SB Nation - Kris Draper

December 8 :: Numbers and Awards

mpetrella — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:25:56 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

Even in a draft-centric team re-creation, here's your backup goaltender. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

Much is made of the Red Wings' ability to built a championship team while never selecting very high in the draft (**cough**Pittsburgh**cough**). People point to Jonathan Ericsson (the 291st and final selection of the 2002 Draft), Henrik Zetterberg (210th in 1999), and Tomas Holmstrom (257th in 1994) are glowing examples of a draft science that has been perfected by the organization. Sometimes, they pick up guys that haven't lived up to their draft pick, like Dan Cleary and Patrick Eaves, but have you ever wondered what the Red Wings would look like if the team was formed -- and the line combinations were made -- based solely on their draft selection? Well, it would look like this:

Cleary (13) -- May (14) -- Bertuzzi (23)
Eaves (29) -- Ferraro (32) -- Emmerton (41)
Abdelkader (42) -- Tatar (60) -- Draper (62)
D. Axelsson (62) -- Maltby (65) -- Nestrasil (75)
TOP CALL-UPS: Joakim Andersson (88), Valtteri Filppula (95), Johan Franzen (97)

Stuart (3) -- Kindl (19)
B. Smith (27) -- Kronwall (29)
Lidstrom (53) -- Lilja (54)
TOP CALL-UPS: Doug Janik (55), Gleason Fournier (90), Max Nicastro (91)

McCollum (30)
Osgood (54)
TOP CALL-UPS: Jimmy Howard (64), Daniel Larsson (92)

AFTER THE JUMP, some more numbers and award updates

Justin Abdelkader is going to get the opportunity to center the second line against the Blues, but he's the only Red Wing faceoff-taker with a percentage below 50 (minimum 100 faceoffs). He's currently winning only 42.8% of his draws.

The Red Wings have only scored the first goal of a game ten times this season, with Tomas Holmstrom and Dan Cleary each netting that goal twice. Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Brad Stuart, Drew Miller, and Justin Abdelkader each have the distinction once.

Kris Draper and Niklas Kronwall co-lead the team in goals against division opponents (3 each). Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom co-lead in goals against opponents from other divisions (9 each). Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in points at home (16) and on the road (14).

The only players to have negative +/- both at home and on the road are Dan Cleary, Derek Meech, Brett Lebda, and Todd Bertuzzi. On the contrary, the only players to be positive both at home and on the road are Kris Draper, Patrick Eaves, Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom.

Kirk Maltby is the only Red Wing with a point while shorthanded -- an unassisted goal.

Justin Abdelkader leads the way with 78 hits, followed by Brad Stuart (75), Darren Helm (73), Dan Cleary (50) and Patrick Eaves (50).

CHRIS CHELIOS AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings defensemen with the fewest goals scored in the most games played. The player must have played in at least 3/4 of the team's games. The award is named for Chris Chelios, who scored 23 goals in his final EXACTLY 600 games as a Red Wing (regular season and playoffs).*
1. Nicklas Lidstrom (1 goal in 29 games)
2. Brett Lebda (1 goal in 26 games)
3. Brad Stuart (2 goals in 29 games)
4. Brian Rafalski (2 goals in 26 games)
5. Jonathan Ericsson (3 goals in 27 games)

DANNY CLEARY "SACRAFICE YOUR FACE" AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most blocked shots. Award is named for Dan Cleary, who is used to becoming synonymous with "black eye" and/or "broken jaw."*
1. Darren Helm (20)
2. Danny Cleary (15)
3. Henrik Zetterberg (14)
4. Pavel Datsyuk (13)
5. Justin Abdelkader (9)

DEREK MEECH AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wing with the most games spent in the press box. Award is named for Derek Meech, who was a healthy scratch 35 times last season.*
1. Derek Meech (15)
2. Brad May (8)
3. Patrick Eaves (7)
4. Kirk Maltby (5)
5. Brett Lebda (3)

GREG STEFAN AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings goaltender that makes you question how they're in the NHL and you aren't. Award is named for Greg Stefan, who played nine seasons for the Red Wings, but only three that had a goals against average under 4.*
1. Chris Osgood (6-5-4, 2.75, .896)
2. Jimmy Howard (8-5-1, 2.55, .910)

MIKAEL SAMUELSSON AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most shots to miss the net. Award is named for Mikael Samuelsson, who literally must have been aiming for the 11th row.*
1. Henrik Zetterberg (52)
2. Todd Bertuzzi (29)
3. Tomas Holmstrom (28)
4. Ville Leino (27)
5. Pavel Datsyuk (21)

PAST AWARD WINNERS
Patrick Eaves Goodfellas Award: Patrick Eaves (last player to be penalized)
Aaron Downey Award: Derek Meech (last player to score a goal)

Tuesday Links: In favor of 82 road games edition

averagejoe — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:00:58 -0000

It's game's like Monday when I'm glad I work nights so I don't have to watch that putrid display.

Blues news

Some dude named Chris Stewart scored twice to help down the Blues. [The Denver Post]
The Blues flat-out stink at home. [Belleville News-Democrat]
Dan O'Neill has a pretty solid lede here. Gotta love Tiger Woods' jokes. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
Alex Steen nose he can be better, and the Blues hope he gets up to snuff and lives up to his potential. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Hockey news

Monday results. [Yahoo! Sports]
Tuesday's schedule. [Yahoo! Sports]
The Hurricane have decided to keep Manny Legace to be Cam Ward's backup. [Canes Country]
Martin Brodeur ties Terry Sawchuk with his 103rd career shutout. [In Lou We Trust]
I don't care if he plays dirty, Alex Ovechkin is a monster who any team would be lucky to have. [ESPN]
John Stevens, the dismissed Flyers' coach, talks about getting the boot. [ESPN]
Darren McCarty, who is up there with Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper on the list of Wings I hate, is hanging them up. [ESPN]
Brian Burke may have the U.S. Olympic roster finalized soon. [CTV Olympics]

Other links

Well this settles it, if I have kids they are never going to visit the mall Santa. [sketchy santas]
This dog is fucking awesome and the health department needs to let him stay. [Buzzfeed]
In college, our WiFi name was "The Jetsons." I have no idea why. Here are 25 other ones that are better than that. [Holy Taco]

Video

If you've ever worked in broadcasting, you'll find this funny. If you don't know what B roll is, it's stock footage. Enjoy.

That's it from me. Gametimelinks(at)gmail.com if you like sharing.

Red Wings Knock Off Rangers 3-1

joehass — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:27:00 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

Jimmy Howard makes one of his 28 saves Sunday night against the New York Rangers

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On a back-end of a two-games-in-two-nights-in-two-cities road trip, the Red Wings would be forgiven if they didn't look their best.

Instead, they played an extremely solid first period, and pulled out a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers off goals from Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary and Kris Draper.

To make things even better, Jimmy Howard had yet another very good night in net, stopping 28 shots, including a penalty shot that would've given the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

And the Red Wings even did something no team had done yet all season: hold the red-hot Marian Gaborik (21 goals in 26 games) to no shots in a game.

The first period saw Christopher Higgins come in to the right of Howard on a three-on-three. Brian Boyle skated up the middle and got past Justin Abdelkader. Higgins saw him, set him up nicely, and Higgins put it past Howard.

Early in the second, Ryan Callahan got past Jonathan Ericsson and was in alone when Ericsson hooked him, earning Callahan a penalty shot. But Callahan's fake wasn't bought by Howard, and when he went to Howard's left, Howard held his skate firm against the post and Callahan couldn't put the puck over it.

Later in the period, Henrik Zetterberg took a 23-footer that bounced off Henrik Lundqvist, but the rebound went to Datsyuk. Datsyuk did not miss, putting it past Lundqvist for his seventh of the season.

In the third with just over two minutes left, it was Zetterberg again setting up the play, coming up the boards to the left of Lundqvist. He passed cross-ice to a fresh-on-the-ice Cleary. With Callahan draped over him and just to the right of Lundqvist, Cleary put the puck to the net, and after going between Lundqvist's legs, it went off his left skate and into the net for the game-winner.

Finally, with six seconds left, Kris Draper took advantage of the empty net to put the sealer in and net his sixth of the season.

The Red Wings ended up with 31 shots on goal, while the Rangers had 29. The Wings are off until Wednesday, when they face the St. Louis Blues.

Player of the game: Jimmy Howard. He made some big-time saves tonight, especially on the Callahan penalty shot. And with every great performance, he makes Mike Babcock have to think a little harder as he moves forward.

Rangers GameDay: News and Notes, Scouting the Red Wings

Jim Schmiedeberg — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:22:26 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

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RocNow.com has a great story on Ryan Callahan.

Here is the recap of last night's game in the NY Times, interesting quote from Henrik Lundqvist:

"Technically I’ve been feeling good the last couple weeks, but the focus part felt really good tonight," Lundqvist said. "It’s important that you don’t think too much when you play, and not analyze the game as you play. It’s just focusing on the next shot."

Here are the post-game remarks from Head Coach John Tortorella:

More after the jump.....

Detroit Red Wings: 13-10-5, 3rd Place, Central Division

Head Coach: Mike Babcock

	STATS
28	GP	28
13	W	14
10	L	13
5	OT	1
31	P	29
0.554	P%	0.518
2.75	G/G	2.86
2.79	GA/G	3.04
21.4	PP%	21.0
77.4	PK%	84.3
34.1	S/G	29.1
27.8	SA/G	29.9
52.3	FO%	47.7

Leading Scorer:

Henrik Zetterberg

#40 / Left Wing / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-11

Weight: 195

Born: Oct 09, 1980

Notes:

Veteran forwards Tomas Holmstrom and Kris Draper are producing for the Wings. Each has two goals and two assists in his last four games. Holmstrom leads the team with 11 goals after scoring on the power play against the Devils.

Red Wings staying the course despite injuries (The Fourth Period)

Tomas Holstrom scores 200th NHL goal (Freep)

For more on the Red Wings, check out the SBNation home for Detroit: Winging It In Motown

One final thought from me:

Explain to me again why these two Original Six teams meet once a year.

New Jersey Devils Give Up 2 Goal Lead, Pull Out Win over Detroit Red Wings in Shootout

John Fischer — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:09:07 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Patrik Elias showed up in the shootout and scored the shootout winning goal to give the New Jersey Devils the win. Chris Osgood is frozen at this point in time. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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Last Saturday, the New Jersey Devils snowballed their way to a huge 6-1 win over the New York Islanders. As the game went on, the Devils played better and went on to dominate on the ice and on the scoreboard. Tonight, the opposite happened as the Devils hosted the Detroit Red Wings. The Devils started off great, slowed down a bit in the second period, and then reverted to how they looked last night in the third period. In the process, the Devils conceded a two goal lead and the game was forced into overtime and followed by a shootout. The Devils won there, the final became 4-3, and so NHL.com has your recap complete with the relevant stats.

The Devils prevailed there, but I can't honestly say I'm pleased with the performance. I know, I know, it's a results-oriented business and the Devils just picked up 4 points in 48 hours. Fine. But the Devils could have and should have done better tonight, especially because they played so well and worked so hard in the first period. Credit the Detroit Red Wings for responding after being beaten on first twenty minutes, they eventually took the game over and made it a game.

Winging it in Motown has their recap up and joehass wonders why Patrick Eaves wasn't used in the shootout for Detroit given that he had a goal and an assist. Read on my extended thoughts on tonight's game.

Let's talk about the goaltenders first. Martin Brodeur and Chris Osgood, I felt, played well. Both goaltenders had to come up huge at various points. Brodeur bailed the Devils out of the third period, whereas Chris Osgood robbed the Devils a few times earlier - most notably Ilkka Pikkarainen's backhand. A bit odd to say given that both gave up 3 goals each. However, only one of the six goals scored in regulation was really a soft - Johnny Oduya's individual effort sliding right through Osgood's legs. The other goals were off rebounds where the goaltender had no chance on (Jamie Langenbrunner, and one deflection by Patrick Eaves. Here's a video of the game's highlights from NHL.com. See for yourself:

Now, you can see where the momentum lied in the shots by period. The Devils' first period was very strong. They bossed the Detroit skaters around, they moved the puck up ice at will, they owned the neutral zone, and outshot the Wings 11-7. They were doing what I said I wanted them to do in the game preview - be aggressive on offense. If you had seen that period, then you became increasingly amazed at how the Devils took their foot off the proverbial pedal. In the second period, Detroit pulled one back (Kris Draper on a rebound), the Devils responded with a goal of their own (Rob Niedermayer on a rebound created by Vladimir Zharkov), and then Detroit capitalized on a power play near the end of the period (Thomas Holmstrom on a tip). Sure, the Devils were leading after the period, 3-2; but the Red Wings clearly made adjustments that the Devils didn't have many answers for and so outshot the Devils 11-9. No longer was Detroit being outworked, no longer was Detroit constantly giving away the puck in the neutral zone.

And then the third period came and it reminded me so much of last night, it was sick in retrospect. It started off well enough. Jay Pandolfo nearly had a goal when his shot from the high slot was stopped by Chris Osgood. The puck bounced up, over Osgood, and was about to slide in only for Brad Stuart to swoop in and clear it off the line. From that point on, Detroit took over in pinning the Devils back, forcing them to clear the puck right back to Detroit, and repeat. Patrick Eaves got the equalizer off a deflection and Martin Brodeur should be thanked for keeping the score tied. After all, the Devils only put 3 shots on Osgood in the third (11-3 Detroit in terms of shots). Where were the Devils of the first period? Where was the aggressive offense? Truthfully, the Devils escaped the third period and were fortunate to earn a point with that kind of "offense."

Overtime saw the Devils actually make an effort to score a goal and came close when a deflected shot by Travis Zajac beat Osgood, but was denied by the post. Alas, this game needed a shootout and the Devils pull out a win. The fans (it was a very good and loud crowd at the Rock) were real happy with the win, nearly everyone standing for every shot and Devils attempt. Exciting stuff, but I can't help but think that most would have liked to have seen the Devils continue to do what they did in the first period and put the game out of doubt. But Detroit responded real well and the Devils wilted. I also can't help but think of the following cliche: good teams know how to win games that they perhaps shouldn't have. The Devils did just that in the last two games. So I guess they are a good team.

A few Devils stuck out tonight, in my opinion. I felt Jay Pandolfo (17:58, 1 A, 2 SOG) and Johnny Oduya (21:01, 1 G, 3 hits) had good games. I was a bit concerned with how they would look after not playing for at least a month, and my concerns were quickly erased. Both hustled pretty well and didn't make too many noticeable mistakes as they played significant minutes. Well, Oduya did jump up on offense, got caught, and didn't really recover well as Darren Helm unloaded a shot that Kris Draper eventually knocked in. But Oduya was just a part of that, the other Devils should have helped out in recovery; so I wouldn't kill him for that one. Rob Niedermayer had a good game, he had 3 shots on net and went right to the net at the right time for the Devils' third goal. He played just over 19 minutes (19:17) and statistically I can only fault him for going 5 for 13 on faceoffs. I also felt Colin White (21:00) and Mike Mottau (24:57) had a solid game on defense. This is especially good news for White as he left Friday's game early due to "lower body soreness." Tonight, he stayed in and feels pretty good afterward according to Gulitti's postgame report.

In terms of Devils who stuck out for not being noticeable (this makes sense, hear me out), I'd have to point the finger to Patrik Elias and Brian Rolston. Last week, they were a dynamite duo. Tonight, they weren't really there. Rolston had 3 shots on net and played 14:57. None of those shots were of particular importance and he managed to get blocked twice and miss the net three times. I didn't think he had an impact. Elias got the win-clinching goal in the shootout, but he did little else in the game. He also played far less than I thought, only 14:05, put 1 shot on net, and was thoroughly beaten at the faceoff dot (3 for 11). The offense has a whole suffered as the game went on, and these two really do need to take more initiative to prevent this from happening in future games.

I do have to credit Detroit's defense in part of stifling New Jersey's offense. Nicklas Lidstrom is an absolute joy to watch on the blueline. He knows where to position himself, when to step up on a player, when to drop back, and he is so slick with the puck. A few times in the game, a Devil forward would have the puck and carry it over the blueline only to just dump it away because he knows he can't beat Lidstrom in a one-on-one battle. It's no wonder he's known as a dominant defenseman. Naturally, he played 30:48 for Detroit because he really is that important. Jonathan Ericsson also came back from injury and put in a good (not perfect, but good) effort in playing 28:24 (!!), often along side Lidstrom. Overall, the Red Wings' D cleaned up a lot of rebounds and Lidstrom alone made things difficult for the Devils' offense after the first period. Not that the Devils' offense was particularly interested in attacking them by the third period.

So what's next? The Devils have four games in the coming week and they really need to be more consistently positive on offense. That means putting shots on net through all three periods. That means not allowing the opposition to dictate the play when up with a lead. That means not giving up a two goal lead in a game. I think it'll get better, hopefully by Monday when they go up to Buffalo. Thanks to Steve and commenters in the GameThread, as well as all of the readers. Feel free to leave your thoughts, questions, complaints, stats I missed, and anything else you feel about tonight's shootout win in the comments.

Red Wings Lose 4-3 in Shootout To Devils

joehass — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:31:16 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

8 days ago: Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood makes a save during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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When you're facing the best goaltender in the modern history of the National Hockey League, facing him in a shootout is a daunting task.

Having come back from down two goals, the Red Wings were seemingly charged up entering overtime against the New Jersey Devils. Unable to settle it in the extra five minutes, they had to go to the shootout where they could only get one shot out of four into the net. Patrick Elias managed to beat Chris Osgood in the fourth round to give New Jersey the 4-3 victory.

Patrick Eaves had a goal and an assist, while Kris Draper and Tomas Holmstrom also scored for the Red Wings. Chris Osgood made 23 saves, but let in a couple of softer goals.

In the first, Zach Parise went to the right of Osgood, bringing three Red Wings with him. Meanwhile, Jamie Langenbrunner came in stealthily to Osgood's left, and Parise set him up beautifully. With a wide-open net, he did not miss to hit his seventh of the season.

Just under two minutes later, Johnny Oduya led a three-on-two for the Devils. Holding onto it, he put it between Osgood's legs to make it 2-0. It was Oduya's first goal of the year in his first game back since being injured on October 28.

That first period looked suspiciously like Detroit's Thursday night egg against Edmonton: slow playing, lethargic, and generally without a lot of energy.

The Red Wings struck back in the second period. Darren Helm skated in along the near-side boards. Using Mark Frasier as a screen, he put the puck towards the net, where Kris Draper knocked in his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-1.

Five minutes later, New Jersey set up another three-on-two. This time, James Pandolfo brought the puck up the right side, passed it across to Vladimir Zharkov, who shot it towards a scrum in front of Osgood. Rob Neidermayer happened to be in the right place at the right time and got it in to reset the two-goal lead.

With 30 seconds left in the second and Elias in the penalty box, Brad Stuart passed to Tomas Holmstrom, who was camped out in his usual place in front of the opposition goaltender. Holmstrom got it past Brodeur to make it back to 3-2.

In the third period, Justin Abdelkader had the puck while being draped by Bryce Salvador. Dumping it towards the net, Patrick Eaves just tipped it, causing it to go past Brodeur to tie the game at three.

In the shootout, Pavel Datsuyk and Zach Parise scored in the first round. Henrik Zetterberg, Jamie Langenbrunner, Todd Bertuzzi, and Travis Zajac all missed to go into bonus shootout. In the fourth round, Mike Babcock sent out Ville Leino, whose shot was saved nicely by Brodeur. Patrick Elias went backhanded, froze Osgood, held the puck for one more beat, then put it underneath Osgood's outstretched left arm.

The Wings will stay in the Tri-State area to play the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Sunday night. The Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night in Buffalo 2-1.

Player of the game: Patrick Eaves. Here's the question no one seemed to ask Mike Babcock after the game: why did he send Ville Leino (1 shot, 2 giveaways, -2) out for the fourth round of the shootout and not Patrick Eaves (1 goal, 1 assist)?

Maple Leafs demolish Red Wings 5-1

MrNorrisTrophy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:37:56 -0000

More photos » by NATHAN DENETTE - AP

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On "Hall of Fame night" in Toronto, in which Brett Hull, Luc Robataille, and Steve Yzerman stepped onto the ice to be acknowledged, not much was Hall of Fame worthy from the Detroit end of things.

Phil Kessel had a big game for the Maple Leafs with a goal and an assist while goalie Jonas Gustavsson stopped 35 of 36 shots for his second consecutive win. Chris Osgood gave up five goals on 28 shots as Detroit's three game win streak came to a close and Toronto won only their third game of the year.

Toronto's Wayne Primeau opened the scoring at 10:34 on a shot from the faceoff circle to the left of Chris Osgood. Primeau gained the zone following a failed pinch by Jonathan Ericsson and Kris Draper lost his edge to give Primeau a two-on-one against Brett Lebda. Colton Orr and Jeff Finger were credited with the assists on Primeau's goal, his first of the season. Phil Kessel added a goal with 26 seconds left to play in the first period to increase the Maple Leafs lead to 2-0. Ian White fired on net from the blue line and Jason Blake's rebound shot had originally beat Chris Osgood before Kessel tapped it in for insurance. Swedish goalie phenom Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson stopped all 13 of the Detroit shots in the first period with several great saves on quality chances.

Jeff Finger put a shot over Chris Osgood's shoulder on a 3-on-2 for a 3-0 Toronto lead 5:21 into the 2nd period. Finger, the trail man on the break out, received a pass from Lee Stempniak and was able to score his first goal of the year. The Wings were caught in a line change at the tail end of their power play and it resulted in the odd-man rush and a goal for Toronto. As if the 3-0 Toronto lead wasn't enough to deal with for Detroit, Jason Williams fell behind the Toronto net and left the game with an injury to his right leg. Early reports indicate a broken right leg.

Detroit finally got on the board in the third period. Although they didn't score on a five-on-three power play chance, they had several great opportunities. Soon after the power play ended, Dan Cleary received a pass from Brian Rafalski as both teams were changing and had only Gustavsson to beat. Cleary did just that as he scored his 100th career goal at 5:59 of the third, providing the only high point of the night for Detroit. The 3-1 Toronto lead quickly ballooned to 5-1 as John Mitchell deflected a Phil Kessel shot past Osgood at 9:22 and Alexei Ponikarovsky beat Osgood with a weak backhand at 12:44. Gustavsson was solid all game and allowed kept the puck out his own net and allowed his teammates to get chances at the other end.

Detroit returns to action on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

MrNorrisTrophy's Wing of the Game: No question about it, Dan Cleary. Cleary's goal was the lone high point in the game and a huge weight is off his shoulders after finally getting his 100th career goal. Goal 100 below.

Dan Cleary

#11 / Right Wing / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 6-0

Weight: 205

Born: Dec 18, 1978

Red Wings vs Maple Leafs coverage

Anderson, Stewart Down Wings 3-1

MrNorrisTrophy — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:55:04 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

about 1 month ago: Detroit Red Wings center Kris Draper, left, tries to shoot the puck past Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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In a game in which the Detroit Red Wings out shot the Colorado Avalanche 49-23, goalie Craig Anderson stood tall for the Avalanche. Anderson's 48 stops kept the door ajar for his teammates to put two pucks past Jimmy Howard who was starting only his second game of the season.The insurance empty net goal sealed the win for the Avalanche and guaranteed at least a season split with the Red Wings.

The first goal of the game came came at 3:09 of the second period as Kris Draper put a backhand past Anderson for his second goal of the year. Dan Cleary fired the puck on net and Draper put the rebound past Anderson for a 1-0 Detroit lead. T.J. Galiardi tied the game at 14:26 with his first goal of the year, also a backhand shot, past Howard.

Chris Stewart broke the tie at 9:20 of the 3rd period with a shot off the post for a 2-1 Avalanche lead. Stewart's shot was not particularly fast but Howard's read on the puck put him out of position and it beat him stick side. Paul Stastny added the empty net goal at 19:00 to secure the win for the Avalanche, their second of the year over the Red Wings and their 8th overall. Detroit falls to 3-4-2 with the effort and starts the five game road trip with two consecutive losses.

Detroit's power play struggled, going 0 for 7 against a very talented penalty kill group from Colorado. Those power plays include four opportunities with under ten minutes of play remaining in the third period. Colorado was able to shut down the Detroit offense that is still struggling to find its identity while capitalizing on the few chances that they had.

Anderson was the star of the show with his great performance in net, garnering his 8th win of the season and dropping his already stellar goals against average. Anderson was in position all night long and was the best penalty killer for the Avalanche. Jimmy Howard player well for the Red Wings tonight, only his second start of the season but the few times he was out of position proved costly in the loss.

Detroit's next game is on Tuesday, October 27th against the Vancouver Canucks.

MrNorrisTrophy's Wing of the game: Kris Draper. Draper scored the lone Detroit goal tonight and had one of the few quality chances of the night and was able to convert on it. A close second would be Henrik Zetterberg with 5 shots on goal and 60% of his faceoffs won.

Kris Draper

#33 / Center / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-10

Weight: 188

Born: May 24, 1971

On Rivalry, Trolls, and Being an Adult

Joe Dunman — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:31:42 -0000

More photos » by Jerry S. Mendoza - AP

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Though many people will deny it to the end, the rivalry between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings may never die. It certainly has not died yet. Here at MHH, we make no effort to hide this, as last night's game thread will attest. Watching the Avs beat the Wings will always bring us joy, will always make us proud, and will always feel like good triumphing over evil.

There's no doubt that the rivalry is not the same as it was before. The Blood Feud days are over. But even though the original players are nearly completely gone, and though the teams have transitioned or are transitioning into less-dominant positions in the league, the deep hatred between their fan bases persists.

Red Wings fans would have you believe that hatred for the Avalanche is now below them. Their team has become so dominant, and the Avs so terrible, that Colorado is now unworthy of their ire. Why would a team so consitently atop the Western Conference stoop to worry about a former rival suffering through the darkest days of their franchise's history?

While most Wings fans seem to live in denial of the rivalry's persistence, there is little doubt many of them harbor the same hatred for us that we still hold for them. What else would inspire a Detroit fan to visit the blog of the Avs' newspaper beat writer just to publicly ridicule and disparage the family of the other team's star 18 year-old rookie? Maybe Detroit fans are just so bored that they literally have nothing else to do, but I doubt it. In Detroit, there's always a fire to set or a house to bulldoze. In truth, those hateful, juvenile comments left by Wings fans on Adrian Dater's recent blog post were motivated by their deep hatred for anything having to do with the Colorado Avalanche.

Those comments, now deleted despite Dater's initial failed attempts to erase them, were typical of the kind of petty, juvenile hatred we're used to seeing on Wings' blogs and message boards. They're really nothing new. The controversy, if there is one at all, arose from Dater's inability to effectively moderate his blog's comments section. He felt forced to harshly respond to trolls and he subsequently alienated some of his readers by doing so.

One of the strengths of Mile High Hockey, I think, has been our willingness to shut down trolls when they appear. Blatantly hateful and petty comments by fans of opposing teams are erased and the writers are banned. Sometimes we've been able to do this so quickly that most readers and commenters never knew they were there at all.

While this may strike some as heavy-handed or contrary to higher standards of free speech, it works very well at maintaining order and civility. And let's not kid ourselves, Mile High Hockey is not a democratic society. It's a community of fans, but a heavily-moderated community. While we foster spirited discussions and disagreements, we do not tolerate hateful comments from trolls just looking for an angry reaction. This policy, which has worked very well for more than two years, will never change.

I believe, from both experience and faith, that Avalanche fans as a whole are more mature and more civil than Red Wings fans. I also believe that our team's recent troubles have made us more humble and also more appreciative of any small victories our boys in Burgundy and Blue may achieve throughout the season. Wings fans have not had to endure the indignity of missing the playoffs or finishing near the bottom of the pile in many, many years. They've become spoiled and obnoxious because of it. This fact rears its ugly head periodically, as it did on Dater's blog, when Wings fans ridicule Steve Moore, the victim of a shameless attack, a broken neck, and a ruined career. It also becomes apparent when Wings fans criticize the physical appearance of the women in Matt Duchene's family.

It's one thing to make fun of the opposing team's city, or their arena, or their players on the ice, or their fans as a whole. It's another to stoop so low as to make fun of serious injuries* or make sexist jokes at the expense of family members. We here at MHH will continue to hate the Wings, always and forever, but we'll do so without shedding our dignity.

*In the past, some MHH members have made fun of the major injuries suffered by Kris Draper in 1996 when he was hit from behind by Claude Lemieux. I discourage these kinds of jokes and will continue to do so. I hate Kris Draper and think he's one of the dirtiest players in recent league history, but I'll never wish injury or suffering on anyone, even a Red Wings player.

Wings beat Kings 5-2; Lidstrom Nets 1,000th Point

joehass — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:24:40 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

Chris Osgood stops Justin Williams as Brad Stuart looks on.

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A balanced attack, with five goals from five different players, helped the Red Wings defeat the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.

After spotting the Kings an early 1-0 lead on Derek Brown's first goal of the season, Detroit roared back with two goals in the second. Jonathan Ericsson lit the lamp past Jonathan Quick at 3:33. Five minutes later, with Los Angeles a man down for too many men on the ice, Nicklas Lidstrom's shot was tipped off the stick of Tomas Holmstrom to make it 2-1.

In the third period, the Red Wings were down a man when Jarret Stoll pulled down Kris Draper. The official waited a beat to make the call, infuriating Stoll, but off the ensuing faceoff, Lidstrom set up Henrik Zetterberg for his first of the season. It was Lidstrom's 1,000th point, earning him a standing ovation at the TV timeout. After Justin Williams brought Los Angeles back to within one, Kirk Maltby's slapper from Todd Bertuzzi put Detroit back up by two. With Quick pulled for the extra attacker, Brian Rafalski exited the penalty box and put the puck into the empty net for the final goal of the night.

Player of the Game: Nick Lidstrom. Two assists tonight, the second making him the eighth defenseman in NHL history with 1,000 points, gives it to him.