Detroit and Anaheim met at the “Joe” tonight and the Ducks came away with 2 big points and the Wings came away feeling they had been robbed by a huge non call by 2 guys wearing striped shirts. In my opinion the Wings had every right to be upset. The non-call almost assured the Wings failing to get at least a point as Ryan Getzlaf scored with 23.6 seconds to go give the Ducks the win. The 1st period ended in a scoreless tie. Neither team could put the puck in the net and quite frankly outside of each team hitting the other team’s goal post there were not a lot of scoring chances. Detroit’s clank came off a power play chance by Tomas Tatar. When all was said and done the 1st period ended with no scoring. The Wings were outshot 9-5 by the Ducks. In the 2nd period the Ducks would get on the scoreboard first. Wings goalie, Jimmy Howard, had a mix up behind the net and turned the puck over. The Ducks were able to get it out in front of the net and Getzlaf made the Wings pay for the mistake and put the Ducks up 1-0. Corey Perry and Patrick Maroon assisted on the goal. A little over 3 minutes later after the Ducks score there was a scrum behind the Wings net. Both teams were pushing and shoving however the referee only saw the red jersey and assessed Luke Glendening rough penalty. The Ducks got some serious pressure from the man advantage but the Wings were able to keep the puck out of the net. Whether it was the Getzlaf goal or the penalty the game seemed to open up with both teams generating chances. Finally with 4:27 to go in the period Detroit would get the equalizer. Glendening coming off the bench with a line change got the tying goal. The Wings picked up the puck in the center ice area. Niklas Kronwall passed the puck to Justin Abdelkader. He made a slight delay in entering the Ducks and after doing so spotted Glendening to his left. Abdelkader slid the puck to Glendening and he skated towards the Ducks goal. He got below the faceoff circles and then made a backhand shot which seemed to handcuff Ducks goalie, Frederik Andersen. It got between him and the pipes and into the net for the tying goal. Kronwall and Abdelkader received assists on the goal. With 1:32 to go in the 2nd period there were offsetting penalties to the Wings Johan Franzen and Nate Thompson which created a 4 on 4 situation. However when Henrik Zetterberg was assessed an interference penalty with 41 seconds to go the Ducks had a 4 on 3 power play. The Ducks were able to work the play into the Detroit zone which resulted in a faceoff with 21 seconds to go. Detroit was able to win the draw and a scrum in the corner resulted. The puck then worked its way back to the point but Glendening was able to intercept the puck and use his speed to create a partial breakaway on the Duck net. He tried to slip the puck past Andersen but Andersen was up to the task and stopped Glendening to keep the score tied. The Wings were much more involved in the 2nd period outshooting the Ducks 13-10. The 3rd period started with the Ducks remaining on the 4 on 3 power play. However with the puck deep Ducks end, in the 1st minute of play, there was a turn over and the puck came out in front and Joakim Andersson had a glorious scoring chance and he blasted the puck towards the Ducks net which Andersen, the Ducks goalie, got his arm on to keep it out of the net. The Wings also got a rebound on the play but it was turned away as well. With 1:57 gone in the 3rd period and the penalty to Zetterberg over, Zetterberg got the puck from Franzen and hit Gustav Nyquist going into the Ducks zone. Nyquist faked a slap shot which got the Ducks goalie to move. Nyquist then put a shot in over the Ducks goalie into the top of the net to put the Wings up 2-1. Unfortunately for the Wings 1 minute and 21 seconds later the Wings again turned the puck over in their end. Ryan Kessler intercepted a pass from Brendan Smith and passed it out in front where Matt Beleskey buried it in the Wings goal to tie the game at 2 all. It would stay tied at 2 all until the final seconds. However the Wings would get several chances to break the tie, they simply were not able to get the puck in the Ducks goal. Actually from about the halfway point of the game the Wings carried the play in this game. However in the final seconds the referees took the game out of the player’s hands. With the puck in the Detroit end and Kronwall moving with it along the boards and being challenged by Getzlaf, Getzlaf got his stick on the hand and arm of Kronwall. Kronwall would go down and the puck went immediately to Getzlaf. With nothing between him and the Detroit goal he skated out and got the puck over Howards shoulder for the goal and the lead. I am sure the referees will say that Kronwall lost his balance as he skated along the boards. However normally when a player gets his stick on another players arm and hand area as Getzlaf did and particularly when this results in a scoring play a penalty is called. I would say 100% of the time this results in a penalty but I cannot as this was not called tonight. So instead of the game going to overtime or the skills competition the referees apparently had plan’s and wanted this game to end, the Ducks won in regulation. I normally do not like to call out officials as I do not believe games come down to 1 play. There is also no question that the Wings had several chances to score their 3rd goal as well. In addition had the Wings eliminated 2 non forced turnovers in their end this goal would not have mattered, however all that aside this was a brutal non call and with it coming with 23.6 seconds to go, not one that could be overcome. Wings coach Mike Babcock wanted an explanation. He got a brief one following the play but then wanted to discuss it further following the game but the referees decided they did not need to talk to him anymore. Probably because there was simply no way to explain how this call was missed. In the end the Wings fall to 1-1 on the season. Detroit did outshoot Anaheim in the 3rd period 11-7 and outshot them for the game 29-26. Unfortunately you do not get points for outshooting the other team. One thing I can say is based on 2 games into the season Detroit’s speed is going to generate scoring chances this year. Also although it was only the 2nd game of the regular season the “Joe” was rocking tonight. Detroit is not off until Wednesday when they have a re-match with the Bruins.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 04:28:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015