While We’re Waiting… Ballots are In, Tribe Goes Yard, and Pronk’s Weight Loss
April 17, 2009Party Crashers: Tribe Rips Yankees
April 17, 2009Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1
(Box) – Highlights
The game started about as well as any Jackets fan could have imagined. The Jackets played heavy, they generated chances, and they carried the physical edge of the play. But, they could not finish in front of the net and Detroit goalie Chris Osgood. And that would cost them. The Jackets wasted a lot of golden opportunities early, and couldn’t withstand a Wings onslaught in the second period as they fell to Detroit 4-1 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Joe Louis Arena.
This game was chippy early, and the first period was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Jackets. Columbus came out and really brought the pain in the first 10 minutes or so, getting the first few juicy scoring chances of the game. Detroit brought their physical play, and paid for it early by taking three penalties. The Jackets got plenty of shots on the resulting Power Plays (including an extended 5-on-3 stretch), but the much-maligned Chris Osgood played a very solid first period. Detroit countered with a flurry of shots, but Steve Mason was also up to the task.
The first period belonged to Osgood, however, who stopped a couple of golden chances, including a Detroit turn-over that resulted in two solid shot chances for Columbus, and also a rebound put-back by RJ Umberger with just over 7 minutes left. The Jackets again went on the Power Play after the Umberger chance, but couldn’t get anything established. They did get one solid scoring chance, but could not convert. The Jackets dodged a bullet with about two minutes left in the first when Mike Commodore turned it over in his own zone to Marian Hossa, who is one of the guys on Detroit’s offense you don’t want to give extra chances to. Detroit finished the period with a flurry of shots, but much like Osgood was early in the period, Mason—with some consistent and solid help from his defensemen—was solid. Overall, it was the Jackets who had the better scoring chances in the first period, though both teams played pretty equally.
The second period began much as the first ended, with some end-to-end action. Both Rick Nash and Pavel Datsyuk got decent shots off early, and Columbus got another Detroit turn-over to Michael Peca deep, who ripped one of the goal post. Another in an early line of missed opportunities for the Jackets. Manny Malhotra would semi-fan on a shot with just over 16 minutes left in another missed chance to score. He got the puck on net, but it was slow enough because of the partial-whiff that Osgood was able to corral it.
With 15:32 left, Jakub Voracek got pinched on an iffy goaltender interference call, which sent the Wings onto their first full Power Play. The Wings had a golden chance with over a minute left in the PP when a shot went off of Mason, and just over the crossbar, coming to rest for a second on the top of the goal. Rick Nash had a mini-breakaway, and the Jackets blocked several shots on defense to kill off the first full PP.
The game stayed scoreless until, on a transition for Detroit, Jared Boll fell, and there was a resulting 2-on-1 for the Wings. Valterri Filppula sent it across the crease to Jiri Hudler, and it was 1-0 Detroit. Mason had effectively no shot at the save. It would have been a chance for the Jackets to fold up, but within a minute the Jackets answered. Voracek got a pass to RJ Umberger on a solid forecheck, and Umberger did a little spin move and buried a goal of his own. After 31 minutes of scoreless hockey, all it took was one minute to make it 1-1.
The scoring continued, as the Wings managed to keep a good cycle going with about 6 minutes to go, and a point shot from Jonathon Ericsson was “redirected” in front of Mason—as Manny Malhotra reached out a glove to try to grab the shot and knock it away—for another Detroit goal. “We’ve made that mistake before and it cost us the same way,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “That’s an easy, simple save for Mason.” Sadly, it was only the beginning. Almost immediately afterward, Antoine Vermette took a penalty for hooking. And almost immediately after that, the Wings cashed in on the PP. Niklas Kronwall ripped a shot from the point that beat Mason—after nicking off of Jan Hejda. Sensing a theme here? That was really all Detroit would need, though Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen combined to add a little extra insurance early in the third period to make it 4-1. Though it really wasn’t the difference, “The fourth I’d like to have back,” Mason said afterward.
What was frustrating for Jackets fans was that the first 30 minutes of this game looked about as even as could possibly have been hoped for. Columbus was physical, they were getting pucks deep, they were forechecking, and they were generating scoring chances. They were keeping Detroit from setting up on offense with stifling defense. After the first Detroit goal, the Jackets bounced right back and tied it. This was the kind of Jackets hockey that got them to the playoffs in the first place.
But, once Detroit scored their second goal, the Jackets seemingly packed it in, starting with the penalty/PP goal. They had seemingly no life. I won’t say Steve Mason looked rattled, but he did not play his best game. It looked like the defense in front of him started to worry or panic once they got behind, and with an offense like Detroit’s you simply cannot do that. The Wings’ game plan appeared to be “shut down Rick Nash” (and who could blame them, since he had two hat tricks against them this season), and other than the one RJ Umberger goal no one else on the Jackets team could step up and fill the void.
The silver linings for Columbus: both Kristian Huselius and Fredrik Modin were back, and both played fairly well. Jakub Voracek—all of 19 years old—looked like he belonged in this game. Mason was solid early, and with a more consistent defensive effort the Jackets were in this game for the first 30+ minutes. The Jackets controlled most of the first period, but just couldn’t get that big goal. They also hung around while not getting much of anything from Rick Nash, who was blanketed the whole night by Nicklas Lidstrom. The problem is: the Jackets’ margin for error is terribly thin, and as Game 1 showed, it doesn’t take much for the Wings to explode on you. The Jackets needed to cash in some of those early chances to feed their energy level, and they just weren’t able to. “The game was right there for us,” Hitch said in the post-game. “It was right there. Halfway through the second period, they took over the faceoff dot and they controlled the game. They had the puck a lot more than we did.”
Antoine Vermette summed it up like this: “I think we had the success we wanted to have at the start of the game, when we were aggressive and had the mindset to pressure their D, advance the puck and push the forecheck. We created speed and power-play chances. After that, we kind of drifted away. We didn’t have the same jump, and we gave them too much time and space.”
Columbus will have their hands full again on Saturday night, for sure. They’d better rediscover that jump sooner rather than later.
8 Comments
My favorite part of the game was reading Light The Lamps twitter feed as he kept getting yelled at by security for being too “loud” and “standing.”
Yes, but didja tape it?
In fairness, Scott, Wings fans have been to the playoffs for 18 straight years. I can almost let them slide for yawning through this game.
Thanks for the very in-depth wrap up, DP. I only got to watch the first period, and couldn’t believe that we went down 4 -1. At work today, no one could really give me a good explanation for what happened. I got everything from “we sucked” to “we played our best, but Detroit’s too good.” I refuse to believe that we can’t beat the Red Wings…I just hope that the Jackets don’t believe it either.
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