For a team that had just fallen 5-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup opening-round series Saturday afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings were quite a chipper bunch.
“I thought we did some good things actually,… Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “Obviously the score didn’t go the way we wanted it to but we did a lot more better things, more the way we want to be playing the game.…
He wasn’t alone in that belief.
“Well, actually I thought we had it going pretty good there,… echoed Detroit coach Mike Babcock.
The Wings, who stole the series opener 3-2 despite being outshot 46-14, were steeling themselves against any notion that the Lightning was significantly better than they were in Game 2.
“Overall, we played a better game today than we did in the first one,… Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “We did a lot of good things offensively. We spent a lot more time in their end.…
Still, the bottom line was that the Wings fished five pucks out of their net, and that’s the real cause for concern as they head home to Detroit for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday at Joe Louis Arena.
“We had few breakdowns in the second period that gave them a bit of a cushion going into the third,… Kronwall said.
The funny thing is, the Wings felt the second period Saturday was their best period of the series and yet they were outscored 3-0 in that frame.
“We made big mistakes today,… Babcock said. “The neutral zone, the forecheck the sort out in our D zone, things like that.
“So we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board.…
Kronwall agreed that defensive miscues, a bugaboo for the Wings over the past 4-5 weeks, again reared its ugly head and turned what was a close game everywhere except on the scoreboard into a lopsided loss.
“We’ve got to clean up the defensive side of things,… Kronwall said. “In the neutral zone a few times they got it right through us. We’ve got to be better in the details there, knowing where to be on different occasions.
“That’s how it goes sometimes. We’ve got to stay patient here and keep believing in what we do. It definitely didn’t feel like a 5-1 game but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“The puck ended up in our net after a few defensive breakdowns. It was a few breakdowns in details on the defensive side of things. Other than that I thought we did a lot of good things.…
Petr Pulled Detroit starting goalie Petr Mrazek finished the game on the bench as Jimmy Howard took over for the third period, but he’ll be right back between the pipes when Game 3 gets underway.
“Yeah, Pete’s starting next game,… Babcock said, putting a quick end to any goaltending speculation. “It was just a change and he gets to get regroup and he’ll be starting for us next game.…
Mrazek, who made 44 saves in the opener, felt the team in front of him was much more helpful in Game 2, even if the result didn’t reflect that reality.
“Yeah we played so much better from the start,… Mrazek said. “We had lots of chances to score. We couldn’t score but we did a way better job today than Thursday.
“It’s better to have one win than zero from the road. To be 1-1 is good before our home games.…
Paying The Penalty Tampa Bay scored twice on the power play as Detroit’s recent penchant for holding a parade to the penalty box continued.
The Wings were shorthanded seven times in Game 1 and found themselves down a man on another four occasions in Game 2.
“That would help,… Kronwall agreed of staying out of the penalty box. “I don’t know how many we ended up with but anytime you’re going to the box that’s a chance for them to score obviously.
“We want to be better than that.…
In Game 1 the Wings questioned some of the infractions they were accused of committing by the game officials, but there was no second-guessing after Saturday’s setback.
“I thought in the first game there were a few iffy ones but tonight I really didn’t think it was that bad without going into details of every penalty,… Kronwall said. “I thought it was fairly even tonight.…
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