Open Game Thread
Tampa Bay Lightning at Detroit Red Wings
November 30, 2011 – 7:30 PM
TV: Versus
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The Red Wings host the Lightning tonight, with the big media story being that it’s the first visit to Detroit for a Tampa Bay team helmed by Steve Yzerman. Which of course is really a non-story, since it’s not like Yzerman will be on the ice.
More of a story is the 1-3-1 trap the Lightning run. I think the Wings have the skill to beat it but that doesn’t mean it won’t disrupt things, so it should be interesting to watch. As long as it’s not aided by hooking and holding being allowed, I have no problem with a defensive setup like that. Force the offence to be good enough to beat it.
Speaking of offense, Fabian Brunnstrom is in the lineup for Cory Emmerton. With Jan Mursak nearing a return from injury, Brunnstrom is being given a chance to prove that he should remain in Detroit. He’ll play on the third line alongside Darren Helm and Danny Cleary, with Justin Abdelkader centering Tomas Holmstrom and former Lightning Drew Miller on the fourth line.
Mike Commodore is the other Detroit healthy scratch, with Mursak and Patrick Eaves out injured.
Jimmy Howard gets another start in net.
Game time is 7:30 PM. Versus has the TV for the first time this season.
Even Ericsson getting things going. Wings *really* must be clicking right now.
Wings really looking good tonight. Tampa not keeping them trapped up. The Lightning are getting enough chances that they could bounce back, though.
Stupid penalties lead to the Tampa PPG. All that first period effort wasted with the Lightning back to within one.
Not a bad PP for Detroit but really needed a goal there.
Ugly second period. And I’m going quiet for awhile to record this week’s TP:60 with the TPL guys and Matt Saler from On the Wings.
Recording stopped just in time to catch the end of this one. Howard looking strong.
Well that was a crazy one. It reminded me a lot of last year’s matchup between the Red Wings and Lighting, in which Detroit took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, Tampa Bay tied things up, and then Detroit went on to win.
Both goalies had strong nights. Tampa would never have been able to come back without Dwayne Roloson’s stops at the end of the first (a fact that the Versus crew wouldn’t let up on) and Jimmy Howard came up with a big stop on Matt Gilroy in the third.
I don’t know what to make of Jonathan Ericsson’s game. He’s been jumping into offensive chances for awhile now and getting some good shots off so it’s not a huge surprise to see him finally get a goal but it’s hard to be excited about it when he still makes some boneheaded plays.
Darren Helm is also one who rarely scores and it was fantastic to see him finally net one. The combination of him actually finishing and Ericsson scoring might be a sign of the apocalypse.
As I mentioned, I missed most of the third live while recording TP:60 with the guys from The Production Line, as well as Matt Saler from On the Wings. That’ll be posted soon, I’m sure, so keep an eye out. It was a lot of fun to do.
Tenacity on the puck. Broken-ass play that the Wings made something out of.