Blues Wings Recap: 2.13.2013
Uggghhhh. Nice to get a point against a division team, but...
Okay, let us just get through this recap. This is painful for me (as I don't drink near as much as I used to weeknights).
First Period – Just as Pierre and Edso are talking about what a great rookie Barrett Jackassman was and how he totally deserved to win the Calder over Z, Tatar takes the puck on a faceoff win down low and absolutely schools this Allen kid. Nice work by Eaves to tie up Petra Angelou too (any relation to Maya?). 1-0 Red guys.
Not too long after that Drew Miller takes a feed from Tootoo on a nice little give and go style play and drives the net, pokes in his rebound and oh my Bog the defense of St. Louis looks awful. 2-0. This movie thus far is more UnHitchcockian than the latest Texas Chainsaw feature.
The first PP goes to Detroit on a frustration play by Jackassman after Brunner, Abby and Zetterberg (imagine that line) goes “Harlem Globetrotters on StL” to quote my bald yammerhead friend, P-Mac. That’s about where the good news ended though. StL scores on a 2-on-2-cum-Odd-Man-Rush as Abby and Kronner struggle to cover Yoshi and Bergland and the Wings give up a League-high 3rd shorthanded goal. Uh-oh. Momentum did not belong to StL after this, but game was not completely dominated by Detroit like it was earlier, either. 2-1 after 1.
Second Period – After outshooting Detroit 6-1 through the first 6 minutes, StL draws a penalty and Tarasenko cashes in the PP (surprise!) making them 8 of 14 vs. Detroit this season. Wowzas. Shortly thereafter the Wings give up a breakaway goal on a very, very bad line change involving Kindl and Ericsson.
It is 2-3 now, we have blown a 2 goal lead on a great start with all the momentum in the world and Good Hell, my world is crumbling around me and the twitternets are going wild with hate on Babcock, this team and Jim Howard. Thank Christ we have a guy named Pavel Datsyuk. He banks in a beauty from behind the net off of the young goalie’s leg, who is in in his first NHL start and tie game. Welcome to the NHL kid.
Third Period – Errrrm. Nothing really going on here. I don’t mean that in a “I am too lazy to recap this snoozefest” I mean holy crap, ABSOLUTELY nothing going. Some good saves by Jimmy Howard to make sure our defensive collapses don’t cost us a point, some nifty plays by Pav and hard work by Z, all 4 lines rolling and some good effort by the bottom six especially. But in the end, nothing good.
OT – I’m over it. Not a great play by anyone on the ice after the turnover and Jimmy lets in a pretty soft goal to Steen. At least we get a point. But this one hurt. St Louis was really struggling and we found a way to lose by only getting one shot on net in the third period (WE EVEN HAD A POWER PLAY!) on a debut goalie. Awful stuff.
NOHS 3 Stars:
1st Star – Tomas Tatar. What a goal. Played well all game, was a nuisance to StL all night and almost had 2 goals, which would have really put the Blues down but he missed a pretty wide open net. Still, he had a great game and his speed buggered StL all night.
2d Star – Pavel Datsyuk. Definitely a creative, Datsyukian move to tie the game after we were down and out. Tricky. Tricky, tricky little Russian. We are never counted out until the clock beats Datsyuk.
3rd Star – Nik Kronwall. I thought he was one of the few consistently reliable defenseman. Really negated a few chances by being strong down low, playing the body not the puck, and tying up attacking Blues that would otherwise push gimmies past Jimmy on way too easy centering passes.
Honourable Mention – Keith Jones, believe it or not, during the NBCSN intermission or pre-game or whatever. Liam McHugh asked him (after a brief montage of St Louis Blues greatness and Hall of Famers’ highlights) “What comes to mind first when you see all those great and all those great moments from St Louis?” Jones’ response: “No Cups.” Exactly. STFU.
So anyway, the Red Wings Organ-I-sation and we here at NOHS would like to apologise for the bitter taste in your mouth after that game, and worse yet, the horror of 1/2 of the image at the top. We hope this next photo does "something" for you.
Let's Go Red Wings.
Got a point. No one got seriously injured. Have today to work on last nights shortcomings. Silver lining people. (I'm tryin')
This just proves that we have no top scoring depth (yes we have Gus but that still only fills Bert or Mule's spots) We have a whole bunch of really good bottom sixers, but that's what they are. Abby was put in because Babs wanted size up front, I get that, but he has a different mind set than Z and Brunner. No chemistry. I feel Tatar would have fit nicely up top but he could fit in a bite size candy wrapper. I think we need to trade for some depth up top, a scorer. Someone who won't play fancy pass hockey and just shoots all the time. If this injury bug ever passes I feel we won't lose many games, until then however, Babs needs to stop being so stubborn on trying to make lines work that just don't.
Cleary, I'll even tie your tie for you so you can spend a few games in the pressbox. Yeah, you're a fellow Canadian, but Gus needs to fill your spot on the ice. I'm so done with you.
The Howard haters are getting really irritating as of late. You look on any hockey blog after a Wings loss and all you find is a big flame-storm against Howard and how he needs to be traded. Losses, 90% of the time, are not a direct reflection upon your goaltender. Howard is a phenomenal player, but he can only carry us so far. The D needs to pick up, badly. We need to get Smith back on the ice and get our pairings set and solidified. Crying trade after every loss does no good for anyone. Yes, Mrazek had a good game. ONE good game. The game we put him in to play because our starter was going on 10 straight starts and was exhausted. Who then went to play back-to-back games less than 24 hours apart and stole both of them for us, with 60+ saves. I apologize for the rant. It's just irritating to see so many people jump on the Canucks-style bandwagon of hating on the goalie every time we lose. With that said, I hope to the gods that we get our top players back from injury soon. Pav's line is missing Bert's size and hands, the bottom six are missing Helm's speed, and the defense needs everything that Smith can bring to it. /rant
@OhBallsItsJebus I haven't seen any Howard hate, other than the perfectly reasonable comments on here. I guess you should just stay away from places like A2Y and Winging it in Motown if you want to avoid idiocy. Howie is a great keeper, but he was undeniably shaky at points this game, that doesn't mean I think he should be traded, that's just stupid. Don't believe me, check my avatar.
@Reddy @OhBallsItsJebus Exactly! Every player is going to have a shaky game or two, no one is perfect. (Unless your name is Nick Lidstrom, of course). The team as a whole needs to play better. You can't skate for 10 minutes, then float for 50 and expect to win games.
This defense is terrible. I couldn't believe how poorly they played as a group. Every pass seems to be off or fumbled, they over skate pucks, they almost NEVER get their shot through to the net (seriously, did you see how many times Kindl and Quincey shot the puck, only to get it blocked by the defender directly in front of them) and they are always stuck in their own end with the slightest bit of forecheck. I disagree with you about Kronwall. He hasn't been good and I think he is being exposed for not being ready to be the #1 D-Man.
Also, our special teams is costing us points. It's at the point where, I'm actually hoping the referee doesn't give us a powerplay because it will only change the momentum in our opponents favor!
Sorry but I think Kronwall has been exposed way too much this year. Yes I know, he's always played second line guys but still.
1. Shorthanded goal - Isn't it the defenseman's job to take away the pass? Awful. He just stood there.
2. GW goal - Definitely did not play the body here. Let Steen go right behind him and pushed him a little after he scored. If he knew how to box a guy out we may have won this one.
Both goalies had awful sv% that game, 4 on 25 shots is bad. Howie looked a little weak a few times, and took the bait completely on their 3rd goal. The GWG was ugly.
Here's a recap: 1st period - try as hard as we can. Dominate 2nd-3rd: slack, don't try, bad line changes, and a little lucky goal. Hang on OT: offensive flare - bad bounce. Lose
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Agreed. Here's some of my thoughts to add on... Cleary and Abdelkader were St. Louis’s best penalty killers tonight. Why is Filpulla so insistent on not shooting even when he’s 15’ from the goalie unchallenged in the slot? Kindl is an idiot, and having a Quincey-Kindl pairing on defense is the most unsettling defensive pairing that the Red Wings organization has ever put on the ice. Why is Tatar still buried in the depth chart? If we keep sending him back to Grand Rapids and/or burying him, he’s gonna end up playing in Russia. Pav > All. Speaking of which, why is he, possibly the best playmaker ever, on a line with a guy who can’t shoot (Cleary) and a guy who won’t shoot (Filpulla)?
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@ThroatShot Dude, every word you just wrote was the exactly the thought going through my head last night. EVERY WORD. Bravo sir.
Keith Jones, believe it or not, during the NBCSN intermission or pre-game or whatever. Liam McHugh asked him (after a brief montage of St Louis Blues greatness and Hall of Famers’ highlights) “What comes to mind first when you see all those great and all those great moments from St Louis?” Jones’ response: “No Cups.” Exactly. STFU. ^ Thanks for the laugh!
