We lost the game 4-1, as simple as that.
The pregame festivities were crazy with Jackets fans around their bench. Being in the middle of that was one of best feelings, I’ve had as a Jackets fan. Most Wings fans were decent, a couple even swapped us seats, until the liquor started to flow. Sounds like some OSU fans I may know.
We played very well in the first 10 minutes. We had our best 5-6 scoring chances in that stretch and we came up empty. Umberger and Modin were both robbed. Say what you will about Osgood, but he his clutch. He is always good in the playoffs. Our powerplay looked much improved with two men skating the blueline. We were able to get clean entries with this, but we did not keep with it in the last two periods.
One of my keys to the series was score first. If we did that, it would have been a completely different game.
Hudler took the Fillpula pass and made no mistake. Methot and him got tangled at the blueline and Hudler skated through, Methot fell, a tough break. It was great to see Umberger answer though. It was a great play from Voracek down low. If nothing else we know who the first every CBJ playoff goal belongs to.
One of my second keys was playing in front because the Wings PP turns 1 goal leads into 2 goal leads quickly and that is what happened tonight. First was an unfortunate deflection of off Manny. Then the bullet from Kronwall off the faceoff.
We were not great 5 on 5 tonight. We had bad matchups, but that can’t be an excuse. That is how you have to play on the road. I thought our line changes were sloppy and our forecheck was ineffective in the last two periods. Some of this should be a credit to Detroit, but we need more hunger. Detroit outhit us tonight, that can’t happen if we expect to win. Stuart and Kronwall makes this a physical team overall.
Mason played well enough, long enough. You can’t fault him on the goals. He gave us a chance to win, it just didn’t happen.
Chimmer-Peca-Modin was a pretty good line for us tonight. Modin looked strong in his first game back, but rusty with the puck.
Commodore did bring the physical play tonight. He was the only one doing it regularly. He did well not pulling himself out of position. He will need to keep it up.
I’m not sure if Boll was injured, but we can’t afford to put a guy on the bench who will not play minutes in the third. I know we like to double shift Nash, but I can’t recall this working out well for us. There is a quality/quantity issue that we have with him. If we want him to take every shift against Lidstrom, and play all special teams, and take a double shift… we aren’t going to get high quality play out of him. He was relatively invisible tonight. I was hoping to see another gear out of him, but it wasn’t there tonight.
I thought Tyutin and Klesla were great tonight. They really moved the puck out of the zone well tonight. Hejda and Commie had a rough night.
Mancrush tonight was Jake Voracek. He was by far our best forward tonight. His stride is so smooth and he protects the puck so well. I was disappointed when I only saw 13 minutes of ice time, because he was one really cranking the wheels tonight.
Doghouse for Torres. He had a couple hits, but he once again made his ridiculous backhanded clearing pass from our red line. Of course it was intercepted right in the slot. You cannot make that play. Cannot.
The Wings were aggressive tonight when they smelled blood, but they were not unbeatable. We need the early goals against these guys. We need the first one in game 2.
So how was the first playoff game from your perspective? Any great Rimer quotes?