Tonight, the struggling Red Wings welcome the now-heating-up San Jose Sharks to the Joe in a game that, to some, feels like a defining moment of the season. But is it?
The Wings have struggled both to get some goals on the board and to keep some pucks out of the net in the last little while and this sudden inconsistency, after a scorching 5-0 start, has already caused a little hand wringing and frantic pacing amongst the fans in the Motor City. Coupled with the Lions sudden sputtering and the Tigers being eliminated from the playoffs, you’d think that Detroit sports as a whole was on the brink of the apocalypse.
However, let’s just take a moment here to take a collective deep breath and look at the hows and the whys of what’s gone wrong the last few games for the Wings and see if we can’t inspire some confidence in a suddenly worried fanbase.
First and foremost, the offense is just not scoring. Two goals over two games is low even for mid-nineties New Jersey Devils hockey. It won’t win you very many games, nor will it do anything to inspire confidence amongst the fans. This is usually the main reason fans start to get nervous, and I think there is a legitimate cause for concern with the way the first line has played since Opening Day.
Datsyuk and Zetterberg do not look like they’ve found their sea legs, and, while it’s still early, need to get something going as they’re the engine that drives the Big Red Machine. Supporting players, like Val Filppula, Johan Franzen and even Big Todd Bertuzzi have gone cold after starting off well. And Dan Cleary has been so ineffective many people may wonder if he’s still on the team.
In a nutshell, score goals, win games. Tonight will be a big test against a team many favoured win it all at the start of this season.
While scoring goals has been an issue, hockey is a team game and as a result there is some blame the needs to fall on some of the other parts of this team, and it’s fair to say that Ty Conklin deserves some of the blame.
Conklin came back to the Wings this off-season to serve as an upgrade over Joey MacDonald and Chris Osgood by playing a serviceable back-up role with the team. Only it seems that he took his job of “replacing Chris Osgood” too literally.
He’s letting in some soft goals. He’s giving up the juiciest of juicy rebounds. He’s flip flopping, and has a bad case of the happy feet which is causing him to be in the wrong place at the wrong time on a regular basis.
In short, he’s just not playing well.
While some people are already calling the signing a disaster, everyone needs to remember that tonight is Game #8 of the season, and that he’s the back-up goaltender. He’ll play some games, but not many. He’ll fill in while Howard takes a breather (or if he has another kid). In short, he is not the be-all-end-all of the Red Wings goaltending, and these last two games should not be used as a measuring stick to evaluate the state of Detroit netminding.
Which bring us back to tonight’s game.
It’s grudge match against the team that eliminated the Red Wings in a classic seven game series in May. It’s a titanic match against two perenial heavyweight contenders in the West, one that usually ensures a fantastic on-ice product.
But most of all, it’s a story of two teams slowly moving in different directions. San Jose has won three in a row. Detroit has lost, and lost big, two straight. It has the feel of a make or break game, only it isn’t. Nor should it be.
So tonight, as the Red Wings take to the ice and (hopefully) come out flying, let’s all remember to take a deep breath, and say, “This is Game #8. Things could go amazingly tonight, or the bottom could fall out, but either way, it’s just too small a sample size to do anything crazy.”
It’s that last point that is always a little hard to believe.