FIRST BLOOD: Wings can't get puck past Nabokov
Oh man was I one cranky ass camper last night! I went to the new Meijer on 12 Mile & Mound & got Sam's birthday present (a Jimmie Johnson shirt) last night after work. Then out front of the Meijer is a Buffalo Wild Wings so I stopped in there & got some take out for dinner. I was so excited about the hockey game that I was gonna enjoy my chicken & potato wedges while watching the Wings game.
Guess what? It was on Versus & our cable company doesn't offer Versus to it's basic cable subscribers. You have to have digital cable to see it. FUCK YOU WOW!!! I even went over to CBC to see if it was on Hockey Night In Canada. It wasn't, the Otttawa/New Jersey game was on. So I missed the game last night. I WAS SOOOO PISSED OFF!!! I wanted to watch the game, even though they lost.
FIRST BLOOD: Wings can't get puck past Nabokov
April 27, 2007
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
The Sharks needed less than a minute -- less than half a minute, actually -- to establish their dominance in this series with the Red Wings.
Capitalizing on a power play and a turnover midway through the first period, the Sharks spent the remainder of Thursday's game containing an increasingly desperate opponent, eventually handing the Wings a 2-0 loss at Joe Louis Arena. It's the first time since the Flames won 1-0 in overtime May 3, 2004, that the Wings have been shut out in the playoffs.
"We have to have better puck movement," Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We've got to have guys there for rebounds, too. I thought they were playing real well, especially in the neutral zone. They didn't really give us any turnovers. We have to pick up the pace a little bit to create more chances through the neutral zone."
The best-of-seven series continues Saturday afternoon at the Joe.
Joe Thornton set up Matthew Carle's power play at 9:45 of the first period, former Detroiter Mike Grier converted on a Wings giveaway at 10:09, and Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves.
"Unfortunately they scored two quick goals and after that, they played well defensively," Dominik Hasek said after facing 19 shots, nine of them in the last 40 minutes. "We had lots of shots but no second chances. They played a well-positioned game. I don't think we had one two-on-one the whole game. They were always in the right position."
With Tomas Holmstrom sidelined by an eye injury, Kyle Calder subbed in on the line with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, though as the Wings grew more eager to score, line combinations changed with every shift. Every shift, though, met with Sharks willing to block shots: In all they derailed 18 shots, compared with one from the Wings' Chris Chelios.
"It was really important because they have two of the best defensemen at shooting the puck," Nabokov said of his skaters' willingness to deflect shots. They held Lidstrom to three shots and Mathieu Schneider -- who had 34 shots in six first-round games -- to none.
That this wasn't going to be another Calgary series became clear a few minutes into the game. The Wings started fine; Kris Draper's line with Dan Cleary and Kirk Maltby set a good tone with their first shift, circling the puck down low with such efficiency that Cleary got two shots on Nabokov and had another shot blocked by Scott Hannan.
But the Sharks rolled out one big unit after another, and before two minutes had gone by, fourth-liners Marcel Goc and Ryan Clowe crashed around Detroit's net and forced Hasek into making saves. Then the Wings did exactly what they'd talked about avoiding: Took a penalty trying to contain one of the Sharks' top forwards. Lidstrom went to the box for hooking Thornton at 8:17; at 9:45, the Sharks capitalized, when Christian Ehrhoff sent the puck right to Clowe, who sent it to Thornton behind the net. Thornton fired it across the crease to Matthew Carle, who snapped the puck stick-side on Hasek.
"It was just bing, bang, boom, and it was in the back of the net," Thornton said.
Then the Wings did another thing they'd talked about avoiding: Schneider turned the puck over in Detroit's zone, leading to Grier scoring on a turnaround slap shot off the post. In a span of 25 seconds, the Sharks had a 2-0 lead.