Babs responds to waved-off goal in Game 3

[titanium2 867]

Brophy: Coaching through adversity

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2009/05/06/...bcock_coaching/

Mike Babcock understands that his job as coach is to get his team beyond the unfortunate events that decided Game 3.

Most people assume, and quite logically, that it will be Mike Babcock standing behind the bench of Team Canada bench when the 2010 Winter Olympics kick off in Vancouver.

And with no disrespect to the three Jack Adams Award nominees this season, each of whom would be very deserving of the honour of NHL coach of the year, Babcock deserves the job.

It is understood that Babcock has had more to work with than some of his contemporaries, but a quick peak at the current NHL playoffs reveals how the team with the best players doesn't always win. In the past few days the Red Wings have had the daylights beaten out of its plan to become the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champion since they did it in 1996-97 and 1997-98. The salary cap has made it very difficult for teams to build a dynasty, but many, including the Red Wings themselves, believed they had what it takes to win back-to-back titles this season, especially with the arrival of star winger Marian Hossa.

But a heartbreaking triple-overtime loss at home followed by one of the worst calls to ever go against them in Game 3 changed everything. The call in question was the one where referee Brad Watson signaled an end to play because he lost sight of the puck just before Hossa poked it into the net behind Ducks stopper Jonas Hiller with just over a minute remaining in the game. The puck was clearly lying uncovered in the crease.

No goal!

Not just any 'No goal!' but a 'No goal!' of Buffalo Sabres foot-in-the-crease proportions.

(OK, maybe not that big a 'No goal!', but close.)

"We got screwed," Babcock told sportsnet.ca Wednesday morning. "And we're allowed to be pissed off. It is an absolute tragedy. But we have to get over it. To me they were the better team in the early going, but we got better as the game went on and I thought we were the better team at the end. Too bad both teams scored two goals and the game was not allowed to go into overtime."

Now what?

Do the Wings, knowing they were robbed, simply fold up the tent? Obviously not. Besides, there is no guarantee the Wings would have prevailed had the game gone into overtime.

Enter Babcock.

He must somehow find a way to get his players to quickly put Tuesday's heartbreaking loss behind them. It will be one of the toughest tasks he has faced in his esteemed big-league coaching career. No time to dwell on it. Back to business.

On the surface, it doesn't look like an easy task. But when you really think about it, not much about the Wings has changed outside of the fact star defenceman Brian Rafalski has been hurt and some of the snipers the team depends on have mysteriously gone silent.

The good news is goalie Chris Osgood, thought to be the team's Achilles' heal heading into the playoffs, has been decent. He has not been the reason why the team has lost.

Back to the scorers.

Pavel Datsyuk is a Hart Trophy candidate after finishing fourth in league scoring, but has been snake bitten in the playoffs thus far with just one goal and three points in seven games. He has yet to score in three games against Anaheim.

Holmstrom and Hossa are pointless in the second round.

"Holmstrom scored a goal," Babcock corrects. "They just decided they didn't want it to count."

I stand corrected.

Babcock said, despite the devastating loss, he saw some signs of encouragement he hopes will carry over into Game 4.

"I thought in the second half of the game Datsyuk and Hossa really started to take over," he said.

Coming back against a team that plays as tough as do the Ducks will not be easy. Hiller has played solidly between the pipes, Chris Pronger is a menace at both ends of the rink and Ryan Getzlaf is an unstoppable force up front. Add to that the Ducks are also coached by one of the best button-pushers in the league, Randy Carlyle, and you can guess he is burning the night oil thinking of ways to send the Red Wings packing.

Babcock sounded decidedly frustrated in the wake of the Game 3 loss. Who wouldn't be in his position? But he has faced adversity before and he'll face it again. He knows between now and Thursday night he needs to get his team focused on what lies ahead; not what has happened in the past. He's up for the challenge.

"In my mind, one of the greatest things about winning a championship is the journey," Babcock said. "One day you are up and the next day you are down. I believe part of the satisfaction of winning is how hard you have to work to accomplish your goal."

I must emphasize the bolded part. It happened. It sucks. Whine about it tonight. Drink your shots. Let it go. Move on and show up for work tomorrow. Otherwise, you're letting one stupid incident affect your game in the here and now.

And let's face it, none of us wants to be that kind of person who constantly blames the present on their past. Edited May 6, 2009 by titanium2

[Wingsallwin 0]

Babcock screwed up the game.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

The refs are so pervertedly excited to blow these whistles nowadays for any number of calls, that these situations are more likely only to get worse. They hold onto that whistle and are ready to flex their authoratative muscle with glee. It's sickening and a direct result of the rule changes... It's changing the culture of the game. In playoffs of yester year, that call never happens because refs know unless major incident to put away the whistle in late games.

[Chris L 0]

Babcock screwed up the game.

No the team did.

Babcock only decides who goes out on the ice when. What they do out there is up to the players. This was a team loss and a double plus lucky break for the Ducks. End of story. The OP is spot on and so is the article.

Move on and win boys!

[Guest Shoreline]

Well yeah, everyone has a right to be pissed off at the screw job by the refs, but can they also please direct their anger at the team that decided it doesn't want to convert on more of it's power plays? The Ducks forecheck 2 or 3 and somehow come back fast enough to have 4 skaters in the zone ahead of 2 Wings forecheckers. Can we focus more of this anger at the team that isn't playing with the same heart and intensity as the opposing team? Can we focus more of this anger at the team that refuses to throw bodies at the net, and is perfectly content take 30-50ft shots from the outside all game where they're likely to be deflected by a Duck stick/blocked harmlessly to where no Wing can get to it?

I mean, focusing one's anger extensively on this ref issue is really, to me, an escape from how this team is really beating itself more than anything.

I also agree that fans need to just move on. Way too many irrational, panicked fans right now.

Edited May 6, 2009 by Shoreline

[webwing91 4]

wait... Babs thought that Datsyuk and Hossa were taking over at the end of the game? They were better, but far from Dominant. This mean we won't see ZDH?

[SDavis35 140]

This is why I like Babcock as a coach, he doesn't dwell on games we lose, doesn't care about what goes wrong, or anything. He's constantly focused on the next game, which is where we need to be. As fans we get more lee-way cause we don't have to play, and I'm actually kind of glad that's the worst call against us, cause it won't be a big deal in the next game when we pick ourselves up and show them what we got.

[Rebound 22]

No the team did.

Babcock only decides who goes out on the ice when. What they do out there is up to the players. This was a team loss and a double plus lucky break for the Ducks.

I don't wholly disagree with you, but I do question Chelios' ice time last night. I don't think there was a time he touched the puck that he didn't generate a giveaway, or find himself so out of position as to not be able to catch up to the attacking Duck forward (see: the Ducks' first goal).

I'm not looking forward to the Wings' continued shortage of D-men.

Edited May 6, 2009 by Rebound

[CenterIce 83]

Babcock screwed up the game.

How so?

[Pavrik Zettersyuk 4]

Neither one of these teams in this series are going to dominate the full 60 minutes of the game, it's just too close of a match for that. Yeah, not only did the Ducks dominate the first half of the game, but we were passing like s***, making retarded turnovers, coming in and shooting from the blueline with no traffic, and sucking on the powerplay, so we didn't really help. We still took over the game in the second half, though.

Either way, like I said, we need a much better effort in game 4, but a domination for 60 minutes around the clock isn't going to happen, it's just too close.

[talex 1]

I am not panicked, but very pissed off. I watched the 2nd goal by the ducks about 5 times as well and it would have been goalie interference if it was homer no doubt about it, Niedermayer was bowling over ozzie before the puck passed the line, an extrememly horrible no call. Add to it the stolen goal and you have the refs winning the game for the ducks last night and that is a travesty, even as a die hard wings fan I would not want to win that way.

I now believe the NHL needs a new rule, simular to the NFL's where the coach can challenge, no goal calls in the playoff's should be able to be challenged because each goal is so hard to come by. Situtations like the no goal call last night should not be deciding games period, I am sure every team has seen it's share of heart aches and bad call's, but the past couple playoff seasons have seen some doosies for the wings with the calls against homer and the no call's when ozzie is ran over, there needs to be a balancing effect to these game changing calls so it does not feel like these games are won or lost based on how the refs call the game and you would be lying to yourself if you said you never felt that way or were aprehensive about how the refs were going to call a game. There needs to be a simple rule which lets a coach have 1 or 2 challenges during a game with maybe something like loosing the challenge being penalized with faceoff in their own end or a power play for the opposing team.

That's my rant, time to put that joke behind us and win this damn series.

Gooooooooo Wings

[TheSupafly 50]

Well yeah, everyone has a right to be pissed off at the screw job by the refs, but can they also please direct their anger at the team that decided it doesn't want to convert on more of it's power plays? The Ducks forecheck 2 or 3 and somehow come back fast enough to have 4 skaters in the zone ahead of 2 Wings forecheckers.

During the next couple of games, pay a little extra attention to the Ducks when they retreat and turn around and skate into their own zone to get a puck dumped in deep. Watch the paths that they take when they turn and skate back. They are experts and interfering just enough to slow down the forecheckers but not enough to cause the refs to make a call. Sometimes the interference is really bad and should draw a call but it's never called, even less so in the playoffs. This slowed down the Sharks' forecheck significantly and it's doing the same in this series.

[Guest micah]

The refs are so pervertedly excited to blow these whistles nowadays for any number of calls, that these situations are more likely only to get worse. They hold onto that whistle and are ready to flex their authoratative muscle with glee. It's sickening and a direct result of the rule changes... It's changing the culture of the game. In playoffs of yester year, that call never happens because refs know unless major incident to put away the whistle in late games.

Yup. Let them play. Swallow the whistles. I'd rather see 10 penalties not get called than 1 that shouldn't have been. I'd rather see the whistle blown 2 seconds late 10 times in a game than see it blown i seccond early once.

[OsGOD 3]

The game was screwed up WAAAAAAAAAAY before that call babs.. sorry but we sucked ass last night!

[Guest Shoreline]

During the next couple of games, pay a little extra attention to the Ducks when they retreat and turn around and skate into their own zone to get a puck dumped in deep. Watch the paths that they take when they turn and skate back. They are experts and interfering just enough to slow down the forecheckers but not enough to cause the refs to make a call. Sometimes the interference is really bad and should draw a call but it's never called, even less so in the playoffs. This slowed down the Sharks' forecheck significantly and it's doing the same in this series.

I'll definitely look better next time, although I didn't really see much obstruction. I mean, in everything I've watched thusfar, from the Sharks games to the Wings games, the Ducks have been faster and look like they want the puck more than both teams they've played. If there's obstruction though I'll try to catch it so I can ***** my head off, next game.

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

The refs are so pervertedly excited to blow these whistles nowadays for any number of calls, that these situations are more likely only to get worse. They hold onto that whistle and are ready to flex their authoratative muscle with glee. It's sickening and a direct result of the rule changes... It's changing the culture of the game. In playoffs of yester year, that call never happens because refs know unless major incident to put away the whistle in late games.

Amen

[StormJH1 231]

The officiating has been atrocious in so many ways, but unless Tim Donaghy became an NHL ref while I wasn't looking, even a series of bad calls (or non-calls) in one Game 3 really shouldn't be blamed for the end result of a series. What's most troubling to me is the lack of consistency in the bad officiating. It's not like the crews are erring only one direction (i.e. swallowing the whistles). There have been some horrible non-calls (like the 2nd goal with Niedermayer interfering), as well as some over-activity on the part of the refs (blowing the play dead without even moving to try and see if the puck was on the goalline; the penalty in Game 2 where Mike Brown basically fell down and touched his nose, and our guy was thrown in the box when there was no contact whatsoever).

Swallowing the whistle would inherently favor the Ducks, since they will do anything and everything to give themselves an advantage, but at least we'd be on notice that the rules no longer apply. I thought the commentator's point about the Niedermayer interference play was great--the problem isn't just that they failed to protect the goaltender, but the rules also inhibit the defenders from trying to protect the goalie as well, since they'll call obstruction if you so much as touch a guy in front of the net. The problem is multiplied with Osgood b/c he's like 5'9" in real life, and he HAS to come way out of the crease on angles. You're less likely to get the benefit of those calls the more you stray from the cage.

Edited May 6, 2009 by StormJH1

[Opie 308]

The refs are so pervertedly excited to blow these whistles nowadays for any number of calls, that these situations are more likely only to get worse. They hold onto that whistle and are ready to flex their authoratative muscle with glee. It's sickening and a direct result of the rule changes... It's changing the culture of the game. In playoffs of yester year, that call never happens because refs know unless major incident to put away the whistle in late games.

Yup. Let them play. Swallow the whistles. I'd rather see 10 penalties not get called than 1 that shouldn't have been. I'd rather see the whistle blown 2 seconds late 10 times in a game than see it blown i seccond early once.

Wow! even I agree wholeheartedly with you guys, that means one of two things, the world is ending, or YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, WITHOUT A QUESTION OF A DOUBT 100% correct!

[titanium2 867]

During the next couple of games, pay a little extra attention to the Ducks when they retreat and turn around and skate into their own zone to get a puck dumped in deep. Watch the paths that they take when they turn and skate back. They are experts and interfering just enough to slow down the forecheckers but not enough to cause the refs to make a call. Sometimes the interference is really bad and should draw a call but it's never called, even less so in the playoffs. This slowed down the Sharks' forecheck significantly and it's doing the same in this series.

That's exactly what Pittsburgh accused Detroit of doing last year in the finals. Considering that, I'd say it's just a sign that Detroit is just plain getting outplayed and outworked.

[Vladifan 680]

Well yeah, everyone has a right to be pissed off at the screw job by the refs, but can they also please direct their anger at the team that decided it doesn't want to convert on more of it's power plays? The Ducks forecheck 2 or 3 and somehow come back fast enough to have 4 skaters in the zone ahead of 2 Wings forecheckers. Can we focus more of this anger at the team that isn't playing with the same heart and intensity as the opposing team? Can we focus more of this anger at the team that refuses to throw bodies at the net, and is perfectly content take 30-50ft shots from the outside all game where they're likely to be deflected by a Duck stick/blocked harmlessly to where no Wing can get to it?

I mean, focusing one's anger extensively on this ref issue is really, to me, an escape from how this team is really beating itself more than anything.

I also agree that fans need to just move on. Way too many irrational, panicked fans right now.

There's not a word in here that I can't agree with. Thanks for taking the time.

[Vladifan 680]

I don't wholly disagree with you, but I do question Chelios' ice time last night. I don't think there was a time he touched the puck that he didn't generate a giveaway, or find himself so out of position as to not be able to catch up to the attacking Duck forward (see: the Ducks' first goal).

I'm not looking forward to the Wings' continued shortage of D-men.

On the other hand Chelios gave the Wings two power play tries and they did nothing with them. In his own way he contributed more than some of the other guys out there.

[Jake Ryan 1]

Babcock should be blamed for ONE thing. Not moving Helm up to the Datsyuk line and Holmstrom down. That is ALL. His coaching has been fine other than that. He needs to energize the Datsyuk and Hossa line. Who has the most energy on the team? Helm. Why this is so hard for Babcock to figure out, I don't know. Hopefully, he does soon.

[Duck Guy 86]

Ya they got screwed should of went to OT... would of been a nice OT also.

[flip 5]

I'd bring up Leino and put him with Datsyuk and Hossa rather than Helm. Helm has zero scoring ability.

Who knows what's wrong with Holmstrom, but he's been more than ineffective.

Either way, the call last night was an abortion of officiating. Hopefully it'll rile the Wings up instead of killing their spirits.

[NGKEIB 32]

Holmström is only really effective when his line mates can control the puck in the Anaheim zone and he can get in front of the goalie. But there was only 1 time in the whole game when they got enough sustained pressure going to be able to do that. Helm isn't a great scorer, but scoring ability isn't all you need. I'd say that Hossa has the most goal-scoring ability on the team, but that doesn't mean he's been better than Helm. Helm has been great defensively, has gotten loads of hits, and in general has made our 4th line (combined with the revival of Kirk Maltby) one of our best lines.

Chelios wasn't that bad at all last night, and it showed in his ice time. He drew penalties, was nasty along the boards, and you can't fault him for that goal. Lebda needs to get the puck in deep, even if he just dumps it in and doesn't shoot, and he didn't. I don't blame Chelios, and I think that this was easily Chelios' best game (and Lebda's worst).