Here's a gif with plenty of amazingness for Darren Helm's first flying lesson:
Okay, so this isn't going to be a typical Goal Analysis post. It's pretty easy: Cleary flips the puck into New York's zone. Darren Helm is probably the fastest player in the NHL. Kevin Poulin, the Islanders goalie, thought he could easily play the puck before Helm got there. Nope. Awesomeness. Here...we....go!
Helm flew right by the NYI d-man because that's what Helm does. Not sure Poulin knew it was Helm or what, but he probably should not do that. The Islanders d-man also has to do better to get in Helm's way or be a better skater.
Helm gets to the puck juuuuuuuuuuuuust a little before (a lot before) Poulin. Helm is going really fast and the goalie isn't the shiftiest player on the planet. They're skating right at each other. Time for boomboomboom!
Switching angles for effect. Poulin just throws his leg out to get the puck and/or Helm (when I was playing goalie growing up, I was told if I tried this and missed, get the man even if it was a penalty for obvious reasons). Helm's right knee hits Poulin but his left skate is still planted, so it's not going to be quite a full-flight. The NYI d-man, however... (foreshadowing!)
Helm's right leg connects and goes really damn high. Looks like it's over the net, meaning over four feet high. The left leg will get some air, but not nearly as much. I enjoy what's about to happen to the NYI guy. He sees that he's about to make contact with his goalie so he tries to jump to avoid contact. Ooooops.
SCORES! But that's not the focus here. Helm manages to get a hand on the ice, likely minimizing the impact when the rest of his body hits the ice. The right leg comes down while the left leg gets some air, but it doesn't get over the crossbar like the right. Meanwhile, the Islanders guy...this is going to be epic. He ends up going ass-first over Poulin and this is fantastic.
Helm is about on the ice. His lower body did some serious twisting around in this play. Good thing the initial contact was only with one leg and the force didn't do much damage (I'm an account/IS person, not a physics person or a doctor so that's about all I can say on this). Our favorite NYI player is now in full flying mode. His left skate is well above the crossbar. I am kind of shocked you can't see him pooping himself in this shot. Poulin is thankful for that.
Helm lands safely, and his journey is basically done. OR IS IT?!?!? The Islanders guy is now at a total right angle, because baby, he does not want to be wrong. You can see him flailing his arms and trying to brace himself because falling down on ice is not fun, especially shoulder first from a couple feet high.
Helm is now aware that he's not dead and sees the puck and his stick in the net. Yay! The Islanders player lands and he's now at less than a 90 degree angle. Ouch.
This may be my favorite part. The Islanders guy gets his bearings back well after the puck is in the net. I give him full credit reaching back here and trying to stop the puck from going in the net, buuuuuuut hahahaha sorry buddy. Darren Helm scores. A for effort, but nowhere close to sticking the landing. The judges will take major points off for that.
And there you have it. My breakdown of Darren Helm's awesome shorthanded goal, his second of the game. And do you want to know why Helm didn't get the hat trick?
DAMMIT HELM STOP GRABBING CLEARY'S ASS AND RUBBING HIS UPPER THIGH! If you get much closer, he might bite you and you'll turn into a zombie. Ugh.
Just a reminder that Michelle ( @slapshotg0al ) purposely started this blog/podcast with me ( @KevinN37). Go make fun of her. Also follow the @BlueLinePatrol account because then you can suggest more of these. HOORAY!
We all know he made his NHL return last week against Carolina and did ALL THE AWESOME THINGS. Let's get our hockey nerd on and break down the first goal today. We'll do the other one at a later time. Because hockey.
Here's the video of the first goal:
So awesome.
Let's start.....now!
It starts with the opening faceoff. Nyquist is on the right wing with Hank at center and Mule on the left side. Ericsson is the right side d-man with Kronner on the left. Pretty standard set up.
Carolina wins the face off to their left side. Nyquist forces the defenseman to throw the puck up the boards. Again, nothing huge here as everyone is doing the proper things.
The Carolina d-man goes up the boards with Nyquist pressuring him. The Carolina left winger doesn't cleanly handle the puck. It could be because it's a bouncing puck from an odd angle, or it could be because Ericsson was stepping up and was ready to destroy him. Let's go with this theory. You can see E stepping up on his guy before the red line. This doesn't let the player dump the puck in, and if everyone is covered, there's a good chance for a turnover. But, because the Carolina guy couldn't cleanly handle the puck, Big E gets it anyway.
Not much here. Once Ericsson gets the puck, he hits Mule cutting across the middle. Mule continues towards the boars and softly dumps the puck in the corner. He knows that with himself and Nyquist on the same side, there's a better chance to recover the puck if it stays on that side. This is important hockey knowledge. Pass it on.
Okay, I guess I shall explain what F1, F2, and F3 mean here...
F1 - first forward in, his job is to put pressure on the D and force the puck along the boards.
F2 - his job is to take away the strong side boards since that's where the first outlet pass usually goes. (strong side means which side the puck is on and/or going towards)
F3 - he stays up high (usually between the top of the circles and the blue line) to make sure there aren't any odd-man rushes against.
Because Swedes are awesome, they know this, and play their roles perfectly. Nyquist forces his guy to play the puck up the boards. In the next shot, you will see Hank doing his thing and rocking the boards (and forcing another turnover).
Because of the pressure put on both Carolina players by Hank and Gus, the pass was again not a great one and the winger couldn't handle it cleanly off his skate. Since Hank is awesome, he's about to pick up the puck and head to the net. Look at both of the Carolina players on the top right - they're already heading out of the zone, expecting the puck to be cleared. Wrong. They will very soon all be out of position. Turnovers are bad if they happen to your team.
So Hank takes the puck to the net with Nyquist also heading to the there. One of the Carolina players hooks Hank, with the puck slightly coming off his stick. This forces him to go back to the point. This is where Big E comes in. I'm not sure if he stepped up because he knows there is a penalty against or because he sees all 5 Carolina players well ahead of him, and with Mule playing F3 (up high), he knows there is coverage. Big E just does what he can here to get the puck through to the net.
Okay, so Big E pulls a Quincey and gets his shot blocked. Thankfully, Nyquist went to the front and the puck just sorta kinda happened to bounce right to him. The puck is smart. Justin Peters, the Carolina goalie, went down to block the Big E shot, so as he scrambles to face Nyquist, he's slightly out of position and such. Nyquist uses this to create amazing things.
AAAAAWWWWWWW YEAH!!! This goal was awesome to see live and I'm really happy I went to this game. Nyquist is the best.
In summary:
The Wings had amazing positioning all throughout the play, from center ice and the forecheck
Carolina was not able to cleanly give/receive two passes
Franzen made the smart dump in for Gus to be able to follow the play
The blocked shot caused the goalie to be slightly off line and not in the greatest position
WOOOOO!!!!!
Nyquist didn't miss the net by 4,523 feet...this game
I'll break down Nyquist's second AND GAME WINNING goal in the near future. Because hockey.
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Welcome to the Daniel ClearyAlfredsson ClearyAlfredsson Cleary Alfredsson edition of the podcast! Hey, the Wings finally won a couple games, so there's significantly less cursing and sobbing than there would have otherwise been. There's lots of important Wings stuff going on, so let's get right to the good stuff, such as...
Pavel Datsyuk's injury and the implications for the team
Don't call is a goalie controversy, but Jonas Gustavsson gets a second straight start in net.
What's going on with Jimmy Howard
New injuries, healed injuries, and new lines: good, bad, and serious implications
Justin Abdelkader >>>>>> Daniel Cleary (Who was on the Abdelkader bandwagon early?)
Gustav Nyquist who?
and plenty of bonus nuggets that Sigmund Freud would have a field day with.
You may listen to and download the podcast right over here ---> Episode 11
If you'd like to hit us up on Twitter, we can be found here:
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOuellet Photo Credit: David Guralnick/Detroit News
Trying something different today. I had planned on doing an analysis of Xavier Ouellet's first NHL goal, because that's kind of my thing. However, that hasn't happened yet and with Ouellet being back in Grand Rapids for now, that post will come in the (very near) future.
Michelle asked the amazing Sanjay (@Weallbleedredd on the twitter and on the YouTube device) to upload Ouellet's shifts against the Jets so we could break them down and give an honest assessment of Mr. Ouellet's performance.
Let's take a look, shall we? Let's watch the first video and break it down:
First shift (0:00-0:34):
Ouellet (we'll shorten to XO for every possible reason) starts on the right side (he's a left-handed shot) paired with Lashoff (also a lefty). Andersson wins the faceoff to Lashoff who quickly gives the puck to XO.
XO turns up the ice and notices the Jets are in the following defensive position:
The lanes to all three forwards are blocked by Jets players. XO has some ice in front of him, and with no passing lane, does the smart thing by getting to the red line and dumping the puck in.
The puck comes back to XO at the right point. He has no direct pressure, so he fires a shot with the Wings crashing the net.
The puck then comes up Lashoff's side coming into the Wings zone. The puck bounces over Lashoff's stick and it looks like the Jets player might have the edge on it:
XO recognizes that there are no additional Jets players skating in, so he comes over to help Lashoff and make sure there is no angle to the net. Once XO sees that Lashoff has forced the Jets forward wide, he quickly checks the front of the net because that's what a smart player does:
See that stick at the left of the pic? Yeah, that's another Jets player coming in. XO recognizes this and peels back to block the lane, which is important because *spoilers* the puck may be going in that general direction:
Thanks, TSN, for changing camera angles AS SOON AS HE PASSES THE PUCK, making for a not-as-good angle for us to see what happens. But we get what happens, XO blocks the lane and deflects the pass. No shot on goal. Puck in the corner. XO FTW.
The shift isn't over yet, however. XO collects the puck in the corner and quickly leads the rush up the ice. The Jets have four players within range of him:
It's way too dangerous here to go backwards to Lashoff. Plus, the worst place for a turnover is just inside your own blue line as the rest of your team is transitioning up the ice. XO tries to hit Sammy with a pass off the boards. He doesn't have enough angle, but he at least gets the puck out of the zone. The Jets knock it down, but Andersson passes back to Lashoff as XO gets back into his defensive position.
I'd say that's a solid shift. This is fun.
Second Shift (0:34-0:44):
The puck is in the offensive zone. XO is on the right point with Kindl on the left. XO gets a pass from Bertuzzi and quickly slaps one on net with traffic in front. The puck bounces around then gets covered. Not much to break down here, had an open lane to the net with traffic in front and got the shot off. I'll take that play.
Third Shift (0:44-1:12):
I suppose Mr. XO couldn't be flawless forever. XO is playing right side with Lashoff on the left. Andersson wins the faceoff to Lashoff (hooray rhyming!) who plays the puck to XO behind the net. XO gets pressured behind the net, so he skates it out front and tries to pass to Lashoff. Yeah, about that...
As you can see, XO missed Lashoff with the pass. He has that first instinct of "OH I DONE FUCKED UP GOTTA GO GET AND PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED" but thinks better of that. XO get back to the front and covers his guy. The puck gets moved around the Wings zone, but the entire time, XO stays between the Jets forward and the net. There is quite a bit of scrambling done on this play, primarily because of XO's turnover. The Wings eventually clear the zone and no harm comes.
Even though XO turned it over and did briefly panic, he did the smart thing and covered the front and whichever guy he was matched up against. Good thing it's the only mistake he'll ever make...on that shift. Ahem.
Fourth Shift (1:13-End):
Here we go. XO is playing the right side again with Lashoff on the left. The play starts with the puck in the offensive zone but transitioning towards the neutral zone. The Jets LW (the player the right side (XO) is responsible for covering) goes to the right wing to play the puck. XO sees this, along with no other Jets forward coming up the ice, so he follows his guy and hits him. Visual evidence:
Lashoff collects the puck and the Wings successfully break out. XO stays on the left side while Lashoff is on the right. XO moves with the play and Miller hits him with a perfect pass. XO skates up and doesn't have much room:
Once again, XO doesn't have much of a play here, so he makes the smart decision to get the puck in deep. While the forwards are working down low, XO stays on the left side while Lashoff covers the right side. The puck eventually works its way to Lashoff who sends it over to XO, when things get interesting:
XO passes to Miller here. Not a great play since Miller has guys around him, but not a horrible play. Miller quickly backhands the puck on net. XO's guy isn't watching him, so this allows XO to sneak in and wait for a pass or a rebound. Again with the spoilers...
Sadly, XO did not bury this rebound. But his ability to read the play and get a scoring chance is awesome and could easily result in plenty of future goals. Yay positive thinking!
And now, another negative. I've mentioned before how XO needs to get quicker. He's not slow or anything, but his skating needs to be improved. He's 20, I think I'll let it slide for now. Here's a couple of shots showing this.
Thankfully, this didn't come back and hurt the Wings. XO is decently far behind Thorburn, who is not exactly an offensive dynamo in the NHL. Hopefully a little work in the minors and some summer training will help XO increase his skating and then he will be even more awesome.
As far as the rest of the shift, nothing too fancy happened. XO had a guy one on one and kept him to the outside and did the same thing as the puck cycled down low. Even at the very end, with the Jets d-man pinching down, XO slightly loses his man for a second, but still works to block the lane and works his way back to his original guy as the puck gets covered in front.
To summarize the first video: XO is very strong with positional play. His only "major" mistake was turning the puck over on his third shift. Maybe it's a play he used in Grand Rapids and expected Lashoff to be there? Who knows. But he didn't get flustered and still was in position after the mistake.
Can you handle some more? Here...we....GO!!
And the second video:
First Shift (0:00-0:52):
Lots of things happened on this shift for XO. The play starts off in the Jets zone. XO is on the right side per usual, with Lashoff on the left. As the Jets transition up the ice, it looks to be a 3 on 2 with Datsyuk just trailing behind. Notice what XO (and Lashoff) are doing:
Communication. I know Michelle has pointed this out, but XO has solid communication skills. He's very vocal on the ice, which is very helpful, trust me. Here, both Lashoff and XO have their hands pointing to the middle player. I'm not exactly sure what they are saying here, but what ends up happening is XO takes the player in the middle of the ice while Datsyuk ends up lifting the stick of the Jets player on the bottom of the pic. It would make sense that XO was saying "I got him" so Pav knows who to cover on the backcheck.
The puck transitions back to the Jets zone. XO does a good job of slightly trailing the play as the Wings go to the Jets net - he heads to the top of the circle to see if the puck comes out, but it doesn't, so he quickly retreats back to the blue line.
Things then start to get interesting. The Jets gain control and come into the Wings zone on a 2 on 2. Lashoff and XO do a good job and force the Jets to take a bad shot from way down low. XO gains control behind the net with a Jets forward chasing him:
If you watch the video, you can see that this is a broken play (aka: not a thing that regularly happens). Also, Andersson is now on the ice (he didn't start the shift). I don't see the 5th Wings skater. I'm guessing Pav changed for Andersson since they are both centers. Hank is taking the center role here. Bert is out of frame, but with control, he's probably going for a change, so there's no other forward for an outlet pass.
What usually happens on a set break out is one d-man is behind the net with the puck. The other d-man will go to one of the corners. A forward will then almost skate around the opposite circle, from the inside to the boards. The d-man from behind the net, usually with pressure, will pass the puck to either the d-man in the corner or the forward in the opposite corner. This....does not happen.
What happens? XO has no one to pass to in the corner he's skating towards, so he tries to cut up the middle....yeah:
Xavier and Henrik, sitting in a tree.... Here's my thinking on why this happened. Lots of times when a team is in the middle of a change, the d-man will wait until the rest of the team makes the change until he begins the breakout. However, since the Jets had pressure, XO had to move the puck and had no one to pass it to. You can see above how Lashoff did eventually go to the corner to wait for a pass. Andersson is skating up the ice, thinking the rest of the team will be breakout with him. Basically, just a giant fustercluck happened at once. I would have preferred XO skate to the outside and not to the front of the net. But, he does recover nicely....by diving and, along with Andersson, getting the puck out to safety. And just because, here's XO diving:
Awesome. And that's the first shift of the second video.
Second Shift (0:53-1:22):
Much less interesting of a shift for XO. He handles a 2 on 2 like a champ, the puck goes into the Jets zone. The puck does eventually come to him at the point. As we learned earlier, he's not afraid to shoot the puck, which makes this play that much better:
XO has a couple of options here. He can shoot, but he has a Jet player in the shooting lane (which is blocked, can lead to a Jets breakaway) and no Wings player out front. A shot here would serve no purpose. He can dump it in the corner, but the lane to the right corner is blocked. The best option he has is to go to the other d-man on the point. This will buy some time for a Wings player to get in front and the other two at the top (Sammy and Andy) to get back into the play. Great work by XO here. Make the simple and smart play. That's what I like from my d-men.
Nothing else significant happened for XO on this shift. The puck eventually was covered by the Jets.
Third Shift (1:23-1:46)
The play starts in the Jets zone and slowly comes back towards the Wings end. Just to show that the earlier point on communication wasn't an oddity:
Doing the point again. I'm assuming he's telling Lashoff to watch the guy coming up that side while XO is going to go back to the middle of the ice to watch for additional Jets forwards. I love seeing this.
Nothing else spectacular happened on this shift. XO had some good coverage in his own zone but Lashoff ended up taking a tripping penalty.
Fourth Shift (1:46-end):
XO's final shift of the video :((((((((((((((((
The puck goes into the Wings zone. XO and a Jets player are chasing after it and XO has a step.
This is a tough play for any d-man. He has a guy right on his back with no support from his teammates. It would be a tough for him to try and backhand the puck all the way around the boards and shooting it forehand blindly up the close boards would be very difficult. As a d-man myself, I would probably just try and keep skating with it behind the net, but XO is much, much, much better than me at playing hockey. He does the following:
I'm not 100% what the Jets forward was doing here. He may have thought XO was going to continue to go behind the net, so went there to lay on a big hit. He may have been at the end of a shift so he was just putting pressure on XO to get his teammates enough time to change and was going to go for a change himself. Regardless, XO realizes that the Jets forward has peeled towards the center of the ice, so he stops and turns to relieve the pressure. He takes his time, skates up, and hit Bert in stride as Bert skates towards the Jets zone. Having the poise to do that? Awesome.
What did we learn about Ouellet in the second video? I learned that he seems to communicate very well, especially for a 20 year old rookie d-man. He usually makes the smart and simple play. These plays won't make the box scores, but trust me, they are just as important as making the big hit or scoring a few more goals a year. A lack of communication or a mistake under pressure can lead to a goal against, so to have those abilities (especially at this stage of his career) is amazing.
Ouellet mostly played sheltered minutes against 3rd and 4th line competition in his 3 NHL games. That's to be expected. He did get a couple of PK shifts, but was not a regular. This is what is to be expected from a rookie d-man. He will eventually make a few brain farts and cause some goals against. It's not to be expected that he's this calm and smart this early in his career. I'm guessing he won't be a regular in Detroit for two more years, but who knows. If he stays this solid and gets a few more call-ups, he may make the top 6 next season.
That's all for now. To further educate yourself on Mr Xavier Ouellet, check out the following links:
And per usual, yell at me (@KevinN37) on the twitter if you have something else you want me to break down. While you're there, say hi to Michelle (@SlapshotG0al) and the @BlueLinePatrol account for some random hockey things.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a post that introduces another podcast. Due to a few circumstances, we were not able to get together to record this week. Instead of a podcast, we're each going to write a few thoughts on some of the major happenings of the Wings in the last week. Come for the DeKeboners. Stay for the Ouellections.
WOOOOOOOOUELLET!
Photo credit: Kevin
Dan(ny)(iel) Cleary Being A Healthy Scratch
Kevin: Absolutely deserved. A player on the second line and power play only having three points in 18 games? Yeah, no. I know he's one of Babcock's guys, which should tell you how bad it was for Cleary's game. He wasn't a total waste defensively and on the PK, but wasn't Helmtastic enough on the PK to justify a roster spot being used. He also didn't have to dress up for Halloween because he's a zombie. Exhibit A:
This picture was not edited at all. Zombie.
Michelle: Maybe this makes me a jerk, but this is pretty close to what I expected from Cleary when we re-signed him. I don't think he's as good a player as he was in the playoffs. He's 24th out of 25 players on the team in relative corsi at even strength. I still don't like that we re-signed him, and I'm still scared that we'll do it again.
Tomas Tatar (Almost) Being A Healthy Scratch
Kevin: Fuck this shit. I'm taking my ball and going home. I know he ended up playing, but my point stays the same. If he ever sits in favor of Dan Cleary, I may lose my shit. Hopefully, in Babcock's office.
Michelle: Tatar didn't end up being a healthy scratch, thanks to Daniel Alfredsson continuing the Wings plague of groinitus. I don't agree with the decision to plan to scratch Tatar though, especially after he plays well, and certainly not so that Dan Cleary can play. I'm trying not to let the frustration of the Wings current lack of winning cause me to be too harsh, but I can't agree with benching Tatar in that situation regardless.
Danny DeKeyser and Xavier Ouellet Not Being Old and Being Awesome
Kevin: We'll have more on Mr. WOOOOOOuellet later this week. Spoiler alert: WOOOOOOuellet is good at the hockey.
Mr. DDK is also good at the hockey. He's been playing some top line minutes with Kronwall recently and has not disappointed. Yes, he makes some mistakes, but the fact that he's played less than a half season of NHL games so far tell you that he's going to be real solid. I sound like a broken record saying this, but it's true, so deal with it.
Michelle: I'm running out of creative ways to say that Danny DeKeyser is an incredibly special player and I may be in love. As Kevin said, he's not exempt from making mistakes, but the number and severity of mistakes he makes are small, especially when you consider that he's only played 34 career NHL games. When Ericsson hurt his shoulder, it was DeKeyser, not Kindl or Qincey who got promoted to the top pairing with Kronwall, and that had to be the easiest roster decision Babcock's made all season. DeKe is smart, calm, doesn't panic, and most of the time just makes the correct, simple, effective play. What more could we ask for from a rookie defenseman? What, you want some offense too? Jeeze you're greedy. He's also 7th on the team in points with 2 goals and 7 assists; including a short handed goal and a power play goal. Kronwall is the only defenseman with more points at 12 (1G 11A).
I think Ouellet will be the next DeKeyser, the defenseman to come in and be surprisingly good, even early on. We'll have something special coming soon on Ouellet.
Patrick Eaves Being Waived
Kevin: Hockey wise, it makes sense. Every other reason just sucks. I've met Eaves on multiple occasions and he always took plenty of time and interacted with all the fans. The way he worked his way back from his injuries was amazing and I really hope he does awesome things in the future.
Also, fuck the Wings for not having the decency to tell him before the reporters informed him. That is completely unacceptable and I won't forget about it anytime soon.
Michelle: :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( *Thanks Kevin, that pretty much sums up my feelings*. The Wings are in a situation where people have to go somewhere, not many teams have cap space to take on more players, and it seems that for numerous reasons, teams aren't interested in trading what we have to trade. I understand it's a business decision that had to be made, but that doesn't make it suck any less. I like Eaves a lot, he's one of my favorite players to cheer for and it goes beyond hockey. I feel bad for Eaves and his family. He now has to leave his wife and 2 young daughters (and Rueben too) in Detroit and head to Grand Rapids. Basically, everything about this sucks.
Gustav Nyquist Not Being Called Up Anytime Soon :(((((((((((((((((
Kevin: Fuck this shit. I know the roster situation - there are eleventy billion forwards on the Wings and the Griffins. I know the financial situation - the Wings have about $1.34 in cap space. I know Nyquist's waiver situation - once he plays two more NHL games, he would have to go on waivers to be sent down, and he would not clear them because duh.
I also know he's done all the developing he can do in the AHL and playing there will slowly start to hurt his progress (see my theory on Tatar, Tomas). I know that he's an NHL player and brings more to the table than some of the current Wings. I know that he is NOT the Wings savior this year. He may provide some solid secondary scoring, but he's not going to be a point-a-game guy (yet). I believe he would help the Wings, but the longer he stays in the minors, the longer it's going to take him to adjust to the NHL once he does get called up.
Michelle: I'm so tired of hearing and talking about this. I want Nyquist up, I think he can help the team be better, it's not going to happen any time soon, and there's nothing I can do about it.
Other Things That Happened During The Weekend Games
Kevin: I hate my life.
Michelle: It's getting tougher and tougher to find bright spots when the Wings go 2 weeks without a win, but I'm going to keep trying. Hey, at least we keep finding different mistakes to make in order to lose games, right? The Wings play ok, they lose. The Wings get outplayed, they lose. The Wings play well and do the right things, they lose. It's not all doom and gloom, and we shouldn't give up on the season. There is still time to turn things around and get back to winning and make something good out of the season. But each game that goes by where we lost yet again, makes it increasingly difficult for the team at a whole, for the players as individuals, and for us fans. Hopefully I don't have to dig this deep for happy thoughts for very long. Just win please, Wings... Just win.
And that's what we would have talked about on the podcast. We'll be recording a podcast this week, so hooray for that. Per usual, you can find us and yell at us/give us podcast and other topics on the twitter:
You know the drill: A Red Wings player scores his first NHL goal, then I break it down so we can see exactly how it happened. Our latest "first NHL goal" was scored by Adam Almquist (or Almqvist, but he's going by Almquist here, so that's what I'm going with). And yes, he's Swedish, because obvious.
I freaking love when a player scores his first NHL goal, especially when the player happens to play for the Wings. Let's start the breakdown, shall we?
The puck goes into the Wings zone. Almquist is the first player back, and takes it behind the net. His teammates come back to support him (Quincey on the left and you can see Hank skate to the right side in the video). The Dallas forward applies pressure, so Almquist gives the puck to Quincey in stride as he moves toward the neutral zone.
The same Dallas forward skates and applies pressure to Quincey, so KQ passes the puck up to Bertuzzi on the left side. The rest of the Dallas players in the picture are in proper position. #12 is pressuring the puck carrier (Bert), Whitney (13) is taking away the center, and the right d-man is there in case Bert gets around the forward. With two guys in his way and no direct passing lane, Bert looks to get to the red line and dump the puck in (ideally, #12 for Dallas would be a step back to prevent Bert from reaching the red line).
Bert hits the red line and tries to flip the puck into the far corner, where Hank is skating. Bert doesn't get all of the puck, and ends up flipping it to the D-man circled above. The D-man gloves the puck down instead of catching it and playing it. I'm guessing he was trying to get the puck past the blue line (patrol ZING!!) but he did not. Bert is just out of the picture, but he's skating with good pace and will be the first player to get to the puck.
Bert gets the puck, skates into the high slot, and attempts to put a backhand on net. Apparently, Bert is trying to pass the puck to that Dallas defenseman, since he blocked the shot. Things don't usually change, however, and he once again leaves the puck in front of him. Bert continues his forward momentum and forces the puck into the corner. It should be noted that again, Dallas is in proper position here, with all 5 guys in their own zone. Now is when Dallas needs to sort out coverage and it should be easy (in theory) to keep the Wings to the outside or force a turnover.
Bert has the puck in the corner. #4 on Dallas is covering Hank out front (no sense in chasing him behind the net). #3 has Bert. #13 Should be watching the high slot/point. One of #12/20 have to cover the slot/center and the other needs to cover the point since Bert is not in a scoring area. Bert knows he has two guys on him at the moment, so he cycles the puck down low, where Hank is waiting for it.
Hank receives the pass from Bert. The Dallas defenseman gets semi-caught chasing the puck here. He does catch up to Hank and forces him to stay wide. Whitney (13 on DAL) is supposed to cover the point man on the Wings right side, which is Almquist. In this shot, it's obvious that he's focused on Hank and the puck. Hank I get; he's beautiful, but the puck is nothing special. This is about the time when Almquist is sneaking into the slot...
Yep. Whitney assumed that his coverage responsibility (Almquist) would just be hanging out on the point. As he turns to cover where Almquist usually would be, he seems kind of shocked that the puck is going behind him because every other Star has a guy covered and oh crap for Whitney.
Whitney reaches out to try and block the shot, but too late. Mr. Almquist just snuck around an old dude and ripped the shot for his first NHL goal. Awesome.
Nothing much to see here, just really love this angle. It kind of emphasizes earlier things, like how everybody on Dallas is in great position outside of Whitney, and Hank is so good that he found the super small Swedish d-man. Sweden is the best.
Let's review, yes?
The Wings have a great breakout, from Almquist to Quincey to Bert in order to gain the zone
Bert has good speed and was a puck hound on this shift
The Dallas d-man twice blocked the puck but couldn't gain control
Hank is amazing and had the vision to see Almquist out front
Ray Whitney lost coverage and left his guy open for an awesome goal
Awesome. Hope you enjoyed. Per usual, yell at me ( @KevinN37 ) on the twitter if you have any comments or suggestions for future posts. Then follow Michelle (@Slapshotg0al) and the @BlueLinePatrol account. Until next time...
