Hawks get schooled: Red Wings use Game 1 to teach 'a lesson'

DETROIT - In case the Blackhawks were wondering exactly where they were Sunday afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings provided a not-so-subtle reminder.

These are the Western Conference finals at Joe Louis Arena against the best team in hockey, not the Calgary Flames or the Vancouver Canucks, and the Hawks weren't ready for it.

With their best players AWOL pretty much from start to finish, the Hawks were schooled by the Red Wings 5-2 in Game 1 of the West finals.

"It obviously just wasn't good enough," said Adam Burish, one of the few Hawks who played well, scoring a goal. "Against these guys you can't play their style.

"When you're playing against them you see all the cute plays they make and the way they can snap it around and you try to do that, too.

"If you want to be good against these guys you have to play your own game. When we tried to get cute and turned the puck over, that was the game."

The Red Wings seemed to have the puck all afternoon. The Hawks were careless in the neutral zone and tried time and time again to finesse their way into the Detroit zone instead of chipping it behind the defense.

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each were minus-3, with Kane producing no shots on goals. Martin Havlat was minus-2 with 1 shot. Defenseman Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith each made turnovers that led to goals, and the first 2 goals allowed by goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin could be considered soft.

"We got a lesson today," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've got to be way better than that."

The game was actually tied at 2-2 early in the third period after Kris Versteeg's power-play goal, but the Hawks seemed to let down, and four minutes later Mikael Samuelsson scored the go-ahead goal and eventual game-winner.

"We needed to follow that goal up stronger," Brian Campbell said.

"Chicago is a momentum team," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "They score in bunches. The shift after you score, the shift after they score is going to be a huge shift in the game."

The Red Wings' line of Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Dan Cleary smothered Toews, Kane and Troy Brouwer. Babcock also was able to get defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski out there as much as possible against the Toews line.

"We've got to do a better job with that matchup," Quenneville said.

"Let's not get carried away. It's one game," Babcock said. "But Z and his linemates, and then obviously Nick and Rafalski on the back, they make it hard on you."

The Hawks had a great first eight minutes, taking a 1-0 lead at 5:25 on Burish's goal following a turnover by goalie Chris Osgood.

The Red Wings tied it at 8:23 when Seabrook lost the puck at the Detroit blue line to Cleary, who took it the other way and beat Khabibulin with a stoppable-looking wrist shot from barely inside the left circle.

Franzen put the Red Wings ahead at 16:38 of the second period when he stole Keith's push pass intended for Seabrook and beat Khabibulin on a wraparound.

Khabibulin wound up with 38 saves, but those 2 goals were killers.

"Those were 2 tough goals there, the first 2 goals," Seabrook said. "The first one bounced over my stick, my fault, and the second one Dunc tries to go over to me behind the net and just missed it and Franzen tucks it in.

"Really, Khabby doesn't have a chance on any of those, I think. Myself, I know I've got to be better."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p> <p class="breakhead">Three stars</p> <p class="News">1. Dan Cleary</p> <p class="News">Two goals for the Red Wings' versatile forward and former Blackhawks No. 1 draft pick.</p> <p class="News">2. Johan Franzen</p> <p class="News">A goal and 2 assists for the Red Wings' first-liner they call "The Mule."</p> <p class="News">3. Henrik Zetterberg</p> <p class="News">Great shutdown job by the Detroit center on Hawks' No. 1 center Jonathan Toews.</p> <p class="breakhead">Key stat</p> <p class="News">If the Hawks don't block 20 shots, the Red Wings might have had more than 60 shots on goal instead of 43.</p> <p class="breakhead">Big moment</p> <p class="News">The Hawks started strong and were ahead 1-0 when Dan Cleary turned a Brent Seabrook giveaway into a goal at 8:23 of the first period.</p> <p class="breakhead">The quote</p> <p class="News">"Our forecheck has to be better, and we have to get the puck deep. We have to realize when you can hold on to it and when you can't. You've got to feel the pressure and get pucks deep." - Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell.</p> <p class="breakhead">Looking ahead</p> <p class="News">If the Hawks don't win Game 2 on Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena it could be a short series.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=294329">Kane, Toews silenced by Zetterberg line<span class="date">[5/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=294333">Ex-Hawk now one of Wings' key players <span class="date">[5/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=294331">Fast start, but then ... <span class="date">[5/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=294319">Quenneville's face tells all <span class="date">[5/18/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="moreSubHead"> Photo Galleries </div> <ul class="moreGallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=294288" class="mediaItem">Game 1: Hawks vs. Red Wings </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>