By theOCDPublished: 18 January 2010 11:47 AM ESTPosted in: NHL
Pavel Datsyuk is known for his nifty stick-handling skills. He’s also excellent in shootouts. But he may have outdone himself with a recent move on Antti Niemi.
The Red Wings took the Blackhawks to a shootout on NBC’s Sunday Afternoon Hockey Only In the Second Half of the Season and Playoffs — or whatever they’re calling it now. Tied at 3-3, Pavel Datsyuk stepped up as the first shooter. He then unleashed an off-speed “chip shot” over the Blackhawks goalie. The execution is beautiful: Datsyuk dekes right, pulls the puck back, and then tosses it over the sprawling Niemi.
By theOCDPublished: 18 December 2009 5:01 PM ESTPosted in: NHL
Henrik Zetterberg suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday after a massive body check by fellow Swede Mattias Ohlund. It’s unfortunate that the NHL lost one of its stars temporarily, but this is the reason hockey can return to prominence. The NFL is the only sport which even comes close to the level of physicality in hockey.
On the play, Zetterberg comes into the offensive zone on the right side. He’s chasing down the puck with Mattias Ohlund steps up and puts Zetterberg down. Apparently, Zetterberg suffered a shoulder injury on the play. I’d actually guess that he injured his right shoulder which hit the ice.
The Red Wings have been killed by injuries this year. Every player in the Hockeytown: No Limits promo video has been injured except Darren Helm. He may be the next injury to come.
UPDATE: Zetterberg separated his left shoulder and will be out for about two weeks.
By theOCDPublished: 07 December 2009 8:00 AM ESTPosted in: NHL
The Rangers took a tough loss on Sunday night to the Red Wings at Madison Square Garden. Detroit came in having won only two of their last six games. The Wings dropped a game on Saturday to the Devils and were hoping to salvage some points from their East Coast swing.
The Rangers played fairly well. Michael Del Zotto continued to anchor the blueline and logged the most time on ice out of the Blueshirts. The rookie also had seven hits in the game. Unfortunately, Marian Gaborik didn’t manage any points in his 23:44 of ice time. The Rangers will have trouble in the future when facing a team with a lockdown defender like Henrik Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk.
Henrik Lundqvist and Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard both made 28 saves but Hank allowed two goals. Lundqvist didn’t have a bad game but he did accidentally direct the game-winner into the net with a litte over two minutes remaining. Henrik has taken a lot of heat lately for not performing up to his typical level of excellence. This game seemed to prove that his funk is probably temporary.
The highlight of the night came when Artem Anisimov failed to pick his head up after receiving a pass in the neutral zone. The young center figured he could simply stickhandle into the offensive zone, but Brad Stuart was not having it. Anisimov tried to glide around the defenseman and was promptly destroyed as Stuart stepped into him. You can see the video below.
By theOCDPublished: 19 November 2009 4:51 AM ESTPosted in: NHL
The Red Wings fell 3-1 to the Stars last night. But it wasn’t without some help from the (horrendous) officiating. Detroit was denied a game-tying goal on a dubious botched call. With about 13 minutes left in the final period, Dallas backup goalie Alex Auld let a wrist shot get by. Everybody on the ice assumed he’d stopped it until Brad May noticed the puck was in the net.
The officials quickly called it “no goal” even though the whistle hadn’t stopped the play. Unsurprisingly, the referees went to the video review to confirm their call. If you didn’t know, the NHL has a hilarious replay policy where ALL plays are reviewed by the mysterious head office in Toronto. Here’s Able to Yzerman’s recap of head referee Dennis LaRue’s call:
“The whistle was blown to kill the play.” The whistle came at least a full second after the goal. What we have here is a LaRue or Auger screw-up, then a LaRue or Auger ego that won’t let them allow to admit, or even consider, their own mistake.
This is pure insanity. I don’t even understand how they got this one wrong. It’s not a judgment call or a 50/50 play or even some ridiculous NFL rule about what is a catch or fumble. It’s hard to even imagine the logic behind upholding the original ruling.
Oh, and here’s the awesome Brad May and Krys Barch fight from the game as well. Brad May looks like he could be an old timey sailor, but he’s actually an NHL enforcer. Here he takes on Krys Barch — the two men have now fought five times in the past three years. There are a ton of bombs in this one and ends up going pretty long. I give it an 8 out of 10.
By theOCDPublished: 13 November 2009 6:41 PM ESTPosted in: NHL
The Red Wings aren’t quite as soft as they were last year. In the previous season, the Wings only managed to rack up 11 fighting majors. This season they already have five.
Newly signed journeyman forward Brad May has a lot to do with that. The grizzled veteran has done the icy tango four times so far this year. May is 37 years old and looks like he could be a sailor or ice road trucker. You’d think that he might be chummy with some of his former Canuck teammmates. That didn’t seem to be the case though.
Last night, he squared off with 25-year-old Rick Rypien. The voters on hockeyfights.com believe that Rypien won the fight. It seems like more of a tie though as both fighters won a half. You won’t see many NHL fights with as many bombs as this one. Check out the video below:
