It was one of those classic match-ups, one involving two struggling teams. The Detroit Red Wings limped into the Pepsi Center riding a 7-game losing streak, while the Avalanche had dropped 3 in a row. Both teams had been having a great bit of difficulty scoring, and their starting goalies - Jose Theodore and Chris Osgood - have both been pulled in recent games. With each side desperate for a win, who would be the club to step up to the plate?
Detroit. The Red Wings spanked the Avalanche 4-0 and, really, this one wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Detroit dominated the Avs in every facet of the game, from the scoreboard to the faceoff circle. The Wings outshot the Avs 40-18, with the Avalanche mustering a dismal 7 shots in the last two periods. Colorado was outhustled and outworked from the opening whistle to the closing bell and not one player from the Avalanche stood out for me as having brought even their C- game.
That list includes Jose Theodore. I don’t in any way think that the loss was on Theodore’s shoulders; that was a team “effort” through and through. But in recent games there’s been sentiment from the community (and from Joel Quenneville) that Theodore has been the only good Avalanche player on the ice (Marc Moser named him 3rd star in the game last night). While my Budaj bias should be clear to anyone with even a passing familiarity with this site, it doesn’t mean I can’t compliment Theodore when he plays well. I just don’t feel that he’s at the top of his game right now. Now, I don’t think it mattered one bit who was our goalie last night, but I also scoff at any talk that he’s been playing above the rest of the team. He put in the same half-hearted performance that the rest of the team did.
Beyond the fact that the Avalanche stunk up the joint, the game was also notable for a few physical incidents. Early in the game, Ian Laperriere checked Nick Lidstrom hard into the side boards. Lidstrom - caught awkwardly between playing the puck and taking the hit - went into the boards at an odd angle and crumpled immediately to the ice afterward. He was helped off the ice and did not return. While it was a clean hit, the Wings took exception to it (after the game, both Aaron Downey and Mike Babcock made the ridiculous argument Lidstrom needed special protection because he was a Norris trophy winner - it was the Canucks and Naslund all over again). To Lappy’s credit, he knew the Wings would be after him, and answered the bell late in the 1st period. He took his lumps from Downey and that was it.
Or not. Early in the 3rd period, with the game already out of reach, the two found themselves on the ice again. Lappy took a long run at Downey, skating in with his gloves up high. Downey did the same as he readied himself for the hit, and Lappy ended up dropping to the ice after the big collision. Downey, ignoring all semblances of the fighter’s “code”, immediately tossed his gloves aside and moved in for the kill on the defenseless Lappy. Thankfully, Cody McLeod was on the ice, and was able to wrap up Downey and prevent any serious damage from being done. Unfortunately, McLeod then proceeded to erase all the praise he had just earned by taking swings at guys on the Detroit bench (the cameras didn’t catch this, so have to rely on Eddie Olczyk for this info) and then jawing at the refs and the bench on the way to the dressing room (he received two 10 minute misconducts on the play, ending his night). While that was all going on, Tony Granato and Mike Babcock did their best Crawford and Bowman impressions, engaging in an excited shouting match from their respective benches. That was essentially the end of the hostilities; Downey didn’t see the ice again after the penalty, and Lappy had only two quick shifts. Kris Draper and Marek Svatos each earned a roughing penalty as time was winding down, but both teams seemed ready to be done with the game by then, and nothing escalated from that.
Unless we limp into the playoffs, we won’t see Detroit again this year giving this incident plenty of time to diffuse. I don’t think we’re heading back into Blood Feud territory.
Game Notes
Notes are here
Lines
- Â Hensick, Smyth, Jones
- Arnason, Wolski, Svatos
- Hlinka, Brunette, Hejduk
- Guite, McLeod, Laperriere
Quick Hits
- Final season series tallies: Detroit wins the series 4-0, outscoring the Avs 11-2, shutting them out three times and outshooting them 129-76.
- No Colorado player had more than 2 shots in the game.
- The Avalanche won just 42% of the faceoffs. Sadly, that’s an improvement over their previous two games (38% and 41%)
- Only 6 of the remaining 22 games are against a team currently lower than us in the standings (4 against Edmonton, 1 against Atlanta and 1 against LA).
Next Up
Things don’t get any easier. The Avalanche tomorrow start a 5-game, 7-day road trip with games against the Ducks, Coyotes, Oilers, Flames and Canucks. Four of those five teams are ahead of us in the standings.
We had better re-sign Lappy.
The Wings are claiming Lidstrom has just a knee injury but no concussion. While that may be the case, his bell was severely rung after that hit and he was on some wobbly legs getting back to the bench. You could see he had a dazed look on his face.
But to claim he can’t be hit b/c he’s won a Norris is ludicrous. He put himself in a vulnerable position by second guessing if he was going for the puck or the man and opened himself up to being crunched. Very un-Lidstrom like and it cost him.
Lappy was just trying to get the puck out of the zone, he didn’t go in with eyes lit up to nail Lidstrom.
I’m not buying the knee injury story. Lidstrom didn’t favor one leg over the other when he got back up after the hit—he had a blank stare on his face. If that wasn’t a concussion, I’d be totally surprised. The Wings are lying about it because the trade deadline is coming up and they don’t want to reveal any weaknesses.
I don’t blame them.
Granato needs to know when to keep his emotions in check. I’m embarrassed as a fan that he thought that was an appropriate time to put on a show with a verbal yelling match. He needs to control himself and lead this team by example. What was he upset about anyway? He’s upset because Downing took a run at Lappy? Get over it, Lappy is a big boy and knows what the going rate of checking a superstar is in the NHL right now. It means a fight and it means getting run.
I just want to take another moment and describe the subtle ways in which Skrastins hurts this team. The first goal you can say was a great screen. However, where was Mr. Skrastins on that play? He was up between the circles, high in the slot. He’s like one guy playing man to man while the entire team is trying to play a zone. Friesen skates across the crease unobstructed because Skrastins left his spot on the ice to chase a guy high up in the faceoff circles. Sauer depends on Skrastins to be there and it’s why he didn’t follow Friesen across? Because he’s trying to play his position correctly. He can’t know where Skrastins is because he’s got his own job to do. If Theo gets a piece of the puck he’s just going to tap it in scott free anyway. Skrastins not only set up a partial screen up high in the circles on Theo, he abandoned his position. This just doesn’t effect Skrastins, it effects his defensive partner, the goalie and at times even the forwards who drop back and try to help. Did the first goal cost the Avs the game? Probably not, but it surely didn’t help.
I really don’t understand Jack Adam’s philosophy on which players get ice time and which don’t. When Richardson is called up, he’s a good enough AHL player to play against every team’s top line? He’s the second best faceoff forward on the team to Guite. He plays an important role on a 4th (which turned 3rd during his tenure) line to the point that the Lappy, Guite, Richardson line plays hero and contributes some huge goals on the road for key points. Do they become so effective at this that when they slump and don’t show much against Chicago that the first to go down is Richardson? Really, I don’t understand this. Richardson is contributing less than McLeod, Hlinka, Hensick, Burnette and Hejduk? When do those players get in the doghouse? Or, are they poker buddies on the plane? How many shifts do we have to watch with Hejduk and Burnette offering absolutely nothing?
Anyway, I think McLeod got the Detroit bench pissed because he went after Zetterberg who was just trying to prevent McLeod from being 3rd man in with Lappy and Downing. Jibble (well, his wife does too) have some good posts on how McLeod isn’t exactly targeting the other teams fighters when he wants to drop the gloves. I think he saw that Zetterburg was paired off and decided he was going to get in some jabs. I think McLeod is a nice facet to the Avalanche game when they are one of the best 5v5 scoring teams in the league. But right now, they aren’t. He should be playing Scott Parker’s role as bench warmer until they get scoring back to where they need.
For what it’s worth on the defensive front, Jack Adams said in the coaches show this morning that Cumiskey might play tomorrow and he seemed relieved on that front. Perhaps Skrastins will ride the pine in short order.
Granato: He may have been upset by the intentional and sneaky high stick Lappy took (from Samuelson) just before the last little scuffle. Another cheap shot from yet another cheap shotting Wing. And yet another one uncalled by the refs, who were wearing their Red Wing underoos beneath their unis.
Downing and Friesen, eh?
And yet another one uncalled by the refs, who were wearing their Red Wing underoos beneath their unis.
Bob, I think you’re wrong on this front. Those refs were pulling for the Avs. Had they given us the PP for the infractions you’re discussing, Colorado would have gone 0-25 on the PP and the Wings would have scored, like, 6 SH goals…
Don’t even start with me DD. It’s not my fault those two guys aren’t in google’s spell check.
let’s just hope Bicashihua never gets called up, Dario, or we’re all screwed.
Believe me, I’m already screwed. I still have to look up Tkachuk after all these years. My all time favorite was when Krivokrasov used to play. Not because his name is that hard to spell but because play by play guys used to fall all over themselves when he touched the puck. Kri-vo-kras-ov, not only is it a brutal four syllable last name but unlike Larionov, most of those syllables start with consantents. It was just brutal on play by play guys. Listening to Mike Hanes was hillarious. Kri-vo-kras-ov takes it along the boards, runs the puck behind the net to Kariya, back to Kri-vo-kras-ov… and Anaheim circles behind their own net after the clear. He couldn’t even get it all out before the play had advanced to the point he had to skip over a bunch of stuff. Anyway, what were we talking about?
Antti Laaksonen, I think.
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but the most embarrassing, and damaging, facet of the evening was Quenneville taking an inexcusable terrible penalty that ended any chance for a comeback win.