Abel to Yzerman
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Game 1 Observations
by IwoCPO on 04/11/08 at 10:39 AM ET
Comments (18)
We said it yesterday and last night did nothing to change my stance on this: the Wings don’t need to play perfect hockey to win this series. Limit mistakes, generate consistent offense, exhibit a few violent tendencies…and steady play in net. That’s really all that’s necessary.
Game 1? Pretty much according to that script, only better.
Issues? Yeah. Rafalski looked out of sorts, to put it kindly. Numerous giveaways and not much of a factor offensively.
I’d have liked to have seen a few more minutes from the fourth line. Hartigan, McCarty and Drake averaged about 5 minutes, even strength. And yeah, a few more quality scoring chances to test young Ellis will be nice to see in Game 2.
But, overall? Very few complaints. Secondary scoring? In other words, Franzen? Check. Not only did he score, as usual, but every time he touches the puck he’s dangerous. Every time. When did the Mule gain the puck handling skills we’ve seen the last two months? Put him along the end boards with the puck and nobody’s gonna get it from him. I think the Cleary/Mule/Filppula line is going to generate even more chances as we go further.
Coaching. We mentioned that in the keys yesterday. How often have we hinted at the fact that Mike Babcock has a soft spot for Samuelsson? Plenty. I’ve led the charge in criticizing William Tell and, if given the choice, would probably have played Abbaddabadoo over him last night. That, naturally, would have made me an idiot. Eight shots for Samuelsson. And he looked good, as good as we’ve seen him all year. He was abrasive and dangerous with the puck. Defensively, he was sound as usual.
Babcock also elected to play Dats/Zetterberg/Homer against Bubba’s top line, which was another shrewd move. Arnott? Non factor. No shots and a -2. Dumont? -3. Hlavac? Five shots but also -2. As for the Flying Circus? A puck possession machine, dangerous all night. No one’s going to stop that line. As it has been all year, the only question is whether the rest of the lines can chip in. With Franzen on fire, that’s a yes.
Hasek and Ellis. No, Hasek wasn’t tested by any stretch. But what he saw last night is what he can expect the rest of the way. Nobody’s going to put up 30 shots on the Wings. Not in the the playoffs and not the way they’re performing defensively. If not for little Jordin’s fluke goal, it would have been a perfect night for the CMOI. Ellis? We knew he’d play well, and he did. But this is not Kipper, or JSG or even Roloson. His performance will not be the storyline this series.
Tootoo: as stated below, I don’t care one way or the other if Mac lays waste to him, or Downey, or whoever. Will it happen? Yeah, probably on Saturday. Is it required? No. He’s a fruitfly, a nuisance. All I ask is that when you kick his ass, Mac, do it when the time is right. Talk to Downey about that.
Zetterberg’s game winner. I don’t know if the play was offsides or not. I don’t really care. Let Bubba whine all he wants. Bottom line is that heralded Shea Webber turned it over, then he turned it over again and he gave it to the worst possible character: Datsyuk. The rest was inevitable.
Kronwall’s hit. Yep. Got his elbow up. Left his feet a little. Drilled him. Loved it. Suspendable? Not that I’ve heard today. Hypocritical of me? Of course. Not a beat writer, just a fan.
Finally, not too much noise today about the lack of it at the Joe last night. Good crowd. Called my brother in Hockeytown yesterday afternoon and asked him what the chances of a full house were. He said not likely. He hasn’t been the same kid since I stuffed dirty socks in his mouth while he was asleep thirty years ago though. The house appeared as full as it’s been all year, and louder than we expected. Nice to see and hear.
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Comments
I think Abbaddabadoo should had played over D-Mac. As much as we are all rooting for Mac, I think Abbaddabadoo is the better player right now. Also surprised to see how feisty Drapes was playing last night.
Posted by millsz from Brownstown, MI on 04/11/08 at 10:59 AM ET
Home Keys > Hartigan.
Should replace him on a full-time basis ASAP. He’d have better chemistry with Mac and Drake anyways.
Posted by Nathan on 04/11/08 at 11:06 AM ET
Baroque the different broadcasts absolutely make a difference. I watched on FSN and it sounded silent. I’ve watched games on VS. too in which crowds sound pretty quiet. Ken and Mickey said the crowd was really into it last night. I went to two playoff games last year (my only two) and they were the loudest crowds i have ever experienced. Hopefully it will be the same for tomorrow cause I scored tickets again.
Posted by Sp4r7an on 04/11/08 at 11:07 AM ET
And according to ESPN.com the game was sold out.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=280410005
Posted by Sp4r7an on 04/11/08 at 11:11 AM ET
Though still early, something is definitely missing for me this time around. Yeah, Tu-tu, for sure, but then what?
Maybe it’s because I’m having a difficult time working up a raging hate-on for Ellis. I like the kid. He’s got moxie.
It was much more fun watching the Wings beat Bubba in the playoffs when Blood Clot was minding their net, pretending he wasn’t intimidated.
Posted by O-Joe on 04/11/08 at 11:18 AM ET
Agree of the feeds thing. On the Nashville feed the place sounded dead. Noticed it was louder in third, though. Maybe they didn’t have the mikes on. Looking forward to watching the game on NBC sat.
Posted by AndrewB from TN on 04/11/08 at 11:26 AM ET
Put him along the end boards with the puck and nobody’s gonna get it from him.
Ditto Filpulla. Somebody check his stick for a puck magnet. Strong, good hands, good sense of the ice around him. I was wondering which Flip would show up in the playoffs, and I hope last night was the answer. If he continues to play like he did last night, the Filpulla/Franzen combo is a dangerous one.
Posted by PaulinMiamiBeach on 04/11/08 at 11:28 AM ET
The highlight of the game….Kind of reminded me of Danny Markov….
Posted by w2j2 on 04/11/08 at 11:28 AM ET
I was at the Wings/Ducks game in February that was televised on NBC (STILL mad about that game, by the way). Anyway, NBC had little flat microphones stuck to the tops of glass panes all around the rink. I think the lack of crowd noise last night had more to do with versus’ lack of production capability than anything else. Saturday’s game is on NBC, I think we’ll notice a difference.
Posted by Matt from Chicago on 04/11/08 at 11:30 AM ET
I think the crowd noise issue is more about the levels they set for the mics, not where the mics are or how many there are. They can turn them up and down, so some broadcasts seem to like us hearing the ice level noise more than the crowd.
Posted by PaulinMiamiBeach on 04/11/08 at 11:35 AM ET
It looked to me (based on the camera shot from below the goalline) like the Kronwall hit was delivered with his shoulder, not his elbow. If anything, his arm hit Peverly in the chest while his shoulder did the work on his chin.
Posted by Matt Saler from Grand Rapids, MI on 04/11/08 at 11:46 AM ET
I thought the boys really played well last night. If not for Ellis, that game would have gotten out of hand, not that I would have minded. I didn’t get to see the first period, I was at a soccer practice, of all the days) but from what I saw of the highlights on NHL ON THE FLY (please don’t be mad at me) the only good chance the Preds had was Bonk’s backhand off the left-wing boards that Dom barely had to move to stop. Second period, the only thing that kept the game close was Ellis. Third period, I thought they took the play to us a little bit more, but not much in the way of scoring chances. I never did see the replay of Hank’s first goal, whether it was offsides or not, but if it was that close to have to go to the frame-by-frame replay, then it was probably onside anyway. After that goal, all I heard was the Idiot Twins on FSN South piss and moan about it, wah, wah, wah. I liked the fact that the officials for the most part let the teams play and really only called the penalties that denied scoring chances, like the hold on Flip in front of Ellis, and the hold on Buckets on the odd-man rush. Kronner got nailed for the elbow, but you can’t do that, so no problem with that call. I was just glad to see that the damn zebras basically kept themselves out of the game. Overall, I think that we’re well on our way to winning this series, in 5 like I said
Posted by Chris from Columbia, Tennessee on 04/11/08 at 11:46 AM ET
I think the crowd noise issue is more about the levels they set for the mics, not where the mics are or how many there are. They can turn them up and down, so some broadcasts seem to like us hearing the ice level noise more than the crowd.
Then CBC must love letting everyone hear the crowd noise. Makes sense, since they also usually just have a brief moment before the game starts of a high shot of the ice with the players skating a couple last circuits, spotlights all over, and the music and roaring of the crowd. CBC also televises the anthem(s), which is nice, instead of filling the last few minutes right before the game with more commercials.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/11/08 at 12:00 PM ET
attended the game, real good crowd…best part was when the penalty box side sections yelled “red” and bench sections yelled “wing” that went on for about a minute.
kronwall’s hit wasn’t that bad, there were a couple of bubba hits that weren’t called that could easily have been penalties.
i still think we need more charging the goal mouth and get some “grinder” type goals
Posted by rocketman from detroit on 04/11/08 at 12:05 PM ET
Wings gave up only THREE shots on goal in the third; in a 1 - 1 game (after only giving up 6 shots in the second). Nuff said.
Don’t know how many scoring chances the Pred had, but it couldn’t have been more than 7/8. Wings had plenty of chances and wound up outshooting NSH something like 40 - 20—(thats two to one).
Dom saves 19 of 20 (.950).
My only gripe is that the 4th line didn’t play enough minutes—at least not enough to drop the gloves on someone.
Maybe Saturday, the Wings will build enough cushion on the scoreboard for them to send a differnt kind of message 
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 04/11/08 at 01:31 PM ET
Johanzen Franz was quoted after the game “The Ellis goalie he so soft and flabby like little girly man”
Seriously tho…
FOX Sports HD > Versus HD in both sound and reception quality.
Posted by Dang on 04/11/08 at 01:35 PM ET
I think the crowd noise issue is more about the levels they set for the mics, not where the mics are or how many there are.
I agree. I’d bet that not every production crew sets up their own mics or cameras. Whether wired or wireless, there’s just too much work involved and too little space available to set up 4 redundant systems (e.g., CBC + Vs. + local home + local away). I think there’s basically one system in the arena with all audio & video available to each production crew to use as they desire, hence the different crowd audio levels and perhaps different camera shots during a particular play on the various broadcasts.
Posted by BobTheZee on 04/12/08 at 09:52 AM ET
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Pucks bounce off officials all the time - although they are impressively quick on their feet for the most part. Even the old guys are surprisingly spry.
Everybody (with the exception of Lidstrom) occasionally does that. As long as he doesn’t make it a habit, like some players, I can’t see him getting a reputation for cheap shots.
I wonder about the broadcasts sometimes. If a game is on a couple different channels, you can often pick up a difference in the apparent atmosphere between the two broadcasts.
There was a game in Montreal that was being shown on both CBC and VS, and the CBC feed sounded much louder - the VS feed sounded like a dead crowd, which was clearly not the case.
I wonder if larger networks have better spots available for their microphones (RHIP), or if more experienced networks just know better how to deploy them?
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/11/08 at 10:52 AM ET