Saturday, November 05, 2005

Wings 1, Coyotes 4

The Wings showed a lack of discipline and frustration for most of the night, as the Phoenix Coyotes beat them 4-1 in JLA. Osgood made the start for the Wings, opposite former Wing Curtis Joseph. Chris Chelios started the cycle of self destruction through penalties with five minutes left in the first, when he was called for cross checking and took a game misconduct after arguing the call. Coach Mike Babcock was frustrated with his teams' lack of discipline and how many of the Wings' penalties came after the Coyotes beat them to loose pucks.

First Period

The Wings opened the game strong, with good chances from Williams and Lidstrom two minutes in, with the Coyotes clearing the zone shortly after. At 2:23, Tomas Holmstrom scored his 100th career goal on a broken play between the circles. On the play, Lilja made a great pass up the middle to a breaking Datsyuk, who fumbled the puck back to a trailing Holmstrom. Scoring his third goal in two games, Tomas took the puck in stride and beat CuJo on a backhander, right side. 1-0 Wings. Assists to Datsyuk and Lilja.

At 2:39, former Wing Boyd Devereaux was called for hooking. The Wings had some good chances on the ensuing power play, with Zetterberg serving as the quarterback, working well behind the net to get the play set up. The Wings failed to convert on the man-advantage, with only one shot on net but a number of great passes. Derek Morris had two blocked shots during the power play in support of CuJo.

Around 5:55, the Coyotes set up camp in the Wings' zone for over a minute, but it mostly was scrums along the boards. At 8:30, UM grad Mike Comrie was called for a trip on Samuelsson. The best chance of the power play came when Zetterberg passed from the right side across to Lidstrom on the left as he broke in on Cujo, but Nick couldn't handle the pass and the Coyotes cleared the zone. As the power play ended, Nagy broke in one-on-one on Ozzie, but mishandled the puck and was unable to get a shot off.

At 12:41, Devereaux shot in on Ozzie from the right circle, and Paul Mara created trouble in the crease by driving after the loose puck and checking Yzerman into Osgood, who was able to freeze the puck. A short time later, the Wings had a golden opportunity in on CuJo, with a tic-tac-toe play from Holmstrom, across to Lidstrom, and back door to Zetterberg, who was pressured enough by a Coyote defenseman to cause him to fan on the puck, with the net wide open.

At 15:13, Lija was called for tripping on Sjostrom, and at 15:59 Chris Chelios picked up a 2 minute penalty for cross checking Saprykin in the face. Cheli argued the call, and received a 2 minute unsportsmanlike, followed by a 10 minute misconduct, and a 10 minute game misconduct. That's booted from the game, with 24 minutes of penalties on one play.

The Coyotes had a 5-on-3 opportunity, and converted off a Paul Mara point shot, and Mike Leclerc backhand on the rebound. Ozzie had no chance on the play, out of position on the initial shot. 1-1 tie. The period ended with the Wings killing off the second power play courtesy of Chelios, and shots were 12-10 Phoenix as the teams went to the locker rooms.

Second Period

The Coyotes continued their momentum from the end of the first period, and pressured the Wings early, drawing a Jamie Rivers tripping penalty at 2:16. The Wings held the Coyotes to two power play shots, and went back on their heels for the next four minutes. At 7:37, Rivers was called again, this time for hooking Devereaux. On a night with Chelios ejected, the Wings are already down to 5 defensemen. And with Rivers in penalty trouble, it put a lot of pressure on the remaining 4 Wings defensemen (Schneider, Lidstrom, Lilja, Fischer).

At 8:22, the Coyotes scored another power play goal off a Michalek point shot which was redirected by Lilja. On the play, Lilja lost his stick for some time, but Daniel Cleary handed him his. How ironic is it that Lilja takes that very stick, goes in front of Ozzie, and ends up redirecting the Phoenix shot enough to trick his own goaltender? 2-1 Phoenix. The Wings had only given up 2 power play goals in one game one other time this season.

At 9:50, the Coyotes were hounding the Wings in their zone, courtesy of the Doan/Devereaux/Saprykin line. The Wings only had two shots up to this point of the period. At 11:55, Nagy was called for hooking, and the Wings had a good power play opportunity with shots from Lang, Datsyuk, and Lidstrom.

At 17:26, Fischer was called for hooking behidn the Wings' net as he failed to pick up a loose puck. The story of the game: the Wings not picking up loose pucks and getting called for penalties as the Coyotes gain possession. At this point, shots are 23-17 Coyotes, with 12 of their shots on the power play for 2 goals. At 18:59, Nagy hit the goalpost on a shot between the circles, as he picked up the loose puck from trailing the play.

At 19:15, Mike Johnson scored top corner on a bad angle blast from the far right side. He beat Ozzie, who was out of position from the previous shot. 3-1 Phoenix. The Wings, who came in as the league leaders on the penalty kill, have given up 3 power play goals for the first time this season. It is only the second time they have trailed after two periods. Shots in the period were 16-8 Coyotes, to make 28-18 total after two periods.

Third Period

The Wings started out the period with some early pressure from Pavel and Henrik, but reverted to their frustrated play when Holmstrom was caught for elbowing at 2:48, with an extra 2 minutes tacked on for arguing the call. It was a relatively uneventful 4 minute penalty kill, the Wings managing to hold the Coyotes without a shot. A minute after the penalty expired, the Coyotes were called for two many men on the ice at 7:41. Shortly after, Ricci was called for delay of game when he cleared the puck over the glass. On the 5-on-3, the Wings nearly scored when Shanahan dug for the puck in the crease. While the puck ended up squirting across the goal line, further review showed Shanny kicking the puck and the goal was voided. Still 3-1 Phoenix. Shanahan later admitted to kicking it in.

With roughly a minute left on the 5-on-3, the Wings had more pressure on CuJo, and drew a Ballard slashing call with 9 seconds left in the Ricci call. The Wings failed to convert, even with many shots on net and good passing.

At 15:54, Saprykin was called for tripping, and Williams and Lidstrom had some decent chances on net. At 18:30, Samuelsson was called for slashing, and Mike Comrie eventually got an empty net goal at 19:47. 4-1 Phoenix. Shots 37-29, Wings. That's right, 19-1 Wings for shots in the third. The Wings went 0-7 on the power play, with 16 shots. The next game is tomorrow night at 7:00 pm in the Savvis Center against the struggling St Louis Blues, who have lost 7 straight. Osgood will make the start on the back-to-back.

Notes

Tonight was the first time the Wings have allowed 3 (*correction 4, Comrie's empty netter was on the power play) power play goals in a game, and the second time they have trailed after two periods...The Phoenix power play entered the game 14th in the NHL at 18.6%...familiar faces on the Phoenix side included Assistant Coach Barry Smith, Curtis Joseph, Boyd Devereaux, and Mike Comrie...Shanahan is one assist away from 600....Mike Ricci wears #40 in honor of Pat Tillman, former Arizona Cardinals safety who was killed in Afghanistan...The Wings had 3 of a possible 6 points on the home stand.

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