LOGIN | REGISTER | RSS FEEDS

Abel to Yzerman

GDT - Game #43: Red Wings at Kings (10:30)

by Jeff OKWingnut on 01/07/10 at 09:14 AM ET
Comments (0)

Five points out of the 8 spot, or 7 spot, or 6 spot . . .
6 Vancouver 43 gp, 26-16-1, 53 pts, Last 10 7-2-1
7 Los Angeles 43 gp, 25- 5-3,  53 pts, Home record 11-5-2, Last 10 5-5-0 (Won 3)
8 Nashville 43 gp, 25-15-3, 53 pts, Last 10 6-4-0
———————————————————————————————————
9 Detroit 42 gp, 21-15-6, 48 pts, Last 10 5-4-1

Five points doesn’t seem like alot, and DET has played one fewer game.  But if you look at the respective records in the last 10 games, DET has lost ground to VAN (4 pts) and NSH (1 pt), and gained one meager point on LA.

It probably is too early to call this a must win, but maybe not.  It certainly is an opportunity for DET to remove the “cone of shame” hanging around their necks after that debacle against the Ducks.

The good news, Zetterberg and Cleary will play tonight, and Howard is in net, if you are awake to see it.

Standings:

DET:  42 GP,  21-15-6, 48 pts (9 in Conf, 3 in Central), 109 GF, 108 GA, Last 10 5-4-1, Streak Lost 1

LAK:  43 GP, 25-15-3, 39 pts (7 in Conf, 3 in Pacific), 130 GF, 122 GA, Last 10 5-5-0, Streak Won 3

Stats (rank):

DET:  .571 point% (14), 2.52 g/g (24), 2.50 ga/g (9),  0.92 5-5 f/a (21), 17.1 pp (20), 81.6 pk (13), 33.3 s/g (3), 28.7 sa/g (8), 52.4 fo% (5).

LAK:  .616 point% (11), 2.91 g/g (7), 2.77 ga/g (14), 0.99 5-5 f/a (14), 20.7 pp (7), 79.9 pk (20), 28.5 s/g (26), 27.7 sa/g (2), 48.6 fo% (23).

Looking at DET 2.52 g/g (24) and their 2.50 ga/g, it isn’t hard to understand why DET is a .500 team.  Hopefully as the injured get back in the groove, the g/g will improve on that 24th rated offense.  Only the New York Islanders have scored fewer five-on-five goals (64) than the Red Wings (65).  The team defense is admirable, including a vastly improved PK (congrats McCrimmon); that and Jimmah’s play of late are the only reason DET are “still in the hunt”.

Player Stats:
DET Skaters:
POS Player GP G A PTS +/-  ATOI
C Pavel Datsyuk 40 10 23 33 10 20:29
L Henrik Zetterberg 34 10 22 32 5 19:51
R Todd Bertuzzi 42 12 13 25 -2 16:47
L Tomas Holmstrom 42 15 6 21 4 16:02
D Nicklas Lidstrom 42 1 19 20 10 25:24
D Brian Rafalski 38 2 15 17 6 24:03
R Dan Cleary 30 7 9 16 -8 18:22
C Kris Draper 41 6 7 13 3 12:46
D Niklas Kronwall 21 5 8 13 3 21:18
C Darren Helm 35 6 5 11 0 14:52
D Jonathan Ericsson 31 3 7 10 -7 18:24
R Patrick Eaves 31 4 6 10 2 14:03
D Brad Stuart 42 2 7 9 -2 23:55
C Valtteri Filppula 16 3 5 8 -6 17:47
C Jason Williams 15 2 5 7 -5 15:38
L Drew Miller 40 4 3 7 1 12:15
L Ville Leino 37 4 3 7 -8 13:41
D Brett Lebda 39 1 5 6 -5 15:06
L Justin Abdelkader 39 3 3 6 -5 10:57
L Kirk Maltby 34 3 2 5 1 10:11
D Derek Meech 26 1 1 2 -4 12:19
C Johan Franzen 3 1 1 2 0 18:41
L Brad May 30 0 1 1 -3 7:18
D Doug Janik 10 0 1 1 -1 12:58
C Kris Newbury 4 1 0 1 1 8:41
C Mattias Ritola 5 0 0 0 0 11:41
D Jakub Kindl 3 0 0 0 -2 10:49

DET Goalies:
Player GPI W L OT GAA PCT
Jimmy Howard 26, 14-9-2, 2.23, .923 - - 7th in save%, and 8th in GAA
Chris Osgood 18,  7-6-4, 2.72, .901

LAK Skaters:
POS Player GP G A PTS +/-  ATOI
C Anze Kopitar 43 17 25 42 2 21:31  pt/game, and a + player, impressive
D Drew Doughty 43 9 23 32 8 24:14
L Dustin Brown 43 9 19 28 -5 19:09
L Alexander Frolov 42 11 16 27 -10 19:07
L Ryan Smyth 28 12 14 26 1 20:24
C Jarret Stoll 34 10 16 26 9 17:14
R Justin Williams 33 8 16 24 3 17:33
R Wayne Simmonds 39 10 14 24 16 14:51
C Michal Handzus 43 10 13 23 0 18:22
D Jack Johnson 42 4 12 16 -12 23:00
R Scott Parse 32 7 8 15 7 11:39
R Brad Richardson 42 5 8 13 1 11:19
D Randy Jones 18 4 8 12 2 19:20
D Sean O’Donnell 39 1 7 8 12 18:44
D Davis Drewiske 38 1 7 8 -2 15:33
R Teddy Purcell 37 3 3 6 -1 11:32
D Matt Greene 43 1 4 5 3 17:17
C Oscar Moller 15 2 2 4 -2 8:49
D Rob Scuderi 34 0 3 3 4 19:04
R Brandon Segal 10 0 1 1 2 7:53
D Peter Harrold 24 0 1 1 -3 7:28
C Corey Elkins 3 1 0 1 -2 11:54
L Raitis Ivanans 40 0 0 0 -5 5:07
C Trevor Lewis 5 0 0 0 -3 9:07
D Alec Martinez 2 0 0 0 -3 16:09
C Andrei Loktionov 1 0 0 0 0 11:52
C Brayden Schenn 1 0 0 0 -1 12:31

LAK Goalies:
Player GPI W L OT GAA PCT
Jonathan Quick 39, 23-13-3, 2.56, .907 - - On the U.S. Olympic team, 27th in save%, 15th in GAA
Erik Ersberg 5, 2-2-0, 3.64, .850

Injury Report:
DET:
Dan Cleary (LW/RW) Separated shoulder (Mid-January)
Jason Williams (RW/C) Broken fibula (Mid-January)
Henrik Zetterberg (C/LW) Separated left shoulder (Early January)
Niklas Kronwall (D) Sprained left MCL (Sidelined indefinitely)
Andreas Lilja (D) Concussion (Sidelined indefinitely)
Jonathan Ericsson (D) Left knee injury (Sidelined indefinitely)
Johan Franzen (LW/RW) Left knee surgery (Mid-February)

LAK:
Justin Williams (RW) Broken right leg (Sidelined indefinitely)
Randy Jones (D) Neck injury (Sidelined indefinitely)
Davis Drewiske (D) Shoulder injury (Sidelined indefinitely)
Andrei Loktionov (C) Shoulder injury (Sidelined indefinitely)

HOT and NOT:
DET: Hot:
Nicklas Lidstrom (D) 5 pts in last 3 GP
Brian Rafalski (D) 2 pts in last 2 GP
Pavel Datsyuk (C/LW) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Darren Helm (C/LW) 3 pts in last 3 GP
Todd Bertuzzi (LW/RW) 12 pts in last 12 GP
Tomas Holmstrom (LW/RW) 2 pts in last 2 GP
Jimmy Howard (G) 3-1-1, 1.59, .950 in last 5 GPI

DET: Not Hot:
No Cold Players

LAK: Hot:
Drew Doughty (D) 5 pts in last 2 GP
Michal Handzus (C) 5 pts in last 3 GP
Anze Kopitar (C) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Brad Richardson (LW/C) 8 pts in last 8 GP
Ryan Smyth (LW) 3 pts in last 3 GP
Wayne Simmonds (RW) 4 pts in last 5 GP
Jonathan Quick (G) 2-0-0, 1.50, .959 in last 2 GPI

LAK: Not Hot:
Dustin Brown (RW/LW) 0 pts in last 5 GP

From CBC.ca:

The Kings, who haven’t reached the playoffs in eight years, are trying to win four in a row for the fourth time this season as they open a season-high seven-game homestand.

They continued their strong play Monday with a 6-2 win over Pacific Division-leading San Jose. Six Los Angeles players scored to end the Sharks’ eight-game winning streak.

From the LATimes.com:

Defenseman Randy Jones was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 16 because of an upper-body injury and Alec Martinez was recalled from Manchester. Martinez will play tonight. Defenseman Matt Greene left practice early Wednesday after his back locked up and he’s questionable tonight. This will begin a season-long homestand for the Kings. Detroit has been battered by injuries but is clinging to ninth in the West.

Khan(!):

Henrik Zetterberg and Dan Cleary return Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings, bolstering the Red Wings’ top two lines and their ailing power play.

The team will be as healthy as it has been in weeks, missing only two regular forwards, Johan Franzen and Jason Williams.

And its level of urgency is rising.

“It’s time,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “We got to put some runs together, and it’s going to take good runs over a long period of time to get us in a position we want to be.”

Detroit’s power play also has struggled, converting only 2-of-39 chances (5.1 percent) in the past 11 games

Filed in: | Abel to Yzerman | Permalink
 

Comments

Be the first to comment.

Add a Comment

Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.

Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.

Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.

Most Recent Blog Posts

About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977.  No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y.  Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation.  There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature.  Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Get the top online sports betting bonuses available to sports betters!