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"Not so instant reaction" - Can the Wings continue their Game 2 play?

May 19, 2013, 11:53 AM ET [23 Comments]
Mark Spizzirri
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Impressive bounceback

The Detroit Red Wings emphatically announced to the hockey world yesterday afternoon their intention of making this a very intriguing Western Conference semi-final with an impressive 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.

Now that the series has become a best-of-five and both teams have exhibited some of their best hockey of the season, let alone the playoffs, the question Detroit fans are asking themselves is whether Saturday afternoon's performance is sustainable.

In Game 2, despite outshooting Chicago 12-8 in the opening frame, the Blackhawks headed to the dressing room after 20 minutes with a 1-0 lead thanks to an unfortunate odd-man situation created when Patrick Sharp of the 'Hawks deftly lifted the stick of the unsuspecting Brendan Smith to create a 3-on-1 break. Kyle Quincey played the odd-man rush well, sprawling across the front of the goal to get his stick on Sharp's pass. Unfortunately the puck directed to Michal Handzus, who made a quick pass to Patrick Kane who smacked it past a helpless Jimmy Howard


Needless to say, Red Wing fans likely began questioning whether this series would even last four games since the Red Wings out-shot and out-chanced the Hawks, yet again faced a deficit. However, perhaps we all needed to "listen" to Mike Babcock when he proclaimed on Friday prior to Game 2, "Settle down.....we'll be okay."

The Wings rebounded in Game 2 with a renewed sense of energy, commitment, attention to detail, being in the right spot to receive transition passes from the back-end.

In the 2nd period, Detroit began to the gain control of the contest not only on the scoreboard, but more importantly in the way of possession and time spent in the offensive zone. After Damien Brunner's redirection of a Jakub Kindl wrist shot from the point knotted up the contest early in the 2nd period, Brendan Smith exhibited just one of the many reasons why his play and potential excites Babcock and the Red Wing management group.

Henrik Zetterberg won a loose puck battle along the boards at the Chicago blueline from Niklas Hjalmarsson and headed to the Chicago goal. At the same time, Smith was flying down the right side, through the neutral zone past an unsuspecting Patrick Sharp to jump into the offensive rush and create an odd-man advantage for the Red Wings. Zetterberg made a beautiful pass through the legs of Duncan Keith to the streaking Smith who one-timed the puck past Corey Crawford for the eventual game-winning goal. Definitely a strong rebuttal from the young Red Wing blueliner after all of the harsh criticism thrown his way after the Game 1 loss.

The ability to see the play develop.....before it actually developed, is a special skill that makes mobile defensemen like Smith even more dangerous and valuable to their teams when they jump into the rush.

After taking the 2-1 lead, Detroit continued to levy an assault on the Chicago goal and only the play of Crawford in the Blackhawks net prevented the Wings from having a 2 or 3 goal advantage after 40 minutes.

In the third period, the Red Wings received insurance markers from their two most vital secondary scorers in Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula. Franzen's goal was made possible by more than just one great shot. Obviously Franzen's ability to roof the puck past Crawford on his off-wing was a thing of beauty. However, his movement into a passing lane along the Chicago blueline and behind the 'Hawks rearguards created the scoring chance. The other necessary detail was the fantastic vision and pass made by Jonathan Ericsson. The tape-to-tape pass through the neutral zone was as good as it gets.

Detroit's fourth goal was a continuing example of the Red Wings beating Chicago in all aspects. Despite losing a draw, Henrik Zetterberg beat Brent Seabrook to a loose puck at the Chicago blueline to create a 3-on-2 rush for the Red Wings. Daniel Cleary did his job by getting to his spot in front of the Chicago net, forcing his defender to come along with him, which provided Filppula with a lane to between the slots in the middle of the ice to backhand the final nail in the Chicago coffin.

So is Detroit's play sustainable? I certainly believe so. This win wasn't reliant on a magnificent performance by Jimmy Howard in goal or a fortuitous bounce or two. The Red Wings did all of the little things well and they did them for a multitude of reasons. Yet the biggest noticeable difference on this day was their energy level and willingness to battle increased tenfold. They played "their game" at a high level and as a result, they made life extremely difficult on the 'Hawks as a whole.

How does Chicago respond? The expectation obviously calls for a much better effort from Chicago in Game 3 tomorrow night at the Joe. When you consider half of Chicago's shots came from the line of Toews, Hossa and Saad, it certainly indicates not all of Chicago's players put in a strong performance. Yes, the Red Wings played a major part in that. But Chicago's "compete level" should also spike heading on the road into a hostile environment coming off a disappointing loss.

Of more interest though might be the frustration shown by captain Jonathan Toews following the contest with the lack of space made available by the Red Wings during Game 2,

“I’m not going to go off and complain about some calls that I thought should have been called or whatever. If that’s the way they’re going to play, we need to play the same way. There’s a lot of clutch and grab, a lot of interference, and if [the refs] are going to let that go, that’s something we need to know and maybe do to them a little bit. It’s just tough to understand sometimes why we get roughing penalties and hooking penalties, whatever it is, [and] doesn’t go both ways. It is what it is. If that’s the way it’s going to be, we need to understand that and play more physical and be tougher on them. We’ll know that going into the next one.” - Jonathan Toews


Are those words purely frustration from the tactics of Zetterberg who was lined up most often against Toews? Does Dave Bolland utilize the tactics described by Toews to attempt to make Pavel Datsyuk's life a little more hectic and a little less comfortable beginning in Game 3? It seems unlike Toews to publicly complain about playoff-style hockey.

Regardless, it's evident based on the play on the ice and the quotes coming out of the dressing room, the irritation level with their opponent is rising and we have the looks of a good old-fashioned Norris Division battle on our hands.


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