Red Wings 4, Coyotes 2: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings looked awful in the first period. Across the board. I'd say I was surprised, but well, I wasn't.
• The thing that everyone is missing with Chris Osgood these days is the fact that he is a backup goalie. Backup goalies give up soft goals and make you cringe when they're in net. It's the way of the world. We're still looking at him as '08 Ozzie and he just isn't that goalie anymore. I think Wings fans will be a whole lot happier if we can realign our expectations to be more realistic for a backup netminder.
• Darren Helm had his best game of the season so far.
• I'm still regretting not smuggling in a bottle of Pepsi for Ozzie. I think it would've helped matters.
• At one point during the game, Pavel Datsyuk did something ridiculous and then passed the puck to Doug Janik who proceeded to blow the entire play. Amanda and I screamed, “JANNNNNNNNNNIK!” in perfect unison. I think we shook our fists at him, too. Or maybe that was just me.
• Pav is a ridiculous human being. He had a shift during the second where he absolutely victimized Pyatt and made him look like a peewee hockey player. That man just does things the puck that nobody else can. Nobody.
• The Commune found out that Gary Bettman was in the building toward the end of the second period. Hearing this news prompted us to exclaim (again in unison), “Well THAT explains it!”
• Mickey's interview with Bettman was much less argumentative than the last one they did. Hearing Bettman speak still gives me the shudders.
• Homer's penalty near the end of the game was killer.
• That was an ugly, ugly turnover by Kronner on the empty-netter, but booing him was uncalled for.
• The Wings could not hold the puck in the zone to save their lives tonight.
• I loved how hard Helm was working on that last shift. The team was down by two with less than a minute left in the game and he was still out there going strong.
• Kat and I rode the People Mover back to Greektown after the game. There were dancing homeless men on our train. One of them did the Moonwalk. Bros were singing “Beat It” for them to dance to. It was epic.

Hat Trick:
1. There's been a lot of talk lately about the third line not producing offensively. Will they redeem themselves tonight?
No, they still look disorganized and not quite on track.

2. The top line stole the show the last time the Wings played seemingly six years ago. Does that mean it's the “second” line's turn tonight? A glitter kittens goal celebration at the Joe with the Commune has the potential to be epic.
It was definitely the Pavel Datsyuk show tonight. Mule did score on the powerplay, though.

3. How many last-minute goals will the Wings allow? That's a sad trend that I've never been able to fully wrap my head around.
None, if you don't count the empty-netter. At least that's something. 

Hero: Pavel Datsyuk
I can't even tell you how many times we just laughed and looked at each other in disbelief up in the stand at the Joe after Datsyuk did something ridiculous. Amanda's mom texted her asking if anyone was going to show up to play the game with Pavel. We got the sense that after the first period, he just said, “Ah, screw it. We're going to lose anyway. Might as well have some fun,” and went out there and skated and stickhandled circles around the Coyotes. He put on a show last night, and it's too bad that the rest of the team didn't really look like they were interested in winning. Plus, he tallied his 600th career point.

Villain: Lauri Korpikosky
He scored the Coyotes' shorthanded goal, and then put sealed the victory with the empty-netter at the end.

Final Thought:
Isn't it sad that slow starts like that are predictable for the Wings?