|
In the early rounds of a heavyweight title fight, a common strategy is to hit your opponent with body blows, to knock the wind out of him and to cause him to fatigue more quickly. Similarly, it stands to reason that over the grind of the NHL postseason, the toll of the hits delivered by body checks would wear teams down.
While most teams reaching the Stanley Cup finals are similarly fatigued, this year the common notion is that Detroit has faced a more physical challenge in recent rounds, first in a closely fought seven game series against a chippy Anaheim squad and then in a short but intense series against their hard-hitting division rivals from Chicago. Further, with the brief turnaround before the beginning of the finals, with the first two games back-to-back and with three games in four days, the thought was that the Red Wings may begin to wear down, especially their older skill players. In contrast, Pittsburgh faced a moderate physical challenge with Philadelphia and Washington in the first two rounds, but got a break in the Conference Finals, making short work of a Hurricanes team that had both run out of gas and miracles.
Yet for what is considered a finesse team, Detroit does not avoid physical contact. In fact, through three playoff series, “Team Sweden” had delivered 525 hits over 16 games, or 32.8 hits per game. Compare that to Pittsburgh, who threw only 448 hits over 17 games, for a significantly lower 26.4 hits per game. The Red Wings outhit their opponents in 10 of the 16 games, and by 2.8 hits per game overall. In particular, they pummeled Anaheim by a 12+ hit margin three times, not bad for a finesse team against a rough-and-tumble goon squad. (In fairness, each Anaheim hit or minor penalty may inflict more hurt and intimidation than the average hit or minor penalty.)
With all that said, casual observers might expect Detroit to be initiating the hitting in the finals. Physical play may just be a frame of mind, though. Game 1 revealed a Penguins team that wanted to show the Red Wings that they meant business; moreover, it demonstrated a concerted game plan by Dan Bylsma to wear down an older, more injured and more fatigued opponent. The signature hits of Game 1 and the commitment by multiple forwards to take the body highlighted this mindset.
Thus, it was puzzling to see a lower level of commitment to taking the body by Pittsburgh in Game 2, particularly from the forwards. Notable Game 1 hitters Matt Cooke, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy and Sidney Crosby each delivered 1-4 less hits in Game 2, with a 15 hit drop-off amongst them, though Chris Kunitz and a handful of defensemen made up for some of the slack. The “body blows” strategy was a sound one and should have been applied with more conviction, as that heavyweight boxer would have.
Game 3 saw renewed commitment to hitting by Pittsburgh. In addition, the Penguins may have begun to reap its benefits. For the first time through 19 playoff games, Detroit delivered fewer than 20 hits and trailed their opponent by more than 10 hits – in fact, by nearly 20 hits. Did we finally see the Red Wings avoiding physical play and beginning to tire in general? Let’s first look at hits delivered and taken by the Red Wings in each game this postseason, to get an idea of the level of hitting that they have experienced as well as to provide context for their Game 3 performance:
Detroit Red Wings – Hits and Hits taken, per game details
Opponent Result Hits Hits taken Net hits
CLB 4-1 W 37 26 11
CLB 4-0 W 26 30 -4
CLB 4-1 W 30 38 -8
CLB 6-5 W 39 37 2
ANA 3-2 W 36 24 12
ANA 3-4 L 63 43 20
ANA 1-2 L 29 23 6
ANA 6-3 W 20 25 -5
ANA 4-1 W 35 18 17
ANA 1-2 L 27 22 5
ANA 4-3 W 23 22 1
CHI 5-2 W 35 36 -1
CHI 3-2 W 37 37 0
CHI 3-4 L 26 36 -10
CHI 6-1 W 24 28 -4
CHI 2-1 W 38 36 2
PIT 3-1 W 43 39 4
PIT 3-1 W 34 33 1
PIT 2-4 L 17 36 -19
Total 619 589 44
We can see the high level of punishment Detroit has been subjected to over the last two rounds. With the exception of taking 28 hits in Game 4 against Chicago–a moderate amount–the Red Wings have been on the receiving end of 33 to 39 hits per game over the last eight games with the Blackhawks and Penguins. Seeing Detroit’s level of hits and net hits drop to lows for the postseason may very well indicate mental and physical fatigue creeping in. Next, let’s look at where the differences occurred within the Wings’ lineup:
Detroit Red Wings – Hits and Hits taken, individual stats including Games 1-3
Player Pos GP Hits Hits/GP Gm1 Gm2 Gm3
Darren Helm C 19 97 5.1 8 7 4
Justin Abdelkader L 10 32 3.2 2 6 1
Dan Cleary R 19 56 2.9 5 2 2
Brad Stuart D 19 47 2.5 5 1 0
Niklas Kronwall D 19 44 2.3 1 2 0
Marian Hossa R 19 43 2.3 2 1 2
Jonathan Ericsson D 18 38 2.1 3 1 1
Tomas Kopecky R 8 15 1.9 - - -
Tomas Holmstrom L 19 35 1.8 3 3
Pavel Datsyuk C 13 23 1.8 - - -
Johan Franzen C 19 33 1.7 3 3 1
Mikael Samuelsson R 19 33 1.7 3 2 3
Henrik Zetterberg L 19 30 1.6 3 1 0
Kris Draper C 4 5 1.3 - - -
Kirk Maltby L 16 18 1.1 3 0 2
Valtteri Filppula C 17 17 1.0 2 0 0
Brett Lebda D 19 17 0.9 0 1 0
Brian Rafalski D 14 11 0.8 0 2 1
Nicklas Lidstrom D 17 13 0.8 0 1 0
Chris Chelios D 6 3 0.5 - - -
Jiri Hudler C 19 8 0.4 0 1 0
Ville Leino L 4 1 0.3 0 0 0
Derek Meech D 2 0 0.0 - - -
Totals - Detroit 19 619 32.6 43 34 17
Eight Detroit players who had delivered at least one hit in the past two games against the Penguins had none. Conspicuously missing from the hit parade were big man Tomas Holmstrom and highly touted punishers Brad Stuart and Niklas Kronwall, the former who had thrown 5 hits in Game 1 and the latter who is still remembered for knocking Martin Havlat out of two games of the Blackhawks series. Darren Helm continued to lead the team in hits, as he has done for each game of the series, but even his total dropped to a mortal tally of 4 hits. Arguably, only Mikael Samuelsson, Dan Cleary, Marian Hossa and Kirk Maltby stayed in the physical battle with Pittsburgh in addition to Helm, with each throwing two or more hits while staying near their playoff averages.
To finish up, let’s take a look at which skaters have kept a steady beat going for Pittsburgh:
Pittsburgh Penguins – Hits and Hits taken, individual stats including Games 1-3
Player Pos GP Hits Hits/GP Gm1 Gm2 Gm3
Brooks Orpik D 20 88 4.4 3 3 5
Matt Cooke L 20 69 3.5 6 2 5
Chris Kunitz L 20 67 3.4 3 5 11
Ruslan Fedotenko L 20 49 2.5 3 0 1
Jordan Staal C 20 35 1.8 4 0 2
Evgeni Malkin C 20 30 1.5 4 2 3
Craig Adams R 20 27 1.4 1 2 0
Kris Letang D 19 24 1.3 1 3 1
Maxime Talbot C 20 24 1.2 1 2 2
Tyler Kennedy C 20 22 1.1 4 3 1
Pascal Dupuis L 12 13 1.1 - 0 1
Bill Guerin R 20 21 1.1 2 2 0
Alex Goligoski D 2 2 1.0 - - -
Hal Gill D 20 19 1.0 1 4 0
Sidney Crosby C 20 18 0.9 4 0 1
Philippe Boucher D 9 8 0.9 0 - -
Rob Scuderi D 20 16 0.8 0 3 1
Mark Eaton D 18 8 0.4 0 0 0
Sergei Gonchar D 18 8 0.4 2 1 1
Miroslav Satan R 14 6 0.4 0 1 1
Petr Sykora R 6 2 0.3 - - -
Totals - Pittsburgh 20 556 27.8 39 33 36
Chris Kunitz–whose goal scoring touch has left the building this postseason–should at least get credit for throwing his body around to the tune of 11 hits in Game 3, a mark that would even make Darren Helm proud. Brooks Orpik and Matt Cooke complete the trio of Pens who have set their sights on glazing the Wings; the defenseman and two forwards totaled an impressive 21 hits in Game 3 and have contributed 43 Detroit bruises overall. Unlikely Game 2 pugilist Evgeni Malkin gets an honorable mention, having managed to get in his third multi-hit game of the series.
With those accolades given, it is worth noting that the team-wide physical effort has fallen off for the Penguins. Pittsburgh had eight skaters deliver three or more hits in Game 1, with several skaters hitting at higher than expected levels. As mentioned, this pace did not continue for the likes of Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy or Sidney Crosby. In particular, Captain Sid has been lauded for his intangibles, which include his in-game counseling of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and…apparently not much else–evidently truly “intangible” benefits– but after rocking Henrik Zetterberg with a well placed shoulder in the first ten minutes of the series, his contribution to the Penguins’ cause has mainly involved improving his faceoff rate from embarrassing to adequate. There should be some concern that Sid the Kid has joined the Red Wings in wearing down.
Yet if that fatigue starts to show on the Red Wings as a whole, it could turn the tide of the series. Given a Pittsburgh win tonight in Game 4, the advantage would shift to the Penguins, even with two of the three possible games played at Joe Louis Arena. Penguins in 7?
Timo Seppa is an author of Hockey Prospectus.
You can contact Timo by clicking here or click here to see Timo's other articles.
| 
0 comments have been left for this article. 
Conn Smythe Watch: Lundqvist Leads