Weekly Review: January 22-28, 2012

Week: January 22-28, 2012

Game 1: St. Louis Blues (@Home): Win 3-1

The Wings have extended their Home Winning Streak to 17 games by defeating St. Louis in this contest. However the Wings looked a little flat to start the game letting St. Louis score the first goal of the evening, a Scott Nichol one-timer from B.J. Crombeen. This goal seemed to light a fire underneath the Wings, as it was all Detroit for the rest of the game dominating the scoring and physical play. Pavel Datsyuk opened the scoring for the Red Wings in the 2nd on a power play with a beautiful deke and backhand shot above the shoulder of Jaroslav Halak. Johan Franzen then got the go-ahead goal by putting away a rebound from a Jonathan Ericsson point shot. Darren Helm had a huge hit on Alex Pietrangelo which caused Carl Colaiacovo to get a roughing penalty. On the ensuing Power Play, Niklas Kronwall would put the icing on the victory with a slapshot from the point thanks to Tomas Holmstrom's screening of Halak. Lots of talk was given to Jaroslav Halak coming into this game but it was Jimmy Howard who stole the show between the pipes, saving 21 of 22 shots posting his league best 30th win of the season.

I criticized the Wings earlier for looking a bit flat and being taken to Overtime and Shoot-out by some mediocre teams, however this decisive win over a top contender like St. Louis shows that the Wings can rise to the occasion when needed. Victories like these are the ones that the Wings will need if they want to make a deep playoff run.

Game 2: @Montreal Canadiens: Loss 7-2

Nicklas Lidstrom was sorely missed as he sat out with flu-like symptoms to watch his team get shelled for 4 goals in the 1st period. Jimmy Howard was pulled after letting in 4 goals on 12 shots. Ty Conklin came in and didn't fair much better letting in 3 goals himself on 13 shots.

Jiri Hudler was the only bright light for Detroit this game, scoring twice in the third period. Hopefully Detroit will be able to put this loss behind them as they head into the All-Star Break.

***

Detroit opened the week nicely with a huge regulation time win over St. Louis, but losing 7-2 to a fringe team like the Canadiens doesn't bode well. Detroit has had a pretty good season so far (their road record is the only blemish on an otherwise great season) heading into the All-Star break, hopefully they can find out what went wrong against the Canadiens and continue playing the rest of the season like they did against the Blues, dominating the scoring and physical play.