Wings 4, Blackhawks 2
posted by matt saler @ 10/30/2005 04:26:00 AM ::
2 comments
:: 
Wings stay perfect on the road by beating Hawks in Chicago
The Wings took care of business once again, winning their eighth straight game and improving to 11-1-0 with a 4-2 win over the Blackhawks. It was a better game for Detroit, who weren't as sloppy as I've been told they were on Thursday. They outplayed the Hawks up and down the ice for much of the game and didn't look too bad when the Hawks stepped it up themselves for stretches of time throughout the game. The Chicago skaters left their goalie out to dry a number of times and three such instances led directly to preventable Wings goals.
Nikolai Khabibulin played a very good game and was the only thing that kept the Hawks in it for long stretches of the game. He certainly looked like the "Bulin Wall" we know so well and the Hawks may now get the goaltending they were hoping for when they signed him.
Chris Osgood made his first start for the Wings in four years and looked very sharp for the most part.
First Period
Mike Babcock started Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper and Steve Yzerman, the recently-named "Visor Line," with Nick Lidstrom and Andreas Lilja.
Osgood was tested early when he was forced to stop a 34-foot slap shot from Kyle Calder, who played despite what the papers said about an elbow injury, at :44.
A half-minute later, Pavel Datsyuk with Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg generated a good scoring chance. After taking the pass from Pavel, Hank centered the puck through the crease to Holmstrom on the doorstep, who was unable to get a good handle on it. Khabibulin got over in time to make the save and the score remained 0-0.
At 2:31, Dan Cleary made a nice personal effort along the boards before walking in on Khabibulin, who made a smart poke-check save to deny Cleary the goal.
Just a minute later, the Chicago defense left Kirk Maltby all alone out front. Yzerman centered the puck from the far corner and Maltby had all day, with Khabibulin completely helpless. He ripped a shot past Khabibulin from 28 feet out and made it 1-0 Wings.
Osgood had to make a couple good saves in the next few minutes, most notably one on Curtis Brown at 4:45 from 18 feet out. Brown had just about beaten the Wings defense coming through the middle and had a glorious scoring chance but Ozzie denied him. Brett Lebda got Brown slightly off balance with a little hook just as he was making the shot so that may have had something to do with it.
At this point, the Wings were generating pressure off what my notes calls "Chicago ineptitude." Jiri Fischer had a big hit on Tyler Arnasson at about 6:30 that had Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond excited but I happened to be looking down when it happened and I never saw a replay so I can't vouch for it. Hopefully I'll see the next big Fischer hit, though (i.e. he ought to have a lot more coming).
At 8:19, Todd Simpson was called for tripping and the Wings went on the power play for the first time. They didn't get any pressure to begin with and ended up giving up a good short handed chance to the Hawks, who almost split the defense. Their second unit, Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom-Schneider-Lidstrom, was a bit better and created some good sustained pressure before being replaced by the third unit, which included Robert Lang and Brendan Shanahan. They got off a shot or two but did not score.
A couple minutes after the Wings' power play expired, they went on the penalty kill themselves when Mathieu Schneider went to the box for tripping. The Wings did a good job of blocking Chicago shots and not much happened except for a short flurry at the end. Soon after that penalty was killed off, Lilja went to the box and the Wings had to kill off another. The Hawks got a penalty of their own with 15 seconds left in their power play and the teams went to 4-on-4 hockey. The power play that followed for the Wings was slow to get started but when the finally got set up, Pavel's line generated some good pressure that lasted past the expiration of the penalty.
With just over 3 seconds left in the period, the Wings touched up an icing and got one more faceoff in the Chicago zone. Yzerman won the faceoff very cleanly and the puck ended up on Maltby's stick. He got a shot off before the horn sounded but was unable to beat Khabibulin a second time.
Shots for the period were 15-6 Wings.
Second Period
Osgood was tested early in this period as well but he didn't come through as well as he did earlier. He made the intitial save on the play but put himself far out of position in the process and when the puck trickled out from underneath him out front,Tyler Arnason had the net all to himself and he put it away to tie the game at :43. Lilja could only stand there feeling useless.
Immediately following the Chicago goal, Datsyuk had a glorious chance of his own on Khabibulin but he sent the puck over the net and did not score. Robert Lang had a good chance of his own at 1:51, stealing the puck and coming across the net for a solid backhand shot but, again, the save was made.
At 3:24, the Hawks took the lead off a goal from Calder. He took a centering pass from the corner and was about as alone as Maltby was on his goal. Lilja was responsible for that again. Given the situation and speed at which the play developed, Osgood had no chance at that range and Calder put it past him easily. The Hawks' two goals came on their first two shots of the period.
Thirty seconds later, Henrik Zetterberg split the Chicago defense and got a good chance on Khabibulin but couldn't finish. Then the rest of his linemates joined him and Pavel drew a penalty. The ensuing power play was pretty uneventful except that Hank ended drawing a penalty himself before the first had expired. The Hawks did not touch soon enough to face their 18th 5-on-3 situation so far this season but the Wings did get another full power play starting at 6:10. With about 11 seconds remaining on the penalty, Mikael Samuelsson scored to tie the game up at two. He stole the puck behind the net and got a shot off but didn't score. Shanahan sent the rebound straight back to him out front and he ripped a one-timer past Khabibulin, who was left out to dry again on the play.
Play following the goal through mid-period was mostly between the tops of the circles of the two offensive zones.
At 10:36, Osgood was forced to make a good save when a point shot was deflected on net. Again, I happened to be looking down at the time but I heard Ken Daniel's excitement and waited for the inevitable replay. It was indeed a good save.
At 13:44, Rene Bourque was called for charging on Jason Williams and the Wings went on the power play again. Hank had a good chance all alone on net but Khabibulin got over just in time to make a good save and the rebound was cleared. The Wings' second unit generated some good pressure but was unable to score.
The rest of the period was broken up by a Chicago power play that was cut short by a slashing call that made it 4-on-4 for the last 17 or so seconds of the 2nd.
Shots were 13-6 Wings.
Third Period
Both teams started with four players and the Wings were able to get some pressure going before their 43-second power play began. The Hawks killed that off, however.
At 3:40, Jaroslav Spacek was called for holding and the Wings went back on the power play. This time, they did score, after generating some good pressure. Shanahan had the puck around the net and got a shot or two off but the Hawks got on the rebounds. Their attempt to clear it was unsuccessful, however, and they ended up giving the puck right to Lang, who promptly scored to make it 3-2 Wings.
After this, the Hawks stepped up their play and took over for a while, generating pressure in the Wings' zone but they were unable to get the puck past Osgood. Zetterberg had a breakaway at 10:44 but sent the puck over the net.
At around 12:00, the Wings began to take control again. They went on the power play again at 12:32 and generated a lot of pressure but Khabibulin's play kept the puck out of the net. They got a penalty themselves but they killed it off.
The Hawks played hard near the end and tried desperately to tie things up. They did beat Osgood at about 16:30 but the puck hit the post and bounced pretty far out. Ken Daniels and some of the players thought it was a goal but play continued.
Chicago eventually pulled Khabibulin in an effort to tie the game but Henrik Zetterberg put it away at 19:32 with an empty net goal. Wings win 4-2.
Shots for the period were 13-9 Hawks and 37-25 Wings for the game.
Notes
... Brett Lebda was called up yesterday and played his first pro game at the United Center. He is an Illinois native and was replacing Jason Woolley, who has a slight tear in his groin, and Jamie Rivers, who was a healthy scratch. He played with Chris Chelios, another Illinois native son. His parents were unable to attend the game, however, since they had just left for Hawaii a day or two before he got the call. .... Dan Cleary was drafted 13th overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by Chicago and worked very hard to score a goal against his first NHL team. ... It was pointed out during the broadcast that the United Center opened at the start of the 94-95 season and that none of the '95 Blackhawks are still on the team. That roster included players such as Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Ed Belfour and Gary Suter. There are still four players from the '95 roster on the Wings: Draper, Lidstrom, Yzerman and Osgood (Maltby and Holmstrom did not join the team until the 95-96 and 96-97 seasons respecively(updated)) ... Nikolai Khabibulin wears 53 instead of his usual 35 because 35 is retired in Chicago, in honor of goaltending great Tony Esposito. ... Steve Yzerman looked good in his third game. He logged 12 minutes of ice time and got another point, an assist on the Maltby goal. ... One of the doors to the Wings' bench was in their offensive zone in the second period and, in using it, they drew whistles twice when a play was developing. Even with a player going off, the linesmen are going to call off-sides, the Wings should know that. They may want to be a little more careful. ... With their two power play goals, the Wings now have the most PPGs in the NHL (22). They have scored 51 goals overall and only allowed 23. ... The Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom line was very good, once again. .... The Wings are 5-0-0 on the road so far this season. .... The Wings' 11-1-0 start is the second-best 12-game start in NHL history. Only the 94-95 Pens were better (11-0-1, when the "1" meant a tie, not an overtime loss). ...
Not a bad game for the Wings. The Hawks are not a very high-quality opponent but the Wings showed some good discipline by playing well for most of the game. They just have to finish up this little mini-series on Tuesday.
The Wings took care of business once again, winning their eighth straight game and improving to 11-1-0 with a 4-2 win over the Blackhawks. It was a better game for Detroit, who weren't as sloppy as I've been told they were on Thursday. They outplayed the Hawks up and down the ice for much of the game and didn't look too bad when the Hawks stepped it up themselves for stretches of time throughout the game. The Chicago skaters left their goalie out to dry a number of times and three such instances led directly to preventable Wings goals.
Nikolai Khabibulin played a very good game and was the only thing that kept the Hawks in it for long stretches of the game. He certainly looked like the "Bulin Wall" we know so well and the Hawks may now get the goaltending they were hoping for when they signed him.
Chris Osgood made his first start for the Wings in four years and looked very sharp for the most part.
First Period
Mike Babcock started Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper and Steve Yzerman, the recently-named "Visor Line," with Nick Lidstrom and Andreas Lilja.
Osgood was tested early when he was forced to stop a 34-foot slap shot from Kyle Calder, who played despite what the papers said about an elbow injury, at :44.
A half-minute later, Pavel Datsyuk with Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg generated a good scoring chance. After taking the pass from Pavel, Hank centered the puck through the crease to Holmstrom on the doorstep, who was unable to get a good handle on it. Khabibulin got over in time to make the save and the score remained 0-0.
At 2:31, Dan Cleary made a nice personal effort along the boards before walking in on Khabibulin, who made a smart poke-check save to deny Cleary the goal.
Just a minute later, the Chicago defense left Kirk Maltby all alone out front. Yzerman centered the puck from the far corner and Maltby had all day, with Khabibulin completely helpless. He ripped a shot past Khabibulin from 28 feet out and made it 1-0 Wings.
Osgood had to make a couple good saves in the next few minutes, most notably one on Curtis Brown at 4:45 from 18 feet out. Brown had just about beaten the Wings defense coming through the middle and had a glorious scoring chance but Ozzie denied him. Brett Lebda got Brown slightly off balance with a little hook just as he was making the shot so that may have had something to do with it.
At this point, the Wings were generating pressure off what my notes calls "Chicago ineptitude." Jiri Fischer had a big hit on Tyler Arnasson at about 6:30 that had Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond excited but I happened to be looking down when it happened and I never saw a replay so I can't vouch for it. Hopefully I'll see the next big Fischer hit, though (i.e. he ought to have a lot more coming).
At 8:19, Todd Simpson was called for tripping and the Wings went on the power play for the first time. They didn't get any pressure to begin with and ended up giving up a good short handed chance to the Hawks, who almost split the defense. Their second unit, Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom-Schneider-Lidstrom, was a bit better and created some good sustained pressure before being replaced by the third unit, which included Robert Lang and Brendan Shanahan. They got off a shot or two but did not score.
A couple minutes after the Wings' power play expired, they went on the penalty kill themselves when Mathieu Schneider went to the box for tripping. The Wings did a good job of blocking Chicago shots and not much happened except for a short flurry at the end. Soon after that penalty was killed off, Lilja went to the box and the Wings had to kill off another. The Hawks got a penalty of their own with 15 seconds left in their power play and the teams went to 4-on-4 hockey. The power play that followed for the Wings was slow to get started but when the finally got set up, Pavel's line generated some good pressure that lasted past the expiration of the penalty.
With just over 3 seconds left in the period, the Wings touched up an icing and got one more faceoff in the Chicago zone. Yzerman won the faceoff very cleanly and the puck ended up on Maltby's stick. He got a shot off before the horn sounded but was unable to beat Khabibulin a second time.
Shots for the period were 15-6 Wings.
Second Period
Osgood was tested early in this period as well but he didn't come through as well as he did earlier. He made the intitial save on the play but put himself far out of position in the process and when the puck trickled out from underneath him out front,Tyler Arnason had the net all to himself and he put it away to tie the game at :43. Lilja could only stand there feeling useless.
Immediately following the Chicago goal, Datsyuk had a glorious chance of his own on Khabibulin but he sent the puck over the net and did not score. Robert Lang had a good chance of his own at 1:51, stealing the puck and coming across the net for a solid backhand shot but, again, the save was made.
At 3:24, the Hawks took the lead off a goal from Calder. He took a centering pass from the corner and was about as alone as Maltby was on his goal. Lilja was responsible for that again. Given the situation and speed at which the play developed, Osgood had no chance at that range and Calder put it past him easily. The Hawks' two goals came on their first two shots of the period.
Thirty seconds later, Henrik Zetterberg split the Chicago defense and got a good chance on Khabibulin but couldn't finish. Then the rest of his linemates joined him and Pavel drew a penalty. The ensuing power play was pretty uneventful except that Hank ended drawing a penalty himself before the first had expired. The Hawks did not touch soon enough to face their 18th 5-on-3 situation so far this season but the Wings did get another full power play starting at 6:10. With about 11 seconds remaining on the penalty, Mikael Samuelsson scored to tie the game up at two. He stole the puck behind the net and got a shot off but didn't score. Shanahan sent the rebound straight back to him out front and he ripped a one-timer past Khabibulin, who was left out to dry again on the play.
Play following the goal through mid-period was mostly between the tops of the circles of the two offensive zones.
At 10:36, Osgood was forced to make a good save when a point shot was deflected on net. Again, I happened to be looking down at the time but I heard Ken Daniel's excitement and waited for the inevitable replay. It was indeed a good save.
At 13:44, Rene Bourque was called for charging on Jason Williams and the Wings went on the power play again. Hank had a good chance all alone on net but Khabibulin got over just in time to make a good save and the rebound was cleared. The Wings' second unit generated some good pressure but was unable to score.
The rest of the period was broken up by a Chicago power play that was cut short by a slashing call that made it 4-on-4 for the last 17 or so seconds of the 2nd.
Shots were 13-6 Wings.
Third Period
Both teams started with four players and the Wings were able to get some pressure going before their 43-second power play began. The Hawks killed that off, however.
At 3:40, Jaroslav Spacek was called for holding and the Wings went back on the power play. This time, they did score, after generating some good pressure. Shanahan had the puck around the net and got a shot or two off but the Hawks got on the rebounds. Their attempt to clear it was unsuccessful, however, and they ended up giving the puck right to Lang, who promptly scored to make it 3-2 Wings.
After this, the Hawks stepped up their play and took over for a while, generating pressure in the Wings' zone but they were unable to get the puck past Osgood. Zetterberg had a breakaway at 10:44 but sent the puck over the net.
At around 12:00, the Wings began to take control again. They went on the power play again at 12:32 and generated a lot of pressure but Khabibulin's play kept the puck out of the net. They got a penalty themselves but they killed it off.
The Hawks played hard near the end and tried desperately to tie things up. They did beat Osgood at about 16:30 but the puck hit the post and bounced pretty far out. Ken Daniels and some of the players thought it was a goal but play continued.
Chicago eventually pulled Khabibulin in an effort to tie the game but Henrik Zetterberg put it away at 19:32 with an empty net goal. Wings win 4-2.
Shots for the period were 13-9 Hawks and 37-25 Wings for the game.
Notes
... Brett Lebda was called up yesterday and played his first pro game at the United Center. He is an Illinois native and was replacing Jason Woolley, who has a slight tear in his groin, and Jamie Rivers, who was a healthy scratch. He played with Chris Chelios, another Illinois native son. His parents were unable to attend the game, however, since they had just left for Hawaii a day or two before he got the call. .... Dan Cleary was drafted 13th overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by Chicago and worked very hard to score a goal against his first NHL team. ... It was pointed out during the broadcast that the United Center opened at the start of the 94-95 season and that none of the '95 Blackhawks are still on the team. That roster included players such as Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Ed Belfour and Gary Suter. There are still four players from the '95 roster on the Wings: Draper, Lidstrom, Yzerman and Osgood (Maltby and Holmstrom did not join the team until the 95-96 and 96-97 seasons respecively(updated)) ... Nikolai Khabibulin wears 53 instead of his usual 35 because 35 is retired in Chicago, in honor of goaltending great Tony Esposito. ... Steve Yzerman looked good in his third game. He logged 12 minutes of ice time and got another point, an assist on the Maltby goal. ... One of the doors to the Wings' bench was in their offensive zone in the second period and, in using it, they drew whistles twice when a play was developing. Even with a player going off, the linesmen are going to call off-sides, the Wings should know that. They may want to be a little more careful. ... With their two power play goals, the Wings now have the most PPGs in the NHL (22). They have scored 51 goals overall and only allowed 23. ... The Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom line was very good, once again. .... The Wings are 5-0-0 on the road so far this season. .... The Wings' 11-1-0 start is the second-best 12-game start in NHL history. Only the 94-95 Pens were better (11-0-1, when the "1" meant a tie, not an overtime loss). ...
Not a bad game for the Wings. The Hawks are not a very high-quality opponent but the Wings showed some good discipline by playing well for most of the game. They just have to finish up this little mini-series on Tuesday.
2 Comments:
Holmstrom didn't join the wings until 1996:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?encode=TRUE&pid=19107
Looks like you're right. I was just repeating what Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond said. I guess they were wrong. They were also wrong about Maltby since they didn't include him on their list. He joined the team in the 95-96 season.
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