A relatively up-and-down performance by the Wings yesterday. The Hawks were definitely the fresher team out of the gate. They were unlucky not to notch at least two goals in the first period. When Cleary broke away to score goal #1, it was against the run of play.
The Cleary goal energized the Wings, and they seized control of the game. Chicago had few chances throughout the first and second periods. No longer facing the dominant d-men of Anaheim, Datsyuk and Zetterberg had much more space to create. Franzen notched the second goal, and he could've scored a few minutes earlier on a point-blank attempt on the power play.
While I complained about him in the regular season, I have to single out Mikael Samuelsson. He saved the Wings in Game 7 and provided a back-breaking 3rd goal yesterday. Very timely scoring by a regular whipping-boy. My knock on him is that his shots never reach the net. For whatever reason, the defense easily reads his shots, and they often lead to quick transitions the other way. If he just got his shots on net, he'd perhaps score or get some tasty rebounds. He's finding a way this playoffs.
Osgood also came up huge in Game 1. When the rest of the players were suffering post-Ducks hangover, Osgood saved their butts. Very solid.
all that matters is that W
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. I have no idea what to expect from Chicago in Game 2. If they bring the heat, they'll fall prey to counter-attack (like Cleary's first goal). They may try to mimic Anaheim and get more physical.
ReplyDeleteActually, I am amazed at the Blackhawks this year. What a turn around and all it took was the next generation to take over management and Scottie Bowman to get to the conference finals.
ReplyDeleteIt makes Lions fans salivate. Look at what can happen when ownership changes hands.
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