FIRED UP: Wings take early lead, don't look back
I was seriously loving last night! I was so glad to see Zetterberg back last night. Sunday I'm gonna be a huge channel surfer. Flipping back & forth between the Wings/Flames game & the race from Texas.
Aunt Susie was talking to Grandma on the phone & whining. Whenever she had the Tigers game on the Wings scored & whenever she had the Wings game on the Tigers scored. LOL! ;)
FIRED UP: Wings take early lead, don't look back
April 13, 2007
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Pavel Datsyuk did exactly what his biggest backer knew he could do Thursday night, lifting the Red Wings to a huge victory.
Datsyuk broke out of a 26-game playoff scoring drought to push the Wings past the Flames, 4-1; afterward, he got asked about his streak so many times he finally had to laugh.
"I should just stand in the middle of the room," he said, "and shout it for everyone to hear."
The Wings grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series in as satisfying a manner as possible.
"We came on the ice and we gave them nothing," Dominik Hasek said. "You could see they were frustrated after we scored the third and fourth goal, they were talking more, they were trying to hit someone. But we control the game for whole 60 minutes."
It was a magnificent start for a team trying to put three straight early playoff exits behind it, a streak that probably helped keep fans away based on the patches of empty rows at Joe Louis Arena. Attendance was announced as 19,204, below the 20,066 capacity.
There was so much to relish for those who did attend: goals, hits and a big mess behind Calgary's net at the end, when the Flames took issue with Dan Cleary bumping Miikka Kiprusoff and piled on Cleary; Danny Markov skated in and literally leapt on top of the pile.
"He drove to the net and fell down, so what?" coach Mike Babcock said about Cleary's play. "They bumped Dom earlier in the game. That's hockey."
The Flames clearly were trying to send a message for Sunday's Game 2.
"We knew it was coming," Mathieu Schneider said. "That's part of playoff hockey."
The Flames didn't have their top defenseman, Robyn Regehr, who normally would have gone against Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. It was a loss to be sure, but one man more couldn't have contained what the Wings unleashed on this night.
Datsyuk, a week removed from signing a seven-year, $46.9 million extension, scored for the first time in the playoffs since May 31, 2002; he added an assist to further back up what Steve Yzerman said last week: that Datsyuk would answer whether he could score this time of the year in a resoundingly positive manner.
"It's huge for me, huge for everybody," Datsyuk said.
Teammates who endlessly have defended him felt his relief.
"I think he played an awesome game," Zetterberg said. "I was happy when I saw the puck went in."
Valtteri Filppula, Nicklas Lidstrom and Schneider also provided goals, and Schneider set the physical tone with an early hit. Johan Franzen followed suit, upending Andrei Zyuzin with an open-ice hit and crashing Dion Phaneuf into the boards.
For days, the Wings had heard about how physical the Flames are, and how they're a scoring team, but where was the evidence in this game? It was Schneider who hit Matthew Lombardi in the opening minute of the game, and the Wings who swarmed around Calgary's net with such perseverance they had a two-goal lead midway through the first period. Filppula scored on his first shift, at 4:51, and nearly four minutes later, Lidstrom pinched in from the blueline and floated to the slot, where he hammered a Jiri Hudler pass in off defenseman Brad Stuart.
"They took the emotion and momentum and they just kept going," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "We know we have to be better, and we can be better."
On the third goal, Tomas Holmstrom drove up the ice before passing to Datsyuk; Zyuzin tried to break up the pass, but it went off his leg and straight to Datsyuk, who slipped a backhand five-hole on Kiprusoff. Three minutes later, Schneider drifted down from the point and picked his spot.
Zetterberg, recovered from an inflamed disk that had kept him out since Feb. 24, provided the Wings a two-minute two-man advantage midway through the third, when Phaneuf hauled him down and Iginla retaliated for a hit.
"I just wanted to get my legs going and get some battling in," Zetterberg said. "I got a good game in, and I think it was a good start."
Hasek didn't get beat until 14:55 of the third period, when Alex Tanguay converted Daymond Langkow's pass with a shot from the left side of the net.
"We're happy with the way we played," Lidstrom said. "We didn't give them too many chances offensively, and we didn't have too many turnovers."
It was only Game 1, but it was a strong statement by the Wings: fourth-line scoring, converting on the power play, solid goaltending. And last but so very importantly: a big fat octopus, hurled to the ice, the very symbol of Wings' playoff success.
Aunt Susie was talking to Grandma on the phone & whining. Whenever she had the Tigers game on the Wings scored & whenever she had the Wings game on the Tigers scored. LOL! ;)
FIRED UP: Wings take early lead, don't look back
April 13, 2007
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Pavel Datsyuk did exactly what his biggest backer knew he could do Thursday night, lifting the Red Wings to a huge victory.
Datsyuk broke out of a 26-game playoff scoring drought to push the Wings past the Flames, 4-1; afterward, he got asked about his streak so many times he finally had to laugh.
"I should just stand in the middle of the room," he said, "and shout it for everyone to hear."
The Wings grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series in as satisfying a manner as possible.
"We came on the ice and we gave them nothing," Dominik Hasek said. "You could see they were frustrated after we scored the third and fourth goal, they were talking more, they were trying to hit someone. But we control the game for whole 60 minutes."
It was a magnificent start for a team trying to put three straight early playoff exits behind it, a streak that probably helped keep fans away based on the patches of empty rows at Joe Louis Arena. Attendance was announced as 19,204, below the 20,066 capacity.
There was so much to relish for those who did attend: goals, hits and a big mess behind Calgary's net at the end, when the Flames took issue with Dan Cleary bumping Miikka Kiprusoff and piled on Cleary; Danny Markov skated in and literally leapt on top of the pile.
"He drove to the net and fell down, so what?" coach Mike Babcock said about Cleary's play. "They bumped Dom earlier in the game. That's hockey."
The Flames clearly were trying to send a message for Sunday's Game 2.
"We knew it was coming," Mathieu Schneider said. "That's part of playoff hockey."
The Flames didn't have their top defenseman, Robyn Regehr, who normally would have gone against Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. It was a loss to be sure, but one man more couldn't have contained what the Wings unleashed on this night.
Datsyuk, a week removed from signing a seven-year, $46.9 million extension, scored for the first time in the playoffs since May 31, 2002; he added an assist to further back up what Steve Yzerman said last week: that Datsyuk would answer whether he could score this time of the year in a resoundingly positive manner.
"It's huge for me, huge for everybody," Datsyuk said.
Teammates who endlessly have defended him felt his relief.
"I think he played an awesome game," Zetterberg said. "I was happy when I saw the puck went in."
Valtteri Filppula, Nicklas Lidstrom and Schneider also provided goals, and Schneider set the physical tone with an early hit. Johan Franzen followed suit, upending Andrei Zyuzin with an open-ice hit and crashing Dion Phaneuf into the boards.
For days, the Wings had heard about how physical the Flames are, and how they're a scoring team, but where was the evidence in this game? It was Schneider who hit Matthew Lombardi in the opening minute of the game, and the Wings who swarmed around Calgary's net with such perseverance they had a two-goal lead midway through the first period. Filppula scored on his first shift, at 4:51, and nearly four minutes later, Lidstrom pinched in from the blueline and floated to the slot, where he hammered a Jiri Hudler pass in off defenseman Brad Stuart.
"They took the emotion and momentum and they just kept going," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "We know we have to be better, and we can be better."
On the third goal, Tomas Holmstrom drove up the ice before passing to Datsyuk; Zyuzin tried to break up the pass, but it went off his leg and straight to Datsyuk, who slipped a backhand five-hole on Kiprusoff. Three minutes later, Schneider drifted down from the point and picked his spot.
Zetterberg, recovered from an inflamed disk that had kept him out since Feb. 24, provided the Wings a two-minute two-man advantage midway through the third, when Phaneuf hauled him down and Iginla retaliated for a hit.
"I just wanted to get my legs going and get some battling in," Zetterberg said. "I got a good game in, and I think it was a good start."
Hasek didn't get beat until 14:55 of the third period, when Alex Tanguay converted Daymond Langkow's pass with a shot from the left side of the net.
"We're happy with the way we played," Lidstrom said. "We didn't give them too many chances offensively, and we didn't have too many turnovers."
It was only Game 1, but it was a strong statement by the Wings: fourth-line scoring, converting on the power play, solid goaltending. And last but so very importantly: a big fat octopus, hurled to the ice, the very symbol of Wings' playoff success.