Babcock Has Red Wings Playing at Rarefied Level

The Stanley Cup Finals move to the Steel City tonight, with the Detroit Red Wings holding a commanding 2-0 series lead, making Game Three an unquestionably must-win situation for Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Wings won the first two games by a combined 7-0 score, stifling the Pens’ skilled stars while capitalizing on virtually every scoring opportunity their inexperienced opponents provided them.The modern-era NHL has been characterized by defensive coaching, teams guided by the notion that players in proper position can squelch the opposition’s offensive attack. Indeed, some fairly pedestrian teams enjoyed surprising success subscribing to this notion (most notably, the 1996 Panthers and the 2003 Wild), and the proliferation of defense-first coaching strategies is one of the most oft-mentioned explanations for the NHL’s drop in popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Following the 2004-05 lockout, steps were taken to enhance the offensive side of the game, most notably a crackdown on obstruction and interference. The results were positive, with new stars such as Crosby, teammate Evgeni Malkin, and the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin bursting out of the gate with thrilling 100+ point seasons. But for the most part, the rise in scoring had everything to do with talented players getting room to skate and virtually nothing to do with a renaissance in offensive coaching … until now.Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock is known primarily as a defensive strategist, and with good reason. Under his tutelage, the 2003 then-Mighty Ducks went all the way to Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, a tight defensive game plan providing the perfect complement to elite netminder Jean-Sébastien Giguère. And the post-lockout Red Wings have similarly distinguished themselves with stellar team defense.While Babcock might be best known for his chalkboard work on the defensive side of the puck, it’s when his team has the puck that he’s demonstrating the acumen of a true visionary. Shift after shift, line after line, the Wings are as positionally sound in their opponents’ zone as they are in the area surrounding their own goal. As a result, their tic-tac-toe passing game can make even strength look like a power play … and can make a power play look like unsanctioned torture for the opposition.When it’s played well, hockey is a creative team game, its participants operating as a jazz ensemble responding intelligently to whatever their opponents throw at them. Within this analogy, one can see the difference between the Red Wings and the Penguins through the first two games of this series.With the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Marian Hossa, and Sergei Gonchar, the Penguins have a surplus of high-end talent. However, the lion’s share of Michel Therrien’s coaching has been focused on the defensive side of the puck, where Pittsburgh’s talented lineup is grittily blocking shots and making the sacrifices needed to get to hockey’s biggest stage. When the Pens have the puck, particularly at even strength, Crosby’s brilliant passes seem to surprise his teammates more often than not, and it’s translated into a substantial number of missed scoring opportunities. In many ways, they’re like a band of All-Stars just getting acquainted.Meanwhile, the Wings are getting strong offensive performances throughout their lineup, largely because every player seems to be perpetually aware of his teammates’ whereabouts. Whether they’re breaking up ice, traversing through neutral ice, or navigating about in the Pens’ zone, there appears to be a psychic connection between the skaters, enabling the Red Wings to consistently remain one step ahead of their overmatched opponents. Perhaps they don’t have the same cachet on the marquee, but they’re far greater than the sum of their parts.To be fair, the Wings’ talent up front after Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk has been largely understated. On another less potent team, young players such as Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula would play far more critical roles. But on the Wings, they are relegated to supporting roles, making their breakout playoff performances a surprise to all but the most informed fans.Franzen, much like teammate Tomas Holmstrom, is primarily characterized as a crease-crasher, a hard-nosed forward always willing to “pay the price” in high-traffic areas in order to create space for teammates. His prolific goal scoring in these playoffs (12 goals in 12 games) is generally explained away by his always being in the right place at the right time (yes, another testament to Babcock’s coaching).But a play midway through the third period of the Wings’ 3-0 Game 3 victory illustrated just how much more Franzen is capable of, and that the Wings’ best may improbably still lie ahead. Franzen took the puck along the right wing boards in the neutral zone and delivered a brilliant timing pass to Filppula as he broke toward the Pens’ blue line, giving the talented young Finn a brilliant opportunity to bisect defenders Ryan Whitney and Kris Letang.From there, Filppula delivered what will be one of the lasting memories of these playoffs. Tripped up by Whitney as he approached Pens’ netminder Marc-André Fleury, Filppula went airborne, but never lost his focus, firing a forehand past Fleury while soaring through the air. Comparisons will be made to Bobby Orr’s iconic Cup-winning goal in 1970. The difference, however, is that Orr went airborne in celebration, after scoring the goal, while Filppula actually scored while in flight.From the original outlet pass by trade deadline acquisition Brad Stuart, to Franzen’s setup to Filppula’s brilliant goal, the entire play was a product of perfect positioning, and a reminder of just how thrilling hockey can be when teammates are thinking one, two, or even three steps ahead of their opponents.If the Wings’ positioning continues through all three zones, there will be little the Pens can do in the way of adjustment to mitigate things. No NHL team has been as dominant since the Wings of the mid-1990s, when they won an NHL-record 62 games (in 1995-96) and then won the Cup in each of the two subsequent seasons. The Wings are making music on the ice at a rarefied level, and even if the Cup Finals haven’t been as competitive as hoped or expected, their mastery is a pleasure to watch.Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.

Babcock Has Red Wings Playing at Rarefied Level

Babcock Has Red Wings Playing at Rarefied Level

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