0404140392
DETROIT FREE PRESS
040414
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
METRO FINAL CHASER
1A
Photo JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press
Red Wings goaltender Manny Legace can only watch after he was replaced by
Curtis Joseph early in the third period.
Nashville's Shane Hnidy and Tomas Vokoun make a Kris Draper sandwich to keep
the Wings off the scoreboard.
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
GAME 4; PREDS 3, WINGS 0
Copyright (c) 2004, Detroit Free Press
GET ANGRY, GET SMART OR ELSE IT'S OVER
SO, WHO ARE THESE GUYS? STILL, NO REASON TO PANIC!
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- All right, hockey class. Open your lesson plans. The same
ones we used last April, and the April before, and the April before. The ones
with "WHY?" scribbled across the front and "WHO ARE THESE GUYS?" scrawled on
the back.
Yes, kids, it's time to ask the same old questions, because those who do not
learn from history are doomed to skate it all over again. Last year, the Red
Wings gave an inferior team two victories, and two games later, the Wings were
done. The year before the Wings gave a visiting team two victories before
waking up. The year before, same story, two victories to a lesser team, which
led to four and an early Detroit summer.
And here we are again, this time the Nashville Predators -- whose entire
payroll could fit in Mike Ilitch's tie pin -- pulling even with the best team
in hockey, and shrinking Detroit's Stanley Cup dream to a best-of-three
series. A 3-0 loss in a town better known for picks than pucks? It's not
funny. It's not cute. And we're all going to stay after school until we get
this right.
Repeat after me: Lesson No. 1. When you have a team down, you don't let it get
up. The Wings should know this by now. Instead, they surrendered one needless
game Sunday, and Tuesday night, instead of saying, "That's it for you guys,"
gave a muddy performance, took dumb penalties, fired many hard but ineffective
shots, switched goalies and lost just enough concentration to lose the game.
Which leads to . . .
Lesson No. 2. Don't turn your opponent into a tougher team than it is. It's
the Nashville Predators, guys! They entered this party lucky to be invited.
They now are acting as if they can run up a bar tab. The Wings' occasional
mental mistakes have provided the Predators with goals they shouldn't have and
victories they didn't really expect. And Tuesday? Well, we knew the Predators
were faster, but they shouldn't be more mature. Detroit composure was an
oxymoron by late in Game 4, and the Wings looked like the team that hadn't
been here before, scrumming and swinging and getting lost in stuff that does
you no good.
"They're getting frustrated and they're starting to feel the pressure," said
Nashville's Steve Sullivan. "We've got everything going for us, we've got
nothing to lose and . . ."
Shush. That's enough out of you. Take your seat.
Of course, class, what hurts is that he's right. It's that same old same old
first-round blues. And the Red Wings -- who really ought to be mad at
themselves -- return home singing many familiar refrains, including . . .
It can't be happening, right?
Familiar Complaint No. 1: If the Wings are outshooting the other guys, why
aren't they winning? Once again, the Wings take target practice, but the other
team hits the target. Nashville's first goal Tuesday came on its second shot
of the game. By that point, Detroit already had nine blanks. Nashville's
second goal came on its ninth shot and its third goal on the 11th -- and by
that point, the Wings already had 26 shots and nothing to show for it. Which
leads to . . .
Familiar Complaint No. 2: How come their goaltender is suddenly so good? Lord
knows we heard this last year, when a goalie with three names, Jean-Sebastien
Giguere, suddenly had just one: Superman.
Now Tomas Vokoun, a guy who just a few days ago was saying of the Red Wings,
"They're better than us," somehow doesn't have a hard time stopping all these
better guys' shots. Kirk Maltby had him dead on; Vokoun stopped him. Brett
Hull fired several bullets at him -- and missed on several others -- and wound
up empty. Brendan Shanahan tried from all over the place -- seven shots in the
first two periods alone. Stop. Stop. Stop. Since returning to Nashville,
Vokoun has thwarted 82 of 83 Detroit shots. Who knew Czech guys like country
music that much?
Which leads to . . .
Familiar Complaint No. 3: Where are all the big guns for Detroit? This is
another perennial April question. Year after year, the Wings are loaded with
offensive stars, and then come the playoffs and, for some stretch of time, the
big flowers wilt. Hey. This isn't rocket science. Detroit was second in the
NHL in offense, while Nashville was 20th in defense. That means the Wings
should score more than six goals in four games. Stars like Pavel Datsyuk -- is
he actually, you know, playing? -- Henrik Zetterberg, Steve Yzerman and
Shanahan should have some goals by now.
Where are they?
Time will tell, eh?
All right, class. Now that we've asked the perennial questions, here are the
perennial answers:
Answer No. 1: Patience, patience. This is something the Wings have by the
gallon. They know you only have to win four, not the first four. Or as Yzerman
put it, "Things can change fast if we get out to a quick lead Thursday." This
calming attitude can work wonders for turnarounds (Hello, Vancouver) or it can
lull a team into an early tee time (Hello, Anaheim).
Let's assume the former, for now.
Answer No. 2: Turn up the intensity. The Wings did not do the little things
that win games Tuesday night. They are very good at returning to those things
when pushed against the wall -- which they will be for Game 5 at Joe Louis
Arena.
Answer No. 3: Look at the roster. Come on. You can't keep that many good names
down for that long.
Having said all that, class, your Wings should be angry and concerned. With
Dave Lewis at the helm, they have now lost six of their last eight playoff
games -- all first-round jobs. You could say he's not making adjustments or
you could say the players aren't delivering for him, but this is not speaking
well for his postseason prowess. He deserves better -- but he needs to prove
it.
And so do they all. Class, I am going to sound a little un-teacherlike here:
Get with it! The Wings talked all season about how bitter last year's playoff
exit was. Yeah? If it was so bad, why are they tempting a repeat?
Get angry, Wings. Get focused. Get smart. And get better.
Or we're going to have to call your parents.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch
Albom Show" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Also catch "Monday Sports
Albom" 7-8 p.m. Mondays on WJR. To read recent columns by Albom, go to
www.freep.com/index/albom.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
SPT;COLUMN;HOCKEY;RED WINGS;GAME;LOSS;PLAYOFFS