Bad Penalties Prove Taxing
The Red Wings typically are one of the NHL's most disciplined and least penalized teams in the regular season. But they're taking too many penalties in their second-round playoff series against San Jose, and it's costing them.
The Wings had one more power play (six) than San Jose (five) in Game 2 Sunday, but it's still too many penalties as far as they're concerned. Detroit has been shorthanded 11 times, San Jose eight times in the two games. And that is one reason the Sharks lead the series 2-0 heading into Game 3 Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena.
"We have to adjust. We can't get sucked into taking penalties, spending too much time on our penalty kill," Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "It's going to tire our team out, and it kind of kills the rhythm you want going with four lines."
The Sharks have converted on the power play in each game. Sunday, Justin Abdelkader again failed to control his stick, leading to a high-sticking call and a goal by Ian White at 4:54 of the first period that gave the Sharks the lead for good.
Abdelkader received a double-minor for high-sticking in overtime during Game 1. The Sharks did not convert, but the Wings said it wore them down killing it off and contributed to Benn Ferriero's winning goal 20 seconds later.
Also on Sunday, Tomas Holmstrom took a retaliatory roughing penalty in the third period, killing a Wings power play that had 1:23 remaining early in the third period with the Sharks leading 2-0.
SHARKS 2, RED WINGS 1: The Wings wasted another solid performance by goaltender Jimmy Howard as their high-powered offense failed to deliver. The Sharks spent more time in the offensive zone, cycling and grinding the puck, and had more shots and scoring chances. San Jose got goals from defensemen Ian White and Niclas Wallin and a strong 33-save performance from Antti Niemi. The Wings, meanwhile, haven't gotten much from their three biggest forwards -- Johan Franzen, Todd Bertuzzi and Danny Cleary.
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