Wings 1, Ducks 2

The Red Wings-Ducks series is meeting my secret fears. I heard all the experts talk about how Anaheim only had one scoring line and that would cost it against the deeper Wings (before Brian Rafalski went out). My thought was that Anaheim only needed one line to score. Everyone else would play defense all the time, and when the Anaheim scoring line came on, it would play offense and Detroit would get so excited it would forget to play defense, and Anaheim would win.
Last night’s game was a case in point — for much of the first two periods, it seemed like Anaheim had an extra player on the ice. Detroit could do almost nothing offensively. Anaheim’s first goal came from a good defensive play. It has thoroughly frustrated Detroit for three games now, and could be up 3-0. Firing outside shots at a big goalie doesn’t work much.

Anaheim has also had good bounces; I still don’t understand why the 2nd power play goal wasn’t waved off for goalie interference (I’ve never understood how that rule is interpreted). The fast whistle at the end last night contrasts with the slow whistle in 2007, when Dominik Hasek seemed to be laying on top of the puck but no whistle blew. Of course, the Ducks would have won again in overtime, so the ref was really just sparing Detroit fans some lost sleep.
Here’s hoping the experts are still right and Detroit wins the series, but it needs to figure out how to play a different kind of offensive game.