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Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
Brendan Who? Steve Who? That 's what the Wings were saying Saturday afternoon as they smashed the Los Angeles Kings 4-0 at Joe Louis Arena. The Wings were crashing and banging like their Stanley Cup seasons of a few years ago. Sergei Fedorov had another goal and an assist, Slava Kozlov had two goals, one on a power play and one four-on-four. The Grind Line played a lot, and they played well. C Kris Draper played 20 minutes, second only to Fedorov's 22 minutes. Goalie Chris Osgood stopped all 20 L.A. shots for his 9th playoff shutout. He came up big on a couple of saves and a dandy poke check in the third period.
Once again the Wings made L.A. pay for their mistakes, going 3 of 6 on the power play. The Kings had a 5 minute power play when Defenseman Juri Fisher was called for a boarding major penalty. Deadmarsh lay motionless on the ice for several minutes, and was helped off by trainers. He returned to the game shortly thereafter. Detroit killed off the penalty, as well as the other 5 chances the Kings had. L.A. has not scored on the power play in the playoffs, this season or last. They were 0 for 23 last season, and are 0 for 6 so far in these playoffs. Detroit is 5 for 10 in the first two games this year. The Wings do need to work on their 5 on 5 scoring a little. They scored 3 power play goals Saturday, and one 4 on 4.
Tonight's game time is at 11:30pm Detroit time. It is still unknown what lineup changes are in store, but you'd think after playing yesterday afternoon, some are going to be made. Larry Murphy may be scratched, although he has played very well in the playoffs so far. Scotty Bowman may decide to go with Manny Legace as well, but Chris Osgood is coming off of a stellar performance Saturday, and he likes to go with the hot hand. Aaron Ward has not played, and rookie forward Jason Williams was recalled Friday night, and may play tonight. The team has been hitting on all cylinders, so tinkering with the lineup may not be wise. But with backto-back games like this, you can't be too careful resting key people that need it either.
David Guralnick / The Detroit News
Adam Deadmarsh lies motionless on the ice after a Juri Fisher hit.