So, the young and fast Colorado Avalanche made Jimmy Howard look kind of human as compared against the Ducks five nights ago.
Although they didn’t look old. The Avalanche started Peter Budaj in net, who’s had a less than stellar backup career. If Craig Anderson starts, then the Avalanche might very well have won this game easily.
Johan Franzen started the game out with a seeing eye shot that Peter Budaj just couldn’t see.
David Jones tied it up for the Avalanche with under a minute to go in the first, when a pileup in front of Howard prevented him from seeing or making a save.
The Red Wings dominated the second period by sticking to their puck possession play, getting a powerplay goal, the 200th goal of his career, by Pavel Datsyuk who tipped a Zetterberg pass past the skate of Budaj.
Johan Franzen lit the lamp for a second time after a scaring flurry of saves by Jimmy Howard at the other end, and a great backcheck by Todd Bertuzzi (I know, crazy), then he pulled it forward, made a great drop pass to Filppula who fed a board to board pass to Franzen who sniped Budaj just above his glove.
Ryan O’Reilly shortened the lead with about 45 seconds remaining when he stole the puck from Modano at the blue line and fired a hard slap shot that appeared the deflect off of Salei’s shin, which just got past Jimmy Howard.
Daniel Winnik tied the game in the third period, by getting a great outlet pass and Winnik, the former Coyote, made a great move on Kronwall, poking it past him on the boards and fooling Howard into leaning for the pass, and fired it by him short side.
At 7:39 Ruslan Salei got called for a hooking penalty, and in an ensuing faceoff, Darren Helm lost his draw, stole the puck from John-Michael Liles at the point, and sped down the ice. He fired a great saucer pass to Patrick Eaves, who let loose a monster wrist shot to get his first shorthanded goal of the year.
David Jones answered Franzen’s night by scoring his second goal at 11:24, and tied the game at 4 apiece. The game went through with exciting scoring chances for both sides throughout the third period and overtime, and eventually went through to a shootout.
Peter Budaj and Jimmy Howard then turned their games up a notch, first Datsyuk, then Hejduk, then Hudler, then Stewart, then Bertuzzi, then Duchene, then Franzen, then Jones, then Modano, then O’Reilly, then Zetterberg (I’m actually typing this as it happens, holy crap come on!), oops, shouldn’t have typed that, because then Brandon Yip scored.
On, and on, and on, the goalies made some saves, and got assisted by some bad moves, and a broken stick, and even a crossbar.
My bad, if I actually tempted the Hockey Gods by asking for a goal, but I was frustrated the Wings weren’t making Budaj make a save in that shootout.
Overall, a very fun game to watch, and a great opportunity to see the Wings face a little adversity, instead of the Hawks and the defensively terrible Ducks (Sorry Lilja).
Don’t get discouraged guys, it’s just one game. Only real criticism for the Wings was they need to tighten up defensively a little, but the Avs are a young team who skate north south and like to punch their opponents in the face. A lot to be happy about. Solid contributions from the first line, and the second line of Bertuzzi, Filppula and Franzen was dominant.
Your three stars were:
Although they didn’t look old. The Avalanche started Peter Budaj in net, who’s had a less than stellar backup career. If Craig Anderson starts, then the Avalanche might very well have won this game easily.
Johan Franzen started the game out with a seeing eye shot that Peter Budaj just couldn’t see.
David Jones tied it up for the Avalanche with under a minute to go in the first, when a pileup in front of Howard prevented him from seeing or making a save.
The Red Wings dominated the second period by sticking to their puck possession play, getting a powerplay goal, the 200th goal of his career, by Pavel Datsyuk who tipped a Zetterberg pass past the skate of Budaj.
Johan Franzen lit the lamp for a second time after a scaring flurry of saves by Jimmy Howard at the other end, and a great backcheck by Todd Bertuzzi (I know, crazy), then he pulled it forward, made a great drop pass to Filppula who fed a board to board pass to Franzen who sniped Budaj just above his glove.
Ryan O’Reilly shortened the lead with about 45 seconds remaining when he stole the puck from Modano at the blue line and fired a hard slap shot that appeared the deflect off of Salei’s shin, which just got past Jimmy Howard.
Daniel Winnik tied the game in the third period, by getting a great outlet pass and Winnik, the former Coyote, made a great move on Kronwall, poking it past him on the boards and fooling Howard into leaning for the pass, and fired it by him short side.
At 7:39 Ruslan Salei got called for a hooking penalty, and in an ensuing faceoff, Darren Helm lost his draw, stole the puck from John-Michael Liles at the point, and sped down the ice. He fired a great saucer pass to Patrick Eaves, who let loose a monster wrist shot to get his first shorthanded goal of the year.
David Jones answered Franzen’s night by scoring his second goal at 11:24, and tied the game at 4 apiece. The game went through with exciting scoring chances for both sides throughout the third period and overtime, and eventually went through to a shootout.
Peter Budaj and Jimmy Howard then turned their games up a notch, first Datsyuk, then Hejduk, then Hudler, then Stewart, then Bertuzzi, then Duchene, then Franzen, then Jones, then Modano, then O’Reilly, then Zetterberg (I’m actually typing this as it happens, holy crap come on!), oops, shouldn’t have typed that, because then Brandon Yip scored.
On, and on, and on, the goalies made some saves, and got assisted by some bad moves, and a broken stick, and even a crossbar.
My bad, if I actually tempted the Hockey Gods by asking for a goal, but I was frustrated the Wings weren’t making Budaj make a save in that shootout.
Overall, a very fun game to watch, and a great opportunity to see the Wings face a little adversity, instead of the Hawks and the defensively terrible Ducks (Sorry Lilja).
Don’t get discouraged guys, it’s just one game. Only real criticism for the Wings was they need to tighten up defensively a little, but the Avs are a young team who skate north south and like to punch their opponents in the face. A lot to be happy about. Solid contributions from the first line, and the second line of Bertuzzi, Filppula and Franzen was dominant.
Your three stars were:
- David Jones COL (2G, 1A)
- Johan Franzen DET (2G)
- Nicklas Lidstrom (2A)
