A Huge Opening Weekend for the Wings

What's a great way to start the season? Make Blackhawks' fans boo at the final buzzer on the Stanley Cup banner raising night. And just for kicks, throw in a 4-0 shutout win over the Ducks.

It was a perfect way to begin this heavily anticipated season for the Wings, who currently sit atop the Western Conference with Dallas, with 2 wins. Of course, standings don't mean much 3 days into the season, but it's still pleasant to see Chicago sitting on the bottom of the division with just a single point in their 2 games played.

Friday night's affair with the Ducks proved to be a challenging one, for reasons other than the battle on the scoreboard, as Detroit got the win without too much hassle. But true to form, the Ducks continued to be an unignorable physical presence -- one that needed to be matched.

Three fights on opening night?!?

No, just two. But it was almost three. Ruslan Salei's mini-scrap with Andy Sutton was given just a minor for roughing. So Detroit are well on their way to surpassing last season's NHL-low, 19 fighting majors. But that's not the best part. Oh no...

...Pavel Datsyuk!

Yes, that's right. Dats got down and dirty with a much larger, much more experienced (in fights) Corey Perry. Not just that, Pavel held his own as the fight ended with Perry beneath the Russian Roughian™ when the linesmen stepped in. Chuck in a beautiful tip-in goal and a an assist and you've got yourself a Gordie Howe Hat-Trick. I could be wrong, but I believe that would be Detroit's first since Brendan Shanahan. Maybe someone can correct me on that.

A shower, sleep and quick jet west and we're in Chicago to see the 'Hawks unveil and raise their 2009/10 Stanley Cup banner before a rapturous audience at the United Center.

The excitement was quelled, then restored, repeated and finally quelled as the game was neck and neck all night. By the end of the second period the Red Wings twice gained the lead and twice gave it up. It was a see-saw affair played in spurts where each team had their moments of controlling the play. But the Wings improved in the 3rd period.

Filppula scored his second goal of the night, the eventual game-winner as the Red Wings held onto a 3-2 lead to take the two points form the defending Champs and now await the Avs arrival on Tuesday night.

The good news:
Filppula - 2 goals, 1 assist
Bertuzzi - 1 goal, 2 assists
Franzen - 1 goal, 1 assist
Cleary - 1 goal, assist

The secondary scorers have answered the call so far, taking the heat off of Zetterberg and Datsyuk. If this continues and guys like Flip and Mule can get north of 70 points this season, Detroit will certainly prove to make a dangerous competitor for all.

The best news:
Howard - 0 goals against, 21 saves
Osgood - 2 goals against, 26 saves

Solid isn't even fair. Howard didn't need to stand on his head against the Ducks, but he could easily have given up a goal or two if he wasn't so sharp. When challenged, Howard was up to the task and made a statement that last season was no fluke for the sophomore.

Osgood was just as good. With the tougher task of shutting down the Blackhawks, Ozzy was brilliant. The two goals given up were tough to fault him on. A lapse in defense during a 'Hawks powerplay gave Seabrook a lay-up and a fortuitous deflection for Brian Bickell were the only blemishes for Osgood, who was forced to make several outstanding saves to give Detroit the victory.

Up next is Colorado at the Joe Louis Arena at 7:30pm on Tuesday night.

Flip Senior On His Way to Detroit

Often bereft of compatriates to play with, Valtteri Fippula was a lonely Fin after the departure of 2nd Finnish player in Red Wings history, Ville Leino. His loneliness won't last long however, with Ken Holland's signing of his older brother, Ilari Filppula to a one-year, two-way $500k contract.

From Ansar Khan at mlive:

The Detroit Red Wings have signed 28-year-old Finnish free-agent forward Ilari Filppula, the older brother of Valtteri Filppula."

He adds some depth to our organization,'' Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said. "His career has blossomed in the last 2-3 years. He was one of the better players in Finland. It's time to see if he can play in the best league in the world.''

Ilari is a 28-year old winger, who also has the versatility to move to center when needed. He has spent his entire professional career in the Finnish SM-Liiga, playing for JYP, Jokerit Helsinki and most recently TPS Turku where his club won the Finnish Championship and he earned himself the Jari Kurri trophy as the playoff MVP.

Filppula is 5'11", 191lbs and last season with TPS, he tallied 12 goals and 37 assists in 58 games but was a minus-3 despite leading his team in scoring. He's said to be a good playmaker but doesn't skate as well as his younger brother, Valtteri.

Game Two: Red Wings vs. Sharks Preview

Game One was a disappointing opening to the Western Conference Semi-Finals for Detroit. Preventing the 3-goal onslaught mid-way through the first period or having a few correctly made calls from the officials might have seen the Wings with a 1-0 lead instead of a deficit. Regardless, the opening to the Quarter-Finals with Phoenix was also a disappointment and we all know how that series ended up.

According to Sharks' head coach Todd McLellan, Patrick Marleau, who missed Game 1 with flu-like symptoms, will play in Game Two. The Sharks went 2/6 on the powerplay in Game One without Patrick Marleau, so Detroit will need to be stellar when down a man in Game Two, to have a chance at tying the series.

Jimmy Howard wasn't awful on Thursday, but has definitely had better games and will look to bounce back after the loss. In his short playoff season, he has bounced back with a win after all of his first three losses.

The first Scary Pair for this game is Henrik Zetterberg with Pavel Datsyuk. Trailing most of the game we saw Mike Babcock turn to this tandem to spark some offense later on. The pair was unable to create anything but during the regular season they teamed up for a goal once every 36 minutes.

The second Scary Pair is Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula. Like the first, this pair hasn't played much together of late, but their play together during the regular season cannot be ignored. Cleary has more hook-ups with Filppula than any other team-mate and the reverse is also true for Flip, who shares 8 hook-ups with his SP partner. Cleary was held pointless by the Coyotes, but got his first playoff point of 2010 in Game One, with the Wings opening goal in the first period. Hopefully, Cleary can build on his maiden tally of the postseason -- the Wings will need it.

All the Time in the World; Red Wings 4, Canucks 3

If Mike Babcock was anything like my dad, and the Red Wings were me in high school, he'd be criticizing his players to no end about "Always leaving everything to the last second!"

Nevertheless, two points is two points and what I like most about this victory, is that the Red Wings had every excuse to lose this one to the NW division-leading Canucks.

With a few injuries, short bench with only 10 forwards, second of back-to-back games and a few bad bounces early, one might've expected this one to become somewhat of a blowout after heading into the first change with a 2-0 deficit, after having outshot their leading opponents, 17-8.

But in the second period, fortunes changed as the Wings continued to apply the pressure and were eventually rewarded for it much to the chagrin of the Vancouver crowd, as Todd Bertuzzi snapped his 19-game goal-less drought.

Then irritation turned to outrage for the Canucks' faithful, as they witnessed a tying-goal only 5 seconds later. A Vancouver Canucks record for quickest successive goals allowed as well as a Red Wings franchise record for goals scored.

5 seconds!!

What can you do in five seconds?

In five seconds, I can get one shoe on my foot and begin begin to tie the laces. Pavel Datsyuk on the other hand, can win a face-off, deke through a few defenders and fire a 40-footer past an Olympic gold-medal winning goalie. Not bad, eh?

But more goodness was still to come in the second period as while on the penalty kill, Valtteri Filppula seized on a mis-handled puck from Alex Edler and streaked in all alone and backhanded it by Roberto Luongo for his eighth of the season, giving the Red Wings a 3-2 lead after 2 and stunning the Canucks.

The Vancouver Canucks were however, a league-leading +37 in the third period of a hockey game and added to that despite being outplayed again by the gutsy Detroiters, and tied it up with a goal from the Sedins that seems almost mandatory in a Canucks game these days.

Overtime comes and much of the same happens, with the Wings outplaying the 'Nucks outshooting them 4-1, the last of which came under all too familiar circumstances, with 0.3 seconds left in the OT frame from the stick of Henrik Zetterberg. A shot which happened to get by the goalie to end the game, giving Detroit the two points.

Detroit now sits 2 points ahead of Calgary with 11 games to play for both teams. Nashville is 4 points ahead with 10 games left and Colorado now sits 7th with a 3-point lead over Detroit but have a game in hand of the Wings.

WOW Factor
There were two obvious WOW moments in this game for the Wings, but Pavel Datsyuk's long-range goal on Roberto Luongo seemed to instill a confidence into the Wings that this game was theirs to lose and while the scoreboard wasn't lopsided, the Wings thoroughly outplayed the Canucks and deserved the win.

Special Teams
The refs weren't too busy in this one with only 2 PP's each way, but Detroit's special teams were again a big reason for the win. While Detroit weren't able to convert with the man-advantage, they were very effective down a man, and without Flip's shortie in the second, the Wings probably would have had nothing to show for this game.

In Net
- Jimmy Howard stopped 29 of 32 shots for the Wings in his 18th consecutive start.
- Roberto Luongo faced a whopping 54 shots for Vancouver, stopping 50 of them.

Next...
Detroit heads home today and prepares for a 3-game home stand, the first game being tomorrow night against the defending Stanley Cup-champs, Pittsburgh.

The Synergy of a Team and Their Goalie

For the first time since Bud Lynch turned 4, the Detroit Red Wings seem to have had a season relatively 'Goalie Debate' free. In the recent history of our great club we've seen Cujo vs. Hasek, Legace vs. Osgood, Hasek vs. Osgood, Conklin vs. Osgood and let's not risk naivity, there has been a bit of Osgood vs. Howard as well. But by season's end, Jimmy Howard will have played the most games in a season of any Wings goalie since Curtis Joseph in 2002-03 and even Chris Osgood's biggest fans are hard pressed to find a serious argument why this shouldn't be so.

Regardless of any of this, for me, another debate would be redundant, my intention is solely to show, statistically, how the Red Wings' skaters play in front of each goalie with just a few notes from the plus/minus chart.

Skaters with a plus-rating:

While playing in front of Jimmy Howard, 13 Red Wings have more goals for, than against while 5 on 5. On the flip-side, only 3 of Ozzie's teammates were able to benefit from having him in net. Even Nicklas Lidstrom, who is +15 in front of Howard, is Even with Osgood. Brian Rafalski seems to prefer Howard even more, as he is a team-leading +18 with Howard, but -3 with Oz.

The evil, useless, hopless -- Brett Lebda:

Believe it or not, Brett Lebda is actually a plus player with Jimmy Howard in net. The often-criticized Illinoisan is a pretty respectable +7 with Howard, but -6 with Osgood. When you take into account the minutes he plays for the Wings, +7 is comparable to even his best teammates.

At least Val Filppula likes you, Ozzie:

With Chris Osgood as his netminder, Valtteri Filppula is a rare Wing with a net gain -- the other two being Kirk Maltby and Drew Miller. Miller has enjoyed Osgood's company the most with a +4 rating and Fil and Maltby at +2. The curious thing about "Flip" is that in front of "Jimmeh", his play seems to suffer 5 on 5, being on the ice for 7 more goals against than for.

The Struggles of Stu and Big Rig:

Brad Stuart has had an admirable season, having to step up for his team and play some tough roles. This season he has played more 5 on 5 minutes with both goalies than anyone else on the team. Jonathan Ericsson has also had more asked of him this season, but that seems to have had an adverse effect on his development. As a result, both player's numbers have suffered.

Brad Stuart's fortunes in front of his goalies seem fairly proportional, -4 with Osgood and -11 with Howard, while Ericsson improves from -10 with Osgood to -7 with Howard.

The Numbers don't lie:

Osgood is one of the all-time greats, but this season, whether he is to blame or not, the Wings' most important players have been better in front of Howard. When looking ahead to the run to make the playoffs and beyond, it's difficult to ignore these numbers:

Lidstrom: Ev w/Osgood, +15 w/Howard

Datsyuk: -3 w/Osgood, +15 w/Howard

Rafalski: -3 w/Osgood, +18 w/Howard

Zetterberg: -7 w/Osgood, +12 w/Howard

Franzen: -1 w/Osgood, +2 w/Howard

Holmstrom: -3 w/Osgood, +12 w/Howard

In total, Osgood's mates combine for -85 whilst playing in front of him, while Howard's, +41.

Wild Hope to Gain Ground in Detroit

The Red Wings have not seen such consistent necessity to win outside the playoffs in so many years, the younger Wings' fans have never experienced such a thing.

After a costly loss to the Flames on Tuesday night booted the Red Wings from the top-8 in the West, Detroit hopes to bounce back tonight with a win over Minnesota at the Joe. In response to the loss to Calgary, Mike Babcock has done some minor line shuffling putting Henrik Zetterberg with Valtteri Filppula and Daniel Cleary, in hopes of seeing some much-needed secondary scoring from the trio.

Jimmy Howard will make his 14th consecutive start while Niklas Backstrom is expected to mind the net for the Wild.

Earlier in the season, Detroit and Minnesota split two games at the Xcel Energy Center, 4-3 (SO)Detroit on January 21 and 5-2 Minnesota on January 27.

Other previews:
Winging it in Motown
Sporting News
Unconnected Red Wings Blog

Babcock vs. Rafalski

Today will without a doubt be a historical day in Canadian and to a lesser extent American sports as the undefeated United States go for Olympic glory against the hockey super-power of Canada.

Last night, Red Wing Valtteri Filppula took home Bronze as Finland beat Slovakia 5-3, to officially end their "Cinderella" story Olympic run. Today Brian Rafalski will do better than that, the only question is, how much better?

Today, they're on opposing benches, as Rafalski, the tournament's leading scorer and possible MVP thusfar, will be met by Mike Babcock's team. Tomorrow, they'll be pulling in the same direction against the Colorado Avalanche back in Detroit. One of them, still riding high in the glory of victory, one still feeling the disappointment of an Golden opportunity lost.

While no players from Hockeytown are wearing the Red Maple Leaf for Team Canada, Red Wing influence reigns supreme on the Gold-medal favorite. Aside from Detroit's Mike Babcock managing the bench, Steve Yzerman is the team's Executive Directive with Wings' GM, Ken Holland his Associate Director.

For Brian Rafalski, he holds the honor of being the last remaining Red Wing with a shot for Gold. Eight other Red Wings; Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Kronwall and Franzen for Sweden, Datsyuk for Russia, Filppula for Finland, Tollefsen from Norway and Kolosov for Belarus, began the Olympic tournament.

With only hours left until puck-drop, both nations prepare for an historic battle between the biggest rivalry in international hockey for the last two decades. The U.S. looks to avenge their loss on home soil in 2002 with a role-reversal of winning Gold in Canada.

The Canadians, on the other hand, seek vengeance of their own for last Sunday's shock loss to this same U.S. squad as well as the incredible World Junior Championship upset at the start of the year when Team USA's juniors ended Canada's five-year winning streak in the Gold-medal game of that tourney. Further to that, Canada seeks redemption for their embarrassing 7th-place finish in the 2006 Torino Winter Games.

I, for one, cannot wait for the puck to drop on this historic affair. Regardless of the outcome, the game is without a doubt the best possible scenario for the NHL. Let's just hope the game lives up to the anticipation.

Five Red Wings to Leave Vancouver

It was a bittersweet night overall for Red Wings in the Olympics as five Wings bowed out of the tourney with no medals, while two others advanced to the semi-finals guaranteeing at least a Silver for one lucky Detroiter.

The game heavily anticipated to be the match-up for the Gold-medal took place last night in the quarter-finals as Steve Yzerman's Team Canada took on Pavel Datsyuk and his Russian compatriots. The amount of goals in the affair was not surprising but the distribution of them was certainly expected, as Canada lit up Russia 7-3. Team Canada, lead behind the scenes by Detroit's Steve Yzerman, Mike Babcock and Ken Holland, are all of a sudden right back in the hunt for Gold; particularly given the night's proceeding events.

The defending Olympic Champs, and highly-favored Team Sweden were to be Team Canada's semi-final opponent. That is, until Slovakia shocked them last night, sending Red Wings Franzen, Kronwall, Lidstrom and Zetterberg back to the D.

With names like Hossa, Chara and Vokoun in the line-up getting past Team Sweden was definitely not an impossible task, but the Slovaks went against the odds as they defeated the star-studded Scandinavians, 4-3. Having beaten Team Russia and now Team Sweden in the last week, it's not beyond imagination to think they could also beat Canada. They've proven they can beat the big teams, but you have to think if Babcock's boys are on their game, as they were last night, such a task would be next to impossible.

On the other side of the brackets, one Red Wing will earn the honor to play for the Gold on Friday night.

Finn, Valtteri Filppula and U.S.A.'s Brian Rafalski will meet in the other semi-final guaranteeing a medal for at least one of them. Team U.S.A. edged Anaheim's Jonas Hiller and Team Switzerland 2-0, yesterday before Finland also snuck by the Czech with that same scoreline.

Wings in Vancouver

A brief summary of the international experience of each Red Wing taking part in the Olympics:

Pavel Datsyuk -- Russia

International Mens Debut: 2001

Olympic Record: 2002 - Salt Lake City (Bronze), 2006 - Torino (4th)

International Achievements: Olympic Bronze (2002), World Championship Bronze (2005)

International Stats: 41 GP, 7g, 21a, 28pts, 10PIM

Valtteri Filppula -- Finland

International Mens' Debut: 2010
Olympic Record: None
International Achievements: None
International Stats: None

Johan Franzen -- Sweden

International Mens' Debut: 2005
Olympic Record: None
International Achievements: World Championship Gold (2006)
International Stats: 13GP, 1g, 3a, 4pts, 12PIM

Niklas Kronwall -- Sweden

International Mens' Debut: 2003
Olympic Record: 2006 - Torino (Gold)
International Achievements: Olympic Gold (2006), World Championship Silver (2005)
International Stats: 24GP, 3g, 12a, 15pts, 32PIM

Nicklas Lidstrom -- Sweden

International Mens' Debut: 1991
Olympic Record: 1998 - Nagano (5th), 2002 - Salt Lake City (5th), 2006 - Torino (Gold)
International Achievements: Olympic Gold (2006), World Championship Gold (1991), World Championship Silver (2004), World Championship Bronze (1994)
International Stats: 36GP, 9g, 13a, 22pts, 12PIM

Brian Rafalski -- USA

International Mens' Debut: 2002
Olympic Record: 2002 - Salt Lake City (Silver), 2006 - Torino (8th)
International Achievements: Olympic Silver (2002)
International Stats: 15GP, 1g, 7a, 8pts, 8PIM

Henrik Zetterberg -- Sweden

International Mens' Debut: 2001
Olympic Record: 2002 - Salt Lake City (5th), 2006 - Torino (Gold)
International Achievements: Olympic Gold (2006), World Championsip Gold (2006), World Championship Silver (2003), World Championship Bronze (2001, 2002)
International Stats: 60GP, 12g, 26a, 38pts, 22PIM

New addition to the roster, defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, and Grand Rapids Griffin, Sergei Kolosov will also participate in the Olympics representing their home nations of Norway and Belarus, respectively. Both are yet to play an NHL game in the Winged Wheel.

This will be Tollefsen's international mens debut for Norway, while Kolosov rejoins his compatriots for the first time on the international stage since the 2008 World Championships.

Preview vs. Ottawa; Filppula Out

The Senators make a rare visit to the Joe Louis Arena tonight and will try to continue their hot streak and in turn, continue the Wings woes. Ottawa has won 13 of their last 14 games while the Red Wings have lost 4 straight.

Detroit expects Niklas Kronwall to be ready to play tonight. If he is good to go it'll be only his sixth game since he sustained a knee injury against Montreal on November 21, 2009. Kronwall also hopes to use tonight's game as a minor tune-up in preparation for representing Sweden as they attempt to defend Olympic Gold.

Kirk Maltby will replace Valtteri Filppula tonight, who is listed as day-to-day with a groin strain, and hopes to be fit to play for Finland in their first Olympic game.

"I'm concerned,'' Filppula said. "I definitely want to play (in the Olympics). I want to play tonight, too, but we'll have to see how it is. It's much better today than it was yesterday.''

Tonight's affair could also mark the final game of the season for Kirk Maltby as he battles through shoulder problems. Ken Holland said recently that Maltby would require surgery either now or at the end of the season. Surgery now would all but rule him out for the rest of the season.

With Brad May recently being waived, Patrick Eaves' foot injury and now Filppula's groin trouble, the Red Wings may end up short on forwards. Mike Babcock said he will dress seven defensemen and Derek Meech may play forward if necessary.

Jimmy Howard and Brian Elliot are expected to start in goal for their respective teams.