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People's reactions vary when they are criticized and receive direction from their superiors on how to correct their mistakes.
Apparently, the Detroit Red Wings are the type that react positively to such a scenario based on their play Wednesday night in Vancouver to commence their sole four-game road trip through Western Canada.
To refresh everyone's memory, here is one of Coach
Mike Babcock's quotes following Saturday night's 3-2 home loss to the New York Rangers
"Let's work harder, let's work smarter, let's be more efficient, let's get more prepared and let's pay a price to win. And, we don't score any goals, at least as far as I have seen. So let's not give up 40 shots, let's give up 20 shots, let's win 2-1."
---Mike Babcock following Saturday night's home defeat to the New York Rangers
How fitting on this Halloween morning, that the Detroit Red Wings chose to show up in Vancouver dressed exactly as the type of team their coach requested.
As I outlined in my
previous blog regarding Babcock pleas to his hockey club to return to their "roots" and focus on those specific areas of the game, the Red Wings respond by putting forth the following
"statistics".
Final score? 2-1 Detroit
Final shots? 28-20 Detroit
Faceoffs? 32-25 Detroit, with all 4 centers winning at least 54% of their draws.
Corsi totals at 5-v-5? 51-36 Detroit
Now to reiterate, I don't want to harp
too much on the importance of Fenwick/Corsi ratings. Certainly the Toronto Maple Leafs (ranked 30th in Corsi For % with a 10-4-0 record) and their fans will have you believe such ratings are for "bloggers in their basements" with nothing better to do. It goes without saying that the primary objective is to win hockey games by outscoring your opponent. End of story.
However, to not acknowledge the likelihood winning the "Corsi battle" is a good sign of success is sheer lunacy. Let's take a quick look at the Top 10 "Corsi For Percentage" teams (5-on-5) and compare them to the Bottom 10 "Corsi For Percentage" teams (5-on-5) through the first month of the regular season:
(statistics courtesy of extraskater.com)
Top 10:
1) Los Angeles - 57.3%
2) Chicago - 56.4%
3) Minnesota - 55.5%
4) San Jose - 55.4%
5) New Jersey - 53.6%
6) St. Louis - 53.3%
7) Pittsburgh - 52.6%
8) Anaheim - 51.6%
9) Boston - 51.3%
10) Ottawa - 51.2%
Bottom 10:
20) Phoenix - 48.9%
21) Nashville - 48.2%
22) Tampa Bay - 47.9%
23) Philadelphia - 47.8%
24) Colorado - 47.7%
25) Florida - 47.6%
26) New York Islanders - 47.3%
27) Calgary - 47.2%
28) Edmonton - 46.9%
29) Buffalo - 43.4%
30) Toronto - 42.7%
Now....call me crazy.....but I've got a feeling not many readers would want to bet me that this year's Stanley Cup winner comes from that group of teams in the bottom 10. There are certainly exceptions to every rule and thus far, it appears that the Maple Leafs, Colorado and Tampa Bay might be the exceptions to it through one month of play in that particular group.
However, playing the game in such a manner puts a greater strain and emphasis on the play of your goaltender and special teams. When your overall save percentage sits at 95.5% (Colorado, 1st overall) and 93.7% (Toronto, 3rd overall), it can make up for plenty of issues. To their credit, Tampa Bay is only 23rd overall currently with a save percentage of 90.1%.
When both your power-play and penalty-killing units are ranked in the league's top 10 as all three of those teams currently enjoy, it can help offset their "rope-a-dope" mentality when play is at even strength.
Relying on those items instead of holding the territorial advantage when you are playing at even strength to get you through an 82-game schedule is not a recipe for playoff success.
Prior to last night, Detroit had been outshot in 9 of their opening 12 contests. Thus, the continued preaching from Babcock to re-establish the Red Wings past practice of possessing the puck, winning the battle on the shot clock and elevating the likelihood of winning hockey games.
************************************************************************
On an individual basis, the pairing of
Pavel Datsyuk and
Henrik Zetterberg appeared to elevate their game and respond to the match-up of facing one of the league's hottest lines, the "Ryan Ginger" line of the Sedin Twins alongside
Ryan Kesler. They, alongside with Bertuzzi and/or Alfredsson outplayed the Canucks' top line, outshooting them, holding the territorial advantage and making life difficult for their opponents by forcing them to play defensively much more than they are accustomed to needing to do.
Although many will certainly question the persistence of Babcock utilizing
Todd Bertuzzi as the primary winger to play alongside the Wings top two forwards, he still represents even at the age of 37, the ideal type of player to play on the wing with Datsyuk. It's reflected in Babcock's hope of utilizing
Justin Abdelkader in such a role if his offensive skills can continue to evolve.
Stephen Weiss continues to struggle and although he improved in the face-off circle on this evening (9-for-15, 60% wins), his line was the sole offensive group to give up more shots towards their goal than their opponent. Having
Danny Cleary on his wing does not appear to be the medicine needed to get Weiss' game back to full health.
Defensively, I thought the group on the blueline played well, especially the youngsters
Danny DeKeyser and
Brendan Smith. Smith made a fabulous play on a 2-on-1 in the first period after a
Niklas Kronwall pinch gone bad resulted in the Sedin's with an odd-man rush against Smith. The much-maligned University of Wisconsin product made a great sprawling play to snuff out the pass attempt and terminate the scoring threat.
DeKeyser logged a season-high 26:42 in place of the injured
Jonathan Ericsson alongside Kronwall, with the majority of that time up against the Canucks' top scoring threats.
Needless to say, it was an ideal first positive step forward from this Red Wing group after getting challenged by their head coach after laying two eggs at home against Ottawa and the Rangers.
"We executed...that's the right way to play...tonight was a good step for our team now we've got to match it." --- Mike Babcock
They march on to the province of Alberta for a back-to-back situation against two teams with a combined record of 8-14-4 and rated 27th (Calgary) and 28th (Edmonton) in Corsi For Percentage. A tailor-made situation awaits for the Red Wings to continue to rebuild their confidence after a four-game winless streak.
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