Posted by Christy Hammond

12:12AM - Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Detroit Red Wings have completed 20 games and have now finished a quarter of the season. They sit second in the league, first in the conference, and first in their division.

Team Stats
Statistically speaking, the Wings are among the best in several categories when compared to the rest of the NHL teams.

Shots on Goal: 34.6 (first)
Shots Allowed Per Game: 23 (first)
Faceoffs Won: 54.8% (first)
Goals Per Game: 3.3 (third)
Power Play: 22.1% success rate (sixth)
GAA: 2.45 average (seventh)
Penalty Kill: 83.6% success rate (eleventh)

Captain Nicklas Lidstrom likes where his team stands after the first 20 games:

"I think we're off to a great start. We've been playing well both on specialty teams and five-on-five. The last few games we've had some letdowns, especially on special teams -- both the power play and penalty kill hasn't been as effective as they were in the first 10 games or so -- but overall I think we're off to a good start, and I think that's going to help us down the stretch."

Individual Stats
The team has certainly improved its special teams play from last season at this time when they were in the bottom portion of the NHL for both the power play and penalty kill. Not only is the team performing well on the ice, certain individual players have stood out.

Henrik Zetterberg is currently tied in second with Sidney Crosby for offensive points in the NHL. Both players have 30 points, just four behind Vinny Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Zetterberg is averaging 1.5 points per game and scored a point in the first 17 games of the season, a franchise record for starting the season. He has taken 110 shots so far this season, just two behind Alex Ovechkin who leads the league in shots on goal. Hank is tied for third in the league with 14 goals scored. He's sixth in the NHL in assists and he has 16 of them.

Hank's teammate Pavel Datsyuk comes in at number 10 among forwards on the assist list with 16.

Lidstrom has a +/- rating of +14 placing him fifth in the league. While he leads his team in ice time per game, Lidstrom is third in the league behind Francois Beauchemin and the hated Chris Pronger. Lidstrom averages 28:23 minutes of ice time each game. He has 19 offensive points, tied for first with Sergei Gonchar of Pittsburgh among defenseman.

His teammate Brian Rafalski has 17 points to be fifth among defenseman.

Kris Draper has won 61% of his faceoffs so far, second to only Yanic Perreault of Chicago.

Goaltender Stats
As you can see, the Wings are doing pretty well both individually and on a team level. The team's only serious statistical problem is in goaltending with the supposed number one goaltender, Dominik Hasek. Both Hasek and "backup" netminder Chris Osgood have each played ten games so far this season. So how do they compare?
GAA:
Hasek-2.89 (28th)
Osgood- 1.80 (3rd)

Save Percentage:
Hasek- 0.859 (39th)
Osgood- 0.926 (6th)

Record:
Hasek- 5-4-1
Osgood- 9-1-0

Hasek has one assist; Ozzie notched two. The Dominator has four PIM while Osgood has zero PIM.

In summary...
Osgood has been playing like the number one goaltender. Yes, Hasek starts slow and had an irritated hip, but in the last two games he played, Hasek allowed four goals on 16 shots or less in each game. We need the crazy Czech from the playoffs last season to return. That's why we're seeing Osgood in net Wednesday night; he's simply playing better.

It is nice to finally see Henrik Zetterberg placed in the spotlight for his offensive prowess that us Wings fans have seen for years, but the rest of the league's fans are just starting to notice.

Anyone else liking the new defenseman in Rafalski? Having a right handed shot certainly seemed to make our power play unit more threatening. Plus, he replaced Mathieu Schneider, who suffered a broken ankle during preseason and missed four weeks. He recently suffered a hip flexor injury that might keep him out of action for a couple of games. Getting a younger defenseman who seems to be adapting well to the style of defensive play of Detroit was a smart decision by GM Ken Holland in my eyes.