Stanley Cup Playoffs!

ROUND ONE: GAME FOUR


Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I've been trying to keep up with 8 different series in these Cup Playoffs! All of them have been of the highest quality. Analysts from CBC and nhl.com all concur that this has already been the most exciting first round to the playoffs yet. And to think, we still have a couple more months of playoff hockey to look forward to. Or do we? As I write this blog our beloved Red Wings are down 2-1 to The Phoenix Coyotes preparing for Game 4 at The Joe. Also to illustrate the tough competition in the first round, Cup favorites San Jose, New Jersey and Vancouver are also down 2-1. Three of the upstart culprits in this first round were not in the playoffs last year and are full of young, fast skaters lacking any playoff experience. Essentially, veteran playoff squads are being outworked by teams that have nothing to lose. That definitely describes L.A, Colorado and Phoenix. There is no pressure on these teams. Their players, coaches and fans are just happy to be in the playoffs. This is very dangerous for the perennial playoff teams who have all of the pressure from fans, coaches and media on them. This leads to many upsets in the first round and is in my opinion part of what makes this tournament so intriguing.

It's hard to say that and be a satisfied Wings fan at the same time because many of these upsets have come at the expense of our playoff dreams. San Jose in 94, LA in 01, Anaheim in 03, Calgary in 04, Edmonton in 06. The Wings understand that the playoff experience and stacked roster do not always equal a long run to the cup. We have witnessed heart breaking defeats at the hands of determined young skaters like Fernando Pisani, Jason Krog, Adam Deadmarsh, and other players that were never seen near the Playoff radar again. This is a trait unique in Hockey compared to the other major sports that a young, loose team can come out skate and eliminate a much more talented team. We see it happen to at least one power house team ever season. In spite of these heart breaking losses though, Wings fans still get the better end of the deal, in the form of 4 Stanley Cups and 6 Finals appearances. You can't really ask for a better show than what we've witnessed in Motown over the last 20 years, considering the level of competition in the NHL.

Yet, every Spring you cannot go through a series like the current first round without the inevitable talk of The Wings being too old, too slow, not determined enough. Every playoff loss begins a two day period of high anxiety, roster dissecting, and speculation over whether we once again will be cheated of our annual Parade down Woodward. As Coach Babcock said after Sunday's 4-2 loss "It's interesting how the perception from you (media) people is, we're supposed to just crush them," Babcock said. "But they're a good team, too. They play the game hard."

It's one thing to have a state of panic in D-Town when we are the favored team or a higher seed, but Wings fans need to remember that we are the underdog in this series, 5th seed vs. 4th seed without home ice advantage. We're not supposed to win this series. And an even more shocking statement, The Coyotes are just as good as The Wings this year, even statistically better in most defensive categories. They have the likely Vezina Trophy winner in Ilya Bryzgalov and that alone could spell our demise. That's a hard thing to accept because we are so spoiled in Hockey Town that it's easy to assume The Wings will advance on talent alone. That there is no reasonable explanation for a team knocking out The Wings beyond injuries, bad officiating, shoddy goal tending and lack of effort from our players.

Last years Finals is a perfect example. It is true that half of The Wings entered The Joe with a limp or some even on crutches. I was there when they arrived for Game 7. They looked beat up and tired. That was a factor, but Wings fans spent an entire summer soothing themselves by blaming the injuries, blaming the traveling schedule, hating The Penguins for stealing our victory parade. It's true, we were hurt, probably should would've won the series if healthy and our traveling schedule during the playoffs is horrendous. However, what about The Penguins? One thing I heard very few Wings fans admit is that they are a great team. That they learned from the Finals heart break from The Wings the year before, tightened up their defense and beat The Wings at their puck possession game. No, no, no. We cannot admit that, because that would be giving another team props and credit for their hard work. Every Spring it seems the sense of entitlement completely outweighs the logic or reasoning that the level of competition in the NHL is worthy of our respect. The players get it. They don't like losing, but they know that sometimes great teams get outplayed.

Does it sound like I'm convincing myself in advance to see the bright side of this potential defeat? Sure does. Don't get me wrong. I am also an irrational, passionate Wings fan that nearly destroys my TV when The Wings get eliminated from the playoffs. It is only after days of recovery that I can admit to myself and others that they got outplayed. In 07 when we were outhit and eliminated by Anaheim it was a long summer of coming to terms with how close we were to taking the Cup. The team knew they got outworked, came back stronger and won the Cup in 08. The media and the fans wanted somebody to blame. I admit it. I wanted Lilja gone after his giveaway to Selanne in Game 5. That moment just made Lilja more determined and turned him into the penalty killing monster he is now. The tendency is to look for somebody to get rid of and not acknowledge than any team in these playoffs can get knocked out by a great skating, well coached team team, at any point.

All that being said, I predicted The Wings would go to The Finals this year once again. I'm not rescinding that opinion based on 3 games that have not lived up to Wings standards. We were down 2-1 to Anaheim in the second round last year as well. The benefit of having a veteran, playoff tested squad is that they know how to overcome Sunday's defeat. The disadvantage to their level of experience is that Phoenix is just faster, plain and simple. That's not going to change. They are younger, they are determined, and have no pressure whatsoever. They don't even know if they will be The Phoenix Coyotes, The Glendale Coyotes, or The Winnipeg Jets. That's not what I would call high expectations. The Wings will likely find new strategies to convert on the power play and turn this series around. Or they may not. I am mentally preparing myself for either scenario. I believe if they find a way to overcome this lightning fast Coyotes team they will hit their playoff groove and skate their way to The Finals. If The Wings don't find that next gear in time they will finally get the summer of rest that team officials keep saying they never get.

The theme of this blog is of course that The Wings are not clearly the better team as I keep hearing Wings fans state. No doubt, we have more skill players and staggering career numbers compared to The Coyotes. Consider that while we have enjoyed the last 3 Stanley Cup runs teams like The Coyotes have been stock piling draft picks and cutting high salaries in favor of a team full of chemistry and fast, younger skaters. These teams are very dangerous. The Coyotes are also very well coached. Dave Tippett walked into a team that declared bankruptcy and had no long term prospects. After several good playoff runs with The Stars, Tippett now has The Coyotes buying into a defensive first system, clogging up the neutral zone, blocking shots, and generally frustrating high octave offensive teams like The Wings all season long. There is no great mystery to how The Wings are down 2-1. They are being out hustled and out fore checked. This is fixable and I expect to witness the turn around in about 5 hours.

My perspective of the series thus far.

GAME ONE in Phoenix

You have to respect The Coyotes game plan. Come out and hit every Wing that touches the puck. Shane Doan has been a hard working grinder since before the team moved from Winnipeg and has never come anywhere near a Stanley Cup so his determination was obvious from the drop the puck. The Wings are no strangers to the benefits of checking often in the playoffs yet before Kronwall or Stuart could even think about checking a Coyote Shane Doan was flattening them with flying open ice hits. A very close 3-2 game saw The Wings give up 3 pp goals and go 1 for 6 on their pp. That was the story of Game One. The game winning goal involved Helm losing a key face off and being knocked down to clear the lane for a Derek Morris slap shot past Jimmy Howard. Probably should have been interference on the play but Jimmy was beat pretty clean by a good shot.

GAME TWO in Phoenix

Babcock replaced Jason Williams with Justin Abdelkader in order to get more hitting and it worked. He delivered crunching hits, and stole the puck to score the momentum shifting goal. The Real Wings showed up in the 2nd period and unleashed the offensive flurry we had been waiting for. This game saw 4 goals in the span of 5 and 1/2 minutes. The Wings would score, The Coyotes would tie it up again. So much scoring was happening that P.J. Stock of Hockey Night in Canada threw his arms up in the air during The Hockey Night in Canada "Up To The Minute" scoring report. The problem of Phoenix being able to fly behind The Wings defense occasionally and fire on Jimmy was certainly not remedied in this game. What did improve however was our Power Play and we responded to Game One by outhitting The Coyotes. Hank Z delivered a Hat Trick and the skill players took over the game. Phoenix got drawn into a run and gun contest which The Wings would prevail in most games. An issue that Phoenix wisely addressed for Game Three.

GAME THREE in Detroit

A couple of turning points led to a 4-2 loss on this Sunday afternoon. The Wings opened the 2nd Period with a Power Play that never got anywhere close to Bryzgalov. Feeding off of their penalty kill The Coyotes seemed to spend 75% of the 2nd Period cycling The Wings zone, fore checking created many quality chances and the neutral zone turn overs for The Wings happened every shift. Eventually The Wings come within a goal in the 3rd Period when Jimmy let in a "softie" a slap shot that beat him short side by Radim Vrbata. This was a back breaker. The media immediately brought up the age of Lidstrom being a factor and the inexperience of Jimmy Howard. It's true, Nick had a really bad game. He was caught flat footed on both the 3rd and 4th goals. Jimmy has not played like the goalie who led us to the playoffs. He has not adjusted to playoff hockey yet and is definitely getting beat clean by the Phoenix slap shots. Though Jimmy could certainly elevate his game and Nick is entitled to have one bad playoff game every once in a while, I give most of the credit to Phoenix for a well executed defensive scheme. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nick isn't the dominate force we've become used to as much, but I would say the fore checking of The Coyotes wore out the entire Wings defense. Chief Agitator Shane Doan tripped over Jimmy and hit the boards hard enough to take him out of Game 3 and he is not dressed for Game 4. Hopefully we can take advantage of this and amp up the hitting to wear down their defense this time.

I was down at the The Joe on Sunday and the playoff atmosphere was very exciting as always. I enjoyed some live hockey from the 5th row of the 2nd level as well (thank you Mike!) Though the result sucked it was great to be down there. I expect the atmosphere to be insane tonight and really propel The Wings to counter punch! Hopefully Jimmy can shake off the playoff pressure and get his A game going. Every great playoff goalie has some rough ones before they hit their stride. Though I hope a very strange 6:30 start time doesn't thin out the crowd for the puck drop. Um, Mr. Bettman, we live in a commuter town! On to some great hockey. Go Wings!