I read a few of the replies, but had to stop due to time constraints. I was at the game last night. Some observations.
The Joe was very loud...loudest I've ever heard it there. Usually, there are a great number of Hawks fans in their jerseys at the game, but not last night. Very few overall. Was most surprising to me. I got mildly harassed for the first time ever there wearing my jersey, multiple times. Also, the PA announcer said that a delay of game penalty would be assessed to Detroit if another octopus was thrown onto the ice after about the fourth one was tossed late in the third. A few minutes later another one lands, and nothing was called (with about 2 minutes left in the game). Got to follow through with the threat, otherwise it's hollow.
The play is incredibly tight, with little room to move on the ice, and every puck (possessed or not) is contested with aggression, particularly by the Wings. Still, the Hawks controlled the game for all but a minute or two in the second period, and lost the game because of it.
For all that is said about Crawford, he's not to blame for our current predicament. He played well enough to win. Two goals were not his fault, and the second goal is a push either way. We're just not scoring, partly because of circumstances (reffing, bad schedule giving Detroit extra days off--we need a back-to-back game here), and partly because some of our guys are not stepping up.
Kane's body language had the look of a defeated goal scorer every time he missed a shot or was taken out rushing the puck. He had a look that says "I can't put the puck in the net". Not sure if his goal is enough to pull him out of it, but it's a start.
Detroit is way more physical than the Hawks. They made it a goal to hit, hit, hit in the first period, and finish every check. The Hawks go out of their way to never finish a check. There were so mnay times I felt like yelling "Just hit the MFer" behind the net, along the boards, anywhere. I'm not sure how we got credited for so many hits, but it's obvious that the Wings beat us up. The Hawks were taken out of their game early in this one. This, and below, are obviously part of Babcock's game plan to take the game away from the Hawks.
Detroit is both sneaky dirty and overtly dirty (and I've only seen them play this way to this extent against the Hawks). They poke/prod/hit/chirp/punch etc... behind the play as well as continually in front of the net in the open. The lack of calls against them is almost criminal, and I kept on thinking back to the NBA (where the refs decide who wins) or to the Hawks-Flyers, when Pronger had his way the first 4 games, and then the refs finally started calling all of his crap. If the refs called it all, the Wings would have 10 penalties per game, easy. Right now it feels like the edict has come down from on high that this is to be a seven game series.
Because of the above, Detroit owns the crease. That statement stands alone as fact.
It's equally obvious that Babcock has decreed open season on Toews, and every Wing player tries to work him over. Still, Toews is invisible offensively, and I don't think we'll win this series without him doing more (scoring a few goals or more). Part of the problem is that we have no other threatening centers on the squad, so they are able to direct all of their energy at shutting him down.
Marcus Kruger is a pathetic offensive player. (Shut up Bubba.) He's weak on hsi skates, and often falls to the ice for no apparent reason. He doesn't pass well. There was one play in the second period when he entered the zone in a 2 on 1, and he coughed up the puck inside the blue line. Handed it off to a Wings player. If he couldn't kill penalties, he wouldn't/shouldn't be on the team. Can't wait to see what the other organizational centers can do next year.
I couldn't see the non goal too well. Until I see a replay, I have no comment.
Hjarlmarsson's hit on Franzen looked good, and it looked like Franzen turned his back into the hit. Still, I have to see a replay.
I got home at about 1:15am, and got up at 4:30am to go play some hockey before heading to work. I had to get the bad taste of a loss out of my mouth.
