- I missed almost half of the game again due to work. At least we get Versus (unlike FSD...ahem Dish Network) there so I got to glance at the game a little bit.
- I wasn't terribly impressed with what I saw. The Wings gave away a point tonight, and while I find that frustrating, there were several times last season when we would've been breathing a sigh of relief and saying, “thank god they at least picked up a loser point.”
- TAWD (the NHL's official pronunciation guide tells me that this is how his name should be pronounced and by golly I wouldn't want to offend Bertuzzi, so I'll probably never type Todd on this blog again) and the Mule seem to be clicking quite well. Franzen had a pair of pretty goals and seems to be well on his way to that breakout season we've been looking for from him. TAWD's actually been doing good work, meaning that someone in the organization finally found an adequate supply of kittens and glitter with which to stock the locker room.
- DUHG Janik got into a fight. He didn't do a very good job. The way it's been explained to me, you're supposed to hit your opponent in the face with your fists in those types of situations, and he really didn't manage to do that.
- Jimmy Howard looked surprisingly good in the shootout. It's a shame the Wings' shooters couldn't accomplish anything.
- Has anyone ever come up with an explanation for why Henrik Zetterberg is so bad at shootouts? I feel like he should be much, much better.
- Speaking of Z, I could've sworn the Versus announcer was calling him Zett-a-berg instead of Zett-er-berg. I don't know if I'm hearing things or if it was bothering other folks out there. I also thought I heard him describe Brad Stuart as a “flashing defenseman” so there's the possibility that I'm just losing my mind.
- I was thinking during the second intermission that the fourth line was the only one that hadn't scored a goal yet. Then Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves went and combined for a shorthanded goal in the third period. It was quite pretty.
- Pavel Datsyuk's goal was also rather nice.
- The best play I saw from the Wings came during overtime. I really thought they were going to put the puck in the net with the way they were buzzing. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and we were forced to endure the first Wings shootout of the season.
- My dad took that opportunity to insist that I should've aggressively sought out Mike Babcock when we were up at training camp to relay the message that he should have the Wings practice shootouts. I'm sure that would've gone well.
1. I want to see the powerplay make me smile.
It converted in the second period. You can't ask for much more than that. It would've been nice if the Wings had gotten more than one chance on it.
2. There's a good possibility that the combination of the Avs and Versus is going to make me stabby tonight.
Oh yes, stabbiness ensued. For some reason, Versus only comes in on the one TV that has the DVR hooked up to it. This means that the other three TVs I have access to in my house won't play it. However, the rest of the family was watching their recording of Glee instead of acting like civilized people who watch hockey and I was stuck watching a choppy feed on my laptop. None of this would've happened if we'd just been able to watch FSD.
3. The first game was headlined by the top line, and the second game by the second line. Who's going to lead the way tonight?
There was a pretty good mix tonight. There was a little bit of scoring from all over the forward lineup. It's interesting, though, that no defensemen have scored for the Wings yet.
I've Got My Eye on You:
Pavel Datsyuk: 1-0-1 +/- 0, 0 PIM
Pav's goal on the powerplay was quite nice. He looked particularly good during overtime. It's a pity he couldn't convert in the shootout.
Scott Hannan: 0-0-0, +/- 0, 0 PIM
The feed I was watching was too grainy and stilted to pick out much in the way of jersey names/numbers so I don't have anything to say about him. It was all I could do to keep track of the Wings out on the ice.
Hero: Johan Franzen
A two-goal night is usually enough to qualify for game hero status. I'm especially fond of the way he scored his second goal. (Yes, I copy/pasted that from the last recap. Why mess with perfection, right?)
Villain: Brandon Yip
You could pretty much see where the shootout was heading when none of the Wings' top guys could put the puck in the net. He sealed the deal by finally beating Jimmy Howard and thus reminding all of Hockeytown why we hate shootouts so much.
Final Thought:
I still hate the shootout.
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