Red Wings 2, Wild 5: Post Game Snipes...

• I missed the first period because I was on my way home from a meeting. I listened to it on the radio in the car, and I got all excited when they called Datsyuk’s second goal because it was the second night in a row that the Wings bounced back from a goal against in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, their success was short-lived and it was all downhill from there.
• Is this the part where I make the obligatory lame joke about it being a Wild end to the first period?
• Stuart’s day-to-day with his shoulder injury. This is good news, but I’ll be more relieved when I see him actually take the ice. This season’s made me a wee bit paranoid. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get this recap up earlier, because I had a cute little one-liner about injury reports all set to go.
• One good thing to take away from these last two games: Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom are firing on all cylinders. Halfway through the third period, I became more interested in rooting for Datsyuk to complete his hat trick than the outcome of the game.
• On a related note, scoring two 1st period goals and not finishing the trick is just cruel. If the second goal came late in the game, I’d understand, but he had a full 40 minutes to toy around and buy us all lunch at Arby’s. Come on, man.
• I expected Ozzie to get crucified on the blogosphere a lot worse than he did. The media more than made up for it, though.
• During the game, my brother tried to tell me that I’m not a real hockey fan. I laughed at him.
• The most astounding thing about this season is the way this team almost appears to be making conscious decisions to NOT win games. When was the last time you saw them come out with determination and fire and you just knew deep down that they were going to do whatever it took to win that night? Most of their victories seem accidental and we’re left saying things like, “Wow, I can’t believe they held on to win,” and “Luckily, the other team missed six open nets tonight, or they would’ve taken the Wings to the cleaners.” It’s pathetic. Either man up and go win some hockey games, or stop toying with our emotions. It’s getting old.
  

GP Answers:
1. The second game of a back-to-back, with travel in between, against a lower-ranked team, after a ridiculous loss? This one should be fun. Can the Wings rebound from last night’s disappointment?
Ha. Haha. Ha. It’s become all too predictable.

2. Once again, how many minutes of hockey will the Wings show up to play tonight? It turns out that a 58-minute effort doesn’t quite cut it.
Don’t even get me started.

3. Kronwall looked wonderful last night. Can he keep it up for the second night in a row after a long layoff, or is his conditioning going to slow him down?
Even if he was crab-walking around the ice and trying to play with a mini-stick, he probably would’ve looked right on par with the rest of the team.

4. The newly-constituted second line had a good game last night, even though they didn’t have much to show for it. It’s nice to finally have more than one line that has the potential to score for a change. Cleary’s addition to the top line also seemed to spark the Eurotwins. Will we continue to see some chemistry from the offense, or was it just a fluke?
I’m willing to announce the revival of the Eurotwins. They just need to keep it up. The second line…needs to be more second-line-ish.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
He’s doing his Datsyukian thing again, and that’s bad news for opposing players. Please, just stay hot, Pav. We need you.

An Extra Stick Tap for Nick Lidstrom
If you’re a believer in the law of averages, hold onto your socks because Nick Lidstrom is a man on fire.

Dan Cleary gets the Golden Facepalm
That penalty he took in the third period was crushing because of the goals that followed on the 4-on-4 and PK. I know, I know, it was accidental, and he had two assists, and in all likelihood the Wings weren’t going anywhere anyway, but I have to single someone out here. Believe me, it wasn’t easy picking one guy out for this, and well, I’ll admit that this was kind of a cop out.

What I Learned:
My brother hates Abdelkader with a passion for reasons that make little to no sense.