By the Numbers: Ducks 4, Red Wings 1

Postgame Thoughts

Well, that didn’t go so well. Surprised? Not really. I’ve already taken some heat for this, and I’m sure I’ll get some more, but I did plant the seed of doubt on this week’s episode of The Obstructed View when I suggested that Jimmah was due to eventually slow down and that the game against the Ducks scared me because of Anaheim’s penchant to ramp it up in the second half of the season. It’s obviously way to early to tell if either of those predictions become full-blown trends, and one night doth not a season make, but this one sure makes me squirm.

The reality of the Red Wings at this very moment is that, barring a monumental collapse in Chicago, the Central Division crown is all but gone. Fine. Whatever. It was destined to happen at some point, and it’s not the first time the Wings run the real risk of not winning the division, so let’s all just suck it up and move on. If you’ve learned one thing from reading this blog over the course of this season it’s that, more often than not my predictions go awry and this is one time I hope that holds true. In my gut, though, I just don’t see the division being an attainable goal at this point. Agree or disagree. I don’t much care.

The bigger problem is that the West has now morphed itself into an incredibly balanced conference and a playoff berth is no longer the foregone conclusion that it once was. Go ahead and tell me there are 40 games left. Go ahead and tell me that, once we get our players back we will bring the rest of the conference to its knees. I appreciate your optimism, but let me be pragmatic for a second. That playoff spot we once were entitled to is no longer ours. It belongs to the 8 teams in front of us that are currently in the playoff hunt while we sit on the outside looking in. And if you think for one second that they are just going to go down without a fight and that the Wings will easily reclaim what is rightfully theirs, then you are going to be one sad panda if the horn sounds on game 82 and the Wings are headed for Oakland Hills.

I get it. We can’t win them all. That’s totally fine. But when you watch a team that is supposed to be gearing up for a surge up the standings come out and give up awful turnovers while playing a thoroughly uninspired game, that’s unacceptable. Lose 4-3. Lose 3-2. Lose in OT. But at least lose because you got outplayed, not because you gift-wrapped a game with giveaways and topped it with a bow of power play ineptitude. And don’t even try and tell me that those fights were some sort of “spark.” No. They. Were. Not. The Wings got sucked down to the level of the Ducks last night, which is exactly what Anaheim predicates it’s play on: making you lose your head.

Maybe the next 40 games will prove that I am just overreacting to an off night and that I need to step back and take a big swig of  “calm the hell down.” That’s fine. I’m passionate, and passion sometimes leads to irrational thoughts and I’ll address those the moment they knock on my door. It’s that same passion that was lacking from the Wings last night and which is causing me to flare up like this. Put some effort into it guys. Act like it means something.

Because, guess what? The next two DO mean something. With the loss last night, the Wings are now 5 points back of Nashville and LA, with a game in hand on both. We get the Kings at their place on Thursday with a chance to cut back into that deficit, so I would hope that the team shows up and plays with some jump. Yes, the probable return of Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg should in theory spark the lineup, but there is always that learning curve when you come back from an injury and these guys need some time to rev it up. Thursday is the point where the secondary scorers need to elevate their game and step up to the level they were playing at earlier this season. Yes, I’m looking at you Patrick Eaves. You too Drew Miller. Bring the intensity. Get gritty. Score a dirty one. Those are the ones that are most rewarding and it’s about damn time we got a few of those. Ease the burden, bring the pain and get it done.

The clock is ticking, and this time midnight isn’t looking so good.

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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 (SH) (ANA 1 DET 0): Saku Koivu (9) unassisted at 5:37, First Period

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

• DP(-): Bertuzzi (-1) for a terrible giveaway pass. Rafalski (-0.5) for getting completely out-muscled by Koivu on the way to the net. It’s not a full point because Rafi did an OK job disrupting Koivu enough that Jimmah should have had an easy save. Wrong.

Goal 2 (ANA 2 DET 0): Matt Beleskey (1) from Sheldon Brookbank (6) and Brett Festerling (1) at 7:38, First Period

• Wings on ice: Helm, Draper, Eaves, Lidstrom, Rafalski

• DP(-): This one is pretty much all on Jimmah, but Helm (-0.5) and Rafalski (-0.5) were both in position to make a play and didn’t.

Goal 3 (ANA 2 DET 1): Valtteri Filppula (3) from Nicklas Lidstrom (19) and Pavel Datsyuk (23) at 11:03, Third Period

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

• HP(+): Holmstrom (+0.5) with some nice stickhandling to get the puck to Pavel. Datsyuk (+0.5) with a nice pass to the point. Lidstrom (+0.5) for getting it on net in hopes that something might happen. Filppula (+1) for being well positioned and putting home the rebound.

Goal 4 (ANA 3 DET 1): Corey Perry (17) from Ryan Getzlaf (32) at 13:29, Third Period

• Wings on ice: Helm, Drpaer, Eaves, Lidstrom, Rafalski

• DP(-): Rafalski (-1) with a horrible turnover. Lidstrom (-0.5) for failing to play the puck instead opting to take weak whiff at the feet of Getzlaf. Helm (-0.5) for again being in position to make a play on Perry, but opting to weak poke check instead.

Goal 5 (EN) (ANA 4 DET 1): Kyle Chipchura (3) from Scott Niedermayer (22) at 19:52, Third Period

• Wings on ice: Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Filppula, Eaves, Lidstrom, Rafalski

• DP(-): None. Chipchura hit it from his own red line pretty much. Whatever.

Miscellaneous Points

• HP(+): Ritola (+1) brought it all night long and I’m more and more impressed with him each game.
• DP(-): Eaves, Draper and Helm (-1) because their line was absolutely horrendous, going -2 and looking completely uninspired. Lidstrom and Rafalski (-1) for being on the ice for every Ducks goal. Datsyuk (-1) for being an almost complete no-show, save his assist on the Filppula goal. Bertuzzi (-1) for missing two glorious scoring chances.

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Dan Cleary, Drew Miller, Henrik Zetterberg, Patrick Eaves, The Jimmah Howard Experiment