Round 2 - Detroit Vs. Anaheim

just saw the footage of what happened to the Wiz, what a brutal shift, that shot off the chest and the elbow, hope he has a speedy and full recovery.

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:According to TSN

Wisniewski had been diagnosed with a lung contusion and that he'd remain in hospital overnight as a precautionary measure.

I had a feeling the way he seemed to be convulsing, then coughing up blood. But he also got elbowed in the face, so I wondered if the blood was from that.

I think he'll end up being just fine, which is quite a relief, it was very somber to see him convulsing like that.

Wow, I can't believe that happened last night. The most important thing for Babc0ck to do right now is to make the team watch the video of the first period and then the video of the rest of the game.

Horrible call, bad luck, but Detroit wouldn't have been in that position if they had come out to play in period one.

I feel badly for Watson. Brutal call, I see what he was looking at though and couldn't spot the puck sitting there. He'll rebound and be fine I'm sure.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Large_Format_Pix/POD/home.html?&pic=2

Totally unrelated, but check it out! Cute!!!

Chin up Wisniewski... Here's wishing the fella a speedy recovery.

Bad call against the Wings. For fun, we should check out the comments over at TSN's Your Call as I imagine Wings fan are incensed at the very least, and rightfully so.

Anyone get the feeling this one could be over in 5? Two Western spoilers but the same TEAM?! whoa!

Wang knows what he has to do, and Carlisle needs to keep his troops foaming at the mouth. I expect game #4 to get even nastier.

504Heater wrote:Wow, I can't believe that happened last night. The most important thing for Babc0ck to do right now is to make the team watch the video of the first period and then the video of the rest of the game.

Horrible call, bad luck, but Detroit wouldn't have been in that position if they had come out to play in period one.

I feel badly for Watson. Brutal call, I see what he was looking at though and couldn't spot the puck sitting there. He'll rebound and be fine I'm sure.

Yeah, watching the game I could see the reason why Watson blew it dead...all these things happen so fast, and the rule is when the referee 'loses sight of the puck'...

I spoke to a buddy of mine this morning who's a Wings fan and while he was disappointed, he acknowledged Detroit didn't get it done which was why they were in that position in the first place.

The Ducks seem to have a strategy of being ready to give up a fairly large amount of shots while making enough of their own count to pull out a win.

The Sharks consistently outshot the Ducks as I remember.

Carlyle's a pretty smart coach...after all, he did just win a Cup.

What must be concerning Babc0ck right now is that Anaheim has managed to neutralize his offensive stars--at least sufficiently to take a series lead...and he must also be wondering if and when he can get Rafalski back.

This series is just too close for comfort...all one goal games. With just fifteen goals scored between them so far...

Given Anaheim's defensive and opportunistic performance--and Hiller's outstanding goaltending--they could, realistically, go up 3-1...and put the Wings in a very tough position as home ice appears to offer no advantage.

SensGirl11 wrote:http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Large_Format_Pix/POD/home.html?&pic=2

Totally unrelated, but check it out! Cute!!!

Hahaha. I want one of those.

davetherave wrote:
Yeah, watching the game I could see the reason why Watson blew it dead...all these things happen so fast, and the rule is when the referee 'loses sight of the puck'...

I spoke to a buddy of mine this morning who's a Wings fan and while he was disappointed, he acknowledged Detroit didn't get it done which was why they were in that position in the first place.

The Ducks seem to have a strategy of being ready to give up a fairly large amount of shots while making enough of their own count to pull out a win.

The Sharks consistently outshot the Ducks as I remember.

Carlyle's a pretty smart coach...after all, he did just win a Cup.

What must be concerning Babc0ck right now is that Anaheim has managed to neutralize his offensive stars--at least sufficiently to take a series lead...and he must also be wondering if and when he can get Rafalski back.

This series is just too close for comfort...all one goal games. With just fifteen goals scored between them so far...

Given Anaheim's defensive and opportunistic performance--and Hiller's outstanding goaltending--they could, realistically, go up 3-1...and put the Wings in a very tough position as home ice appears to offer no advantage.

For sure. Although, the Wings are a team of champions, they're probably in a position to shake it off as much or more than any other team, but the stars are being checking into the ice. If you're a Wings fan, you have to at least be pleased that Datsyuk started to turn the tables on Marchant towards the end of the 2nd and the entire 3rd.

Ralafski is so sorely missed on the PP though. That's turning out the be an integral part of the series with him being out.

For those of you who haven't seen it.

Thx for the vidclip Heater...

If you watch where the ref is going as the play unfolds, you can see he was moving around behind the net and then off to the side on Hiller's left.

He then presumedly (as he remains out of camera range) has his view obscured by the traffic around the net.

Someone might want to check this, but I believe the "losing sight of the puck" rule takes precedence here.

With the game being down to the last seconds, this kind of call has to be one of the most difficult to make.

504Heater wrote:

For those of you who haven't seen it.

What a beauty too! OUCH! That one really hurts. I'll go ahead and say that the Wings will come back with a vengeance next game. This is enough to keep them angry until they win the series.

davetherave wrote:Thx for the vidclip Heater...

If you watch where the ref is going as the play unfolds, you can see he was moving around behind the net and then off to the side on Hiller's left.

He then presumedly (as he remains out of camera range) has his view obscured by the traffic around the net.

Someone might want to check this, but I believe the "losing sight of the puck" rule takes precedence here.

With the game being down to the last seconds, this kind of call has to be one of the most difficult to make.

Absolutely agree. Darren Pang said half-jokingly that Watson thought for sure Neidermayer would make the correct play - and that if he had made the correct play, Watson would have had a clear view.

But because Neidermayer lost control of the puck - and ultimately the play (which obviously doesn't happen often to one of the best D-men in the league) - Watson also lost 'control' and sight of the play.

Basically...everything went against Detroit in those final moments. Do they have the mojo to come back? For sure they do. Should they have been better in the first half of the game? For sure.

How does Datsyuk only have 3 points? That's not a good sign.

SensGirl11 wrote:How does Datsyuk only have 3 points? That's not a good sign.

Yeah, he's been deadly quiet until the 2nd and 3d periods of last night's game. Then he started to single-handedly take over that game. Such an amazing player to watch.

According to tsn.ca

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman James Wisniewski
will remain in an Orange County hospital for a second night after
getting hit in the chest by a puck but is expected to be released
Thursday morning.
Wisniewski was hit in the chest by Pavel Datsyuk's
slapshot during the second period of Tuesday's playoff game against
Detroit. He continued to skate but ultimately fell to his hands and
knees while coughing blood as play stopped.
After several minutes Wisniewski was taken to a hospital where it
was determined he has a bruised lung. As a standard medical precaution,
Wisniewski will continued to be evaluated overnight.
"He is stable, he'll stay for a 36-hour time frame which is
precautionary," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "It's just a situation
where he's resting in the hospital."
Carlyle added there was no immediate estimate as to when Wisniewski could resume playing.
Fellow Anaheim defenceman Ryan Whitney was able to speak with Wisniewski on the phone Tuesday night.
"He seems to be in good spirits, it was pretty good news," said
Whitney. "I don't think it's anything too serious, but it's pretty
scary there when he's coughing up blood."
The Ducks were leading the contest 2-0 at the time of the injury and
held on for a 2-1 victory and a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 is
Thursday.

Detroit 6, Anaheim 3

	1	2	3	T
DET	2	2	2	6
ANA	1	1	1	3

Final

10:30 PM ET, May 7, 2009, Honda Center, Anaheim, California

Red Wings dominate in Anaheim to tie series with Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP/ESPN) -- Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa gave the Detroit Red Wings all the offense they needed on a new line with center Valtteri Filppula.

Franzen and Hossa each scored twice to help the Detroit beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Thursday night, tying the Western Conference semifinal series at 2.

Fast Facts


• The Red Wings got a pair of goals from Marian Hossa, his first points of the series, in a span of 3:02 late in the second period to break a 2-2 tie.
• Johan Franzen also scored twice for Detroit, his first multi-goal game of the playoffs.
• This is the first game of the series that was decided by more than one goal.
• Detroit has now won its last six road games when facing a 2-1 deficit, which is tied for the longest streak in NHL history.
• Scott Niedermayer scored his 25th career playoff goal in the loss, tying Rob Blake for third-most among active defensemen.
• Ryan Getzlaf recorded two assists and has an assist in each of his last eight games.
• Calder Cup trophy finalist Bobby Ryan has just one assist in his last six games.
-- ESPN Stats & Information

After Franzen -- dubbed "The Mule" by his teammates -- scored two first-period goals, Hossa broke a 2-2 tie with two goals in a 3:02 span of the second period.
Franzen added an assist, and Filppula had two assists.

Mikael Samuelsson also scored, Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-netter to help the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings regain momentum in the series.

"We got our goals a little bit easier, we played with high tempo," Franzen said. "We need things like that to break down that goalie, so we did a great job tonight."

Game 5 is Sunday in Detroit, and Game 6 is Tuesday night in Anaheim.

The Red Wings may have found an effective scoring trio just at the right time.

"For whatever reason, we seemed to get a spark from that line," said Detroit coach Mike Babc0ck, who decided to give the new combination a shot in the first period. "I figured it was time to change things up."

The early returns were highly favorable.



While Chris Osgood was making 25 saves for Detroit, the Red Wings were able to chase Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller out after Samuelsson's goal early in the third.

Hiller, who had made 59 saves in the Ducks' 4-3 triple-overtime win in Game 2 and 45 saves in a 2-1 victory in Game 3, allowed five goals on 33 shots before being replaced by Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"They just outplayed us," Hiller said. "It was probably our worst playoff game we have played so far."

Corey Perry had two goals and an assist for Anaheim. Scott Niedermayer also scored, and Ryan Getzlaf had two assists.

The Ducks certainly got the start they were looking for.

Perry took a feed from Chris Pronger and swiftly moved down the right wing before whisking a slap shot inside the far post just 42 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Anaheim continued to control play, building a 5-1 shot advantage before the Red Wings got on track.

Franzen tied it, beating Hiller with a quick wrist shot from the high slot off a drop pass from Filppula.

"The first goal was a goal that should have never gone into the net," Ducks coach Randy Carlye said. "We weren't just good enough as a team and goaltending is part of the team and that's the bottom line. We weren't good enough."

Franzen scored his second goal by deflecting in Niklas Kronwall's point shot with 36 seconds remaining in the first to make it 2-1.

Franzen has shown a significant ability to raise his game in the postseason.

During the Red Wings' championship run last year, the 29-year-old Swede scored 12 goals in his first 12 playoff games before sustaining a concussion against Dallas.

After missing six games, he scored a goal in the Cup finals.

Wasting little time returning to that form this season, Franzen leads Detroit with six postseason goals and he generated at least a point in each of the Red Wings' first six playoff games before being shutdown by the Ducks in Game 3.

Franzen responded Thursday with his first multigoal game of this postseason. He had three multigoal games, including two three-goal games last year.

"It seems like he's one of the best right now when he's around the net," Hossa said. "He's got a great touch right around the crease. He's big and strong and fights for the puck and he gets it."

After Perry scored his second goal at 11:03 of the second to tie it at 2, Hossa then put a wrist shot from the right circle inside the post to Hiller's left for his first goal of the series, giving Detroit a 3-2 lead with 3:58 to go in the second.

"Mule made a nice pass to me in the high slot and that's the position where I usually like to shoot," Hossa said. "It's always nice after a couple of games when you don't score to get one."

Working on a power play 3:05 later, Hossa drilled a slap shot from the right point past Hiller to give Detroit its first two-goal lead of the series.

Game notes
Defenseman Brett Festerling moved into the Anaheim lineup in place of James Wisniewski, who bruised a lung when hit by a slap shot in Game 3. Wisniewski was hospitalized overnight and released Wednesday. He will begin riding a stationary bike Friday and hopes to play in Game 5. ... Brian Rafalski (upper body), Kris Draper (upper body) and Andreas Lilja (concussion) remained absent from the Detroit lineup.

Defenseman Brett Festerling moved into the Anaheim lineup in place of James Wisniewski, who bruised a lung when hit by a slap shot in Game 3
Wisniewski was hospitalized overnight and released Wednesday. He will begin riding a stationary bike Friday and hopes to play in Game 5.

Are you kidding me? This kid is tough as nails, sheesh.

It's all even after the Red Wings finally get to Hiller

Helene Elliott/The Los Angeles Times, May 8, 2009

The Red Wings' offense was too deep to be stifled by the Ducks forever.

The question for the Ducks now is whether they can silence it again after it awoke with a roar on Thursday.

Stirred by Coach Mike Babc0ck's astute line juggling -- and benefiting from sloppy defensive play by a Ducks team that missed rugged defenseman James Wisniewski -- the Red Wings scored twice in the second period and twice in the third to roll to a 6-3 victory that tied the teams' second-round playoff series at two games each.

"We had a pretty decent start, but we kind of lost our game after that," said goaltender Jonas Hiller, less than invincible in yielding five goals on 33 shots before he was replaced by Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"We just were not good enough."

Nowhere near good enough to stop the reconfigured Red Wings, who will play host to Game 5 Sunday at Joe Louis Arena.

"We needed this one," said Johan Franzen, who scored Detroit's first two goals.

"Now we'll see what they got back in Detroit. We know they've given us a tough time there before."

In addition to the two goals from Franzen, Marian Hossa -- taken off the first line and placed alongside Franzen and Valtteri Filppula -- responded with his first two goals of the series.

It was an impressive showing in front of a franchise-record crowd of 17,601, populated as always by a large contingent of Red Wings fans. The breakout wasn't a complete surprise, because the Red Wings had produced many quality chances in the third period of their 2-1 loss Tuesday in Game 3.

"You get enough chances, sooner or later the puck is going to go in the net," said Hossa, who scored at even strength at 16:02 of the second period and during a power play gained after Francois Beauchemin took a bad interference penalty.

Their fifth goal, scored by Mikael Samuelsson at 2:46 of the third period, chased Hiller and brought Giguere out of cold storage for the first time since April 11.

"We knew we had to keep peppering the puck at his feet and get rebounds and second chances," Hossa said of Hiller. "Tonight, we just squeezed some through."

The Ducks sabotaged their own chances by giving Detroit five power plays.

Although the Red Wings capitalized on only one, killing those penalties took a toll. Not only did the Ducks miss Wisniewski's penalty-killing skills, but they had to ask more of Ryan Getzlaf than the apparently ailing center could give.

The Ducks' first-line center played only 15 minutes 55 seconds, about 10 minutes below his average, and a teammate said Getzlaf was ill. The Ducks would not confirm that. They were all feeling a little queasy afterward, anyway.

"You get in the box a few times and you give them the chance to start feeling the puck and get a little confidence with it, they're a good team and they'll take advantage of it," forward Ryan Carter said.

"I don't know if there's too many positives that you can pull out of this game, but one thing you have to look at is that it's over. You turn the page and get ready for the next one. These kinds of things happen in a series. You learn how to turn the page and get ready for the next one."

After falling behind, 5-2, the Ducks pulled within two on a power-play goal by Scott Niedermayer from the right circle at 10:03 of the third period. But Henrik Zetterberg scored into an empty net at 17:27 to clinch the victory.

The Ducks were outshot, 40-28, keeping them 10 for 10 in that category in the playoffs. "As a team, we just weren't good enough," Coach Randy Carlyle said.

His team had scored in the first minute of the game, catching Red Wings on a line change, but the Red Wings came at Hiller in waves and built a 2-1 lead before the first period ended.

Corey Perry took a long pass from Chris Pronger and snapped the puck past Chris Osgood 42 seconds in, delighting the Duck fans in the crowd and tying a club record for fastest goal from the start of a game. But their joy didn't last long.

The Hossa-Filppula-Franzen line produced both goals for Detroit in the opening period. Filppula was sandwiched between two Duck defenders when he slipped a pass back to Franzen, who rifled a 30-foot shot past the right pad of a surprised Hiller at 11:49, and Franzen tipped a Niklas Kronwall shot past Hiller with 35.4 seconds left in the period after Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney turned the puck over along the boards.

The Ducks pulled even at 11:03 of the second period. Whitney made a good play in his own zone to blunt a Detroit push, and the puck came out to Getzlaf. He had checkers on him but he made a half-turn and pushed the puck to Perry, whose quick, 35-foot shot eluded Osgood at 11:03.

Hossa put the Red Wings ahead, 3-2, at 16:02 when he took a pass from Franzen and fired it past Hiller's arm from the inner edge of the right circle. Hossa made it 4-2 with another goal in the last minute of a period, while Beauchemin served a needless interference penalty he took in the offensive zone. Hossa accepted a pass from Nicklas Lidstrom and unleashed a one-timer from the top of the right circle that eluded Hiller with 55.6 seconds left.

The Red Wings had to dig deep to find fire and character on Thursday. It will be the Ducks' turn to do that on Sunday in Game 5, with Game 6 scheduled for the Honda Center on Tuesday. A seventh game, if necessary, would be played in Detroit next Thursday.

"They had some good chances, but we've got to limit our turnovers too," Perry said. "It kind of came off our turnovers and just not playing strong defensively, guys open in the slot and taking great shots from there.

"If we kind of collapse a little bit more with our wingers and be ready for them in the slot we're going to be all right."

It might not be that simple. The Red Wings may have awakened for good.

helene.elliott@latimes.com