2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Detroit Red Wings win 4-2 against the Calgary Flames after a slow start
The 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series saw the Detroit Red Wings and the Calgary Flames play their 6th game of the campaign thus far of the regular season. The game took place this Thursday at the Joe Louis Arena. There were around 19,000 fans
that came in support of their teams hoping for a win. The game saw a slow start from the Detroit Red Wings as they trailed going into the 2nd period. But they managed to combine well and at the end emerged victorious with the score 4-2.
1st Period
The starting to the period was slow from both sides. The reason for this was that both teams knew that their opponent was very strong on the offence. They preferred for an opportunity to develop rather than attacking and leaving open space at the back.
The game saw both teams making plays slowly and trying to find openings in the opposing defence but this did not happen late into the period.
The home team was urged by the fans to press on and score. They responded to the call but it went against them as they were caught on a counter attack one too many times. They were punished for this sloppy work as the Calgary Flames scored in the 16th
minute to take the lead. The goal was scored by Mikael Backlund, who scored from a distance of 17 feet.
The home team was able to respond to this in an impressive manner as they scored in the 18th minute to level things. The goal was scored by Henrik Zetterberg from a superb flick shot from 19 feet.
However, the Detroit Red Wings pressed for another goal and were again caught on a counter attack. The opportunity was pounced on by the Calgary Flames, who took the lead once again through Mikael Backlunds strike once again, another perfect backhand shot.
The period with the away team in the lead and both team making 16 goal attempts each.
2nd Period
The 2nd period was not as exciting and entertaining as the 1st one as there was only 1 goal scored in the 20 minutes of play.
The home team gained some confidence after the break with the changed strategy that they adopted which resulted in them scoring and levelling the score once again. The goal was scored by Captain Niklas Lidstrom in the 4th minute from a powerful
hit from 55 feet.
The home came up with a few more shots but none was able to find its way into the goal. The period came to an end with the score level at 2-2. During the period, the Detroit Red Wings made 8 goal attempts and scored once and the Calgary Flames made 5 goal
attempts with no goals.
3rd Period
The 3rd period started on very strongly for the home team but they weren’t able to score. After the first few goal attempts, the Calgary Flames started to attack the opposing goal once again with strong attacks but they couldn’t score.
On the contrary, the Detroit Red Wings scored in the 8th minute to take the lead. The goal was scored by Johan Franzen that put the home team in the lead for the 1st time during the match.
Taking the lead, the Detroit Red Wings didn’t back down and pressed on in search for another goal and scored in the 17th minute to seal the win. The goal was scored by Todd Bertuzz from 31 feet. The game ended with the Detroit Red Wings winning
the match 4-2.
At the end of the match the Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock said, "I thought we were going to start great, so what do I know?" said Babcock, who still wasn't pleased with his team's overall play after being outshot 36-30.
"I thought we were going to be fantastic here tonight, so we're going to look at it and try to get better. We can skate better than we're skating right now. We have to figure it out as a group."
"We worked hard, but maybe we were a little slow coming out in the first period," said Franzen, whose fourth goal of the season came in his first game back since sitting out a game with a concussion.
"We haven't played since Saturday. That's hard. When you haven't played in awhile, it's hard to get your legs going right away from the get-go. We've been slow starters a little bit this year. Better to start slow than end slow, though."
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