Mike Babcock adjusted his line-up only 9 minutes into game 4, and in turn, out coached Randy Carlyle who 's one dimensional team was unable to handle the barrage of offense the Big Red Machine began to throw at the unsuspecting water fowl.
Hoping for a repeat performance tonight, the defending Stanley Cup champs came out with guns blazing at home in this pivotal game 5 match up. With Thomas Kocpecky injured after a lopsided fight with Francois Beauchemin, the Wings looked to home grown super forward Justin Abdelkader to provide a spark. Another welcomed surprise line-up change was veteran rear guard Chris Chelios watching from the press box as Derek "multipurpose" Meech takes his place.
The Franzen-Hossa-Fillpula line has been magic, and the mule added another goal notching his 7th in 9 games this post season, and his 20th in 25 playoff games going back to last season. To put that into perspective, if he maintained that pace for an 82 game season, he would have ended up with 65 goals. Alexander Ovechkin won the Rocket Richard trophy this year with 56 goals, and Franzen plays on Detroit's second line!! NHL.com tracks Time On Ice Per Game (TOI/G) and Franzen is at the 18 minute mark, to Ovie's 23 mins. This guy is a beast.
The Wings outshot the water fowl 14-3 after the first period, and rang 2 posts in the first frame. In a sloppy second period both team added 9 shots, before the Wings closed the game by out shooting their opponents by a 15-5 margin. Total shots were 38-17 Wings. The more telling stat, would be the fact the 'old' Red Wings out hit the 'rough, and tough' Ducks 35-18. When one team is doubled in shots AND hits, it's rare to win that game.
This was a lopsided affair and to be blunt, Hiller kept Anaheim in the game. The only reason this series has made it to 6 games is because of a triple over time bounce, a blown call, and Jonas Hiller. Bottom Line.
On an interesting note, Detroit recalled Darren McCarty after game 5. I'd have to assume Babs is looking to have some toughness in case things get out of hand should the Wings dominate game 6.
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