It's do-or-die time for Red Wings, Coyotes

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If Hockeytown really has no limits, as the Red Wings artfully remind us again and again in their playoff promotions, we're about to find out.

No limits? Time to show it. The Wings have been pushed to theirs, facing a Game 7 tonight in Arizona against the relentless Coyotes, and the concern is, they haven't pushed back hard enough yet.

There should be no excuses now, absolutely none. This was how and where the Wings wanted to be judged, when they got healthy after a rocky regular season. This is where they've made their reputations, in the tough, tense moments of huge playoff games.


Yes, Phoenix is a good team, tight defensively and faster than people realize. But this is when the Wings' vast experience is supposed to make the difference and it must, because there's no other easy answer. If you're expecting rookie goalie Jimmy Howard to go out and steal his first Game 7 against Ilya Bryzgalov, sorry, you're reaching. Howard has been fine, very good at times, but this is a whole new arena for him.

This is on the savvy veterans to restore order. The Wings have won twice this series in Glendale, Ariz., and certainly can do it again. But their play has been uneven, sometimes strangely undisciplined, and after all the miscues in that horrible 5-2 loss Sunday at Joe Louis Arena, you wonder.

There's no reason the Wings should have reached their limit already. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk are still a dynamic pair, but they need help from more of their big-gun teammates. Johan Franzen? Todd Bertuzzi? Danny Cleary?

Those three have combined for one goal. Uh, time to test the limits, fellas.

"We've been there before, and we're feeling confident in their building," Zetterberg said. "We've played some great games there. We just got to tighten it up defensively and keep trying to wear on their guys."


'Of course it's pressure'

Phoenix is the higher seed because it won close games all season, and clearly that wasn't a fluke. But the Coyotes have played without their injured captain, Shane Doan, and are in the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Heck, two of their key players in Game 6 were discarded former Wings. Mathieu Schneider scored a goal and Robert Lang made a beautiful pass to Radim Vrbata for another. Both those guys have been in the other dressing room and know exactly what the Wings are facing.

"Of course it's pressure -- they won the Cup, they went to the Final again last year," Lang said. "Obviously on paper, even though they were fifth (seed), everybody would pick them over the Coyotes, purely on experience."

That's true. But remember, these are not the same loaded Wings that reached the past two Stanley Cup Finals, missing scorers Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson (seven goals in the Canucks' first-round victory) and Jiri Hudler. And these are not the same underdog Coyotes, just happy to be skating along. They added good forwards Wojtek Wolski and Lee Stempniak during the season, and of course, they have Bryzgalov.

The Wings have more and should show more, no one's denying that. Mike Babcock questioned his team's effort earlier in the series, when the Wings lost at home, 4-2, but he's adopting the confident approach now. He's imploring his players to embrace the challenge, and they should.

They've done it before. Well, all but one.

"I'm gonna treat it just like I have every single other game, go out there and have fun and cherish it," Howard said. "I haven't played any different since Day One. They got the bounces (in Game 6), like we did the other night."




'You've got to be up'

Bounces and luck matter now, but not as much as bouncing back. Howard needs to be better, naturally. Beyond that, the Wings must be more poised. Experienced defensemen like Brad Stuart and Niklas Kronwall have made too many mistakes with the puck. In general, the Wings have had too many giveaways, penalties and sloppy passes.

The standards are high here, set by many of these same players. The Wings played two Game 7s last season, both at home, and split them. They beat Anaheim, 4-3, and lost to Pittsburgh in the Finals, 2-1.

This looks like a 2-1 game again, and if you forced me to make a pick, I'd take the Wings and all their experience. But this is a road game, uncharted ice, and the Wings have to find a way to handle it.

"You've got to be up for the challenge, whether you've faced it before or it's your first time," Nick Lidstrom said. "We know what's on the line. They're so patient and good at waiting for their chances. We have to play with a lot more desperation."

It doesn't get any more desperate than this. The Wings must reduce mistakes and maintain composure, or they'll run smack into a limit they didn't see coming.

 

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Shane Doan could return for Coyotes in Game 7




Glendale, Ariz. -- There's a good chance the Coyotes will have the services of their captain Shane Doan tonight in Game 7.

He skated the full practice and took contact on his injured upper body Monday. He stopped short of deeming himself fit to play.

"It isn't bad," he said. "It was good to get out there and do some things in practice and test it. It feels pretty good. At the end they tested it pretty good, too, so well see.



"I definitely want to be part of it, but as long as we're winning I'm happy."

Asked about Doan's possible return Monday, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock shrugged.

"We just got to play," he said. "We both have a big opportunity, both teams do. Both want to keep playing in the playoffs. If you don't play well, you don't execute, you don't score, you go home."

In the last 11 months, Babcock has coached a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals (lost) and coached Team Canada to an Olympic gold medal on the seventh game of the Olympic tournament. There is no less of a fire in his belly for tonight.

"It's a special opportunity," he said. "As a coach, as management or as a player, you want to be in these situations. But you have to deliver."

That's what he's asking, especially of his top two lines. Pavel Datsyuk's and Henrik Zetterberg's lines are a combined plus-21 in the Wings three wins. They are a minus-3 in the three losses.

"You are always going to look back at your best players and say, 'Hey, did they get to another level?' " Babcock said. "Pav and Mule (Johan Franzen) have to get to another level. So does Z and his line.

"You know, I thought Abby's line (Justin Abdelkader) and (Darren) Helm's line have done a good job, but that's what you always say about those types of players. And you are always asking your stars to get to the next level. That will be the challenge for those guys."

Doan, who has missed the last three games, will test the injury again this morning.

Yapping at Howie

Several of the Coyotes' players were asked about comments made by Jimmy Howard after Game 6. Apparently some took exception to Howard saying the Coyotes got some lucky bounces.

"That's funny to me," Ed Jovanovski said. "We work for breaks. They had a couple, too. (Tomas) Holmstrom 's goal in Game (5) was pretty lucky, too."

The Wings have made no bones about that. Babcock was chuckling Monday about how the puck seemed to follow Holmstrom around the net on that goal.

"You are allowed to score goals like that," Babcock said.

Some of the Coyotes, though, felt Howard might have been slighting them.

"I think everybody thinks they are better than us," Derek Morris said. "We've been hearing it all year. Everybody's counted us out. The proof is in the pudding. We go out there and we play hard and we believe in ourselves. Everybody else can say whatever they want, whether they're lucky goals or not, we're doing a good job of getting there to create these goals and were getting rewarded for all our hard work."
Tape to tape

Babcock said the Wings have no injury concerns.

As for the lineup, he said it was the same for now. "At this point we're staying the same but we'll see when we skate (this) morning and go from there," he said.