 |
|
|
|
|
Game 5 Notebook Saturday, May 17, 2008 The line of Joel Lundqvist, Toby Petersen and Loui Eriksson, which was put together by Stars coach Dave Tippett for Game 4, came through with another big performance in Game 5. The line produced the game-winning goal early in the second period, which came when Lundqvist scored off a two-on-one break. "I think if you look at the line of [Toby] Petersen, Lundqvist and [Loui} Eriksson, those are perfect examples of young players who are very good players, getting thrust into a very difficult situation and performing very well," said Tippett. It was another solid effort from Petersen, who played in a situations and ended up with 22:33 of ice time on the afternoon. "There's some penalty kills in there, some situations with faceoffs in our own end, shuffling guys on and off to try to get certain matchups that we want," Tippett said of Petersen's ice time. "He's playing very valuable minutes, playing against top players, and he's getting the job done for us. Again, he probably typifies, when you talk about players that play the game fast or play with pace, he's one of those guys that is right there. He's not a big guy, but is willing to get in the trenches, plays fast. That's what made him a good player in this series." In the Stars' Game 4 win on Wednesday, the line was key in matching up against the Red Wings top line of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom. Holmstrom gets in penalty trouble Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom had three shots on goal in the game, but his presence around the net wasn't much of a factor. His penalty issues were. He took a cross-checking minor in the second period and then he took a roughing penalty for hitting someone on the Stars bench with 7:40 left in the game and Detroit still trying to get the tying goal. "To call that undisciplined play would be an understatement," Stars center Steve Ott said. "You don't punch somebody on the bench as you're skating by." Lidstrom: Pressure on both teams It would seem the pressure in the series has shifted to the Detroit Red Wings, who now face a Game 6 in Dallas Monday. Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom has his own take on the pressure issue. "There's pressure on both teams. If they lose one game, the series is over. If we win, it's over, too," said Lidstrom. "I don't really feel that pressure. The thing is you have to be ready to play the game that's coming up. You can't think too far ahead." Trying to tune out Ott, praising Ott Stars forward Steve Ott has been doing his best to get under the skin of the Detroit Red Wings, and the Red Wings have been doing their best to tuning out the Stars agitator. "You just have to ignore him the best you can," Wing forward Dallas Drake told the Macomb Daily. "I have fun with it. He says things that make me laugh and then I skate away. Hopefully there'll come a time when we can say things back to him, but right now we're focused on winning games." Detroit forward Kirk Maltby said it's virtually impossible to tune out Ott. "He probably does talk more than most guys, but not anymore than a guy like Sean Avery," Maltby told the Windsor Star. "Sometimes you just have to laugh, whether it's witty or dumb. I'm not going to say he's dumb, but I don't know if he's all that witty, either. I don't dislike him because of it. I laugh. At times, I get a good little chuckle. It's part of the game, another one of the games within the game." And Maltby said there is a lot more to Ott than his chirping. He praised Ott for being a player who gets ice time in a lot of different situations and making an impact. "He plays in different situations," Maltby said. "He might start on the third or fourth line, but he'll get some ice time with their top two lines, he'll kill some penalties. He even gets a little power-play at times. What he does for them, he does it well. When he's out there, you obviously do have to be aware of him, because he does finish his checks and he can finish them pretty hard." Notes
Quotable "It was Marty's night. He was a special player and basically won that game for us." Stars defenseman Trevor Daley
|
|
Indicates Subscriber only
content