By the Numbers: Red Wings 3, Ducks 2 (OT)

Postgame Thoughts

I have an incredibly busy day today, so we’re breaking out the bullet points for this one.

• It was nice to finally see Todd Bertuzzi step up and contribute, and it looked like he felt the same way too based on those celebrations. What I won’t do is start saying “Oh, this is a sign of things to come” or “Maybe now the Wings have some secondary scoring they can rely on.” No. He had a two goal game against a goaltender that he spent time playing with (not like that) and happened to know his tendencies. That’s called a competitive advantage, and Bertuzzi took that knowledge and translated it into a pair of goals. Well done.
• The penalty kill quietly continues it’s success, as the Wings have now successfully killed off their last 25 shorthanded situations. Unfortunately, that success hasn’t carried over to the powerplay, which went 2 for 10 last night.
• Corey Perry is quickly becoming the new Claude Lemieux in this league. He has the ability to put up points, just like a younger Lemieux did, and he’s just as irritating of a presence on the ice as the Turtle was. I don’t really know what to make of his fight with Justin Abdelkader last night, other than the fact that Abby let a wild haymaker go and got taken down to the ice. Yea, he landed a couple of shots with his back on the ice, but it wasn’t much of a fight to write home about. That said, good for Abby for sticking up for himself and his teammates and throwing down with one of the biggest pests in the league.
• Not a bad performance from Jimmah, but that second goal was pretty rough. That said, he did a fantastic job of not letting it bring him down and bouncing back to keep the Wings in the game. That’s the maturation that we need to see from him and the kind of mindset that a goalie in the NHL has. Good work son.
• Ville Leino with a point. Welcome back.
• Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg: Please come back. We miss you.

All hands on deck tonight. Let’s get some forward momentum going here.

Also, on a “non-Red Wings but still Detroit” note, I want to take a second and give a stick tap to Ian Casselberry over at the Detroit Tigers blog Bless You Boys. Ian’s stepping down from the podium and handing the reigns over to the equally accomplished and capable Kurt Mensching from Mack Avenue Tigers. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Ian’s material, and even Ian himself a bit, over the past year and he deserves tons of praise and credit for what he’s accomplished at BYB. Good luck to you Ian, but if you wind up in New York with Granderson, I will come hunt you down.

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Production Charts

*The season totals are updated here and here.

Line Production

Special Teams Production

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CSSI

*Season CSSI numbers are updated here.

Goal 1 (ANA 1 DET 0): Saku Koivu (5) from Dan Sexton (1) and Bobby Ryan (10) at 8:05, Second Period

• Wings on ice: Helm, Datsyuk, Eaves, Stuart, Lebda

• DP(-): It’s all Eaves (-1.5) on this one. He makes a weak poke check attempt on Ryan as he enters the zone and fails to get pack to pick up Koivu, who has snuck behind the defense.

Goal 2 (ANA 2 DET 0): Dan Sexton (3) from Sheldon Brookbank (1) and Saku Koivu (10) at 19:04, Second Period

• Wings on ice: Helm, Maltby, Eaves, Stuart, Ericsson

• DP(-): It’s all Jimmah on this one, except for Ericsson (-0.5) getting blown by as Sexton chases the puck into deep end.

Goal 3 (PPG) (ANA 2 DET 1): Tomas Holmstrom (12) from Ville Leino (3) and Pavel Datsyuk (15) at 2:17, Third Period

• Wings on ice: Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Leino, Lidstrom, Rafalski

• HP(+): Datsyuk (+0.5) for pinching and forcing the puck to Leino. Leino (+1) for the nice no-look assist. Holmstrom (+1) for burying one and ending the drought.

Goal 4 (DET 2 ANA 2): Todd Bertuzzi (5) from Brett Lebda (5) and Henrik Zetterberg (21) at 9:36, Third Period

• Wings on ice: Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Eaves, Lidstrom, Lebda

• HP (+): All Bertuzzi (+1) here. Put it through the crease and got a bounce.

Goal 5 (DET 3 ANA 2): Todd Bertuzzi (6) from Brad Stuart (5) and Henrik Zetterberg (22) at 1:07, Overtime

• Wings on ice: Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Lidstrom, Stuart

• HP(+): Stuart (+0.5) for showing some patience and not just ripping a shot at the net. Bertuzzi (+1.5) for “OMG, he can actually do that?!??!?!?”

Miscellaneous Points

• HP(+): Abdelkader (+0.5) for stepping up and throwing down with Corey Perry. Stuart (+1) for another excellent defensive night. Ericsson (+1) for sweeping one off the goal line. Zetterberg (+1) because he did have a pair of assists technically (even though they were ugly).

Chart:

Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Claude Lemieux, Corey Perry, Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Pavel Datsyuk, The Jimmah Howard Experiment, Todd Bertuzzi, Ville Leino