A Six-Pack from Game Three

by Dirk Hoag on Apr 15, 2008 10:29 AM EDT

Last night's 5-3 win over the Red Wings was a true classic, but for this morning, I wanted to focus on a few points which aren't getting addressed to much extent in the MSM coverage of the game.

1. Niklas Kronwall went head-hunting again, this time leaving his feet and leading with his elbow to nail Radek Bonk in the 2nd period. After all the noise the NHL made last fall about cracking down on head shots, it's amazing to me that Kronwall's been allowed to get away with this twice in three games. The guy's not generally a dirty player, but he's too amped up out there and he isn't going to stop until he gets suspended for it. Apparently, that requires a concussion or worse to be suffered by one of the Preds.

It's good to see that Colin Campbell has time to make up rules to address a situation when players are making no contact at all, however. Great priorities, there, guy.

2. Shea Weber looked awful on the Nashville power play, but even worse were the two occasions when the Preds took penalties that canceled out a man advantage. Their PP is bad enough already without giving away those precious chances.

3. Somebody needs to teach Ryan Suter that if he's carrying the puck in his own end, he needs to count in his head "1... 2... 3...", and by 3, that puck better on its way to a teammate. Especially against a puck-hounding defensive squad like Detroit, Suter can't afford to get his pocket picked back there.

4. The referees were generally awful, see-sawing between letting stuff go and then calling a ticky-tack penalty. I imagine the players were getting frustrated with the inconsistency.

5. Today is the day for the Sommet Center lease to be considered by the Metro Council once again. Please call your favorite Council member at 862-6780, or you can email them using this link.

6. David Legwand was simply outstanding in his return to action, logging more ice time as the game went on, including nearly seven minutes in the final period. What remains to be seen is how his foot recovers from last night, and whether this is something that will steadily improve over time, or linger.

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No disrespect to you, but how is what Kronwall does considered "head-hunting" and what Jordin Tootoo does is "hard hitting"? A lot of Nashville players were leaving their feet in order to check a Wings player in each of the games in this series. For once Detroit plays a physical game and the Preds whine about not getting any calls. Well be happy, there were a lot of ticky-tack calls going the Preds way last night. Fortunately for the Wings, the Preds ended up squandering their power play chances in this entire series.

And yes, I am a Wings fan and yes I am bitter about last nights game. lol But I meant what I said that I don't mean any disrespect to you. But if you're going to call out Kronwall as a head-hunter than I need to let you know that Tootoo does the same. It can't be hard hits for one person, and head hunting for the other when it's the same type of hit.

by occasion on Apr 15, 2008 11:30 AM EDT reply actions

If you've got any clips of head-hunting similar to what Kronwall's been up to in this series, I'd be glad to see it. What Tootoo has done a much better job of this year is keeping his feet on the ice and leading with his shoulder, which is within the rules.

Kronwall's hits on Peverley in Game One and Bonk last night were expressly made to the players' heads, and he left his feet on both occasions to do so, which are two of the main factors that were outlined by Colin Campbell to the players as factors weighing towards a suspension. The Bonk hit also involved Kronwall leading with his elbow as well...

And for the record, I thought the refs weren't particularly biased one way or the other last night, there were cheap calls and non-calls going both ways at times.

by The Forechecker on Apr 15, 2008 11:35 AM EDT reply actions

"When I first saw it live, I thought definitely it was a penalty," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz. "I thought he came up. On review, Bonk sort of bent down and tried to duck under it. I didn't think Kronwall left his feet. It was just a good, clean hockey hit."

http://redwingscorner.blogspot.com/2008/04/kronwall-hit.html

by IwoCPO on Apr 15, 2008 4:13 PM EDT reply actions