Open Game Thread
Detroit Red Wings at Colorado Avalanche
December 4, 2011 – 8:00 PM
TV: FSD
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Not a ton of pre-game notes from me, I’m running around in circles today and expect to miss the start of the game.
Ty Conklin gets his first start in ages after Jimmy Howard got the nod in 17 consecutive games. He blanked the Avs the last time the Wings were in Denver, his only good start of the season.
Chris Conner remains in the lineup as no other changes will be made.
Game time is 8:00 PM. TV is FSD, the NBA lockout means there’s no Pistons game to push this one over to FS+ as originally scheduled.
For those who missed my tweet from Friday (or anyone else’s since then), Dave Strader will be calling the game with Larry Murphy for FSD. Ken Daniels will miss this one and the one on Wednesday while spending time with his family after the death of his father.
Condolences to the Daniels family, of course, but if you’d watched the Buffalo game and didn’t know what Ken was going through, you never would have realized it. Going through one of the worst times in a person’s life and he remained an absolute professional. I feel like that adds to the myth of the game a bit. Hockey: Even the announcers are tough.
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My family dinner got pushed back so now I’d definitely missing the start of this one. I’ll catch up when I can.
Alright, got back just as the first period ended but caught the goal on the radio.
I’d forgotten how XTREEEEME the Colorado radio guy is. f*cking annoying.
Well… This period went to sh*t!
Conklin had no idea where that puck was. Ugh.
Noooooooo not my precious Finn. Also what happened with the two Av goals? I didn’t get to see them!
Just tuned in. What I miss?
Wings looking awful in the second – especially Conklin. Filppula out with a lower body injury.
I really wish Mick was in Colorado instead of Murph. We get Strader for a game and not his old partner?
Well, the good news is that the Wings seemingly stopped the bleeding. It looked much worse early in the second than it does right now.
Looking dangerous in the closing minute. Where were they in the previous 19 minutes?
Looking good so far…
Sweeeeeet!
Nice tip by Cleary. Wings looking better but not great in the third.
Nice re-direct by Clears.
So Kronwall neither covered the pass nor the shot. Nice D.
Damn it! Ty started that whole chain by mis-playing that puck down low. Ty is a fkg tool!
Way to take advantage of that extra skater, never controlling the puck.
The Red Wings played approximately one period tonight and got the result you’d expect from that, a 4-2 loss to Colorado, ending their winning streak at seven games.
The first period was a solid effort by Detroit. Kept the Avs bottled up / limited their chances and controlled the puck. Johan Franzen’s power play goal meant they even had a lead for that effort.
Then, as happens all too often with this team, they let up. Give Colorado credit, they didn’t quit (nor should they have down by only one with two periods to play).
A sloppy turnover led to the Avs’ first goal. A dumb penalty put Colorado on a power play, on which they took the lead when Ty Conklin completely lost track of the puck.
The Red Wings seemed to get back into it in the third, tying things up. Then another bad giveaway gave the Avs a shorthanded two-on-one that Niklas Kronwall completely misplayed, leading to the go-ahead goal.
With Conklin pulled in the final minute, the Wings couldn’t even control the puck, making the ENG inevitable.
I’m not afraid to throw Conklin under the bus at times. That second goal was awful, for example, ’cause it’s not the first time this season he’s allowed one when he didn’t know where the puck was. That said, I saw a lot of people on Twitter bashing him for the third goal and that’s just ridiculous.
Ignoring anything that led to the neutral zone turnover and the two-on-one, let’s just focus on the scoring play.
The goalie’s job in an odd-man rush is to take the shooter. Conklin did that, squaring to the oncoming Gabriel Landeskog.
The defenseman’s job is to make sure that the puck carrier can’t pass it off. This is because the goalie is focusing on the puck carrier so you have to turn that into a one-on-one battle.
Alternately, the defenseman can attempt to completely take away a shot from the puck-carrier, allowing the goalie to cheat towards the other player on the rush. It’s not as good of an option unless the defenseman is making a play for the puck, but at least both the defenseman and the goalie know who their man is.
In the case of Colorado’s third goal, Kronwall failed to either take away the pass or deny the shot. This means the Conklin has to square to Landeskog (Kronwall isn’t denying the shot so Landeskog is Conklin’s man), but Landeskog is able to pass the puck off to TJ Galiardi for a shot that Conklin wasn’t prepared to face.
That was a play that was just lazy to me, hence me picking on it. Kronwall was only about five feet out of position but it made all the difference in the world.
Checking in after a week + in the PACNORWEST. I see I missed quite a bit of action and can’t wait for tonight’s game! Why is the Lions game running concurrently? Now I have to flip back and forth!