That old “full 60 minutes” saying

By Michael Caples –

DETROIT – The Wings posted five goals in the first 43:12 of the 2011-12 season. However, in the post-game locker room interviews, all the talk was about the classic sports phrase – “We gotta play a full 60 minutes”.

Detroit picked up a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in their home opener, but a slight bit of frustration stemmed from allowing all three Ottawa goals in the final 15 minutes.

Coach Mike Babcock said that his team played very well in the first two periods, but that the falter in the third is something that has already been addressed.

“You’ve got to do it 60 minutes – Not 20, not 30, you’ve gotta do it 60 minutes,” Babcock said. “We know in here we’ve got to be better…It’s two points, it’s the home opener, but you leave with a taste in your mouth that you shouldn’t. You’ve got to play the full 60 minutes. We’ve talked about it, we know we’ve gotta be better. We let in three goals at home, we didn’t need to give them up.”

With a wrister to the top shelf during a breakaway, Todd Bertuzzi broke open the scoring 16 minutes into the first. The credit for the goal, however, should go to Darren Helm – the 24-year-old center hit Bertuzzi with a pass across the entire neutral zone right up the middle of the ice. Bertuzzi skated in all alone on goaltender Craig Anderson.

The Wings took control of the game in the second period, with Nicklas Lidstrom, Cory Emmerton and Jiri Hudler all finding the back of the net. Ian White scored his first goal as a Red Wing in the third period right off of a face-off.

Jimmy Howard made 21 saves over the first two periods, keeping the Senators off the scoreboard until Milan Michalek deflected a shot through a crowd at the 5:49 mark of the third period. The Wings’ goaltender finished with 29 saves.

“In the third, we kind of fell back, and they scored two power-play goals,” Lidstrom said. “I thought they were coming with speed and we were standing still in the neutral zone, letting them put an amount of pressure on us. I thought we showed glimpses of playing well defensively, but then we had some let downs. I don’t know if it’s that we stopped playing when we were up by a few goals.

“We can’t take anything for granted in this league, these teams aren’t going to give up, they’re going to keep coming after you, and when they get a power play they can capitalize on them too, so you’ve got to play for those full 60 minutes.”