A snapshot of the Wings last night: Tomas Holmstrom taking a nose dive after being hit in the back by Predators goalie Tomas Vokoun, much like the Wings took a nosedive in the 3rd period of last night's game
Last night was a microcosm of the Wings' season so far. They came out of the gates hard, scored 13 seconds into the game, and, for the next two periods, dominated the Predators in just about every phase of the game. They took a 3 goal lead and seemed to have the game in hand. Then, in the third, they fell so completely apart that I'm almost ashamed to be a Wings fan. To put it plainly, they freaking sucked last night in the 3rd period, giving up 4 goals in the final 13 minutes of the game. Nashville deserves credit for not giving up and fighting back but the Wings basically handed them the win. I went from expecting a win to hoping for a tie to hoping for an a overtime loss to expecting a straight loss, all in one game.
It wasn't the officiating this time. In fact, both teams had five powerplays and both only scored once. It was not the goaltending either. Joseph was very steady in the first two periods where he got very little action and the Predators goals were results of poor defense and not poor goaltending. Last night's loss is completely on the Wings' shoulders. They cannot blame anyone else but themselves for that shameful display in front of their home fans. I almost wish I had spent my time from 7:30 to 10:00 watching the Pittsburgh/Virginia Tech or Clemson/Florida State games instead because Pittsburgh and Clemson know had to play for their home crowd and they pulled off big wins over better teams, something the Wings couldn't even do over a much lesser team (at least on paper but maybe not in reality).
Scott Walker, who scored the GWG with 57 seconds left said last night "It was awesome. To be honest, we had only played 20 minutes or so, so we should have had a lot more left. We just stood around and watched them skate for two periods." The Wings played 40 minutes or so and then watched the Preds skate around them for one period. You tell me which one worked out better. Play well in the beginning instead of the end or play well in the end instead of the beginning? I'd rather just have the Wings play well all the time instead of their standard practice of playing terribly in either the first or third periods. Play the whole game, guys! Maybe you are too old, if you don't have the endurance to play a whole game after not having a game since last Tuesday.
More bad news: Darren McCarty left early in the first period with back spasms, a result of going into the end boards feet first after a rush to the net. He is supposed to get X-rayed today. If he goes down, the Wings are even further screwed.
On a more positive note, Darryl Bootland looked good in his first NHL game. He wore #27 and worked hard all night, though he took a bad penalty. Good job, Darryl, I hope you get more games with the big team, though I wish we didn't need you. Another non-regular young guy who played last night was Jamie Rivers. He's played another game for the Wings before but last night was his first as a defenseman. He played right wing in his other game for the Wings. He played fairly well also.
Maybe it's time Lewis throws away tradition, swallows his pride, hands the offense back to Barry Smith and takes over the defense again. That's how it was under Scotty and maybe that's how it should be now, tradition or not.
The Wings are now 6-7-1-0. Disgusting. I'm beginning to doubt that they'll even make the playoffs, let alone win in them. The Cup is an unattainable goal, in my mind, as of right now unless things change dramtically in the near future. The Wings took one step forward on Tuesday in Calgary but now have taken at least one step if not two back.
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