Hopefully, Gordie Howe doesn’t mind scooting over in the Red Wings’ record books, again.
For the second time this season, Johan Franzen broke a record held by Howe that was 50+ years old. In March, Franzen netted six game-winning goals, breaking Howe’s previous mark of five in 1952. On Thursday night in Denver, Franzen broke Howe’s goal total in a playoff series. Lately, everytime Franzen touches the puck, he’s either burying it in the back of the net, or breaking records. Either way, the guy’s just flat out in another world right now.
Franzen scored his second hat trick this series, and Henrik Zetterberg added two goals and two assists to help the Red Wings destroy the Avalanche 8-2 in Game 4, completing the sweep and landing Detroit into the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.
Franzen tallied nine goals in the series, snapping Howe’s mark of eight goals in seven games back in 1949. But the records don’t stop there. Franzen set an NHL record for goals in a four-game series with nine. Franzen has scored 11 goals this postseason, which also happens to be a new Red Wings records. Petr Klima, Sergei Fedorov, and Brett Hull all held the previous record with 10 goals in the playoffs. Franzen also became the first player to score two or more hat tricks in the postseason, since Jari Kurri accomplished the feat with the Edmonton Oilers in 1985, when Kurri scored three hat tricks against the Chicago Blackhawks.
While Franzen and Zetterberg shined for the Wings, they weren’t the only stars shining brightly. Mikael Samuelsson twice. Nicklas Lidstrom, Valterri Filppula, and Jiri Hudler each recorded two assists, and Tomas Holmstrom added the other goal for Detroit. Franzen’s individual effort of nine goals matched Colorado’s team total of nine goals.
It was a series that was supposed to rekindle and renew this once heated, hated rivalry between the two teams. Instead, it was cruel, systematic dimantling on the part of the Wings at the expense of the Avs. Never has this series been so one-sided in the postseason. In five previous postseason meetings, only once did the series fail to go six games (In 2000, Colorado ousted Detroit in five games in the semifinals). Now, that’s all changed.
There were two common themes this year when the Wings and Avs got together: Detroit never lost, and Colorado was never fully healthy. Detroit swept the regular season series 4-0. Joe Sakic missed all four regular season meetings. Paul Stastny and Ryan Smyth each missed two regular season games. While the Avalanche endured their fair share of injuries all season long, I can’t recall a team in the playoffs in recent memory that was so vigorously bitten by the injury bug. And that bug simply refused to stop biting the Avalanche.
By the end in Game 4, head coach Joel Quenneville was reduced to send out a hodgepodge, band-aid unit of Avs. It started in Game 1. Peter Forsberg was a no-go. Wojtek Wolski was injured early and lost for the series. Scott Hannan was knocked out of the lineup and didn’t return until Game 3. In Game 2, the Avs lost Ryan Smyth for the series due to a foot injury. In Game 3, Paul Stastny suffered a knee injury early in the first period and was lost for the series. The only game Forsberg suited up for was Game 3.
It was as if the Avs were a freshman team playing against four-year varsity letter winners. Detroit skated around, through and past Colorado, like the Wings had turbo boosters on their skates. To borrow a phrase from John Madden: speed kills. And while Detroit flew, Colorado labored to get up and down the ice, like somebody dared Colorado to play in their sneakers rather than skates.
Had this been curling or darts, or bowling, we would have been inclined to be sympathetic to the injuries. But this is hockey. More importantly, playoff hockey. It is what it is. Detroit remained healthy, and Colorado did not. There will be no mulligans, no re-dos. We’re not hitting the reset button and starting over. What’s done is done.
But while it would’ve been interesting to see what kind of series this could’ve been had Colorado had all hands on deck, the Avs can only use the injury crutch to an extent. Had Forsberg been relieable, or Smyth and Stastny remained in the lineup, chances are it wouldn’t have been over in four. The Avs’ luck was pretty bad in this series, and Jose Theodore wasn’t much better.
Theodore was chased from Game 4 for the third time in the four game series after allowing two goals by Holmstrom and Franzen 47 seconds apart at the end of the first period. Theodore allowed three goals on 15 shots and didn’t come out to start the second period. It became apparent after Game 1 if the Avs were to win, Theodore had to be stellar. Theodore was going to have to steal games for Colorado if the Avs had any chance to advance.
Theodore was neither stellar nor good. He wasn’t efficient or consistent. It appeared as though after the Minnesota series that Theodore was at the peak of his game, capable of stopping or at the very least, slowing Detroit’s offense. But Jose never gave the Avs a chance. And backup goalie Peter Budaj was never given the chance to start and take over the reigns. Budaj was relegated to mop-up duty three times. Before the Wings peppered Budaj for five goals in Game 4, in his relief of Theodore in Games 1 and 2, Budaj allowed only one goal.
Sure the goaltending wasn’t good for the Avs, but a goalie is only as good as his defense in front of him, and the Avs defense were severely overmatched. They couldn’t move Franzen. They never slowed Zetterberg. They never shackled Datsyuk. The Wings’ best players were their best players. Franzen had 10 points in the series, nine of which were goals. Zetterberg had nine points and Datsyuk added eight points.
Yes, Colorado was banged up and they almost had as many players in the infirmary as they had goals in the series, but the fact that Andrew Brunette was the Avs’ best player probably tells it all. Brunette led the Avs in goals (2) and points (3) in the series. He was the only Colorado player to score more than one goal in four games. Joe Sakic and Milan Hedjuk were silenced to the tune of one goal and six points combined.
There were plenty of failures to go around in the short four-game series. The series itself failed to live up to past playoff meetings. The Avs failed to stay healthy. Jose Theodore failed to remain in net in three of the four games. Peter Forsberg failed to be relieable.
As much as the Avs failed, Detroit succeeded. Their first line of Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom controlled the series. Their second line scoring came alive, thanks largely to Franzen’s nine goals and Samuelsson netting his first two of the playoffs. Chris Osgood was everything Theodore was not: steady and consistent. He wasn’t a highlight reel, and he didnt have to be. He made the big saves and he was good when Detroit needed him to be good.
The ending was nearly the same, but the venue was different. The last time Detroit faced Colorado in an elimination game, the Wings thumped the Avs 7-0 in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals in Detroit. The Wings chased then-Avs goalie Patrick Roy. This time around, the venue was the Pepsi Center in Denver, but everything else was just about the same. The Wings chased starting goalie Jose Theodore after the first period, and went on to paste the Avs 8-2.
The Avs were depleted and demoralized. No Forsberg, Smyth, Stastny or Wolski for a combined nine games and then some. Sure you can argue had the Wings lost the likes of Zetterberg, Franzen, Draper and Datsyuk, Detroit would have suffered the same fate. And the Avs would have done the same thing Detroit did: show no remorse, while going for the jugular.
But it was the Wings who showed the killer instinct. It was Detroit who refused to let up. The Wings pushed and pushed, and felt they had to push some more. Maybe the Wings sent a message to either Dallas or San Jose in preparation for the Western Conference Finals. Maybe they didn’t. The Wings’ sweep was the first since 2000, and call it what you will, but it was damn convincing. Detroit is playing their best hockey right now, and that’s all you can ask for at this point of the year.
Halfway home, but tremendous more left to be done.
