By the Numbers: Red Wings 3, Coyotes 2

Postgame Thoughts

Well, we seem to have struck some sort of winning “gold” with the postgame bullets, so we’re going to ride this thing until it bucks us. Which will probably be Thursday now that I said something.

• The cruel joke that is the Red Wings injury parade continued last night with Jonathan Ericsson going down after a vicious knee-on-knee collision with one of Tyler’s favorite non-Wings, Shane Doan. It was an accidental collision and the hit itself was clean, but what Jonny’s knee did immediately after contact was not normal. It looked ugly and I’m afraid that the news doesn’t get much better as Ken Holland thinks he’ll be out of the lineup for a minimum of two weeks.
• In another weird twist of injury fate, Darren Helm was held out of last night’s game due to a strained ligament in his wrist. He’s listed as day-to-day, and most signs point to him being ready to go on Thursday, but his replacement tonight was Grand Rapids call-up Kris Newbury. I had no idea what to expect from Newbury other than some penalty minutes, but holy jumpin’ he ran the gamut in his first three shifts. Act one consisted of a goaltender interference penalty, Act two brought a goal and Act three brought another penalty on which Patrick Eaves potted a shorthanded goal. Say what you will about Newbury, but things apparently happen when he’s on the ice.
• I suppose it’s a good thing when we’ve gotten to this point, but not much to say about Jimmah’s performance other than it was steady and he did what he needed to do to preserve a win. He was forced to make some big saves at the end of the game when Phoenix brought some late heat, but he looks and acts more and more confident with each game he plays and with each win he chalks up. That said, he’s still going down a bit early on some of his shots, as evidenced by Radim Vrbata’s goal late in the second period. All in all though, Jimmah is coming into his own and making a solid NHL goaltender.
• Looks like Petrella is off the hook, as Todd Bertuzzi’s goal scoring bonanza finally came to an end.

Also, in case you missed the barrage of tweets and blog posts throughout the day yesterday, the new Red Wings podcast featuring all of your favorite Hockeytown bloggers went live yesterday. Check it out at http://www.TheObstructedView.com.

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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 (DET 1 PHX 0): Kris Newbury (1) from Kris Draper (6) and Drew Miller (2) at 5:25, First Period

• Wings on ice: Newbury, Draper, Miller, Rafalski, Lebda

• HP(+): Miller (+0.5) for making a nice grab out of mid-air and somehow legally hand-passing the puck to Newbury. Draper (+1) for doing the work here, carrying the zone and getting the puck to the front of the net. Newbury (+1) for burying it.

Goal 2 (SH) (DET 2 PHX 0): Patrick Eaves (3) unassisted at 10:37, First Period

• Wings on ice: Zetterberg, Eaves, Stuart, Ericsson

• HP(+): Eaves (+1.5) for taking it all by himself and potting a shorty.

Goal 3 (DET 2 PHX 1): Taylor Pyatt (5) from Robert Lang (11) and Ed Jovanovski (9) at 15:08, First Period

• Wings on ice: Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, Rafalski, Ericsson

• DP(-): I’m sure there is a case to be made for Rafalski losing a poitn here, btu c’mon. He blocks the pass on an island and it was just unfortunate that the puck hit his leg and rolled right back on to Pyatt’s stick. Without Ericsson back there, not much of a chance. No deductions.

Goal 4 (DET 3 PHX 1): Derek Meech (1) from Justin Abdelkader (3) and Brad Stuart (6) at 2:05, Second Period

• Wings on ice: Abdelkader, Bertuzzi, Miller, Stuart, Meech

• HP(+): Stuart (+0.5) for moving the puck out of the corner. Abdelkader (+0.5) for finding Meech in the middle of the ice. Meech (+1) for ripping one home.

Goal 5 (DET 3 PHX 2): Radim Vrbata (10) from Martin Hanzal (8) and Ed Jovanovski (10) at 19:23, Second Period

• Wings on ice: Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, Stuart, Meech

• DP(-): This one is pretty ugly. Datsyuk (-1) for doing nothign more than stick-waving as Hanzal walks by. Meech (-0.5) for being late to rotate out on Vrbata. Bertuzzi (-0.5) for deflecting the puck, helping beat Jimmah.

Miscellaneous Points

• HP(+): Handing them out like candy today, but I really thought that Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom and Rafalski all played really well, especially on the powerplay even though no goals came of it. (+1) for all of them. Also giving Staurt (+1) for another great performance on the blue line, as well as Eaves (+1) for an outstanding effort all around. Maltby (+0.5) for some excellent hustle as well.
• DP(-): Leino (-1) for the disappearing act. Again. Ugh. May (-1) for doing nothing more than taking up space. He’s been doing it for some time now, and now I’m fed up and deducting.

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Tags: Darren Helm, Jonathan Ericsson, Kris Newbury, Patrick Eaves, Phoenix Coyotes, Radim Vrbata, Shane Doan, The Jimmah Howard Experiment, Todd Bertuzzi