Jeff Riger- Getting Ready For Game Two!
A day after winning game one of the Western conference quarter finals against the Coyotes 4-2, the Wings had a optional skate at Joe Louis Arena. Seems like the team is doing a nice job of putting the win behind them and understanding that game 2 will be tougher to win considering Phoenix will do everything they can to not go back to the desert down 2 games to nothing. Here are something's that stuck out from the media meeting with the players and Mike Babcock...
-Both the players and Babcock understand that the game is being officiated even tighter then they thought it would be, so the focus now is to stay out of the penalty box. Detroit had to kill off 5 Coyotes penalties, including a 5 on 3 chance for one minute and 30 seconds before the game was even half way over.
-Jimmy Howard, while pleased that he outplayed Illya Bryzgalov in game one knows that if he keeps allowing the Wings to stick around in times of adversity then they have a good chance to win the series. Howard also letting on that he does feel that he has something to prove this playoff season.
-There was a lot of talk about Todd Bertuzzi and the fight he got into with Rostislav Klesla. A lot of people consider that fight to have been the turning point for Detroit in game one.
-Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen both did not talk with the media but were talked about by their teammates. Players and Babcock were amazed that Datsyuk finished the game with 8 shots on net and a goal. He was also a plus 2 on the night. As for Franzen, Mule was a plus one with 5 shots, a goal and an assist. Franzen has a 13 game playoff scoring streak and has 36 goals and 35 assists in 76 postseason career games.
-Babcock was asked if Nick Lidstrom has done enough to win his 7th Norris trophy considering he finished as a minus player. "You mean the 62 points he got playing on our team this year at age 40 when half the team was minus and we were like we were? I would say! (Yes) Every team has their guy that they think should win. Obviously I have coached Nick for a long time and I think he should win hands down. To me at 40 years of age to do what he's done is absolutely phenomenal and he's incredible and I hope he wins."
Watch the videos of Babcock and Howard below for the whole story! Also listen to game 2 against the Coyotes on Saturday at 1:40pm on "The Ticket" and then listen to the postgame show with Jeff Riger following.
