Abel to Yzerman
GDT - Game #72: Red Wings host Penguins (7:00)
by Jeff OKWingnut on 03/22/10 at 09:13 AM ET
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The Wings are back at the Joe tonight after a stunningly successful three game Western Canada swing. The heart pounding Wings are apparently determined to give their fans their moneys worth. A must win in Calgary last Monday was accomplished by a Mule to Homer game-winning tip-in with 1:19 left in the 3rd. After the Wings took a 3 day holiday, they predictably failed to show up in EDM on time, spotting the Oil a 2 goal lead. Brain Rafalski maintained his excellent play from the Olympics, and with the extra skater on, potted the game-tying goal with tenths of a second remaining. Alas the Wings failed (again) at the shootout point. Sat at VAN. Zetterberg potted the winner with tenths of a second remaining in the OT frame. 5 of 6 points, wins against CGY and VAN no less. Those were clutch points, and the Wings have been clutch lately.
MIN won, in regulation against CGY Sunday afternoon. The Wings are two points up with a game in hand. The Wings are masters of their own fate. If they can keep up their gritty/intense play, they will be a force to be reckoned with. Skate to throat never seemed more appropriate.
Standings:
G/P, W L OTL PTS Last 10 Streak
5 NSH 73 42 26 5 89 7-3-0 Won 6
6 LAK 70 41 24 5 87 5-4-1 Won 1
7 COL 71 40 25 6 86 5-5-0 Lost 2
8 DET 71 35 23 13 83 7-2-1 Won 1
9 CGY 72 36 27 9 81 6-4-0 Lost 1
DET: 71 GP, 35-23-13, 83 pts (8 in Conf, 3 in Central), 193 GF, 192 GA, Last 10 7-2-1, Streak Won 1
PIT: 72 GP, 42-24-6, 90 pts (2 in Conf, 1 in Atlantic), 224 GF, 205 GA, Last 10 6-2-2, Streak OTL
DET at home: 19-10-5 (12)
PIT on road: 21-14-2 (4)
Stats (rank):
DET: .585 point% (12), 2.66 g/g (16), 2.58 ga/g (8), 0.88 5-5 f/a (24), 19.5 pp (8), 83.5 pk (9), 33.2 s/g (2), 29.9 sa/g (14), 51.1 fo% (8).
PIT: .625 point% (6), 3.01 g/g (5), 2.83 ga/g (19), 1.09 5-5 f/a (7), 17.0 pp (22), 84.1 pk (6), 32.6 s/g (5), 28.7 sa/g (5), 49.0 fo% (21).
Goal Differential/Game:
DET = +0.08
PIT = +0.18
Misc: DET PP and PK both ranked in the top 10 (!) - - HIRE McCrimmon(!). At home the Red Wings are averaging 2.7 goals per game, and giving up 2.3 goals against on defense. On the road, the Penguins are averaging 2.7 goals per game, and giving up 3.0 goals against on defense.
Player Stats:
DET Skaters:
POS Player GP G A PTS +/- ATOI
C Pavel Datsyuk 69 23 37 60 14 20:23
L Henrik Zetterberg 63 20 40 60 9 20:00
D Nicklas Lidstrom 71 8 35 43 20 25:35
R Todd Bertuzzi 71 16 22 38 -7 16:38
D Brian Rafalski 67 7 30 37 18 24:24
L Tomas Holmstrom 57 20 13 33 6 15:30
R Dan Cleary 58 13 16 29 -7 17:44
C Valtteri Filppula 44 8 21 29 -4 17:44
C Darren Helm 64 10 11 21 -6 14:44
C Kris Draper 70 7 13 20 -1 11:56
R Patrick Eaves 56 11 9 20 -3 13:41
D Niklas Kronwall 37 5 12 17 0 21:31
L Drew Miller 69 8 9 17 1 12:48
D Brad Stuart 71 2 14 16 -15 23:30
C Jason Williams 33 6 5 11 -10 14:01
D Jonathan Ericsson 51 3 8 11 -17 17:16
C Johan Franzen 16 7 4 11 1 18:35
D Brett Lebda 62 1 7 8 -2 15:02
L Kirk Maltby 52 4 2 6 1 10:06
D Derek Meech 43 2 4 6 -12 12:40
L Justin Abdelkader 50 3 3 6 -11 10:35
D Doug Janik 13 0 2 2 -3 13:28
D Ole-Kristian Tollefsen 18 0 2 2 1 9:51
L Brad May 40 0 1 1 -5 6:58
D Andreas Lilja 10 0 1 1 -1 14:12
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 53, 28-15-9, 2.32, 0.924 #4 in save%
Chris Osgood 22, 7-8-4, 2.97, 0.890
PIT Skaters:
POS Player GP G A PTS +/- ATOI
C Sidney Crosby 71 45 43 88 9 21:47 #3 in points, #1 (tied) goals
C Evgeni Malkin 63 24 46 70 -6 20:53
L Alexei Ponikarovsky 69 21 26 47 3 16:38
C Jordan Staal 72 20 27 47 20 19:10
D Sergei Gonchar 56 10 34 44 -5 24:36
R Bill Guerin 68 18 22 40 0 17:38
L Pascal Dupuis 71 17 15 32 4 14:02
D Alex Goligoski 59 7 24 31 4 21:24
L Chris Kunitz 44 11 18 29 6 16:42
L Ruslan Fedotenko 70 10 18 28 -18 14:43
L Matt Cooke 70 13 14 27 16 14:54
D Kris Letang 63 3 24 27 3 21:20
C Tyler Kennedy 54 10 11 21 9 12:40
D Brooks Orpik 64 1 19 20 8 20:10
D Jordan Leopold 71 7 12 19 -4 22:02
C Michael Rupp 72 13 5 18 3 9:17
D Mark Eaton 69 3 11 14 6 19:51
D Jay McKee 56 1 9 10 6 15:43
R Craig Adams 72 0 8 8 -9 11:11
C Maxime Talbot 35 1 4 5 -5 12:14
R Chris Conner 8 2 1 3 -1 9:35
D Ben Lovejoy 12 0 3 3 8 16:37
R Eric Godard 43 0 2 2 1 4:14
D Deryk Engelland 9 0 2 2 -2 16:08
R Nick Johnson 6 1 1 2 -2 10:06
C Mark Letestu 10 1 0 1 -2 9:37
R Tim Wallace 1 0 0 0 0 5:50
C Dustin Jeffrey 1 0 0 0 0 8:35
PIT Goalies:
Player GPI W L OT GAA PCT
Alexander Pechurski 1, 0-0-0, 1.67, 0.923
Brent Johnson 21, 9-5-1, 2.61, 0.910
Marc-Andre Fleury 58, 33-18-5, 2.65, 0.906
John Curry 1, 0-1-0, 12.50, 0.643
Injury Report:
DET:
Kirk Maltby (RW/LW) Shoulder surgery (Early April)
Patrick Eaves (RW/LW) Head injury (Day to day)
PIT:
No injured players
HOT and NOT:
DET: Hot:
Brian Rafalski (D) 7 pts in last 7 GP
Brad Stuart (D) 3 pts in last 4 GP
Henrik Zetterberg (C/LW) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Valtteri Filppula (C/LW) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Pavel Datsyuk (C/LW) 13 pts in last 11 GP
Jimmy Howard (G) 4-0-1, 1.75, .929 in last 5 GPI
DET: Not Hot:
Dan Cleary (LW/RW) 0 pts in last 6 GP
Jason Williams (W/C) 0 pts in last 6 GP
Todd Bertuzzi (LW/RW) 1 pts in last 6 GP
PIT: Hot:
Kris Letang (D) 2 pts in last 3 GP
Alexei Ponikarovsky (LW) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko (LW/RW) 3 pts in last 3 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury (G) 1-0-1, 1.44, .935 in last 2 GPI
PIT: Not Hot:
Sergei Gonchar (D) 2 pts in last 7 GP
Pascal Dupuis (LW/RW) 0 pts in last 3 GP
———————————————————————————————————————————
Khan(!):
The Red Wings often are tired and sluggish in their first game after a trip to the West Coast. They lost 6-0 at the New York Islanders on Jan. 12 and dropped a 4-3 shootout decision in St. Louis on Feb. 9.
They hope staying overnight in Vancouver rather than flying home after the game will make a difference.
“Usually when we (fly after the game), we get home around 7:30 in the morning,’’ captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “It’s hard to sleep on that flight, and all the sudden you feel like you have to sleep all day to catch up. I think it’s easier to spend the night and then have a travel day.’‘
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock added: “It’s a long travel day. Time changes are tough. It’s going to be a hard game, but we have to be mentally prepared.’’ . . .
They dealt well with their depleted depth at forward, missing Patrick Eaves (head injury) and Dan Cleary (groin injury), who are listed as day-to-day. It helped that Zetterberg turned in one of his best games of the season, registering nine shots on goal and a plus-3 rating to go along with a goal and an assist.He had good chemistry with Valtteri Filppula (goal, two assists), his linemate for the past five games.
“(Zetterberg) has been a lot better since he started playing with Fil,’’ Babcock said. “He seems to have turned the corner. He’s feeling better about his game. All athletes, I don’t care how good you are, confidence is fleeting. It’s great to have it back.’’ . . .
Todd Bertuzzi replaced Cleary on Zetterberg’s line and played his best game in several weeks. He had five shots on goal, crashed the net and was engaged physically. He ended his 19-game goal-scoring drought with his first goal since Jan. 23.
————————————————————————————————————————
McCosky, Detroit News:
The Wings’ penalty-kill unit hasn’t allowed a goal in eight straight games, killing off 24 straight. They have killed 52 of the last 55 opponents’ power-play chances.
... Danny Cleary (groin) and Patrick Eaves (head) will be evaluated this morning, though the Wings expect both will play tonight.
———————————————————————————————————————
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Jimmy Howard for Red Wings.
Penguins: Have three regulation losses in past 17 games. ... Have scored more than three goals twice in past 13 games. ... Four of past five games decided in OT have been losses.
Red Wings: Are 6-1-1 in past eight games. ... Are 8-5-3 vs. Eastern Conference. ... Todd Bertuzzi has one goal in past 20 games.
Hidden stat: Red Wings are among the leaders at home in power play (21.5 percent) and penalty killing (86.2 percent).
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