Having used the first game to shake off any cobwebs, the Red Wings head into today's Game 2 with an emphasis on doing more of what makes them successful: Skating hard, driving to the net and tiring their opponents by making them play in their own zone.Little new was said Saturday of Mike Brown's hit that bloodied Jiri Hudler in Detroit's 3-2 Game 1 victory other than to reiterate, from the Wings' perspective, that it was dirty and late, and from the Ducks' side that it was neither.
Given the physicality of the series already, the Wings' focus fell on what they have to do better.
"We've got to try to get through the neutral zone a little faster," Henrik Zetterberg said. "I think we didn't get through it enough. We need to get the puck behind them a little bit more and work from there."
Johan Franzen scored a goal by driving to the net hard enough to hit Jonas Hiller, and Nicklas Lidstrom scored his first goal because the Ducks had a guy down low trying to deal with Tomas Holmstrom, who was screening Hiller. The Ducks, though, on the whole did a better job than Columbus in Round 1 at keeping the crease clear.
"I don't think they got a whole lot of tips on pucks or things like that," Anaheim defenseman Chris Pronger said. "I think Jonas saw a lot of the pucks that were shot towards him and we have to continue to do that, allow him to see the pucks."
Hiller said, "I didn't see anything I couldn't handle."
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle was angry after Game 1 about Franzen bumping Hiller, but wasn't going to call the NHL because "it's something that happened in the hockey game. It's the way it goes. If you're going to call the league on every little thing that goes on on the ice, they're going to get a little sick and tired of you, I guarantee it."
Franzen didn't get a penalty on the play. The Wings want to toe the line between getting to a goalie and interfering with him. It's about making Hiller give up rebounds and having Franzen, Holmstrom and Dan Cleary there to pounce on the puck.
"We have to try to shoot everything from the corners and get the guys in front of their goalie, because we believe that's how we can beat them," Marian Hossa said. "It seems like when he had nobody in front of him he had no problems with the puck, but when we get Homer in front of him or Franzen or Cleary or somebody, there is lots of rebounds and we have to capitalize on the second chances. That is going to be key."
Friday's game was the Wings' first since closing out Columbus April 23. Though the layoff healed many bruises, it also caused heavy legs to start Game 1.
"We've got to skate way better than we did, and we'll handle the puck better just because we've played," coach Mike Babcock said. "We've got to be quicker. They did a good job of shutting down our speed, and we never got to the net enough or got the puck to the net enough early in the game. We can't be letting them breathe. We've got to get after them. We've got to get the tempo way higher."
Given the physicality of the series already, the Wings' focus fell on what they have to do better.
"We've got to try to get through the neutral zone a little faster," Henrik Zetterberg said. "I think we didn't get through it enough. We need to get the puck behind them a little bit more and work from there."
Johan Franzen scored a goal by driving to the net hard enough to hit Jonas Hiller, and Nicklas Lidstrom scored his first goal because the Ducks had a guy down low trying to deal with Tomas Holmstrom, who was screening Hiller. The Ducks, though, on the whole did a better job than Columbus in Round 1 at keeping the crease clear.
"I don't think they got a whole lot of tips on pucks or things like that," Anaheim defenseman Chris Pronger said. "I think Jonas saw a lot of the pucks that were shot towards him and we have to continue to do that, allow him to see the pucks."
Hiller said, "I didn't see anything I couldn't handle."
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle was angry after Game 1 about Franzen bumping Hiller, but wasn't going to call the NHL because "it's something that happened in the hockey game. It's the way it goes. If you're going to call the league on every little thing that goes on on the ice, they're going to get a little sick and tired of you, I guarantee it."
Franzen didn't get a penalty on the play. The Wings want to toe the line between getting to a goalie and interfering with him. It's about making Hiller give up rebounds and having Franzen, Holmstrom and Dan Cleary there to pounce on the puck.
"We have to try to shoot everything from the corners and get the guys in front of their goalie, because we believe that's how we can beat them," Marian Hossa said. "It seems like when he had nobody in front of him he had no problems with the puck, but when we get Homer in front of him or Franzen or Cleary or somebody, there is lots of rebounds and we have to capitalize on the second chances. That is going to be key."
Friday's game was the Wings' first since closing out Columbus April 23. Though the layoff healed many bruises, it also caused heavy legs to start Game 1.
"We've got to skate way better than we did, and we'll handle the puck better just because we've played," coach Mike Babcock said. "We've got to be quicker. They did a good job of shutting down our speed, and we never got to the net enough or got the puck to the net enough early in the game. We can't be letting them breathe. We've got to get after them. We've got to get the tempo way higher."
