By the Numbers: Red Wings 4, Stars 1

Postgame Thoughts

Remember when we used to win games in this fashion on a regular basis? Man, those were the days.

Nice to see a solid, all-around effort from the Wings. It’s games like this one that make you realize how good this team can be when they decide to put it all together, which is exactly what they did after Darren Helm made it 2-1 in the second period. It was like the switch finally flipped and the Wings figured out how to lock down a one goal lead by A) Playing solid defense and B) adding an insurance goal or two.

Also, I know he scored in the shootout against St. Louis to get the “monkey off his back”, but it was really good to see Todd Bertuzzi get one in regulation. Yes, it was a weird shot that hit a defenseman on its way to the net, but those are the kind of bounces that happen when shots go to the net and people are in the right places.

And how about Jimmah? Another solid game for the young netminder, who made some key saves to keep this one in favore of the good guys. I’ll have more on him later today, but another fine performance from the rookie goalie.

Now, someone go write this recipe for success down on a 3×5 notecard and tape it to everyone’s locker. Would be really nice to see this turn into a regular occurrence.

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Production Charts

*The season totals are updated here and here.

Line Production

Special Teams Production

*No Special Teams Scoring

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CSSI

*Season CSSI numbers are updated here.

Goal 1 (DET 1 DAL 0): Drew Miller (2) from Brett Lebda (4) and Kris Draper (4) at 13:48, First Period

• Wings on ice: Helm, Draper, Miller, Ericsson, Lebda

• HP(+): Miller (+2) for hustling to beat out the icing and then getting a shot towards the goal. Sure, it wasn’t the prettiest shot, but who cares.

Goal 2 (DET 1 DAL 1): Brendan Morrow (11) from Stephane Robidas (11) and Trevor Daley (3) at 19:45, First Period

• Wings on ice: Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Cleary, Lidstrom, Rafalski

• DP(-): Lidstrom (-1) for failing to pick up Morrow behind him and for also inadvertently screening Jimmah on Robidas’ shot.

Goal 3 (DET 2 DAL 1): Darren Helm (3) from Kris Draper (5) and Todd Bertuzzi (8) at 5:35, Second Period

• Wings on ice: Helm, Draper, Bertuzzi, Rafalski, Lebda

• HP(+): Tic-tac-toe with a bit of luck sprinkled in. Bertuzzi and Draper (+0.5) for their slick passes. Helm (+1) for burying the puck in the back of the net.

Goal 4 (DET 3 DAL 1): Dan Cleary (5) from Henrik Zetterberg (17) and Tomas Holmstrom (5) at 12:06, Second Period

• Wings on ice: Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Cleary, Rafalski, Lebda

• HP(+): Rafalski (+0.5) for getting the shot moving toward the net. Zetterberg and Holmstrom (+0.5) for each getting a stick on the puck. Cleary (+1) for staying with the loose puck and poking it home.

Goal 5 (DET 4 DAL 1): Todd Bertuzzi (4) from Pavel Datsyuk (14) at 3:35, Third Period

• Wings on ice: Datsyuk, Leino, Bertuzzi, Lidstrom, Ericsson

• HP(+): Datsyuk (+1) for completing a pass to Bertuzzi while sitting on the ice. Bertuzzi (+1) for carrying in and just ripping one past Turco.

Chart time:

Tags: Dallas Stars, Darren Helm, The Jimmah Howard Experiment, Todd Bertuzzi