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Hit Parade
How important was physical play in the Red Wings' first-round victory? In their four wins, the Red Wings tallied 37, 35, 35 and 34 hits. In their two losses, the Red Wings had 23 and 20 hits.
In the playoffs last spring, the Red Wings' fortunes went south when they stopped hitting. In Games 1 and 2, the Red Wings had 29 and 28 hits. In the next four games, Detroit had hit totals of 14, 8, 18 and 14, losing three of those contests.
In the playoffs last spring, the Red Wings' fortunes went south when they stopped hitting. In Games 1 and 2, the Red Wings had 29 and 28 hits. In the next four games, Detroit had hit totals of 14, 8, 18 and 14, losing three of those contests.
Here are the Red Wing individual leaders in hits in the first round ...
Andreas Lilja, 20
Danny Markov, 17
Dan Cleary, 15
Kirk Maltby, 14
Henrik Zetterberg, 14
Johan Franzen, 12
Mathieu Schneider, 12
Todd Bertuzzi, 10
Tomas Holmstrom, 10
And the Wings who didn't hit in the first round ...
Brett Lebda, 1
Kyle Calder, 3
Valtteri Filppula, 4
Mikael Samuelsson, 6
Chris Chelios, 6
posted by Chuck Pleiness at
11:21 PM
1 Comments:
Interesting observation.
I think you're spot on, in general terms. However, I really have a hard time figuring out how the statistician records hits. In game 1, IIRC, Datsyuk threw three or four hits, and was credited with none.
It also seems like Filppula and Hudler threw a few hits, too.
Another thing to consider is that while Lilja/Markov threw a lot of hits, the hits weren't very punishing, in my opinion.
Looking at that Calgary series, I think our forwards wore their defense out. It was evident by the OT in game 6.
But I don't think our D wore their forwards down. Markov, at least, kept them honest. Lilja is a big man, but he doesn't hit hard.
Hitting is a big part of the series, for sure.
But the most important, element, is skating.
Skating+Hitting=tire, weary opponents
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