An easy win for the Red Wings
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by user Leslie Monteiro
The first two games in the Western Conference Finals has been scintillating. It says something when the outcome of the game comes from a fluke goal or from a video replay.
Who knew the road team would win with ease and who knew that this game was a blowout from the get-go?
The Red Wings won 5-0 last night. It was over by the second period.
The bottom line was that the Ducks did not show up to play hockey.
The Red Wings did everything right. They got the loose pucks. They got more scoring opportunities.
For whatever reason, Detroit got many 2-on-1 opportunities in this game, which is hard to do against a team like the Ducks. They were able to capitalize on the Ducks mistakes.
The Ducks looked like a tired team as they played their worst game in the playoffs so far.
They got beat often by the Wings on defense and offense.
The final five minutes of the first period was all Detroit. They had more puck possession than the Ducks.
They were able to get to Jean-Sebastien Giguere in this game as they scored two goals in the first period.
From there, the Wings had freedom to do whatever they want.
If the Minnesota Wild players and coaches watched this game, they must have asked themselves how the Wings pulled it off and why they could not.
The two guys that made a difference in this game was Todd Bertuzzi and Tomas Holmstrom.
Bertuzzi has done okay in this series, but he has not done what the Wings have expected him to do when they acquired him in the trade deadline. He made things happen.
He was able to dish out hits. He was able to put himself in a position to get the puck and score.
His work was rewarded in the second period as he extended the Wings lead to 3-0. He needs to continues to play like that for the rest of the series.
How about Holmstrom? He has been one of the best players for the Wings in this series. He scored couple of goals in this game.
He has really done a good job of being in the right place at the right time in scoring goals.
What was impressive was how he got blindsided by a dirty hit by Chris Pronger and Rob Neidermayer yet he somehow was able to play in the third period with 13 stitches. Holmstrom just demonstrates how tough hockey players are compared to other athletes that play in other sports.
Things were so bad for the Ducks that Giguere was pulled in the middle of the second period. One has to wonder if Ilya Bryzgalov will be starting in Game 4.
Giguere has been mediocre at best so maybe Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle may try to shake things up.
This was a very disappointing loss for the Ducks. A team can not play bad and lose at home at this time of the year.
Maybe they were due for a bad game considering that they have been really good in the playoffs so far, but with an even series and the fact the Red Wings are legitimate enough to beat them, they could not afford to play like this.
If they lose this series, they can go look back at how they were outplayed.
The Red Wings should feel even more confident after pulling this out.
By now, Ducks fans have to worry that the Wings could end a nice season for their team.
