Red Wings 3, Blackhawks 4 (SO): Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings took four penalties during the first period. Four. One was a joke, but all that time on the PK really took the life out of the team.
• They actually started pretty well considering that they had played less than 24 hours previously.
• Nick Lidstrom’s last-minute goal in the first period was almost identical to that chance he had in the final seconds of Game 7 of the Finals last season. All things considered, I would’ve rather he buried that other one.
• The Wings had a 10-minute stretch in the first without a shot on net. I realize that they were on the PK for most of the time, but that’s still kind of pathetic.
• Patrick Eaves got into a fight late in the first. I was surprised. I think that was kind of the general consensus amongst Wings fans on Twitter too. Even Babcock said that he didn't know Eaves could fight. He did a pretty good job handling himself. He got taken down, but I thought he got better swings in than Versteeg did.
• During the first intermission, Mike Milbury said that the trailing ref and linesmen had “courage” to make the call on the Ott goal yesterday. Apparently he’s confused courage with incompetence. We have a different definition of courage here in Detroit, sunshine.
• The Wings scored another powerplay goal. One more game with a conversion, and I’ll be willing to pronounce it functional again. The play was absolutely vintage Eurotwins hockey. Datsyuk mad a strong play bringing it into the zone and fighting through what seemed like the entire Blackhawks team to dish it to Zetterberg. He took the pass awkwardly, fought to control it, and buried a great shot. Let’s see more of that, please.
• Patrick Sharp’s goal in the second period came off of a pretty play that had the NBC guys gushing. It looked great, but it probably wouldn’t have happened if the Wings had bothered playing defense on that play. The look Brad Stuart gave Brett Lebda after the puck went in the net kind of said it all.
• Datsyuk was all over the place this afternoon. Now that Lidstrom looks like he's gotten going offensively, if the Wings can get Pav to start putting pucks in the net, things will be looking pretty good.
• We missed seeing the live view of Eaves’ tying goal because NBC was showing needless replays. What a joke broadcast. Everybody was confused because we were hearing the live call from the PBP guys, but it didn’t match up with the replays on the screen or anything that had happened so far today. Way to go, guys, way to go.
• The five minutes of overtime were insane. If that can’t sell hockey to a national audience, I don’t know what will.
• Both of the Eurotwins had glorious chances during OT, but neither one of them could finish.
• Datsyuk’s shootout goal was ridiculous. There’s not really any way to accurately capture it in words, but I think ridiculous comes closest.
• Bertuzzi’s goal was pretty awesome too. It was a good thing that he scored on it because otherwise he would’ve looked kind of silly. It was especially awesome because of his use of Brian Campbell’s patented spin move.
• After Hossa scored to send the shootout into extra rounds, I knew the Wings were done. I just don’t think Cleary has the moves to get it done in a situation like that. I’m not sure why Filppula doesn’t get a shot in the shootouts when they go to extra rounds. He’s got some hands.
• Even though this game had the same result as yesterday’s did, I feel much better about it. Instead of blowing a two-goal lead, the Wings fought back from a two-goal deficit. Plus, there weren’t any moments that had me yelling at my TV and considering if I had the willpower to walk away from the NHL once and for all.
• Patrick Eaves’ post-game interview was pretty good. I liked his description of his fight. “We hit each other in the face.” Awesome. On the other hand, I don’t understand how he can talk with all of that hair in front of his face. I got side bangs a week ago for the first time in almost 10 years, and it took all of two minutes for me to realize that I couldn’t stand it. They’ve been bobby pinned out of the way ever since. Eaves could use a few of those.
  

GP Answers:
1. It’s been less than 24 hours since the start of the Dallas game (Oh, NHL, your wonders never cease), and while I’ve never been a professional hockey player, I can’t imagine that the quick turnaround—combined with flying home from Dallas—is easy on the guys. Chicago also has a short turnaround, so we should be in for a spectacular, fast-paced treat for the national TV audience. What are the odds that the Wings will be awake for the start of the game today?
They came out looking pretty good in the first halves of each of the periods, but seemed to fade toward the end. They looked much better as the third period came to an end, so maybe they found their second wind.

2. The last time the Wings got screwed on a goal call against Dallas, they fell into a pathetic spiral of hopelessness. According to HNIC last night, the organization is “irate.” Will the team come out looking like they’ve got some fire, or let Chicago walk all over them like they did in their last two meetings?
They didn’t exactly look angry or seem like they were playing to make a statement, but they at least put up a fight.

3. I haven’t heard if Leino or May will be in the lineup today, but it probably doesn’t matter much. Either way, I have to ask: what new level of uselessness will they accomplish today?
I’m told that May spent one commercial break jawing with one of the Hawks. I was shocked that he did anything. Patrick Eaves had to fight today.

4. Is there any chance that the Wings can actually score a goal against the Blackhawks this time around? The last two games against them didn’t really work out too well.
Hey look at that, the Wings actually scored three goals, plus two in the shootout.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Patrick Eaves
He had a good fight and scored the Wings’ tying goal…even though NBC didn’t see fit to televise it live. Today was yet another solid effort from Eaves, who I’ve liked more and more as the season has worn on.

An Extra Stick Tap for Pavel Datsyuk
I can't say enough about that shootout goal.



Brett Lebda gets the Golden Facepalm
I’m about 90% sure that he should’ve been the one covering Patrick Sharp when he scored the Hawks’ third goal.

What I Learned:
I like the shootout less and less every day. That game deserved a better ending.

Off-Season Brilliance?...

So I got to thinking the other day about Ken Holland’s off-season work. And I came to a conclusion that I wouldn’t have expected a few months ago: Thank goodness the Wings didn’t re-sign Marian Hossa.

Now, I liked Hossa when he was here. I certainly wasn’t happy with his performance in the payoffs, but I liked him and I liked what he brought to the team. I kind of figured he’d be gone this summer and my only real problem with his departure was that he ended up in Chicago. I was kind of ambivalent about the possibility of re-signing him because while I liked the thought of another year of the kind of offensive firepower he brought, I knew it would be tricky to fill out a full roster with the kind of money it would take to keep him. And you know what? In the pre-lockout world, he would’ve been a Wing for life. And I would’ve been okay with that.

I also wasn’t thrilled with some of the free agent signings this summer, although that had a lot to do with my personal dislike of Bertuzzi and Williams. I questioned why Holland signed three bargain-priced guys instead of going after a bigger name with some scoring touch to replace what had been lost. While I still can’t say that I’ve entirely warmed to all of the new arrivals (Yes, Todd Bertuzzi, I’m looking at you.), we’re lucky that Ken Holland played his hand the way he did.

So far this season, the Wings have been dropping like flies (not to mention the fact that Hossa has yet to play a game), as the injury bug that began in the playoffs last season has blossomed into a full-on epidemic. The Wings’ depth has been tested as much as any point in recent memory, and it’s been an issue of having enough healthy bodies to field a lineup every night. Before picking Drew Miller up off of waivers, the Wings were dressing every healthy NHL forward they had. That includes Justin Abdelkader, who everyone expected to spend the majority of the season developing in Grand Rapids.

If the Wings had gone ahead and signed Hossa, it would’ve prevented them from making those additional signings (whose necessity I admittedly questioned back in August). Even with his salary coming off the books while he’s been on IR, the Wings would’ve had to have made more call-ups from Grand Rapids (none of the options are particularly appealing) or it would’ve forced Holland to make a move that probably wouldn’t have been beneficial to the Wings in the long run.

Anyway, whatever ambivalence I might have had at one time about Hossa’s departure has gone, and I’m just thankful that the Wings were able to sign three bodies with their precious salary-capped dollars. Even though Williams is one of the guys down with a long-term injury and Bertuzzi still makes me want to bang my head on a wall on a regular basis, I think it’s safe to say that Ken Holland made some wise decisions over the summer. I know there’s no way he could’ve foreseen the injury situation, but it’s just another example of why we Wings fans continue to subscribe to the motto “In Kenny We Trust.”