I said in the second period that the Red Wings were getting killed by their mistakes. It was a trend on the night and a key factor in the loss. They gave away the puck, failed to clear their zone, and blew their defensive coverage. The power play was weak and the PK wasn't fantastic. Despite scoring four goals, they probably didn't deserve to win this one, so it shouldn't be a surprise that they didn't.
The biggest thing to me, though (and I feel like I'm going to get killed for saying this), was that Jimmy Howard didn't make a "big" stop when it was needed.
Go back to when it was tied at four and Vancouver was on the power play. Drew Miller makes a great pass to Darren Helm on a two-on-one and Roberto Luongo makes the initial stop on Helm, then a save on the rebound chance. Two stops when his team needed them, when he had to cover for their mistakes.
Howard didn't have a moment like that. In the second period when Manny Malhotra broke in all alone shorthanded after a rare giveaway by Pavel Datsyuk, Malhotra scored to put the Canucks up 4-3. Howard didn't come up with the save.
I'm not putting this all on Howard, I listed off plenty of things the team did wrong to make this loss happen, but I do think the lack of the big save was the difference tonight. It shouldn't have to be, that's where the rest of the team comes in. You don't always need a stop like that from your goalie but tonight Luongo provided that and Howard didn't.
Vancouver's first power play better than Detroit's. Not much of a surprise, unfortunately.
Edit: Zero shots on it? Didn't look that way to me.
f*cking lazy, no one on Sedin and no one going after the puck behind the net. Everyone standing around.
I won't be surprised if this comes back but I think it's a good goal.
Way to jump up there, Kronner!
That should have been cleared. Wings getting killed by their mistakes.
Not much of a fight.
A Pavs giveaway while Lidstrom had jumped up and out of position. What are the chances?
This game is a little bit of a rollercoaster.
Wow. Tied it back up.
And what the f*ck is Luongo bitching about? He complained about the last goal, too, even though he was looking the wrong way.
Holy sh*t, Kronner. That's two.
Ken mentions the Wings changing right then but I don't like the rebound and I don't like the coverage. Like Mickey says. Goddammit.
Great pass by Miller and great stop by Luongo.
Why can't our goalie steal one tonight?
Another broken-ass play, but another one where Jimmy didn't control the rebound.
Lidstrom is -3 tonight. That says alot.
Lidstrom is -3 tonight. That says alot.
Agreed. As Mickey said, not often the Wings give up 23 shots in a period. What a way for a game to unravel although I liked Kronner netting two of the four goals!
The biggest thing to me, though (and I feel like I'm going to get killed for saying this), was that Jimmy Howard didn't make a "big" stop when it was needed.
I echo your thoughts as that is usually his biggest downfall. Those are the saves where he has to come up big. We all know that key saves can be just as big as a fight to get your team going or the difference between getting two and getting nothing in terms of points.
That third line needs to get going as well.
Jimmy Howard
Credit: Clark Rasmussen
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