Wings know defense must improve in playoffs

[Mike 0]

With four 30-goal scorers and the most potent power play in franchise history, the Detroit Red Wings this season boasted the best offense in the NHL.

That firepower bailed them out on many nights, enabling the Red Wings to top the 100-point mark for a league-record ninth consecutive season and become just the third franchise to win 50 or more games four years in a row.

Now, it's up to the defense and goaltending to take Detroit the rest of the way.

The Red Wings begin their quest Thursday to become the first team in 11 years to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, when they open the playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

To accomplish the feat, they must increase their commitment to defense -- essentially overnight. Because what they showed during the regular season won't be good enough.

After allowing the fewest goals in the league last season, the Red Wings this year finished tied for 19th in goals against, with 240, the most they have allowed since 1993-94 (275). Among playoff teams, only Calgary yielded more goals.

Teams that have been this loose defensively rarely win the Stanley Cup. In the past 15 seasons, only one club that finished out of the top 10 in goals against won a championship (Carolina was 19th in 2006).

Cleary, if Detroit doesn't return to the tight-checking, suffocating defensive style that has been its trademark, it won't go far.

"We can score more, which has been good and bad for us,'' goaltender Chris Osgood said. "We ended up scoring a lot of goals early and thought we were going to be the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s. We kind of forgot about playing in our own zone for a while.

"We've got to realize we have to get back to doing the little things, the simple things, good defense. We have the talent to always score goals.''

Said captain Nicklas Lidstrom: "I think we can play a lot better than what that (goals against) shows. We've played well, but haven't had that consistent, defensive style of hockey we can play.''

Detroit's defensive-zone coverage was spotty in many games. Too many times, players got beat one-on-one. Turnovers often resulted in goals for the opposition. The Red Wings' penalty-killing was abysmal all season, finishing 25th (78.3 percent). No team with that poor a penalty-killing percentage has won the Stanley Cup in at least the past 25 years.

They still allowed only 27.7 shots per game, a shade more than league leader San Jose (27.2). But several defensemen did not perform as well in their own end as they did last season. One who did, Andreas Lilja, is out for the start of the playoffs -- maybe longer -- with concussion-like symptoms.

"It's not that we don't have the ability or the skill,'' defenseman Brad Stuart said. "It's the willingness to commit and do the little things that make good defensive teams.''

The Red Wings' other major issue this season was goaltending. One year after leading the league in goals-against average during the regular season (2.09) and the playoffs (1.55), Osgood posted career-worst numbers (3.09 GAA, .887 save percentage) that ranked near the bottom of the league.

"That's the key, Osgood, because you know they're going to get a lot of goals,'' CBC analyst Don Cherry said. "If the goalie is as hot as he was when they won the Cup, they've got a great shot because he was dynamite. He's taken a lot of abuse, and he's had some tough games, but it looks like he's coming around. And if he comes around, they're going to be tough.''

Osgood outplayed every goaltender he opposed in the playoffs last year. That will be more difficult to do this season against the likes of Columbus rookie Steve Mason and perhaps, in later rounds, Roberto Luongo (Vancouver), Nikolai Khabibulin (Chicago), Mikka Kiprusoff (Calgary), Chris Mason (St. Louis) or Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose).

But the Red Wings don't need their goalie to win games for them. They only ask that he not allow too many soft, deflating goals. And they know he can draw on his experience of two Stanley Cup titles as a starter and countless pressure situations.

"Ozzie doesn't get rattled by too much,'' forward Kirk Maltby said. "If something doesn't go right, he puts those games behind him. As a team, that's a reassuring feeling, knowing your goalie is not going to be thinking about what happened two games ago.''

Coach Mike Babcock said Osgood has been "rounding himself into shape'' over the past few weeks. It's vital that he does, because backup Ty Conklin, though he has been more consistent, has only six minutes of playoff experience.

"The best thing that's happened to our team in the last while is the play of Osgood,'' Babcock said. "Because that's the biggest thing. If he's right, we got a real opportunity.''

No team has repeated as champion since the Red Wings in 1997 and '98. The last defending champ to even win a playoff round was Colorado, which lost to the Red Wings in the 2002 Western Conference finals.

San Jose and Boston are popular picks to reach the finals, but some say dismissing the Red Wings would be premature.

"They have the ability to be a push-button type of team, knowing when they need to crank it up,'' NBC analyst Ed Olczyk said. "Trusting them come playoff time I think would be a very smart thing for people who would be doubting them.''

Said Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock: "Of all the teams in the league, they're the only team that has legitimate knowledge of what it takes to win. Everybody else can talk about it.''

MLive

[EuroTwin 240]

Cleary, if Detroit doesn't return to the tight-checking, suffocating defensive style that has been its trademark, it won't go far.

Someone's been writing about the Wings a lot. It should be Clearly, not #11.

/grammar police.

Ps. I also agree with the article.

Edited because I'm a moron.

Edited April 15, 2009 by EuroTwin

[j.hoop 64]

Someone's been writing about the Wings a lot. It should be Clearly, not #11.

/grammar polic.

Ps. I also agree with the article.

turn in your badge!

[EuroTwin 240]

turn in your badge!

AWW Damnit. *hands over badge*