Wings beat the Penguins! Sorta

[yave1964]

  A few thoughts about last nights wings/Pens game, final score 3-2 wings in OT.

 

  No Murray. Or Letang. Or Kessel, Hornqvist, Crosby or Malkin. Lets face it, most of the Penguins out there on the ice were destined for the AHL or Juniors, a few bubble guys and a few vets getting game shape, so a nice win with over 40 shots but very few of the real Penguins on the ice.

  Cholowski looked like a completely different player than he did last year when he was overmatched and looked in awe playing at this level, this year he was calm, moved bodies from in front of the net and led the transition.

  Mantha last year was the teams primary net front presence, this year they plan on moving him out to the dot to take advantage of his booming shot to produce hopefully more offense with others such as Bertuzzi and, if he makes the team Rasmussen playing the Holmstrom role. It looked very good yesterday.

  Rasmussen last year was our best player in camp, this game he was knocked down repeatedly by grizzled vets like Oleksiak and AHLer Zach Trotman. He wasn't awful, just needs to work on his awareness. Then he showed his non stop motor and never quit attitude by scoring a beauty on a great pass by Larkin in overtime to finish the game off.

  The defense had 20 shots. TWENTY SHOTS!!! Bylsma has stated that he wants the defense much more involved in the offensive zone especially on the power play and wow did it show yesterday. Saarajarvi fired from everywhere and missed the net by five to ten feet way to regularly, something he did quite a lot when I watched him at GR last season.

  Larkin looked as if he is ready to take over as the 1C, a force all over the ice. Abdelkader was fantastic.

  Howard looked good, like a vet getting his work in. Sateri was tested through much of the third and was sharp.

  Finally the power play, specifically in overtime.

  Schultz fired the puck over the glass with a few seconds left in regulation giving the Wings a 4 on 3 power play to start overtime, the entire power play Bylsma ran the same 4 out there, Cholowski running the point, Mantha on the dot, Rasmussen as the net front guy and Larkin working the boards looking for the open man. A minute in there was a whistle and Bylsma stopped the second unit from hitting the ice, instead calling a timeout and keeping the four on the ice resting them just enough. All four contributed to the game winner, Mantha set up Cholowski who fired a killer shot that barely missed, the rebound went to the corner where Larkin grabbed it and hit Rasmussen out front who buried it behind a stunned Jarry. Our power play was a joke for much of last year, it was a breath of fresh air to see a plan in place that worked to perfection. Great to see Rasmussen who spent so much time on his rear end still fearlessly setting up in front of the net and Larkin firing a laser pass to him. Just a marvelous play.

 Yeah I know, preseason, don't get too up for a game like this, I get it, I really do but there was a lot to like with this one. they seemed to have a plan.

[yave1964]

Oh one other thing I forgot, I paid a lot of attention to Veleno who will get shipped back to Juniors at camps end, so I wanted a good hard look at him.

  He looked a bit thinner than I thought he was, sounds stupid but he just looked smaller in his sweater than I pictured. He is listed at six foot one, and hundred ninety five pounds but he looked a bit thinner than that.

  He held his own in the dot on faceoffs usually matching up with veteran 4th liner and damn good faceoff guy Derek Grant, Veleno won 5 of 10 faceoffs. He seemed to be chasing the puck most of the night not really carrying it but chasing the play which is certainly not unusual for a 18 year old kid.

  He was fast, as in really fast, when he would get out of position he would compensate quickly and get back into the play on defense or put himself in position to help out on offense.

  I studied him quite a lot and I like to find a player to compare kids to when I watch them and it wasn't until the third period that I finally pegged Veleno, both skating style and ability and overall game. I think he is going to be the next Mike Ribeiro.

  Ribeiro has had a ton of baggage in recent years and his stock doesn't sell for much of anything anymore but in his prime he was a hell of a player, 60-70 point centerman and power play guy extraordinaire I know the whole wife was a monster thing and the drugs and the babysitter stories and what not, that is not what this is, from a purely clinical look at Veleno last night I saw the second coming of Veleno, a decent 1C, a damn good 2C. Yes it is likely three or four years before we find out but style wise, skating wise, body wise, Veleno IMHO could have passed for a young Ribeiro last night. If that is what he turns out to be, minus the baggage and all that nonsense we got us a great pick late in the first.

[yave1964]

Thoughts on last nights game against the Hawks....

 

 Athanasiou had a nifty goal, going around Manning as if he were standing still (he was) and deking the goalie out of his jock. He also did a solid job playing center with several nice setup passes. The only thing I noticed..... he didn't smile once when he scored. He doesn't look happy to be a Wing, it might be me, his enthusiasm for the game seems to have waned. He has as much speed as anyone in the game and could put up 20 goals, 45-50 points but something seems missing.

 

  Libor Sulak was absolutely fun to watch. A big guy who hits and a nice crisp first pass, I admit it is the first time I watched him, I was looking forward to studying Hronek and caught myself waiting and watching for Sulak to take the ice. He was calm and played a heavy game with a  nice first pass setting up goals by AA and Vanek.

 

 Speaking of Vanek, I guess I didn't realize how much I missed him, how much I enjoyed him playing for the Wings, he seems like a perfect fit. Killer goal in the first and he played on a line with Zadina all night,  they kept showing Vanek sitting next to Zadina on the bench pointing out things on the ice with the kid nodding along. Great to see a vet who knows his lane and is willing to share his knowledge with the kids.

 

 Svechnikov looked lost both at GR and in Detroit for much of last year in the same way that the year Mantha missed training camp and the first part of the season with the Griffs several years ago and never got going. He looks completely different, he has a burst to his game, his stride was simply insanely long and the second the puck was on his stick he headed for the net all night long. Nothing fancy, just pure power going North and South. With kids like Zadina and Rasmussen pushing for time it is now or never for Svechnikov and he looks highly motivated to stick.

 

 Speaking of Zadina.... kind of a mixed bag. He was not credited with a shot on net but he had a few chances that sailed wide, he had one pretty bad giveaway but was for the most part defensively sound, at one point he jumped on the ice during a 4 on 4 and as the Hawks had three guys jump into the offensive zone he was forced to jump back almost as a defenseman as Daley was caught up ice and he broke up the play nicely. He led all Wings forwards in power play time and spent most of that time looking a bit uncomfortable, but hey he is 18 and it was his first pro game. He killed it at Traverse city a few weeks ago and I think he will impress more as camp goes on.

 

 Hronek was every impressive, he loves to carry the puck out of the zone and then look for the pass as he approaches center ice which forwards love, it gives them a chance to have a head of steam as they enter the offensive zone. My absolute only quibble is he likes to carry the puck from behind the net right down the middle and while it is a dangerous play setting yourself up to have your pocket picked in front of your own net last night he got away with it. He did that regularly with the Griffins last year as well and seemed to never have it stolen so it may be just me but it makes me nervous. He does seem to know what he is doing with the puck on his stick which is more than can be said for most of our defense from last year, I hope he sticks and cracks the  rotation.

 

  Nyquist looked really good, as did Daley. Glendening and Turgeon didn't. Both made some bad plays coughing up the puck in the offensive zone several times, Turgeon missed an open net with two chances, 

 

 Hicketts is last on my list, the little guy is the only Wings player to appear in both games of a back to back and he led the Wings in ice time, hits and blocks but his bad giveaway in the second led to the Hawks second goal. I will continue to say he reminds me of Brett Lebda, a little guy who is hard to play against but makes the occasional bad play, I like him better than Jensen or Ericsson but both have jobs so we will see.