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Detroit vs. Boston live blog
By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / September 25, 2008Red Wings Central will provide a live blog from tonight's NHL pre-season game between the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins.
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FIRST PERIOD
— The Red Wings start with the Kronwall-Stuart pairing and Hudler-Zetterberg-Franzen up front. They're just about to drop the puck.
— No major surprises with the other lines, with Cleary-Helm-Samuelsson, Ritola-Emmerton-McCarty and Tardif-Lemieux-Haydar. The other defense pairings are Lebda-Lilja and Ericsson-Pyett.
— The Zetterberg line just dominated their second shift of the game with strong cycle play. Darren Helm is buzzing early too.
— GOAL, 1-0 DET: Cory Emmerton just scored on a soft goal by Tim Thomas at 4:11. He stepped into a low slap shot from near the top of the faceoff circle and Thomas completely missed it. It's an unassisted marker.
— A Marco Sturm minor at 6:54 puts Detroit on the power play; Lebda-Ericsson with Helm-Cleary-Emmerton is the first unit.
— Kronwall-Samuelsson with Zetterberg-Hudler-Franzen is the second unit, and they worked the puck around beautifully to get Zetterberg open for a terrific chance toward the end of the advantage.
— It's worth noting that the ice is extremely choppy tonight, which doesn't fit well with the Red Wings' puck-possession style.
— GOAL, 1-1: Jeremy Reich steps into a slap shot just inside the blue line that Osgood gets a piece of but can't stop. Not Osgood's best moment, and there was some confusion on the Detroit side on a line change. Martins Karsums and Martin St. Pierre draw the assists at 11:11.
— GOAL, 2-1 DET: Thomas completely whiffs on a Brett Lebda shot from the faceoff dot at 12:46. Lebda was on one of his trademark rushes that rarely results in a goal, but he ripped one and it went right through Thomas's glove. Emmerton gets an assist for his second point of the night, and Darren McCarty records the other helper. It's hardly a goalie's battle so far. Shots are 8-6 for Detroit.
— There is no consistency in Detroit's defence pairings. Pyett was just out with Kronwall; Ericsson with Stuart.
— Osgood just made a nice stop on Phil Kessel, who used his great speed to get behind the Red Wings' defence.
— Notables in the Bruins' lineup include Marc Savard, Michael Ryder, Phil Kessel, Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm.
— It's 2-1 for the Red Wings after the first; shots are 10-9 for Detroit. Emmerton has got to feel good about his first 20 minutes after a really tough season in 2007-08.
SECOND PERIOD
— The Stuart-Kronwall pairing got caught on a 2-on-1 on a poorly-timed linechange, but the Bruins weren't able to capitalize.
— Not too much to report so far, but Johan Franzen just hooked down Marco Sturm, who was starting to break in off the right wing on Chris Osgood.
— The Red Wings killed off Franzen's penalty with relative ease.
— Jamie Tardif is throwing his weight around. He's a hard-working guy who is a long-shot to ever play in Detroit, but the Red Wings obviously liked what they saw when they signed him to a two-year contract last year.
— Darren Helm just made a terrific defensive play at the 10-minute mark, pokechecking the puck off the stick of Blake Wheeler at the last minute on a golden scoring opportunity for the Bruins. It's hard to believe Helm has a very realistic chance of starting the year in Grand Rapids after establishing himself as a pillar of the Red Wings' fourth line en route to the Stanley Cup.
— Swedish rookie Daniel Larsson is in for the Red Wings, and Cleary spent about a minute teeing up slap shots to get him into the game. Osgood stopped 13 of 14 shots.
— Larsson's first save of the game is an absolute dandy. Michael Ryder takes a sweet feed from Marc Savard and comes in alone on his backhand, but Larsson closes the pads at the last minute when Ryder goes five-hole. Larsson gets a tap on the mask afterward from his teammates.
— Logan Pyett has looked a little overwhelmed at times on the Detroit blueline.
— GOAL 2-2: Blake Wheeler, who has been dynamite for the Bruins, made a great fake slap shot-pass to Martin St. Pierre on a 2-on-1, and the puck bounced awkwardly off St. Pierre's legs and past Daniel Larsson. The Red Wings briefly asked if it was a kick, but the goal stands at 19:06. Wheeler and Karsums draw the assists.
— It's 2-2 after 40 minutes, with Boston outshooting Detroit 18-17.
THIRD PERIOD
— Jiri Hudler stripped a Bruins' defender of the puck in the first minute and fed Henrik Zetterberg coming in from the blue line, but Zetterberg's blistering shot was high and wide.
— Blake Wheeler never produced gaudy numbers in college, but he looks like a legitimate NHLer with the potential to be a top-line guy.
— A cobbled-together line of Cleary, Tardif and Haydar just had a great shift, with Haydar, a former AHL MVP, as the catalyst. Haydar hasn't done much to stand out otherwise tonight in his long-shot bid for a roster spot.
— Mattias Ritola tried to get nifty coming through center ice and Phil Kessel sent him flying with a clean hit.
— I didn't see Jonathan Ericsson play in his draft year, but it's mind-boggling that he was selected with the last pick of the draft. He's every bit his listed size of 6-foot-5 and he has remarkable mobility and polish. He'd be in the top-six on every other team in the league.
— Blake Wheeler beat Niklas Kronwall to the outside and generated a good scoring chance for the Bruins. We're still tied 2-2 with about 14 minutes to go.
— Brad Stuart is throwing the body.
— Jiri Hudler has made some timely defensive plays, which has to be helping win over Mike Babcock as far as holding down his top-two-line spot when Valtteri Filppula returns.
— The refs have had their whistles in their pockets all night, but they just made a baffling call on Cory Emmerton, who worked hard to strip Dennis Wideman of the puck behind the Bruins' goal. Emmerton was whistled for hooking.
— GOAL, 3-2 DET: Henrik Zetterberg just made a dazzling play to give Detroit a 3-2 lead at 10:47. The reigning Conn Smythe winner took advantage of a gaffe by former Red Wing Aaron Ward on a Bruins' power play. He blew in on a breakaway off the left wing and was stopped on his first attempt, but ended up on the opposite side of Thomas and spun around to slam home the rebound. It's an unassisted goal.
— GOAL, 3-3: P.J. Axelsson scored from the slot on a rebound of an Andrew Ference shot. He rifled it top corner before Larsson could react at 11:28, just 41 seconds after Zetterberg's goal. It's a power-play marker.
— GOAL, 4-3 DET The goals are flying now, as Brad Stuart just ripped a slap shot past Thomas off a faceoff at 12:23. Kronwall and Helm, who won the faceoff, assisted. Let's see if the Red Wings can hang onto this lead, and they've put out the Zetterberg line to try to keep the momentum rolling.
— Logan Pyett threw his (light) weight around, hammering down Marc Savard. Problem was, it came a second or two after the whistle. Luckily for the Red Wings, there was no penalty on the play.
— Cleary-Haydar-Tardif line is just buzzing. Francis Lemieux hasn't taken a shift in a while, and it's not clear what his status is.
— Larsson made a great save on a partial break by Marco Sturm.
— Less than four minutes to go.
— It seems foolish not to make roster space for Darren Helm. He has been one of Detroit's best forwards, and just caused a Bruins' turnover with his speed and stick and then drew a penalty on Matt Lashoff that should seal the game in the final three minutes.
— It's a 4-3 final, with the Red Wings holding a 40-33 edge in shots. That's a 23-shot third period for the Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg is the first star, Blake Wheeler is the second star, and Cory Emmerton is the third. You could throw Darren Helm in that second or third slot for good measure, too.
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