Redwings

Rule of thumb: If a team is faster than you, or is going faster than you care to, the answer is obviously to slow them down.

Speeding up the game more only allows in further disarray and deconstruction of tactics....

Detroit Redwings faced the Phoenix Coyotes tonight in the first game of their playoff series against each other. One staggering truth throughout the game was that Phoenix was much more quicker, often times the skaters on the Wings were unable to keep up and this ensued a peppering of Detroit's goalie, Jimmy Howard.
Phoenix also skated and battled harder for pucks, simply put they outworked Detroit. There wasn't a lapse in goaltending on each side. Followers of Howard have come to realize he's a very steady goaltender, and that even on worst of nights, he's still quite consistent.
I spent a fair amount of time tonight with my hands balled into fists hoping Detroit would snap out of it. And, at times there were signs of it. However they never cashed the check.
Phoenix players like Shane Doan and crew were steadily laying the body on people, which slowed our players down on plays considerably.
They allowed Phoenix to do it all, there wasn't push back as commentator Micky Redmond explained, and I'm very inclined from what I saw, to agree with him. Wings of yesteryear would have immediately started their own physical game. There's a few guys on our team that are especially great with this facet of the game.

- Kronwall is known league wide as a demolishing open ice hitter who quite often when he lines up on someone, they end up laying on the ice for quite some time.

-Brad Stuart doesn't provide the bone crunching checks Kronwall does, however he really punishes people he's posting up on. The last game of the regular season was evidence of this. He knocked someone down then continued to cross check them repeatedly for 10 seconds quite roughly.

-Johan Franzen is a big tree motherfucker. He's the stereotypical Viking blooded massive person. You can't run him over, and if he gets in your way, you fall down not him.

-Kirk Maltby, who's out of the line up(shoulder surgery), is a very integral part of the team even without scoring. He ALWAYS gets under the skin of the other team. ALWAYS! He attracts an amazing amount of penalties from being a pest.

-Brad Mays!(sent to minors) He's the 90's player in todays game. He chips at people until their boiling blood angry. He incites people into fighting, which he's all to happy to oblige his own retaliation. He's also one of the integral players that each team needs, an enforcer. A role in which the person steps up to anyone who may have gave the business to a big scorer, or otherwise mild mannered player. His stirring the pot and handling assholes puts the fire into teams, it keeps opposing teams in check, forcing them to play more honest.

I really think you cannot dismiss the physical aspect of the game. You most certainly need to have it as part of your team. Otherwise teams that are slippery are going to run all over you.
In the past any teams that wanted to play gritty, got the rougher end of Detroit. Some bruised faces, and egos. It was really a team that said "You can't expect to just run all around us and get away with it."

I DO foresee Detroit winning the next game for a few reasons in particular. The first one being the most obvious. The Head Coach Mike Babcock, is sure to give his team a shellacing in the locker room with some well directed harsh words.
If it had been me coaching the first words out of my mouth at the end of the game would be "Get the fuck into the locker room now." Followed by, "You played shitty, you caused this loss, they didn't win the game, you gave the game away."

It was clearly stated by nearly every Coach in our Conference, that none of them whatsoever wanted to play Detroit first round. That's the level of respect and fear, other teams have for the Detroit Redwings. For the past 10 plus years, nobody has wanted to face them, sheerly because of Detroit's depth, skating, grittiness and scoring prowress.

Clearly today, the team out there, wasn't the team everyone feared.