Series Recap: Bolts Strike Down the Wings

Matched up with one of the best team in the Eastern Conference few people gave the Detroit Red Wings any chance of advancing to the 2^nd round. Despite a strong start to the season, Detroit squeaked into the playoffs with a number of questions about their goaltending and defense. With elite players both up front and on the blue line to go along with solid depth contributor, Tampa Bay was my favorite to win the Eastern Conference. Despite the doubters, the Wings refused to go away quietly and forced Tampa Bay to a deciding 7^th game. In the end, Tampa was the better team and they are moving on to the second round but through their effort, the Wings showed the critics that it is foolish to write off this franchise just yet.

In my pre-series preview, I mentioned that Tampa’s greatest asset was their speed through the neutral zone. During the regular season, they succeed by overwhelming the opposition, generating turnovers and starting the counter attack. Off the rush, Tampa’s stable of young skilled players was able to highlight their offensive abilities. With Detroit’s less than stellar blue line, it seemed unlikely that the Wings would be able to contain this offensive onslaught. However, as we saw in Game 7 particularly, the Wings defense was never dependent on the skill of their individual defenders. As they have all season, the Wings used their forwards’ speed to apply backpressure, and some subtle interference, to keep Tampa from getting to top speed. As a result, with respect to possession the Wings kept this series insanely close at even strength as Tampa held the edge, 50.4 to 49.6 over the 7 game series. After bouncing back from the pitiful effort in game 1, Detroit actually controlled possession at 51.7 to 48.3.

Although Detroit controlled the play, they were still outscored at even strength 12 to 6. Much of this difference can be attributed to the star of the Triplet line, Tyler Johnson as he alone scored 5 even strength goals. Although Detroit was able to contain the Bolt’s speed, Tampa’s scorers only need one mistake or opportunity to capitalize. It was during these rare opportunities that Mrazek’s play left me wanting more. Thrust into the spotlight following Jimmy Howard’s poor showing the rookie looked up to the task, stopping over 40 shots for the game 1 win. Similar to Jonathan Quick, Mrazek’s extremely aggressive style leaves him vulnerable when the defense is unable to protect his weak side. Garrison’s goal in game 6, although looking unstoppable, is a great example. Mrazek was so aggressive and focused on Stamkos that he had no hope of getting to Garrison in time. By playing less aggressively on the initial rush Mrazek might have been able to get across in time to make the save. While Tampa was able to exploit these weaknesses off the rush, when in the defensive zone, and particularly on the penalty kill, Mrazek received the necessary defending and he was able to excel.

For the Red Wings to compensate for Tampa’s offense the Power Play needed to be a weapon. Although the playoffs are typically a penalty free zone, this series saw nearly 30 Power Plays for each side, a clear advantage for Detroit. Thankfully, both special teams units took advantage of the official’s call. On the man advantage the Wings were able to score on 5 of their 29 opportunities, while the Wings penalty kill held Tampa to only 2 goals on 30 chances. As hoped, this plus 3 differential was able to help compensate for the struggles at even strength.

The game plan worked perfectly, the Wings were able to push a superior squad to a game 7 by shutting down the neutral zone, keeping things close at even strength and dominating at special teams. The one issue that kept the Wings from moving on was the games they gave away. The Red Wings’ effort in Game 1, the end of Game 4 and Game 6 were less than stellar. While there are reasonable explanations for the relatively poor showing in each game, it was an unacceptable result. Going against a skilled offensive squad it was inevitable that the Wings would lose at least one game they “deserved” to win, in this case it was game 7. Knowing this, the underdog Wings had to take advantage of every opportunity given to them. Although Mrazek and the defense bailed the team out in game 1, they were unable to compensate for the lackluster effort in game 6 and the finish of game 4. With a better effort in either of those games, the Red Wings could be the ones headed to Montreal.

While I still believe Tampa is the better team, the Red Wings had every right to win that series. The team did everything possible to put away an extremely talented Tampa Bay team. In the end, we will remember the missed chances by Tatar and Zetterberg that could have changed our fate. However, down two of their top D facing an elite team the Wings battled and gave us hope, if not for this season for seasons to come.