The Detroit Red Wings concluded the month of October with a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks to drop their overall record to seven wins, two losses and two overtime losses in the opening month of the season.
The defending champions have used a bag full of tricks and treats through the first eleven games of the season to avoid the Stanley Cup hangover.
The Wings have played overtime in five of the 11 games this season and managed to pick up one overtime-victory and two victories in shoot-outs. On two of those occasions the Wings were fortunate to extend the game into overtime by scoring late in the third period.
The Wings have outscored their opponents in the first and second periods, but have played even in third periods and have been outscored in overtime.
Backup goaltender Ty Conklin has posted better statistics than starter Chris Osgood. In four games, Conklin has posted a goals against average of 3.19 and a save percentage of .897 and has a record of 3 wins and one loss. Osgood has a goals against-average of 3.38 and a .879 save percentage, and has a record of four wins and one loss.
Balanced scoring. Nobody has scored a hat trick yet this season, but Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Tomas Holmstrom, and Johan Franzen have each scored two goals in a game and Henrik Zetterberg has done it twice.
Hossa has come as advertised. He leads the team with 15 points in 11 games, including six goals. The combination of Hossa, Datsyuk, and Holmstrom on the Wings top line has scored 15 goals and is +19 combined.
Zetterberg leads the team in goals with seven, despite missing a couple of games. Franzen has now missed three games but has scored five times. Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson have split time on the second line and combined have scored three goals. Combined the second line has also scored 15 goals.
Brian Rafalski has scored 11 points in the first 11 games, and in the process set a team record by scoring at least one point in the first seven games of the season. The previous record was five games and was shared by Nicklas Lidstrom and Larry Murphy.
The Wings are four for six on shootout attempts. Datsyuk is two-for-two and Hossa has scored on his only attempt. Zetterberg is one-for-two and Hudler has missed on his only attempt. Also in the shootouts, the Wings goalies have allowed just one goal on six attempts. Osgood has stopped both shots he has faced and Conklin has stopped three of four.
Comments
Mike, as usual, you are the ultimate professional. I would love to have you as a guest on one of my upcoming shows. I hope all is well.
Gary
Mike,
Really enjoyed your column. Nice summary of the month.
cheers
Spero
not a bad start for the red wings, as you have noted. now that the season is gaining momentum, what's it going to take for the red wings to really shine. where are the weak spots and what to do to fill them in for the rest of the year?
Another interesting report Mike.
Good reading.
Best wishes.
John
Great stuff, it looks like the Wings could do it again this year
I've enjoyed every one of his blogs ever since he started posting them.
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