Wings 3, Rangers 1: Post Game Snipes...

• The first period was quite frustrating. It was one of the better opening periods the Wings have played this season, but they came out of it down 1-0. Luckily they were able to turn things around.
• The second and third periods seemed to go in slow motion. For those of you who think the Wings should move out to play at the Palace: watch the game tape from tonight and ask yourself if you’re really okay with the Wings having to play on ice like that at home on a regular basis. The second period seemed like it lasted for three years.
• Leino finally got benched again. Lo and behold, the Wings won. I’m pretty sure the Wings won last time he had to sit out too, but I’m not willing to go actually look it up. I prefer to make up facts that support my points. I don’t actually think he’s the reason the Wings have been losing, but he sure wasn’t helping either.
• Mickey Redmond actually agreed with the refs on the penalty shot call against the Wings. I’m taking that as a sign of the impending apocalypse. It turns out that we don’t have to wait until 2012 for the world to end.
• During the second intermission, John Keating tried to sing a line of “Pinball Wizard.” I had to blast my classic rock playlist on my laptop to keep from vomiting.
• Fortunately, Shanny’s interview salvaged that intermission. I miss the guy. He was always one of my favorites and as my friend-assigned alter-ego, he’ll always have a special place in my heart. He looked right at the camera and thanked the city of Detroit. It was a nice little moment.
• There was a second there when we thought the Wings had benefited from a bizarre intent to blow call. It turned out that the puck was never actually in the net, so maybe that will counteract Mickey’s support of the referees and keep the world from ending tomorrow.
• Cleary’s goal was a great little lucky bounce. It’s nice to see the Wings get one of those for a change. Especially in light of that puck that trickled through the Rangers’ crease in the first period and somehow managed to not hit a skate and bounce in.
• Draper’s empty netter made me laugh. The Rangers won the faceoff in the Wings’ zone, but it went right out to center ice. A few seconds later, Draper buried it to seal the win.
• Zetterberg’s tripping penalty on Avery was ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as Avery’s dramatic performance to sell the call. He surprised exactly no one by not missing a single shift. Later in the game, he missed a wide-open net and I laughed. Karma?
• I’m not used to getting this excited about regular season wins.
  

GP Answers:
1. There’s no word on the Wings’ starter as of now. Regardless of who is in net, will he be able to make enough saves for the Wings to win the game? That’s all we ask around these parts.
Absolutely. He stopped a penalty shot and kept the Wings in the game during their second third-period penalty kill. I’m still trying to catch my breath from watching the flurry of shots the Rangers had. He had a great game and it was a nice rebound from his previous outing.

2. There’s also no word on Brian Rafalski and his old-man back. Kindl’s been filling in admirably, so will he be able to keep it up if he’s called on again tonight? As I said in yesterday’s GP, I’m not entirely opposed to resting Rafalski as long a Kindl’s keeping things together.
Rafalski in. Kindl out. This question is irrelevant. Rafalski had a pretty darn good game, though. It didn't look like his back was bothering him. You know it's a rough season when you're excited about a Wing only suffering a short-term injury as opposed to a long-term one.

3. Will Datsyuk and Lidstrom decide to wake up and join the scoresheet today? Please.
Datsyuk scored a goal which Nick Lidstrom assisted on, and Lidstrom added another assist on the game-winner, so I guess the answer to this one is yes. Perhaps they sensed that the natives were getting restless because of their lack of production. Now they just need to keep it going.

4. How many saves will Brad Stuart make today? I kid, I kid…
None that I noticed, but he had another great game. And an awesome check on Anisimov. Mickey kept laughing at him for not having his head up.

5. Will the Wings actually show up to play for a change? This is a really depressing question to have to keep asking.
They actually looked awake during the first, which was a fantastic change of pace. They still found themselves down by a goal at the end of the period, but it wasn’t nearly as soul-crushingly depressing as a lot of the first periods they’ve played have been.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Jimmy Howard
See GP answer #1. I still can’t believe the Rangers didn’t score on that powerplay in the third.

Jonathan Ericsson gets the Golden Facepalm
Blown coverage led to the Rangers’ goal, and a hook that led to a penalty shot? Big Rig had a pretty rough game.

What I learned:
Basketball is the worst sport in the world.

Wings vs. Rangers GP...

Wings vs. Rangers @7 PM

1. There’s no word on the Wings’ starter as of now. Regardless of who is in net, will he be able to make enough saves for the Wings to win the game? That’s all we ask around these parts.
2. There’s also no word on Brian Rafalski and his old-man back. Kindl’s been filling in admirably, so will he be able to keep it up if he’s called on again tonight? As I said in yesterday’s GP, I’m not entirely opposed to resting Rafalski as long a Kindl’s keeping things together.
3. Will Datsyuk and Lidstrom decide to wake up and join the scoresheet today? Please.
4. How many saves will Brad Stuart make today? I kid, I kid…
5. Will the Wings actually show up to play for a change? This is a really depressing question to have to keep asking.

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

• Ozzie looked good early in the game. He made some downright awesome saves. Then he let in that second goal. Oh, Chris, why must you torment me so? He did get things together after that and made some other timely saves.
• The Devils’ first goal was the result of blown defensive coverage. I’m looking at you, Homer.
• Homer did, however, manage to redeem himself with an absolutely gorgeous tip-in for his 200th career goal during the second period. After geeking out about the beauty of the tip-in, I paused to wonder about what my enjoyment of that says about my mental state. However, I decided that nothing good could come from investigating that avenue, so I quickly returned to my usual pastime of not thinking.
• Draper’s goal was the result of a nice second effort. I always like it when guys like Drapes score.
• Patrick Eaves also scored a goal. As Mickey said, “There’s a reward for gutting it out.” I’m still not 100% sure why he was wearing the cage on his helmet after crashing into the boards, but I was glad to see him back on the ice. I like his signing more and more all the time.
• After the first period, I was concerned that Marty Brodeur was planning on pitching a shutout against the Wings to tie Terry Sawchuck’s record. This would’ve been simply unacceptable. The Wings did not look good at all at the start of the game. I was pleasantly surprised that they were able to dig themselves out of their 2-goal hole and at least earn a point.
• Brad Stuart saved a goal after Ozzie somehow let it bounce over his head and land smack in the crease. The puck was inches from crossing the goal line when he scooped it out. It turned out that that play was worth a point in the standings.
• I have absolutely no idea why Ville Leino was selected to go in the fourth round of the shootout. I would’ve gone with Eaves or Cleary over him any day. You know, someone who’s demonstrated an ability to play hockey recently.
• During the second period, there was a play (that I really can’t describe) in which the puck squirted out in front of the Wings’ vacant net. We couldn’t see the rest of the zone because of the camera angle, so I naturally assumed that there would be a Devil there waiting to pounce on the loose puck. Instead, Nick Lidstrom was there to scoop it up and I was greatly relieved. I feel like this is the story of my life.
• Mickey and Ken also spent some time debating whether or not a save that Brodeur made during the ’95 Finals on Kris Draper was a goal. Mickey wants the entire series to be replayed on that stupid show on FSN. He adamantly claims that it was in the net. Oh, Mickey, I love you.
• Pav was the only Wing to score in the shootout. Zetterberg, Bertuzzi (who pulled an awesome move but missed the net), and the aforementioned Leino were stopped by Brodeur. Ozzie got beaten on a couple of fantastic moves from Devs forwards. Despite that softie he let in in the first period, I was pretty pleased with his performance tonight.
• How much better has Ericsson looked since getting paired up with Nick Lidstrom? Of course, he’s paired up with Nick Lidstrom, so that probably has something to do with it. But still…he’s stepped things up lately.
• One of these games, the Wings are actually going to show up to play the first period. One of these games…
• During his post-game interview, Patrick Eaves had his long hair hanging all over in front of his face. It was driving me crazy just looking at it. I know from experience that that is the most annoying thing ever. I wanted to just reach through my TV screen and brush it out of his eyes. As I was typing that sentiment on TweetDeck, John Keating went and said the exact same thing. I was thoroughly disturbed even though I can’t quantify exactly why.
  

GP Answers:
1. Well, the good news is that it appears that Ericsson will be playing tonight (Does anyone even want to think about what the defensive lineup would’ve looked like if he wasn’t able to go tonight?). Of course, I won’t really believe that until I see him skate a shift, but I’m cautiously optimistic. However, it looks like Rafalski’s still going to be sitting out, so we’ll be seeing more of Jakub Kindl. I’m less terrified of this than I would have expected myself to be, and I don’t think holding him out of an extra game is the worst thing in the world. The last thing the Wings need is for his sore back to turn into another long-term injury. Still, the question needs to be asked: how’s the defense going to do tonight?
Again, the defense wasn’t the problem tonight. For the most part, the whole defensive unit was pretty invisible. That’s exactly how I like my d-men. It usually means that they’re not making mistakes. Kindl again looked fine. He also had three minutes more ice time than Derek Meech did for what it’s worth.

2. The Wings have had some issues lately running into backup goalies who play far above their ability against the team. Now that they’re facing a true top of the line goalie in Martin Brodeur, will they be able to catch a break or two?
Brodeur was good, but not unbelievable. No softies, but he wasn’t tested much until the third period.

3. The Wings have a long and storied history of mirroring the ability of their opponents. New Jersey’s currently sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference and boasts one of the best goalies in the league. Will the Wings show up to match their level of play tonight?
This was a horrendous question. I don’t even know how to answer it. I’m leaning toward ‘no’ though.

4. It appears that Chris Osgood will be starting tonight. How will he look after seeing Jimmy Howard get three straight starts?
As stated above, Ozzie made a ton of good saves. He did, however let in that one weak goal, which marred his performance a little.

5. This is the last day of Todd Bertuzzi’s free pass from me. How will he choose to use it? He’s had a decent few games since scoring that goal in the shootout, so here’s hoping he keeps it up.
I didn’t really notice him much during the game. While I have previously stated that I prefer my defensemen that way, I like to see a little more action from the forwards. On the plus side, he didn't do anything that made me yell at the TV, though. He pulled a great move in the shootout, but couldn’t finish. Even though I offered him another week of no criticism. For the record, I also offered this to Leino prior to his attempt, but had no takers. This is mildly relieving because I don’t like feeling constrained with my words.

6. Mike Babcock appears to have decided to reunite the Flying Circus line. Any time I see the Eurotwins out on the ice together it makes me happy. Will it be a glorious reunion that brings joy to all the good little Wings fans out there or will the concentration of scoring ability on that line relegate the rest of the forward units to a level of abject ineffectiveness? Only time will tell.
They didn’t spend the whole game together and Babcock seemed to be shuffling the lines a bit. I was hoping their little reunion would help wake Datsyuk up, but he didn’t do a whole lot tonight.

7. The Devils are holding a pre-game ceremony honoring their 1995 Cup team. It’s nice of them to wait until the Wings came to town. Oh well, if they had to lose that ’95 series to set up the run they went on afterward, I’m okay with it. However, the Wings have another tradition of being completely listless after pre-game ceremonies. Will they be unfocused as a result of the celebration, or actually come to play?
Hmmm…they sleepwalked through the first period and most of the second and then miraculously woke up in the third. I hate writing about this all the time.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Patrick Eaves
He came back from his ankle injury only to suffer some sort of mysterious facial injury in the first period. He responded by returning with a cage on his helmet and scoring a huge goal for the Wings. He was all over the place tonight.

An Extra Stick Tap for Brad Stuart and Tomas Holmstrom
Stuart gets the tap for saving that goal. Plain and simple. He also played pretty darn well the rest of the night. Homer was up to his usual antics all night, and except for that defensive lapse had a fantastic game. Plus, he scored his 200th goal and I really think that’s worth at least a stick tap. I really hope Eaves shares his cookies and cupcakes with them.

Ville Leino gets the Golden Facepalm
This was tough because I had a hard time singling any particular Wing out. However, Leino made a bunch of lousy turnovers again and continued his streak of uselessness. He also failed in the shootout. And I’m really starting to dislike him. I refuse to maintain objective here.

What I learned:
That I am irrationally amused by brilliant hockey plays. And that I need to get a life. Okay, so maybe I knew all of that already....

Wings vs. Devils GP...

Wings vs. Devils @7 PM

1. Well, the good news is that it appears that Ericsson will be playing tonight (Does anyone even want to think about what the defensive lineup would’ve looked like if he wasn’t able to go tonight?). Of course, I won’t really believe that until I see him skate a shift, but I’m cautiously optimistic. However, it looks like Rafalski’s still going to be sitting out, so we’ll be seeing more of Jakub Kindl. I’m less terrified of this than I would have expected myself to be, and I don’t think holding him out of an extra game is the worst thing in the world. The last thing the Wings need is for his sore back to turn into another long-term injury. Still, the question needs to be asked: how’s the defense going to do tonight?
2. The Wings have had some issues lately running into backup goalies who play far above their ability against the team. Now that they’re facing a true top of the line goalie in Martin Brodeur, will they be able to catch a break or two?
3. The Wings have a long and storied history of mirroring the ability of their opponents. New Jersey’s currently sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference and boasts one of the best goalies in the league. Will the Wings show up to match their level of play tonight?
4. It appears that Chris Osgood will be starting tonight. How will he look after seeing Jimmy Howard get three straight starts?
5. This is the last day of Todd Bertuzzi’s free pass from me. How will he choose to use it? He’s had a decent few games since scoring that goal in the shootout, so here’s hoping he keeps it up.
6. Mike Babcock appears to have decided to reunite the Flying Circus line. Any time I see the Eurotwins out on the ice together it makes me happy. Will it be a glorious reunion that brings joy to all the good little Wings fans out there or will the concentration of scoring ability on that line relegate the rest of the forward units to a level of abject ineffectiveness? Only time will tell.
7. The Devils are holding a pre-game ceremony honoring their 1995 Cup team. It’s nice of them to wait until the Wings came to town. Oh well, if they had to lose that ’95 series to set up the run they went on afterward, I’m okay with it. However, the Wings have another tradition of being completely listless after pre-game ceremonies. Will they be unfocused as a result of the celebration, or actually come to play?

Okay, I know I said I probably wasn’t going to get a GP up today…and then I went and wrote the longest one ever. It helps that it’s only a half hour until puck drop and I’m already gearing up for the game. Also, I just noticed that tonight's Post Game Snipes will be my 200th post. When I started writing this nonsense, I fully expected to lose interest in it after a couple of weeks and forget I'd ever started a blog. It turns out that it's somehow managed to not only hold my interest, but to become ridiculously fun to write...and a giant black hole into which my very limited time gets sucked on a daily basis. So thanks for reading. I can't believe that I made it this far.

Wings 1, Oilers 4: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings put more pucks into their own net than they did into Edmonton’s. It turns out that that’s not a good way to win games.
• Ericsson left the game in the last few minutes of the third period. All of Hockeytown immediately fell into a collective fit of convulsions. It was initially speculated that it was an ankle injury, but John Keating mentioned that it was actually his knee. He said it didn’t look serious, but the way this season’s been going, I refuse to get my hopes up.
• I really thought Cleary’s goal at the end of the first could be a turning point in the game. Until then, the Wings hadn’t shown much life, and I was hoping that it would wake them up. It didn’t.
• Seriously, the Wings scored twice as many goals on themselves as they did on Edmonton. I know I’ve said that already, but I felt like it needed to sink in a little more.
• I’m about 92% sure that the entire Wings roster spent the summer punching babies. Karmic retribution is the only possible explanation for the events that have transpired so far this season.
  

GP Answers:
1. I’ll start with the obvious: Just how nauseous will the defense make us tonight? Rafalski’s going to be sitting out in all likelihood, and I’ve been having nightmares since I heard he left practice. I kind of have a feeling that Lidstrom is going to step up big time tonight, though.
I’m not really sure what the answer to this one is. If you take away the two goals the Wings scored on themselves, this is only a 2-1 game. There were turnovers, sure, but this was a team loss. You can’t really blame the defense.

2. How will Kindl perform in his first NHL experience? I’m operating on the assumption that we’ll be seeing him and I’m not sure if I should be excited to see his debut or crying under my bed.
Kindl looked fine. He ended up a -2, but I wouldn’t fault him for that. He certainly didn’t look out of place. That’s a good sign, especially if Ericsson’s knee keeps him out of the lineup.

3. Can Todd Bertuzzi keep up the nice little roll on which he ended November? Now would really be a good time for him to get things together.
He made a nice pass to set Cleary up for the Wings’ only goal of the night. I also didn’t notice any dumb turnovers from him, so I’d say it was a decent outing for him.

4. How will the new forward lines look out there? We saw a bit of shuffling during the Dallas game on Monday, but for now Leino’s slated to be bumped up to the top line to hopefully feed off of Datsyuk while Bertuzzi will be playing on Zetterberg’s wing. We’ll see what kind of chemistry the little shakeup leads to.
No comment on this one. Nobody looked good.

5. Edmonton’s in the basement of the Western Conference and they have a terrible road record this season. On top of that, they just lost their leading scorer to a long-term injury (Hi, welcome to our world.). Will the Wings take advantage of that and continue the strong play that we witnessed on Monday? Or will they make me look foolish for writing my previous post?
As was pointed out in the comments of the GP, this was exactly the kind of game the Wings like to lose. And that’s exactly what they did. Babcock called the game “un-Red-Wing-like” in his post-game statement, but when your team displays that kid of effort two nights out of three, there comes a point when that becomes what defines them.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Nick Lidstrom
There were slim picking for this one tonight. It has to go to Lidstrom for that gorgeous pass he made in the waning seconds of the first period.

Jimmy Howard gets the Golden Facepalm
Yeah, I know that two of the goals got deflected in by his own teammates, but his performance was still weak. Just when people were finally starting to think he was the real deal.

What I learned:
I spoke too soon with that whole turning point nonsense.

Wings vs. Oilers GP...

Wings vs. Oilers @7 PM

1. I’ll start with the obvious: Just how nauseous will the defense make us tonight? Rafalski’s going to be sitting out in all likelihood, and I’ve been having nightmares since I heard he left practice. I kind of have a feeling that Lidstrom is going to step up big time tonight, though.
2. How will Kindl perform in his first NHL experience? I’m operating on the assumption that we’ll be seeing him and I’m not sure if I should be excited to see his debut or crying under my bed.
3. Can Todd Bertuzzi keep up the nice little roll on which he ended November? Now would really be a good time for him to get things together.
4. How will the new forward lines look out there? We saw a bit of shuffling during the Dallas game on Monday, but for now Leino’s slated to be bumped up to the top line to hopefully feed off of Datsyuk while Bertuzzi will be playing on Zetterberg’s wing. We’ll see what kind of chemistry the little shakeup leads to.
5. Edmonton’s in the basement of the Western Conference and they have a terrible road record this season. On top of that, they just lost their leading scorer to a long-term injury (Hi, welcome to our world.). Will the Wings take advantage of that and continue the strong play that we witnessed on Monday? Or will they make me look foolish for writing my previous post?

November Memoir...

It's All About the Stars

November started on a high note. After a strong couple of games to end October, we all thought the Wings had turned things around. They continued to pick up wins for the first couple of weeks in November. All was right with the world. Our Wings were back and life was good. The skies were filled with snowflakes and rainbows and it even seemed like the stench of sewer no longer hovered around the Joe’s box office. And then…the bottom fell out. The team looked horrible. They were flirting with a record-setting scoring drought perfectly timed to ruin Thanksgiving for legions of Wings fans. On the bright side, they managed to pull things back together during their last two games of the month. I would argue that the hot and cold streaks from the top offensive guys and the two games against Dallas this month were the events that defined November.

The highlight of November was the three-game stretch in which the Wings netted a total of 19 goals. 19 goals in three games. I know. I feel like those happy days were ages ago too. For the first time, the ’09-’10 season seemed fun. I was starting to recognize the guys who were skating around with Winged Wheels on their chests as the real Red Wings. The stars had found their scoring touches. Zetterberg and Datsyuk went on a tear that to the surprise of exactly no one led the team to their best stretch of the season. The Wings were finally stringing wins together, and even though some of their wins came after less-than-100% efforts, I was happy. I was even making jokes about laughing over the Great October Panic of 2009.

And then came Dennis La Rue and his intent to blow. Now we all know what happened in that game against Dallas on the 18th. And you can also be sure that this next paragraph is going to bring out trolls with their accusations of whininess and tin foil hat-wearing. But I’m willing to make the argument that that one single moment in which every standard of reason was violated contributed to the Wings subsequent tailspin. Yes, you can argue that the Stars ended up scoring another goal after the one that should have counted. You can also argue that the Wings hadn’t been playing spectacularly well at the start of that game. However, that was their tying goal; it should’ve been a momentum swing. The kind of moment you build off of. Instead, the Wings came out afterward looking defeated. @MrsOtW pointed out on Twitter that perhaps they were thinking that it wasn’t worth the effort if they were just going to get screwed anyway. I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but while it’s a perfectly legitimate feeling, I’m not sure I like seeing it manifested out on the ice.

And lack of effort was exactly what we saw. The next few games were almost hard to watch. Five goals (that counted…) in eight games? The skid culminated with back-to-back shutouts at the Joe to sandwich Thanksgiving. Suddenly we were all in the depths of despair again. Watching the Wings flounder was painful. Nothing went right. More goals were called back for inexplicable reasons. Niklas Kronwall went down with a long-term injury. The Eurotwins cooled off again. Again, unsurprisingly, when the stars cooled off, so did the rest of the team. By the end of their losing/shutout streak, the team found itself in danger of being passed by the Blues and occupying last place in the Central. They went into St. Louis the night after their second consecutive shutout and played a miserable first period. They managed to pull out a win in the shootout thanks to the handiwork of the unlikeliest of shooters and we all felt a sense of relief. But that win would’ve been meaningless if it hadn’t been followed up by another.

It’ll be impossible to tell until we see a few more games from the boys, but if they really turn things around, I think we’ll be looking at the second November Dallas game as the real turning point. It was the kind of performance that I’m accustomed to seeing the Wings deliver when I make the trek down to the Joe. it had all of the elements of a classic Wings win: the defense was solid, the goaltending adequate despite a few shaky moments, the secondary scoring was there, the goals came from hard work and net-front traffic, the big names picked up assists. They returned to the Joe where they had failed to light the lamp for an absurdly long amount of time, took a lead, and never really let the Stars back into the game. Sure they tied it up at one point, but you kind of had a sense that it was the Wings’ night. It’s too early to tell if the win actually means something in the long-run or if I’m just reading things into it to make myself feel better, but I have high hopes that this will carry over into December.

November had a lot of high points and a lot of miserably low ones. We saw the flashes of brilliance that we continue to expect from this injury-depleted team, but we also wallowed through a scoring drought the likes of which I’ve not seen in my time as a fan. We saw the top lines rack up goals at an extraordinary rate for a few games and then pounded our heads against the closest hard objects when those same stars seemingly lost their ability to finish. There were infuriating moments both from incompetent officials and lack of effort from the team. That game against Dallas toward the middle of the month was undoubtedly a turning point, and with any luck that same team’s next visit to the Joe will be looked back upon as an even more significant one. It really was a tale of the stars and the Stars.