Postgame: Blue Jackets @ Red Wings – 3/10

I haven’t been doing postgame notes because I’ve been a bit busy lately. I’d skipped out on pre-game notes as well because the Wings were on a winning streak when I skipped them, but that’s over now so maybe I’ll get back into that, too.

Mickey Redmond spent a lot of time breaking down the Red Wings’ second goal today but there’s one thing he didn’t mention: That was clearly a set play.

Early on, with the puck being moved along the right wing and up high, you could see Johan Franzen trying to get position in the slot. That’s expected, of course the guy in the slot was trying to get open.

What surprised me was that there were several times when it seemed like Damien Brunner on the left wing should have been trying to get in position to take a cross-crease pass and put the puck in the back door. Instead, he backed away from the goal, drifting towards the corner, and the Wings didn’t try to force a pass to him.

Seems pretty clear to me that all the movement on the right side of the ice was to get the perfect pass to Brunner, whose job wasn’t to put it on goal but to get it back to Franzen for the shot.

Maybe I’m saying that because that’s how it worked. Maybe it’s obvious that it was planned. Mickey didn’t say it, though, so I figured I would.