Flyers vs Red Wings Recap: Record Edition
20 straight wins at home. The record has been tied. I would argue that these 20 straight were harder to come by due to the parity in the NHL these days. Then again, all those shootout wins... But wins are wins and we have seen 20 straight at home.
Jump for the recap:
Joey MacDonald made the saves he needed to make when he needed to make them. That's what backup goalies do. Of the three he let in, I was bummed about the first two since he pretty much deserved assists on them, but he was money in the third period.
The power play has produced lately, especially tonight. How much of that was Detroit and how much was it Philly's poor PK? Well, the goals were good. Screened shot from the point and Pav with a sweeping one-time wrister. That's Detroit man advantage hockey.
When Detroit when down 2-1, I thought that it was time for the big guns to show up and carry the team. Sure enough, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen light the lamp to secure the win.
That mask that MacDonald was wearing should bring in a nice haul for the families of Lokomotiv. If you're interested in the mask or the sweaters worn by the Wings tonight, give a shout to Christi Forgacs. She's the Red Wings Merchandise Supervisor. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give her a call at 313-396-7583. For more information on this subject, click here. The fact that this game was a record night should help sales.
Ericsson earned his check tonight. It's not enough to just not screw up when you're making money like he is, so coming back on Simmonds and stopping his scoring chance without taking a penalty was a great play. Need more of that.
#GetChrisOnTwitter
Red Wings PK has been great. The puck is being cleared when they get the chance, they're keeping the play to the outside and blocking passing lanes. A strong PK is at least as important as a strong power play, if not even more.
NOHS Three Stars of the Game:
First Star: Henrik Zetterberg. 3 point night. He was great out there and always looking to shoot. That's what we need from him.
Second Star: Pavel Datsyuk. Good to see him on the score sheet again. Big PP goal in the second.
Third Star: Johan Franzen. Yet another GWG. Say what you want about his occasional lazy play, but Franzen will be there when we need him most.
NOHS Favorite Moment of the Game: I'm going to go with the Kronwalling of Briere. Kronwall has changed the way he hits based on the rule changes made in the offseason. So many tool-bags claimed he was trying to hurt people, yet he never had to be suspended to adjust his play. Never had to have his career threatened to stop hitting heads. Never had to end another player's career to get a message across. Ladies and gentlemen, Kronwall is a genius.
This was a great game to watch. And hey, I kind of posted the pregame post and it didn't kill us all! Next game is Tuesday against the Stars. I'd be gearing up for some trash talking with my neighbors, but none of them know what hockey is. I hate it here. Puck drops at 7:30 EST.
LGRW!
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Rinaldo is possibly getting suspended for a few games from the nasty hit on Ericsson. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=616653 I was worried initially when joey gave them that first goal , but after that it was a really good game to watch. Hank was on fire tonight as well, i love seeing him play well and get rewarded for it! LGRW
Simmonds sure was fired up, I kept waiting for him to find the net. I thought it was finally gonna happen when he got behind the D, but the way E52 took him out of that scoring chance was a thing of beauty. Definitely my fave moment on the night. Bring back Commie!
This is completely unrelated to the recap! I think that we're wearing the away sweaters as a psychological tactic to get us to play on the road as well as we do at home.
POWER PLAY GOALS FTW. They've only gotten 2 in a game 3 times this season (or something?) now..
All around great game by the Wings. Really good to see them grind out the win, good practice for when it really matters.
Does Hendrick play with Lindstrom? ;)Man, that latter half of the 1st Period and first half of the 2nd Period were disgusting. There was one PP we had where the Flyers must have had 3 odd mand rushes without us controlling the puck in the zone once. None of their anything tonight was because they were good but because of our laziness. Glad we played well in the other parts of the game though.You want to know why I see this Red Wings being so much better than other recent teams? When this team plays blah, they win more than half the time. Nice to still get 2 points even when we sometimes don't even seem to give a crap about 2 points.
@ThroatShot True. I constantly compare us (which is never right, nor ever fair) to the 2008-09 Wings. The team that only played in the third, or when it mattered...and had a losing record against non-playoff teams. Really a heartless, lazy team many nights but still able to win some. Difference between us and them, other than superb goaltending, is that they weren't in first. And didn't have it when it mattered in the regular season and that caught up with us. Plus, we know the 'blah' play tends to leave when the flip that playoff switch.
