Early show doesn't go Wings' way
I do have to admit that I'm jealous! Grandma's going to the game on Tuesday against Nashville with Uncle Kenny. Then on Friday she's going again against LA with Uncle Kenny, Aunt Sunok, Sam, Aunt Susie & Andy. I wanna go to a Wings game! *pouts*
Early show doesn't go Wings' way
March 5, 2007
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
An awful lot of jokes could be made about the Red Wings' 12:30 p.m. start Sunday, like how they must have misread the schedule, or how it must have interfered with brunch, but the bottom line, as Mike Babcock likes to put it, wasn't very funny.
The Wings dropped a 4-3 decision in overtime at Joe Louis Arena to a Colorado Avalanche team that only staunch fans still believe can make the playoffs. The Wings did rally from a 2-0 deficit to gain one point, but things might have looked different had they not come out with such utter lethargy.
"We didn't have the energy and the stick-to-it-tiveness that we normally have," Babcock said. "This is our building, and we're supposed to set the work ethic, and that wasn't the case today at all. This game is fair. If you come out and go after the other team, you usually find a way to win. In the end, probably the right team got the two points."
The Wings did gain a point for the eighth straight game, thanks in large part to the hustle of Kris Draper, who scored twice. Valtteri Filppula also scored to gain four points in his past three games.
After Milan Hejduk, Tyler Arnason and Brad McLean scored in regulation, Brad Richardson ended the game at 2:41 when he stuffed a rebound from the right side that got in under Chris Osgood.
"I backhanded it as hard as I could, but he made a great save," Richardson said. "It was just laying there, and I poked it. It squeaked under him somehow. It was nice to see it go in. We're up two-nothing; they battled back and made it a game. That's what great teams do, but we found a way to squeak it out, and we'll take it."
The Wings played to win in the third period, popping 18 shots at Peter Budaj, but that wasn't enough to overturn 40 minutes of malaise.
"We started playing in the third period, and we had some great opportunities," Draper said, "but anytime you spot a team two goals it's tough to get back."
Tomas Holmstrom blew a chance to get the Wings ahead when he couldn't convert on a penalty shot in the last 10 seconds of the first period, and in the second period the Avs took a two-goal lead. Hejduk scored on a tip-in at 10:55, and Arnason built on that at 14:04; it took Pavel Datsyuk setting up Filppula with a centering pass at 19:03 of the second period before the Wings showed any bite.
Draper followed up with a goal 1:14 into the third period when he spun around in the left circle and angled the puck in off the near post to tie the game. Finally the Wings awakened, pounding Budaj with six shots in three minutes after he had seen eight in each of the first two periods. But as Draper pointed out, the Wings' revival came too late. McLean and Draper traded goals later in the third period, and Mathieu Schneider handed over the puck on the winning goal, giving the Wings all afternoon to digest the loss.
Early show doesn't go Wings' way
March 5, 2007
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
An awful lot of jokes could be made about the Red Wings' 12:30 p.m. start Sunday, like how they must have misread the schedule, or how it must have interfered with brunch, but the bottom line, as Mike Babcock likes to put it, wasn't very funny.
The Wings dropped a 4-3 decision in overtime at Joe Louis Arena to a Colorado Avalanche team that only staunch fans still believe can make the playoffs. The Wings did rally from a 2-0 deficit to gain one point, but things might have looked different had they not come out with such utter lethargy.
"We didn't have the energy and the stick-to-it-tiveness that we normally have," Babcock said. "This is our building, and we're supposed to set the work ethic, and that wasn't the case today at all. This game is fair. If you come out and go after the other team, you usually find a way to win. In the end, probably the right team got the two points."
The Wings did gain a point for the eighth straight game, thanks in large part to the hustle of Kris Draper, who scored twice. Valtteri Filppula also scored to gain four points in his past three games.
After Milan Hejduk, Tyler Arnason and Brad McLean scored in regulation, Brad Richardson ended the game at 2:41 when he stuffed a rebound from the right side that got in under Chris Osgood.
"I backhanded it as hard as I could, but he made a great save," Richardson said. "It was just laying there, and I poked it. It squeaked under him somehow. It was nice to see it go in. We're up two-nothing; they battled back and made it a game. That's what great teams do, but we found a way to squeak it out, and we'll take it."
The Wings played to win in the third period, popping 18 shots at Peter Budaj, but that wasn't enough to overturn 40 minutes of malaise.
"We started playing in the third period, and we had some great opportunities," Draper said, "but anytime you spot a team two goals it's tough to get back."
Tomas Holmstrom blew a chance to get the Wings ahead when he couldn't convert on a penalty shot in the last 10 seconds of the first period, and in the second period the Avs took a two-goal lead. Hejduk scored on a tip-in at 10:55, and Arnason built on that at 14:04; it took Pavel Datsyuk setting up Filppula with a centering pass at 19:03 of the second period before the Wings showed any bite.
Draper followed up with a goal 1:14 into the third period when he spun around in the left circle and angled the puck in off the near post to tie the game. Finally the Wings awakened, pounding Budaj with six shots in three minutes after he had seen eight in each of the first two periods. But as Draper pointed out, the Wings' revival came too late. McLean and Draper traded goals later in the third period, and Mathieu Schneider handed over the puck on the winning goal, giving the Wings all afternoon to digest the loss.