Wings Take Leafs in Round 1

Coming off a very unimpressive performance the Wings were looking for a big start to this home and home with the Maple Leafs. The Wings struggled early as the Leafs were doing a great job of congesting the neutral zone and forcing the Wings to block a lot of grade A opportunities. Eventually the Wings were able to generate a little more offense and took advantage of a few fortuitous bounces to take an early lead they never relinquished.

Goal Recap & Other Observations

Goal 1- Z gets in on the forecheck and steals the puck as the Leaf’s D catches an edge. Curls around the net and finds Franzen in front before the Leafs can recover

Goal 2- 8 tried to tip it in at center, high bounce lets Z get a step on the Leafs D. Makes a strong play backhand-forehand forcing Reimier to go post-to-post then drops it off for Franzen to put home for his second of the night.

Goal 3- Z finds himself with the puck after another odd bounce gretzky curls to open some space and hit Nyquist coming in late. Do I really need to tell you what happened next?

Leafs Get One Back- Early in the third the Wing get 3 forward caught deep. Quince can’t block the pass across and DK tries to cover both Leafs and ends up covering neither. Great finish by Santorelli in front.

Goal 4- Z puts a high dump into the corner, Nyquist finds a little space and threads a needle to Abby sneaking in behind the Leaf’s D who were puck watching

PP Outage- The Red Wing PP continued to struggle. The biggest problem is the lack of a R-handed shooter on the far side of the ice. Without the threat of a one-timer the D are able to ignore half of the rink. I really liked what I saw with a short 5-3 in the 3rd, a lot of movement forced the D to switch creating seams for backdoor passes.

Quincey and Context- Last year Quincey struggled for most of the season and fans were obviously upset with the money and term he received this offseason. Despite that most have been pleasantly surprised with his play so far this season. While he has shown improved play, it remains to be seen how much is a function of his new role. While over powered as the 3-4 Defender, with slightly easier minutes he has excelled as DK and Smith pushed him down to the 5 spot.

O Captain my Captain- I thought early in the game Z looked extremely slow which was troubling after getting eaten alive by Bergeron the previous game. While he still looked slow, he more than made up for it with his hockey IQ, continually finding himself with the puck in dangerous locations resulting in 4 assists on the night.

Corsi Kings- Only the 4th line and Ericsson finished with a negative CF% at even strength, and the 4th line saw a ZS of below 20% (Glenny was at 12% ZS). Brendan Smith continues to dominate possession as he posted a 57% CF at EV despite a ZS of 33%.

A big win tonight and they look to post another tomorrow back at the Joe. Go Wings.