Sharks vs Red Wings Recap 2.19.2012
Wings finally beat the Sharks thanks to a total team effort. Both sides were missing some keye players, but at the end of the day, the better team won 3-2. That's 23 straight at home if you haven't heard.
Recap after the jump:
Joey MacDonald was awesome. His first few starts in Detroit, I felt that the puck was just hitting him or missing the net, but lately he's been the difference. He's making huge saves when we need them most. Multiple sources on Twitter, a place Chris needs to be, have reported that the Wings will waive Conklin on Monday. If he clears waivers, which he should, he'll end up in GR. Once he's there, he can either be sad and accept his fate, or he can start playing great in net and earn a chance to play in the big leagues again. Probably won't ever play for Detroit again, but this doesn't have to be the end for Conks. Good luck, sir.
The PP got some chances, but they are still having trouble gaining the zone consistently. Too much time is spent going back and forth trying to find an opening and failing. Dump it in, forecheck and setup.
Hank can still snipe. Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. He's on fire right now.
Val is not, however. Seems Detroit always has at least one guy who struggles to score and right now that's Filppula. He'll come around eventually, though. His hair is too perfect not to.
The third line is glorious. Two goals off of the third line and no Detroit fan is shocked. They do this all the time now. Checking, fighting, scoring, killing penalties. They do it all. Speaking of killing penalties...
Detroit has been ragging the puck a lot lately, today more than ever. As a forward, it is so annoying and embarrassing to have to chase around guys as they play keep-away and it can give the PK a real boost.
I hate Joe Thornton. I hope he gets home after this road trip to find that his favorite TV show has been cancelled and that he cries.
Ken Daniels did a good job of being impartial today. Says the guy who is quite partial. But really, if there are any Sharks fans out there that care to explain why I'm wrong and why your crew is way more fair and balanced, leave us a comment.
NOHS Three Stars of the Game:
First Star: Joey MacDonald. Beat twice, but not his fault. He's playing like he wants to stay in the NHL and I'm cool with that. You?
Second Star: Henrik Zetterberg. Ah yes, the backhand snipe. I know I've seen that before. Welcome back.
Third Star(s): Miller and Helm. Miller with 2 points and Helm with the GWG. They're not a third line, they're 1C.
NOHS Favorite Moment of the Game: I liked Abby's fight. He didn't win, but he didn't get smoked, either. Abdelkader is tough and doesn't go down easy. Plus he has a heck of a war face when he fights. If anyone finds some good screenshots or photos of Abby's face in battle, let me know. @Twig81
Again, a great win against a team that has had our number. Next game is against some scrub team in Illinois, or some dumb state like that. Indiana, maybe? I forget. They're 4th in the Central, so whatever. Puck drops at 8:30 EST.
LGRW!
I noticed Thornton was being reckless... went out of his way to try and hit Lidstrom a few times, he gave Mac a snow shower to just try and draw a penalty for retaliation, went out of his way to hit Datsyuk a few times, and probably a lot more. He just seemed more focused on taking runs at people than playing the game. Bert goalie interference was a dive... I saw the stupid goalie turn before being hit..... it was incidental contact at best and that is being overly generous, yet I am not surprised on it either. If the goalie didn't dive then I would see a better motive since the goalie established his position first. It would still be a bad call but the dive makes it worse.
You could see Lidstrom moved his shooting angle to miss the player, but it was the players stick blade that deflects the puck back to his face. I do not like to see players get injured on stuff like that and was not easy to watch them fall like dominoes. As for Ken Daniels .... He did a great job being impartial, but he also lacked enthusiasm in general except on helm's goal. I felt like he was being held back and his restraint took the excitement away. I think he does much better on the Wings broadcast. But for how rarely he does these games it probably was just being cautious of not screwing up and being unfair.
We got the win, but I felt we didn't look particularly sharp. Don't get me wrong, the goals were beautiful and when we got San Hoser on their heels, especially in the 3rd, it was really fun to watch! I'm just really glad we were able to shut those A-holes down. I'm sure Fil will come around, Z did, and Datsyuk is as well.
Joe Thornton, who I hate as well, was actually quoted as saying something like, "We had them on their heels alot. If we play like that all the time I won't be worried. " hmm, what game was he watching?
1 Like
Stupid sharks fan boyfriend and I didn't break up because of this game. St. Patrick's day will be another story. We played great today. Good, important win.
I flipped when Helm FINALLY finished for the gwg. Speaking of Helm, come get an autograph signed next Sunday, the 26th at the Meijer in Roseville! Right on the corner of 13 and Little Mack. Exit 232 off of I-94. He'll be there from 1-3 pm and hopefully I'll be the one telling you when its your turn to approach the table :)
Joey Mac is such a beast right now! That first goal was hit in with a high stick by the sharks and I thought the video replay made that very clear to me. But, I digress. We got the win that we deserved and I love it. I hate the sharks with a passion. They play thuggish hockey and are masters of the cheap shot. I think even Adam Foote would be blushing after some of those blatant elbows, high sticks, headshots, ect. Loved seeing Helm get one...he almost had 2! Abby's fight wasnt bad but he still plays a little too reckless in clutch situations. I thought the goalie interference on Bert was total BS, as it always is, and the NHL and little Gary need to make some rule changes to fix it. Anyone could see Niemi was out of the crease by a mile and if anything it shoulda been interference on the sharks. Regardless, it was great to pickup that win today! Go Wings!!
2 Like
@Buckeye_Wings_Fan unfortunately that was actually the right call on the ice, as Abdelkader actually ended up hitting the puck in.
@thebiglachovsky I dunno man, I coulda swore his stick only touched the sharks' stick and not the puck.
@Buckeye_Wings_Fan@thebiglachovsky I was going nuts about that high stick goal..... however they did make the correct call and there was one angle that proved it hit the stick of Abby. If it had not then it would have been a no goal. As much as I cringe saying it.
2 Like
I liked our new strategy of beating the Sharks today. Instead of trying to shoot around them toward the net, just shoot for heads or ankles. Something to come back to if we find ourselves in a 7-game series with them again. Today kind of reminded me when Twig (article author) and I used to play some knock off hockey game on Sega or something. We'd get a series against Colorado and throw the first three games doing nothing but attempts to injure. By Game 7, all four lines of theirs would be "Player #76." Here's to literally killing the Wing-killers!
@ThroatShot I hope that is used with full sarcasm. We do not want to end up like the Blues fans with Vladdy..... do we?
Helm looked real sharp out there. He spends a little more time on finishing with Dats or Bert and he's going to go far.
Abby may have lost the fight, but one could argue Don Cherry was full of it last night by saying the Wings aren't tough.
@noclue41 I'm so glad someone else caught that! i couldn't believe the stupidity that was coming out of his mouth. he was showing clips of fighters scoring goals, saying "these are the players that win games." I wonder if he saw the two datsyuk goals on friday night lol
@marti783@noclue41 In a way he is right... you have to really pick out the nonsense stuffed in between certain things. The fighters stand up for the stars and play with energy, checking, grinding, and hard work. Guys like McCarty DO help win championships. If it was not for these players then we would see even more players in general end up with injuries on plays like Claude "the turtle" hitting Draper on the boards.
As for saying the wings are not tough is like saying Chara is not huge. Don cherry (even though I didn't hear him last night) earlier in the season was trying to say the same kind of thing and he seems to have something against Ken Holland for liking skill over fighting so I would not doubt he is full of shit.
2 Like
@noclue41 Honestly I think it's time Don hangs up his multi-colored, acid trip suits.
All in all a great team effort. Both goalies made crucial saves, but the better team came out on top. Great GW snipe by the. namesake.
