Open Game Thread
San Jose Sharks at Detroit Red Wings
April 26, 2007 – 7:30 PM
TV: Versus
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I’ve heard this series described as “If the Wings get past San Jose, they’ll win the Cup.” With how tough the Sharks are expected to be, it’s easy to see why someone would say that.
Detroit comes into Game One without Tomas Holmstrom or Brett Lebda. Holmstrom still has blood in his eye from the high stick he took in OT on Sunday night / Monday morning. Lebda will miss his second game after suffering a concussion and ankle injury in Game Five against Calgary.
Another concern will be that Henrik Zetterberg has apparently come down with the flu, so the Wings’ top line is pretty damaged.
Detroit went 1-3 against the Sharks this regular season but it’s easy to chalk a couple of those up to flukes. Chris Osgood and Joey MacDonald got the majority of the playing time in those games while Hasek will get the starts now. One of the losses included the mystery goalie interference non-goal (not to say that kind of officiating can’t happen now, of course).
I’m not feeling as scared of San Jose as I was when the Canucks beat the Stars on Monday. Maybe I should be. Somehow, seemingly all of the pundits have picks San Jose in this one, so the pressure is on them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more underdog #1 seed than this Red Wings team.
Any team the Wings face in the West is going to be difficult. I watched the Anaheim/Vancouver game last night, and thought, how complete the Ducks are looking right now. PP, PK, Goalie, checking, scoring. They are heavy favorites to win the WEST. The WINGS do seem like an underdog.
As for Det – SJO …… the WINGS MUST solve their PP problem & fast. Without it, they will not beat SJO. Some other WINGS must also step up their play. I’m going to say that CLEARY was their most consistent and most valuable player in the series with Calgary. Guys like MARKOV, LILIA, LANG, SAMUELSON, MALTBY, BERTUZZI, CALDED will have to find ways to either get the ugly goal OR keep SHARKS from getting them. The WINGS are not going to out finesse SJO. They just have too good a team for that. As much as I want to see the WINGS prevail, and know they can if they play like they are capable AND get some bounces their way, I also know, that if they can’t of don’t bring their A game to this one, I predict a short series. Short and simple — it probably has as much to do with Character as it does Skill at this point.
Second period was much stronger overall. Helped by the power plays, of course, but even at even strength the Wings did a better job of controlling the play. They’ve gotta find a way to get around the shot blocking. If they can get some rushes, they can take advantage of the fact that Nabokov comes out to cut down the angle, put a shot off the back boards to get it to the guy on the open side of the net.
The Versus guys were just surprised that a call wasn’t made. I think I’ve been surprised for most of the night. It’s probably been in the Wings’ favor but I think the calls have been pretty inconsistant. Worse things than San Jose got called for in the second have gone unnoted throughout the game.
Damn, if only the Wings hadn’t had that lapse in the first, they’ve been playing so well in the second and third and just have nothing to show for it.
I don’t want to sound too simplistic here, but the ‘bounces’ just aren’t going for the WINGS tonight. SJO is doing a stellar job defensively, but helping them out, is that SHARKS are either in great position to clear lose pucks or they’re just being incredibly lucky. How many blocked shots tonight too …. has to be 14-15. The difference tonight is the SJO defense, stifling the WINGS down low, and keeping shots blocked from the Point.
What were people doing booing there? Wings played well, just couldn’t get it to go. Better than their losses in Calgary.
That was quick. Wings need to slow things down. They looked good in the couple chances they got in the San Jose zone and got set up but they’re not doing that now.
Not the way the Wings wanted to start the series but they got some momentum going at the end of the period. Still plenty of time.
WINGS need to stay patient and keep working the puck down low. SJO keepings WINGS shots from the point, and then blocking them. WINGS should keep strong forecheck, as they have been doing this period. I don’t see SJO over powering or controlling this period. Main thing now is for WINGS to maintain pressure with strong transition game thru the middle and to work the puck down low to keep Nabokov moving.