Red Wings – Predators Postgame Notes

Back from watching the Plymouth Whalers drop a 2-0 decision to the Kitchener Rangers in Game Six of their playoff series, I’ll finally post my thoughts on the Red Wings’ 4-3 OT win today in Nashville…

Holmstrom’s Goalie Interference
Replay showed that Tomas Holmstrom did appear to elbow Pekka Rinne in the head, so this was the right call. Call me cynical, but it still doesn’t sit right with me.

First off, it took a slow-mo replay from above the crease to show what happened on TV. Did the eagle-eyed ref actually see it happen or did he call a phantom penalty and luck out that one was actually there. If he did see it, did he miss Rinne’s punch to the back of Holmstrom’s head a second earlier?

Right call but frustrating.

Abdelkader in General
What an afternoon for Justin Abdelkader. I admit to a bit of a hometown bias towards him but that doesn’t have to apply this time. Five hits, two goals… He was all over the place. And his hit on Martin Erat was *not* boarding. Erat got away with worse against Abdelkader two weeks ago – not that what Erat did was legal then, just allowed. Hooray for consistency.

Bertuzzi vs. O’Brien
Where did Todd Bertuzzi come from? Something set him off today, I’m not sure I want to see that every game but today it was nice. Bertuzzi smacked Shane O’Brien around once and O’Brien went for the ill-timed rematch and got beat down again. That second fight was a major turning point. I can’t believe O’Brien did that when a win for him would mean nothing but a win for Bertuzzi would fire the Red Wings up.

Overall
Great physical effort from the Wings. Great mental resilience after going down 3-0. It was a playoff-style win and they need some of those down the stretch here.

Bonus Hockey
The Whalers had a chance to finish off the Rangers tonight and failed pretty miserably. Like I have the tendency to complain about with the Wings, the Whalers were just not getting any second chances around the Kitchener net. It was a pretty physical game, with the Rangers seeming to win most of those battles. Whalers need to get it together to avoid losing a series they were up 3-1 in.