Red Wings 5, Ducks 4: Post Game Snipes...

• HOLY EUROTWINS, BATMAN!
• I missed most of the game thanks to the fact that we have Dish Network at work and, well, you all know about how they hate hockey and also probably puppies. Then, thanks to some siblings who have a special talent for DVRing endless hours of useless programming and not deleting it, I sat down to watch what I'd missed only to discover that we ran out of space after the first period. So yeah, we've got 18 hours of Hannah Montana and Suite Life and soccer games that nobody cares about, but not the Wings game. At least I managed to catch the second half of the game on the FSD replay.
• I was driving home from work when Zetterberg scored to tie up the game in the third period. I went from perfectly safe driver to road hazard in a fraction of a second. I still think there should be some kind of ignition lock on my car that prevents it from being started while the Wings are on the radio.
• My dog experienced her first run-and-hide-because-Kris-is-scary moment of the young season when Pav scored the game-winner. She's half Canadian, so I really think she should've been more appreciative of my jubilation.
• Speaking of Pav's goal, that deke was just nasty. Has there ever been a game in which he didn't do at least one thing that was absurdly amazing?

Hat Trick:
1. Round two with Anaheim. I'm guessing we don't see anything quite as dramatic as Datsyuk's Gordie Howe hat trick from opening night, but games against the Ducks always get me riled up.
Pav didn't throw any punches tonight, but I think he got his point across. As usual, he got the last laugh.

2. Old friend Andreas Lilja makes his return to the Joe tonight.
Anyone notice who was victimized by Datsyuk's nasty deke on the game winner? None other than dear old Lilja.

3. TAWD sat out practice yesterday. Is he going to be able to play tonight or will he be hunting for kittens under the bleachers during the game? Or both?
He played (and presumably went kitten hunting as well) and picked up an assist, but that didn't stop Henrik Zetterberg from passing him for the team scoring lead.

Hero: The Eurotwins
This was one of those nights that causes me to assume that their pregame routine involves them wearing rings and combining forces a la Captain Planet. “Dangle!” “Conn Smythe!” “Snot Rocket!” “BEARD!” And light shoots into the middle from their rings and by their powers combined, they become the Eurotwins. Someone needs to get a hidden camera into the locker room to confirm this.


Villain: Teemu Selanne
Selanne found himself Kronwalled during the game and instead of taking it like a man, he went and whined to the media about the fact that there was no call on the play as well as the vast penalty disparity that he imagines goes in favor of the Wings. It would seem that every time the Ducks play the Wings, the Wings get all of the powerplays. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that his teammates are a bunch of goons and thugs. Cowboy up, little boy.

Final Thought:
Imagine if the Eurotwins keep going like this all season. Just take a moment and think about that. You're smiling, aren't you?

Red Wings vs. Ducks GP...

Red Wings: 4-1-1

Ducks: 3-4-1

Hat Trick:
1. Round two with Anaheim. I'm guessing we don't see anything quite as dramatic as Datsyuk's Gordie Howe hat trick from opening night, but games against the Ducks always get me riled up.
2. Old friend Andreas Lilja makes his return to the Joe tonight.
3. TAWD sat out practice yesterday. Is he going to be able to play tonight or will he be hunting for kittens under the bleachers during the game? Or both?

Red Wing Zen:

Ruslan Salei

0-0-0 +/- -1, 12 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Todd Marchant

0-0-0 +/- -4, 4 PIM

2010-2011 Player Profiles: Jonathan Ericsson...

Hey, kids, guess what? Hockey's almost here. That means it's time for me to get back into this whole blogging thing that I've neglected during the off-season. Since I lack the creativity to come up with a new gimmick, I decided to continue the Player Profiles series I did last year leading up to the season. I'll be taking a look at a different player (almost) every day between now and when hockey starts. By my count, there are 22 days until the Wings open the regular season. Get excited. Today's subject:

Jonathan Ericsson

2009-2010 Regular Season: 62 GP, 4-9-13, +/- -15, 44 PIM

2010 Playoffs: 12 GP, 0-2-2, +/- 1, 8 PIM

Season Highlight: He led the Wings in +/- at H2H (stick tap to Lauren). His +4 that night makes his -15 for the season seem all the more dismal.

Season Lowlight: Getting benched.  This play in which his knee was injured and the Wings allowed a goal was pretty unfortunate, too.

Everyone was really high on Ericsson heading into last season based on his performance in the 2009 playoffs. He didn't quite live up to that promise, though. He even found himself benched. At times, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and not having a solid partner upon whom to rely seemed to do him a disservice. He managed to turn things around a little when Andreas Lilja returned to the lineup.

This year, he'll most likely be paired with newcomer Ruslan Salei. Having a veteran presence back there with him will allow him to settle down and hopefully look a little better. He's got a fantastic shot from the point, and has shown the ability to contribute offensively from time to time. He needs to cut down on his mistakes and take care of defensive responsibilities first, though.


What he needs to do to make me smile: Live up to that promise he showed during the 2009 playoffs.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Part One...

The Good

• Let’s start with the obvious. Herm 2 Hockeytown was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of. The extent to which the Red Wings community reaches amazes me. Not only did we bring Herm here to watch a game, but we also raised over $5,000 for Children’s Hospital. Hanging out at Hockeytown, singing Happy Birthday to Jimmy Howard, the tin foil hats, post-gaming at the Town Pump, and visiting Greektown in the middle of the night were just some of the highlights of the night. When I first started blogging, I swore I’d never meet anyone off of the internet. Boy am I glad I broke that promise. There are some truly great people out there in Red Wings Nation.
• One of the best legacies of H2H was the creation of the #redwingscommune a little while later. None of that would have happened without the real life connections we made that weekend. We had Commune gatherings all over the Metro area during the playoffs, and I really think we helped each other survive. We ended up with a whole array of lingo like donut goalies, Drunk Lebda, and Homerbait and there’s nobody I would rather have been with at the end of Game Five.
• At one of our Commune gatherings, we came up with an idea to have a Tin Foil Flashmob at the Joe. Originally, we wanted to rally people to wrap the building with tin foil, but decided that that idea was impractical. Somehow, it evolved into a plan to recruit dancers while passing out tin foil hats outside of the Joe. It was an absolutely absurd idea, but we had a blast. It was crazy and miles away from anything I ever imagined myself doing, but I loved being a part of it.
• Jimmy Howard was a revelation this season. I don’t think many people expected him to perform the way he did. I figured he was a temporary solution until one of the younger goalies was ready for the NHL. He looked awful during the beginning of the season. He managed to turn things around, though, and took over the starter’s job. He was nothing short of brilliant on several occasions. Here’s hoping he can keep it up next season.
• The Olympics were phenomenal. I could’ve done with a different ending, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t glued to my TV for the majority of the tournament.
• The fact that Andreas Lilja was able to come back after almost a year on IR was great. I really thought his career was over and that Mickey Redmond was crazy when he started talking about Lils being close to coming back during one of the broadcasts. He provided a much-needed steady influence on the third pairing.
• Game Seven in the first round and Game Four in the second round were amazingly fun. Watching Game Seven at Kukla’s with the commune was a blast, and the Mule’s rampage in Game Four was one for the ages. They were definitely the highlights of the playoffs.
• Brendan Shanahan joining Twitter was one of the best events of the season. That guy makes my life. I expected him to just twitter boring things, but he’s been nothing short of entertaining.
• The Versus announcers once again created another fun new word for us. I’m a big fan of “danglelicious” and feel like a bit of a failure because I don’t use it more often. I’m going to work on that over the summer.
• Another Versus highlight was the addition of Darren McCarty as an intermission commentator. He looked pretty nervous at first, but seems to have settled into the job. It’s nice to have someone on there to make their intermission reports tolerable. If you didn’t already love him, the time they called him a homer and he said that he had four reasons to be a homer surely melted your heart.
• Watching Jimmy Howard go after Sidney Crosby was one of the highlights of the regular season. It even inspired Henrik Zetterberg to deliver one of my favorite quotes of the year: “I saw Jimmy coming in with his glove and Crosby wasn’t there anymore.” Perfect.
• The post-Olympic run that the Wings went on was a blast. We’d been waiting all season for the real Wings to show up, and this stretch catapulted them into the 5th playoff seed. It was the only real display of Red Wing hockey that we got to see all season.
• The NHL’s History Will Be Made commercials were fabulous. Some of the ones toward the end were a little ridiculous, but the initial concept was brilliant. The Datsyuk/Zetterberg one was my personal favorite, though I might be slightly biased in that regard. Other than the fact that it featured my two favorite current players, I liked the fact that it required a little bit of hockey knowledge to understand the “What if” question.
  
• The speechless commercial that debuted during the Finals was pretty awesome, too.
• Johan Franzen didn’t quite live up to his mouthguard-snatching from last season, but I was a big fan of his diving pantomime during a game against Chicago.
  

On a personal note:

• Getting to know you crazy sunshines online and in real life made this season one of the most memorable ever, despite the frustration it induced. It truly was fantastic.
• Meeting Steve Yzerman in November was obviously one of my personal highlights. I still can’t really believe that actually happened.
• My friend getting her foot stuck in one of the seats at the Joe was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. She’s still a little bit bitter about the lack of help that she received from me and the fact that I wrote about it and mentioned the incident on TOV.
• I also managed to make it to more games this season than ever before. This included not one, but two playoff games. Sitting down by the glass with Sara and TPL Mom against San Jose was incredible.
• At one of those games, I got the opportunity to go out on the ice to participate in the turkey bowling game during intermission. I was an incredible failure at it, but my team still managed to win. We got free tickets to another game and got to keep our turkeys. This resulted in my little brother wandering around the Joe carrying a frozen turkey for the next two periods. The pictures we have are priceless.

Red Wings vs. Sharks Game Four GP...

12. I’ll start with the obvious: The Wings need to find a way to win this game.
11. Mattias Ritola is making his playoff debut in place of the injured Patrick Eaves and useless Jason Williams (Who?). This is exciting and terrifying all at once. How is that going to work out for the Wings?
10. The Datsyuk line can’t afford to get taken advantage of defensively like they were on Tuesday. That was just ugly.
9. Powerplays have been few and far between this series, but the Wings haven’t done a good enough job capitalizing on them when they do come their way. Special teams have been crucial in every single game all playoffs long.
8. Jimmy needs to settle down and stop trying to do too much. People have been criticizing him, but they’re forgetting that he’s a rookie. It just feels like he's been trying to win the games by himself, and his being too aggressive has led to some goals. Just make the saves as they come, and let the team play defense in front of you, Jimmy.
7. Again, STAY OUT OF THE BOX!!!
6. Capitalize on mistakes when San Jose makes them. It seems like they’ve found a way to put the puck in the net every time the Wings make a mistake. The Wings need to turn the tables if they want to have a shot at crawling out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves.
5. This is the equivalent of a Game Seven. Start strong. Finish strong. (And, you know, don’t forget about the middle of the game either...)
4. Win faceoffs. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to play the puck possession game we know and love.
3. Andreas Lilja is back in the lineup on defense. Here’s hoping he can settle Ericsson down.
2. Zetterberg really stepped up his game on Tuesday. He and his line need to keep carrying the play to the Sharks’ top players.
1. Keep testing Nabokov. He hasn’t looked nearly as spectacular as a 3-0 series lead would indicate.

The Wings can still do this. The Sharks said it themselves: if any team can crawl out of a 3-0 hole, it’s the Wings. That being said, the version of the Wings we’ve seen for most of the playoffs won’t be able to do it. The post-Olympic streak Wings? If they start showing up, there’s a slim possibility. The NHL’s playoff slogan is “History will be made” after all. I hope for the sakes of all of the #redwingscommune members in attendance tonight that they don’t have to see a handshake line.

Red Wings 2, Coyotes 3 (0-1): Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings looked pretty good at the start of the game.
• Homer’s goal from close to the blue line was wonderful. It just kind of floated into the net past Bryzgalov’s glove. In his intermission interview (which totally validated For Sure…), even he didn’t know how it went in.
• I was kind of amused by the fact that the Wings’ first powerplay came off of a goalie interference penalty against Phoenix, when those memos the NHL sends out every year usually target Homer. Irony. It’s delicious.
• Mickey Redmond dropped a “for sure” when talking about Homer’s goal. I loved it.
• Lidstrom’s goal was one of those perfect seeing-eye shots that couldn’t be replicated if he tried it a million times.
• I never had a problem with Shane Doan before this season. Maybe I just never paid enough attention to him (It’s that whole, “Oh yeah, they have a team in Phoenix,” mentality, I guess.), but I never realized how dirty he was. He’s going to hurt someone before this series is over.
• The game-winner for Phoenix came after some textbook interference was ignored right after the faceoff. Guess who it was? Shane Doan.
• What happened to the penalty kill? Seriously, of all the times to fall apart.
• The non-call on the high stick that Lidstrom took was atrocious. And people wonder why Wings fans are conspiracy theorists. A four-minute powerplay there could’ve changed the game.
• This game was miserable to watch. The second and third periods felt like they dragged on forever.
• The Wings’ big names need to act like it.
• I hope the Wings come out angry on Friday.
  

GP Review:
16. Every single playoff round for as long as I can remember, my nightmare has been seeing the Wings come up against a hot goalie. This seems like it happens over and over and over again to them, and Ilya Bryzgalov is definitely the kind of guy who can cause me to lose sleep.
Bryzgalov was not the issue tonight. He hardly had to work for the last 40 minutes. And Homer’s goal was way soft.

15. The Wings are starting their playoff series on the road for the first time in forever. I’m still a little confused. Still, it’s intriguing.
Their whiteout was actually pretty impressive. In this day and age, though, it’s kind of stupid with the road team wearing white.

14. Will there be more octopi than snakes thrown on the ice?
Twitter told me that there was an octopus before the game, but I don’t have any visual confirmation of that. There was, however, one confirmed snake sighting.

13. Jimmy Howard’s making his playoff debut. I think he’ll be just fine.
He should’ve had the third goal, but looked good other than that. He made a bunch of nice saves, and was far from the problem.

12. What tin-foil-hat-inducing moment will we bear witness to?
It’s probably best if I don’t even get started on this one.

11. The FSD crew will be in rare form tonight, I’m sure. I can only imagine what beautiful turns of phrase they’re going to grace our ears with. I’m still mad I missed Murph’s mock awards on Sunday.
Ken Daniels referred to Datsyuk as “The Datsyukian One” during the third period. Is that new?

10. What percentage of the crowd will be cheering for the Wings? I’m willing to bet that half of the crowd noise the broadcast feed picks up will be LGRW chants.
The Coyotes fans were actually louder than I expected. I figured there would be more Wings fans in attendance.

9. I hope the game doesn’t go to a shootout. Oh. Wait. You mean ties are decided by real hockey in the playoffs? Wowzer.
Honestly, I would’ve been okay with a shootout, if only because there aren’t many opportunities for dirty hits during the skills competition.

8. This probably goes without saying, but it’s crucial to start out strong and stomp on the Coyotes’ little Cinderella story right out of the gate. Set the tone right off the bat and don’t let them get even a spoonful of confidence.
I thought this was what the Wings were doing at the stat of the game, but then they went to sleep.

7. Sixty minute game? Oh pretty, pretty please.
No.

6. How much support is the defense going to give Jimmy? As much as I’d love to see him stand on his head, my life expectancy will be a lot higher if he doesn’t have to save the day.
Not nearly enough. This loss wasn’t on him.

5. Two words: Playoff Zetterberg. Oh my goodness, do I ever love watching that man drive opposing star forwards batty.
Sadly, Playoff Zetterberg did not seem to make an appearance tonight. It’s wakey-wakey time, Z.

4. In a similar vein: Playoff Helm. Yeah.
Early on, he was in hit everything mode, but kind of faded as the game went on. Of course, he blended right in with the rest of the team.

3. One huge difference between last year’s playoff roster and this one is Andreas Lilja. I never expected to be that relieved to see him in the lineup. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he turned out to have been the missing link?
Well he certainly didn’t have any effect on the penalty kill. I thought that was supposed to be his thing.

2. I hope you’re not expecting rational thoughts or actions from me for the next little while. Word to the wise: It’s best if you don’t speak to me on gamedays. It’s also advisable to avoid me for a 24-hour period after any Wings’ loss. Trust me, you’re better off.
I really should’ve warned my roommates that the playoffs were starting. Yelling, screaming, jumping on my bed. It all happened. I’m also going to be running on 4 hours of sleep tomorrow thanks to my wonderful life decisions to stay up and watch hockey/blog about it.

1. No fear. No excuses. No mercy. No limits.
The Wings certainly looked intimidated by the Coyotes’ rough play. They were probably more concerned about making it through the game intact than anything else.

Hero: Tomas Holmstrom
He scored one of the most uncharacteristic goals of his career, and then gave a fantastic intermission interview. I really do love that guy.

Villain: Shane Doan
You know why.

Final Thought:
I’m all for Abdelkader being in the lineup instead of Williams (Who?) on Friday.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes Game One GP...

Look, a shiny new GP format just for the playoffs. The idea is that for every win the Wings pick up, I get to knock one pre-game point off of my list. Obviously this is just a playoff special (Can you imagine me trying to come up with 82 things to say about the first game of the regular season?), and, uh, I’ve got high hopes that it’ll get easier as the Wings move forward. That’s perfect for me because my stress level rises exponentially with each passing playoff game. I'm going to try to keep some sort of GP Answers section in my recaps, but since they're not all questions anymore...I'm just winging it. (See what I did there?)

Sixteen things to look out for:

16. Every single playoff round for as long as I can remember, my nightmare has been seeing the Wings come up against a hot goalie. This seems like it happens over and over and over again to them, and Ilya Bryzgalov is definitely the kind of guy who can cause me to lose sleep.
15. The Wings are starting their playoff series on the road for the first time in forever. I’m still a little confused. Still, it’s intriguing.
14. Will there be more octopi than snakes thrown on the ice?
13. Jimmy Howard’s making his playoff debut. I think he’ll be just fine.
12. What tin-foil-hat-inducing moment will we bear witness to?
11. The FSD crew will be in rare form tonight, I’m sure. I can only imagine what beautiful turns of phrase they’re going to grace our ears with. I’m still mad I missed Murph’s mock awards on Sunday.
10. What percentage of the crowd will be cheering for the Wings? I’m willing to bet that half of the crowd noise the broadcast feed picks up will be LGRW chants.
9. I hope the game doesn’t go to a shootout. Oh. Wait. You mean ties are decided by real hockey in the playoffs? Wowzer.
8. This probably goes without saying, but it’s crucial to start out strong and stomp on the Coyotes’ little Cinderella story right out of the gate. Set the tone right off the bat and don’t let them get even a spoonful of confidence.
7. Sixty minute game? Oh pretty, pretty please.
6. How much support is the defense going to give Jimmy? As much as I’d love to see him stand on his head, my life expectancy will be a lot higher if he doesn’t have to save the day.
5. Two words: Playoff Zetterberg. Oh my goodness, do I ever love watching that man drive opposing star forwards batty.
4. In a similar vein: Playoff Helm. Yeah.
3. One huge difference between last year’s playoff roster and this one is Andreas Lilja. I never expected to be that relieved to see him in the lineup. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he turned out to have been the missing link?
2. I hope you’re not expecting rational thoughts or actions from me for the next little while. Word to the wise: It’s best if you don’t speak to me on gamedays. It’s also advisable to avoid me for a 24-hour period after any Wings’ loss. Trust me, you’re better off.
1. No fear. No excuses. No mercy. No limits.

There are no 7-11s in Ann Arbor. This is going to cause a serious problem when it comes time to obtain my ceremonial playoff Slurpee on gamedays. I'm used to being only half of a mile away so I could even run out during intermissions. I hope Speedway slurpees are going to cut it.

Red Wings vs. Blackhawks GP...

This is the last GP I’m going to be writing. I realized a couple of weeks ago that I hated writing them and that it was stupid to keep doing so since the whole point of this is to have fun. I’ve got an idea about something to do for the playoffs, and then I’ve got all summer to figure out something new for next season.

1. Are the Wings going to play like they want that 5th seed, or just coast through this game?
2. Can this game be at least a little more interesting than the last one against Columbus?
3. What glaring weakness is Chicago’s goaltending going to demonstrate?
4. Can the boys just pretty please finish out this nightmarish season with a win over Little Brother?

In other news, make sure you check out For Sure…, Tomas Holmstrom’s imaginary blog in which he chronicles his life on the road, describes his love of candy, and ponders why nobody understands him. It’s modeled after Andreas Lilja’s blog, which is guaranteed to improve your life by at least 10% when you read it.

Red Wings 3, Predators 4 (OT): Post Game Snipes...

• This game was right out of the How to Beat the Red Wings textbook. I hate outings like this.
• Of course, it didn’t help that the Wings completely went to sleep during the second period. I guess they were bound to have a bad effort after they’ve been on such a roll.
• I really hate these “At least we got a point?!” games. They’re no fun at all.
• On one shift Shea Weber had both Lilja and Filppula limping after blocking his shots. Ken Daniels (I think it was him.) called Lilja a tripod, which is something I’m just going to leave alone. Surprising absolutely no one, the Predators scored shortly afterward. I really think the boys should be discouraged from trying to block his shots. It rarely works out well.
• The Preds’ first goal bounced in off of Homer’s stick. They’re second bounced in off of Z’s skate. It was a typical stifling trap game capitalizing on a couple of lucky bounces.
• Nick Lidstrom wiped out and got walked around for a great scoring chance during the third period. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before. He almost looked human for a fraction of a second there. It was weird.
• It’s really exciting that Datsyuk is starting to take more shots like the one that sent the game to overtime. We’ve been talking about the need for more shoot all season long, and these last few games have showed why that’s so important.
• Sixteen seconds into overtime? Seriously? At least they got a point.
• During the post-game, Mickey York made fun of Barry Trotz’s lack of a neck. Then he called Erat a figure skater. My appreciation for him rose infinitely.
• In other news, I went to the scavenger hunt this morning. My mom and I teamed up with high hopes for a victory, but we were derailed by a failure in communication. I jumped in the car and yelled for her to drive to Hockeytown Café, which she interpreted to mean Hockeytown Authentics. I was so busy eating the Stanley Cupcake we had made at the bakery that I didn’t notice that we were going the wrong direction until three miles later. Once we finally made it to the right Hockeytown and realized that we had been eliminated, we tried to help my dad and sister by googling things on our phones. It didn’t help. They were busy driving up and down Jefferson in Grosse Pointe. When they finally did find the Timmy’s they were looking for, my dad couldn’t drink the iced coffee fast enough anyway.
• I’m really in love with the cupcakes we got at the start of the scavenger hunt. They totally made getting up early worthwhile.
• We seriously debated letting the air out of my dad’s tires and stealing his spark plugs before we left for the scavenger hunt. That would’ve been pretty awesome.
• Congrats to Sara and Greta for winning the suite tickets. I was really glad that they went to folks that I know.
  

GP Answers:
1. The Wings need three points to clinch a playoff spot. These two points are huge in terms of securing a place in the postseason and trying to pass Nashville for the fifth seed. Are they going to bring themselves that much closer to where we all know they belong?
Well, they got the one. Now they just need one more victory to guarantee a spot. Or, they could wait for Colorado or Calgary to lose, but I like my first idea better. They still have two games in hand on Nashville, so fifth place isn’t out of the question, but it would’ve been nice to pick up the points in the head-to-head matchup today.

2. Again with the sixty minutes thing. Babcock has pointed out that the last two games haven’t been ideal efforts. Now’s the time to get that sorted out and back on track. Can the boys play a complete game?
The first and third periods weren’t terrible, but the second was a nightmare. Not only was it dominated by Nashville, but it was also boring.

3. Is anyone going to score a goal this time around?
There were plenty of goals to go around. They just didn’t quite fall to the right side. Although to be fair, most of the scoring was technically done by the Wings, as two of Nashville’s goals went in off of Detroit forwards.

4. What ridiculous thing is Bertuzzi going to do in an attempt to score? On Thursday, he spiked the puck into the net, put one in with his skate—an extremely borderline success, and smacked the goalie in the face with his stick. I’m telling you, there’s a header coming.
He didn’t do anything special that I noticed. He did look like he was about to kill Dan Hamhuis at one point. That particular altercation led to Bertuzzi in the box negating a Wings powerplay. I’m still not sure why coincidental minors weren’t handed out there, but I suspect it had something to do with the fact that Bertuzzi was trying to murder someone again.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
See, Pav? This is why we need more shoot! Aside from that goal, he was all over the ice this afternoon. He set up one goal while sitting on his butt on the ice after falling down. He’s been displaying a lot of Dangle Dangle magic over these last couple of games.

Composite Sticks get the Golden Facepalm
Draper’s broken stick led to one of Nashville’s goals, and later on Franzen’s stick literally disintegrated in his hands to negate a brilliant scoring chance. I have a sneaky suspicion that Mickey Redmond’s going to break into the Wings’ locker room tonight and replace all of their sticks with wood ones.

What I Learned:
There should really be a federal law banning the trap. This goes beyond the scope of the NHL. It needs to be an act of Congress.

Red Wings 2, Flames 1: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings didn’t exactly come flying out of the gate last night, but they buckled down when things mattered the most and managed to squeak out an important win.
• I really can’t stress enough how important it was to win that game.
• Kirk Maltby did a good job in his audition for a post-career broadcasting gig. I also thought it was cute that Homer asked about him in his post-game interview.
• The name Nigel Dawes never fails to make me snicker. I should grow up.
• What got into Drew Miller? He had his best game in a while and had a bunch of great chances. He didn’t quite finish any of them, and I was shocked that ‘snakebit’ wasn’t used to describe him on the broadcast. This was good because it should really be ‘snake-bitten’ and that bothers me.
• I was terrified on that penalty shot. However, since Jimmy Howard made the save, it ended out working out pretty well for the Wings. They got to keep their powerplay and went on to do good things with that. I really thought Jason Williams (Who?) was the one who got called for the penalty shot, but according to the box score, it was actually Zetterberg. (UPDATE 3/16/10 8:31 PM: I finally got to watch the replay just now, and it was clearly Williams. I'm not sure what the deal with the box score saying it was Zetterberg is. He wasn't anywhere near it. I still say it was a weak penalty shot call, though.)
  
• I still haven’t figured out what Z was doing on that play when Z made the turnover that led to the breakaway that led to the penalty shot.
• Datsyuk’s goal came courtesy of a classic Holmstrom screen. It was sheer beauty.
• When Brian Rafalski took that four-minute penalty in the third, I thought in my head that whoever was successful during that penalty would win the game. If Calgary scored, they’d go on to win, but if the Wings killed it off they’d end up on top. Of course, I didn’t dare say that out loud and I quickly banished those thoughts. Luckily, I turned out to be correct.
• Holmstrom’s goal was on a classic deflection right in front of the net. He was in picturesque form last night.
• Don’t overlook the play Brad Stuart made to keep the puck in the zone right before Franzen took the shot that was deflected in. Without that, the goal doesn’t happen.
• It had to be disheartening for the Flames to give up a goal in the final minute of the second period, and then the winner with less than two minutes to go in the game. I mean, I don’t really care, but having watched the Wings do that numerous times this season, I can empathize.
• Winning this game means that Calgary doesn’t win the season series, which is one of the tiebreakers should they find themselves deadlocked with Calgary for 8th place at the end of the season. Of course, if the Wings would just buckle down and play hockey like they have been over the last week, I don’t think we’ll have to be agonizing about trying to understand the tiebreakers at the end of the season.
• I was really amused by how excited everyone on Twitter was about that shot that Jimmy didn’t give up a rebound on near the end of the game. Still, it was vacuum-like.
• I wasn’t particularly happy with the fact that Zetterberg lost two straight defensive zone faceoffs during the final seconds of the game. Obviously, nothing bad happened, but those have to be won.
• The Wings now find themselves an exciting three points above Calgary in the standings and only one point behind Nashville for 7th place. They’re in a position where they can’t be passed during their three day mini-break on the west coast (Seriously, three days off and then back-to-back games? On the weekend I’m going out of town? I’m going to go a whole week without watching a game, which is sad for me.) How much more anxious would we all be if we had to sit idly by during the next three days knowing that the Wings were out of the playoffs again and other teams were pulling away? By the time the weekend rolls around, the Wings will still be in 8th place and have at least a game in hand on both of the teams they’re battling with for the last two slots. What a relief.
  

GP Answer:
1. Those games we enjoyed so much against the Wild and Sabres aren’t going to mean a whole lot if the Wings can’t pull this one off tomorrow. There’s only one question today: will they show up? This season, the Wings have had a stunning inability to rise to the occasion when these big games come up. Let’s hope that that trend reverses itself against the Flames. The big guns are going to have to show up, and the role players are going to have to bring their best game. Losing this one’s not an option.
Their start wasn't particularly impressive, but they pulled off the win, and did it in regulation. You can't ask for more than that, I guess.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Tomas Holmstrom
Homer was doing that thing that he does all night long. I often wonder if the other 29 teams in the league keep a psychologist on staff to help their goalies recover after games against the Wings and Holmstrom’s rear end. It can’t be fun for them. I, on the other hand, love nothing more than geeking out over another superb Holmstrom deflection or screen.

Andreas Lilja gets the Golden Facepalm
That turnover on Calgary’s goal can’t happen.

Henrik Zetterberg gets a Secondary Facepalm
This is twice in one week, I think. I’m kind of shocked, that I’m even doing this. Still, that turnover, the penalty shot, and those key faceoff losses at the end of the game just don’t paint a pretty picture.

What I Learned:
NHL anagrams are fun. Try them. You won’t regret it. Brad Stuart’s is Absurd Tart, just for reference. You also might find out that your little sister’s is hilarious and be able to torment her with it.

Red Wings 5, Blackhawks 4: Post Game Snipes...

• This game didn’t get off to a particularly impressive start, but it sure got fun during the second period. Anyone know when the last time the Wings scored five goals in a period was?
• Of course the Wings couldn’t just coast to an easy victory by protecting their three-goal lead. They had to make things interesting by letting the Hawks back into the game. I’m sure NBC was thrilled because it was close at the end, but c’mon guys, get things together.
• The Wings managed to bring themselves within a point of Nashville with that win today. We all need to buckle down and root for Vancouver to win tonight. The Preds can’t be comfortable looking over their shoulders and seeing the Wings coming up behind them.
• Don’t look now, but the boys have won four of their last five games.
• Games like these always leave me looking forward to the next game more than usual. That game just happens to be against the Flames, who are only one point behind the Wings thanks to a win against Minnesota today.
• Bertuzzi left the game with what Babcock is now calling a charley horse. Let’s hope it’s nothing more (even though I was relieved to see that it was just Bertuzzi who was hurt…not someone more important).
• How refreshing was it to see a huge momentum swing from a questionable no-goal call go in the Wings’ favor for a change? Shortly afterward, the Wings started to take control of the game and things got a lot more enjoyable.
• I still can’t stand the calls when the refs wave off a goal, but don’t call an interference penalty on the play. It’s either interference or it’s not. Make up your mind. That irritation was compounded by the fact that Homer got called for a goalie interference penalty later on that was every bit as questionable.
• My mom and I had a grammar debate about whether it was “waived off” or “waved off.” Finally we consulted dictionary.com and my victory was confirmed. It’s “waved off.”
• Goalies diving makes me angry every time. Even when it’s done by a Wings goalie, I have to roll my eyes. Cowboy up, gentlemen.
• Today’s boxscore is sprinkled with a little bit of everything. There were some point shots from the blueliners, some secondary scoring, and a little bit of dangle dangle from Pavel Datsyuk himself. That’s what I like to see.
• Lilja was featured on the sounds of the game thing that NBC does. I was amused by the fact that he said something to Ladd after checking him and he sounded vaguely Irish. I was also amused by the fact that he says things while shooting.
• I’m pretty sure my favorite moment of the game was when Johan Franzen was mocking one of the Hawks who dove. When they were showing the highlights at the end of the game, I told my brothers that that clip had better be included. Sure enough, as soon as I spoke, they showed it. I grabbed a clip of it with my phone camera, but it’s not very high quality. I have no idea why youtube does weird things to the sound whenever I upload videos.
• I loved how the fact that Datsyuk’s breakaway was also racing against the clock made it that much more exciting. Jason Williams (Who?), Rafalski, Filppula, and Lidstrom also scored during the second.

GP Answers:
1. A game against Chicago on NBC? What more could Wings fans ask for? How much time is Pierre going to spend talking about Sidney Crosby?
After a little while, my dad said, “Wow, they really do talk about that guy a lot.” He finally figured out why I’m always complaining.

2. One of the best things about the Nashville game was the fact that the Wings’ stars were their best players. Can they continue to lead the boys?
Pavel Datsyuk has been incredible since the Olympic break. Zetterberg was less visible, but as NBC pointed out, he doesn’t look 100% health-wise. That makes me nervous.

3. What is Pavel Datsyuk going to do to blow our minds tomorrow?
Oh just a breakaway goal in the final seconds of the second period. It ended up being the game-winner. He was up to his usual slick moves and pick-pocketing all game too. He could seriously give Neal Caffrey a run for his money.

4. We haven’t gotten to see Olympic Rafalski since the break ended. When is that version of the hometown boy going to show up?
We saw flashes of Olympic Rafalski and flashes of regular season Rafalski today. I guess it’s a work in progress.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
For all of the wonderful things he does.

Valtteri Filppula gets the Golden Facepalm
He pretty much handed Andrew Ladd his first goal of the game. I’m pretty sure that turnover in front of the net came with a bow on top.

What I Learned:
It’s a lot more fun to have goals waved off when they don’t belong to the Wings.

Red Wings 3, Canucks 6: Post Game Snipes...

• All that goodwill that Ryan Kesler built up during the Olympics? Gone.
• Sure the goaltending could’ve been better tonight, but the real problem was the guys skating in front of the goalies.
• At one point during the broadcast, Mickey Redmond went to such lengths to set up a jockstrap-in-the-rafters joke that there’s no way he didn’t have cue cards helping him get through it. I think it was worth the effort.
• Mickey was also thrilled when Datsyuk threw a sucker punch and took a penalty for it. He sounded like a proud papa whose kid just did something awesome. He might be hanging a copy of the box score on his refrigerator at home to commemorate it.
• I don’t know why it is, but it always seems like it’s the phantom penalty calls that result in powerplay goals. It’s never the blatant hooks or obvious cross-checking calls that teams cash in on. It’s the calls that make you want to bang your head on a wall in the first place.
• By the second half of the third period, when it had become clear that the Wings weren’t going to recover, all I wanted was to keep Luongo’s GAA down. I realized that I accidentally started him on my fantasy team and I figured that I might as well get something good out of the night. Then Franzen went and scored, and I was stuck trying to figure out if his points were worth weakening Luongo’s stats. I’m still not sure, but every game reminds me more and more how much we missed The Mule.
  

GP Answers:
1. The last time the Wings won three games in a row was in a different century (or at least that’s what it feels like). Can they make it three in a row tonight?
No. And except for a few minutes in the first period, they didn’t really look like they wanted to.

2. Can the powerplay actually keep working consistently after a good performance against Colorado on Monday?
Well, it didn’t much matter.

3. How is Lilja going to hold up in his second game back? This is when his conditioning should start catching up to him.
I didn’t really notice him much tonight. For a third-pair defenseman, that’s a good thing in my book.

4. Just how Danglelicious is Pavel Datsyuk going to be tonight?
He showed some moments of brilliance, as usual, but the Dangleliciousness that we’ve seen recently wasn’t there for most of the night.

5. How many goals are going to be called off because of Tomas Holmstrom’s behind?
Thankfully none. Although that might’ve actually gotten me interested in the game. This one was barely watchable.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Johan Franzen
If Franzen had been in the lineup all season, the Wings wouldn’t be in as bad of a position right now. I guarantee it.

Niklas Kronwall gets the Golden Facepalm
At one point, he had a glorious scoring opportunity, but only managed to step on the puck and wipe out. I got a kick out of it, and was still laughing as the Canucks proceeded to retrieve the puck, carry it down the ice, and score. At that point, I stopped laughing.

What I Learned:
We’re in for an ugly, ugly March.

Red Wings vs. Canucks GP...

1. The last time the Wings won three games in a row was in a different century (or at least that’s what it feels like). Can they make it three in a row tonight?
2. Can the powerplay actually keep working consistently after a good performance against Colorado on Monday?
3. How is Lilja going to hold up in his second game back? This is when his conditioning should start catching up to him.
4. Just how Danglelicious is Pavel Datsyuk going to be tonight?
5. How many goals are going to be called off because of Tomas Holmstrom’s behind?

Red Wings 3, Avalanche 2: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings looked good in the first period. They had a lot of energy and carried the play. They even had a two-goal lead to show for it.
• All that momentum got taken away midway through the second period when Kerry Fraser waved off a Franzen goal on yet another weak call against the Wings. It just blows my mind how regularly this has happened this season. Maybe it’s because I’m sweating games out more than I usually do, but I can’t ever remember this many obnoxiously bad calls going against the Wings at crucial moments.
• Predictably, after the bad call, the Avs started to carry the play and tied up the game shortly thereafter. As much as I missed the Wings during the Olympic break, I did not miss the NHL one bit. I just wish there was some way the Wings could exist in a fantasy world where we didn’t have to deal with Little Gary and his league of crackpots.
• I think Tomas Holmstrom kicked Fraser’s dog over the break or something. Yeah, that must be it.
• The versus announcers said that Datsyuk had been, “Danglelicious all night.” This could be this season’s version of fabulosity. It’s been over a year since that beautiful quote, and I’m proud to say that it’s still a regular part of my vocabulary. In fact, only West Wing quotes and an insult sequence from In the Heat of the Night are in the same range of television-inspired quotations in my life. Make it stick.
• Some intrepid folks on Twitter have begun cobbling together a Beyonce parody for Danglelicious: I’ve joined forces with @mpetrella, @mserven, and @beanie168. Read and enjoy.
• It was weird to see the powerplay convert.
• McCarty made a good argument in favor of NHL participation in the Olympics during the post-game show. Because I needed another reason to love the guy.
  
• That’s all I’ve got. I’m out of mid-season blogging shape after that long break. I’m going to have to get my game legs (fingers?) back.
  

GP Answers:
1. Are the Wings going to come out of the Olympic break as dazed and confused as I am? Or can they continue playing like they did against Ottawa before the break? (That happened this century, right? It’s been a while.)
They looked stunningly good during the first period. It’s amazing how refreshing that is after this season.

2. How will the Wings’ Olympians fare after their short break? Only Rafalski played yesterday so the rest of the team should be in pretty good shape. Honestly, Sweden and Russia getting knocked out early might’ve been the best thing to happen to the Wings in a long time.
Rafalski looked fine. There was some debate about whether he would play or not, but playing yesterday didn’t seem to affect him at all. I wanted Sweden and Russia to do well for the Wings who were playing for their countries, but since I’m neither Swedish nor Russian, my loyalty to the Wings is much stronger. Those extra few days of rest for the Wings’ big guns could pay dividends down the road.

3. Lilja’s slated to make his long-awaited return to NHL action tonight. It should be interesting, to say the least. How is that going to work out for him and the team? It sure would be a shame to have put Maltby out of action for the rest of the season to make room for the old, turnover-machine version of Lilja.
Honestly, I barely noticed him. The boxscore tells me that he played 9:28 and was -1, but aside from a couple of random times, I didn’t see him do much. Then again, I spent most of the third period laughing about song parodies, so it’s possible that I missed something. Kudos to him for working to get back in the NHL though. I probably would’ve just given up and fallen into deep despair after the first two weeks of constant headaches, let alone almost a full year of them.

4. Can Rafalski bring his stellar Olympic play back to the Wings? If he plays like that down the stretch, things are going to be looking happier around here.
He wasn’t spectacular, but he was just fine.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
He was, of course, Danglelicious.

Tomas Holmstrom gets the Golden Facepalm
A veteran like him should know better than to go out kicking referees’ dogs before important hockey games. Shame on him.

What I Learned:
Nothing compares to Red Wings hockey. For better or for worse.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Yesterday, midway through the USA-Canada game, I realized that the Wings were back in action tonight. I’d actually completely forgotten that, which is a testament to how much I enjoyed the Olympics. After spending the last two weeks planted in front of my TV for most of the day watching every second of Olympic coverage, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with my life. I’d be 100% okay if they decided to have the Olympics every day. In order to fill the void left by the sudden lack of curling, ski jumping, aerials, and biathlon, I guess I’ll have to get back in the swing of blogging.

Before I return to the Wings, though, I have to say that the game yesterday was incredible. The two teams could not have made a better argument for NHL participation in the Olympics if they had brought flow charts and bar graphs. I was absolutely ecstatic when we tied the game in the final minute. Not even I, the ultimate homer, thought that Team USA would medal in these Olympics, so taking Canada to overtime in the gold medal game was incredible. Honestly, the thing that I’m most upset about is the fact that it had to be Crosby who scored the OT winner. He did next to nothing all tournament, but that’s not going to stop him from having statues erected in his honor all over Canada. I would’ve been more than okay if it had been Iginla, who I’ve always respected, or Nash who I have no issues with despite his status as a consistent Wing-destroyer. On the other hand, the shot of Yzerman and co. jumping up in the air after the goal made me feel a lot better. I’m glad Stevie isn’t going to have his Canadian citizenship revoked now.

1. Are the Wings going to come out of the Olympic break as dazed and confused as I am? Or can they continue playing like they did against Ottawa before the break? (That happened this century, right? It’s been a while.)
2. How will the Wings’ Olympians fare after their short break? Only Rafalski played yesterday so the rest of the team should be in pretty good shape. Honestly, Sweden and Russia getting knocked out early might’ve been the best thing to happen to the Wings in a long time.
3. Lilja’s slated to make his long-awaited return to NHL action tonight. It should be interesting, to say the least. How is that going to work out for him and the team? It sure would be a shame to have put Maltby out of action for the rest of the season to make room for the old, turnover-machine version of Lilja.
4. Can Rafalski bring his stellar Olympic play back to the Wings? If he plays like that down the stretch, things are going to be looking happier around here.

January Notes...

1. Tomas Holmstrom broke his foot. In practice. Doing something he’s done after every practice since dinosaurs walked the earth. Just when we thought the Wings were getting healthy.
2. Zetterberg and Cleary returned to the lineup on the same glorious day.
3. Jimmy Howard played the best game we’ve seen from a Red Wings goalie in years against the Kings.
4. The Wings went 6-5-4, which is pretty pathetic.
5. On the other hand, we got to enjoy a couple of mornings when we woke up to find the Wings in a playoff spot. A couple.
6. The Wings went to a shootout approximately 700 times. They won once. Again, pathetic. With shooters like the Eurotwins and Bertuzzi, there’s no excuse for not having a better record in the skills competition.
7. The Wings played their best game of the season against Chicago. It actually looked like they were a real hockey team for a while there.
8. In the Chicago shootout, Datsyuk and Bertuzzi did this. This is why I don’t understand why their record isn’t better in the shootout.
9. We had to endure NBC broadcasts twice. They were awful, not that that surprised anyone.
10. Herm to Hockeytown continued to evolve into the most epic gathering of Wings fans ever. Plans include a live TOV podcast, euchre tournament, and mandatory use of the phrase “Man Pocky.” Oh, and we’re going to watch the game too.
11. Niklas Kronwall returned from his Georges Laraque-induced knee injury.
12. Nick Lidstrom roared back to life offensively and gave hope to all of us Wings fans.
13. We started to debate who would stay in the lineup now that injured guys are returning. This was a new and exciting activity for those of us who had grown tired of debating the goalie controversy.
14. The Wings got screwed in the shootout against Dallas. Again, this is becoming predictable, particularly in games against the Stars.
15. Andreas Lilja finally got rid of his headaches and has a shot at returning to hockey. You can’t help but feel happy for the guy, even if you weren’t a fan of his before he broke his brain.
16. Jason Williams (Who?) came back from breaking his leg ages ago. The video of his injury still makes me cringe.
17. The team continued to baffle everyone with their inability or unwillingness to show up for games or make any meaningful push toward a playoff spot.
18. We’ve been teased with the idea of Johan Franzen returning in early February after a miraculously speedy recovery from his knee surgery.
19. I resorted to anxiously watching scoreboards from other games in hopes that other teams would do the Wings’ dirty work for them. It rarely worked out well.
20. Brad Stuart kept pulling pucks off of the goal line and saving goals. He seems to have a knack for that.
21. The Wings held Alex Ovechkin to zero shots and still managed to find a way to lose the game.
22. Patrick Eaves got into a fight. It was awesome. Brad May should take note.
23. Speaking of May, he and Leino continued to battle it out for a seat in the press box.
24. Ozzie ran his mouth about not getting enough playing time and annoyed everyone.
25. The powerplay continued to be pathetic. There’s no excuse for that now that guys have returned to the lineup. None at all.
26. The team continued to suffer from the same confidence issues that you would expect to encounter on a Girls U10 soccer team.
27. Abdelkader got sent back down to Grand Rapids to make room for the returning Jason Williams (Who?).
28. The TwitforTuzzi campaign was launched to achieve dual goals of raising more money for Children’s Hospital and embarrassing Petrella.
29. Patrick Eaves continued to endear himself to Wings fans everywhere. I don’t think there are many of us out there who aren’t hoping that he gets another deal during the offseason.
30. The Wings managed to get shut out for the seventh time this season.
31. Datsyuk started to awaken from his season-long slumber. He was playing classic Datsyukian hockey during the second half of the month.

Good News (Yes, You Read that Correctly)...

As I’m sure you know by now, Niklas Kronwall is slated for a return to the lineup tomorrow. This is huge for the Wings. His presence should have a trickle-down effect on all of the defensive pairings, as well as the offense. Having him in the lineup allows us to rid ourselves of either Lebda or Meech. My money’s on Meech sitting because Lebda occasionally has flashes of brilliance in which he appears to be a real, live NHL defenseman. Granted, they’re few and far between, but they do exist. Meech just goes out there and skates around and does…I don’t really know. He should be an evangelical preacher because every time he sets foot on the ice, a million Wings fans start praying. Stuart and Kronwall were dynamite together before Georges Laraque saw fit to remove him from the Wings’ lineup, and his presence may help settle Stuart down after a rough patch. He’s also been sorely missed on the powerplay over the last couple of months. I have no idea what the Wings’ percentage is since the beginning of November, but it has to be close to single digits. How excited are you for a powerplay unit that doesn’t feature Derek Meech?

I was also surprised to hear that Andreas Lilja is potentially nearing a return. A couple of days ago, Mickey Redmond mentioned that he was close to returning, but I think we fans universally wrote that off as crazy talk. This impression was confirmed when Ken Holland said that nothing had changed regarding Lilja’s status. Lo and behold today, though, Lilja said that he had gone 13 straight days without a headache. Should he reach that elusive 14-day mark, he could potentially be cleared to play. (On a side note, we’re coming up on 11 months since his concussion. Can you imagine how rotten of a mood you’d be in if you’d been having almost constant headaches for that long? I’m pretty sure even my dog would’ve stopped liking me by now.) This would be another huge step for the defense because it would mean that a) we would also be rid of Lebda and b) Jonathan Ericsson could be paired with a more experienced defenseman who he could potentially learn something (good) from. I’ve been a critic of Lilja in the past, but he was looking pretty solid last season before he broke his head, and at any rate, he has to be better than Lebda.

On top of all this, Jason Williams is nearing a return to the lineup, Tomas Holmstrom is hoping to be back soon, and Johan Franzen is considering a miraculous pre-Olympic break return. I’d probably prefer that he wait until after the break because it’s basically two weeks of free rehab for him and there’s no sense rushing him back. I have no idea what this means for the salary cap, but I'll leave that to smarter folks to figure out.

If I were a member of another Western Conference organization, I’d be looking over my shoulder right about now. The Wings have been hanging in there on the periphery of the playoff race like some kind of zombie that you just can’t kill. Now that they’re finally getting healthy, I can’t imagine that the other teams in the West are thrilled about the idea of the Wings creeping up behind them.

We have a little less than three weeks until the Olympic break. A lot can happen in that amount of time. Let’s hope they’re good things. Also, it’s unbelievably fun to be writing about happy news for a change. All this excitement has put me in a pretty good mood. I’m starting to feel a strange sensation that may in seasons past have been called optimism.

Random semi-hockey related quote of the day:
My dad, while assessing the swelling on my newly-sprained ankle: “Just be glad you’re not a hockey player so you don’t have to worry about fitting it into a skate so you can go back out and play.”

Red Wings 2, Kings 3: Post Game Snipes...

• Another chance for the Wings to climb the standings, another lackluster effort from the boys. Yawn.
• There was apparently a man up in the rafters at some point during the game, so they cleared an entire section of the lower bowl. I’m still confused about this. It was never mentioned on FSD’s broadcast, but I remember seeing a shot of the Wings’ bench during the second period when they were all staring at something up above. I assumed it was something on the big screen, but I guess they were looking at the guy.
• Filppula’s goal was beautiful, but so was the hard work Dan Cleary put in beforehand.
• Bertuzzi’s goal came on a fun deflection off of his knee. I was amused by it.
• After the first period, things were looking good. The last minute of play was dominated by the Kings, but the Wings had a two goal lead and looked like they could stay in control.
• The Wings actually scored on the powerplay. It was a 5-on-3, so there was no excuse not to. The second penalty that the Kings took was brutal.
• And then the rest of the game happened. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you saw this team play a full 60 minute game? It’s been a while.
• One positive trend that I’m noticing is that the Wings’ defensemen are getting more shots through to the net from the blueline. Earlier in the season, they were passing more or getting them blocked. This will be even more important when Holmstrom returns.
• Stuart made another awesome goal line save that seemed huge at the time. It went to review, but even though the replays clearly showed that it didn’t go in, I held my breath. You never can tell how they’re going to rule anymore. Someone on FSD (I can’t remember who) said, “That was a goal last week against Dallas.” And he was right.
• Meech had a breakaway. There’s nothing else to say about that. I’m sure you can guess how it ended if you don’t already know.
• The Kings’ first goal was ugly. Ericsson made a bad turnover, and then Howard tried to grab the rebound but missed. The rebound itself wasn’t bad, but he should’ve been able to cover it up. He just whiffed on it.
• At one point during the broadcast, Mickey Redmond took it upon himself to announce that Lilja could be back as soon as next week. Everyone was astonished because nothing had been said about his progress recently. Ken Holland (and common sense) refuted that. Part of me wonders if Mick got a little telestrator happy and circled the wrong guy on the graphic FSD had up at the time.
• Mick also jokingly suggested that players use blood capsules a la WWE to draw the extra minor on highsticking calls.
• I really wanted to go down to this game, but I’m glad I didn’t make the trek. I would just be more angry.
  

GP Answers:
1. Can the Wings pull it off today? This game needs to be won, and it needs to be won in regulation. None of that OT/SO nonsense this time around. I don’t care about any of the trivial stuff I usually ask about in these GPs, as long as the Wings come away with two points, and LA gets none.
No. They had a chance to pass LA in the standings and continue working their way into a solid playoff spot, but they couldn’t be bothered to play more than one period of hockey. Again. Wasn’t this team supposed to be angry this season? Weren’t they supposed to have something to prove? I know they’re still missing important guys, but missing talented guys is not an excuse for lack of effort.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Valtteri Filppula
He showed some great hands and patience on his goal to open the scoring. It was a pretty good-looking goal.

An Extra Stick Tap for Brad Stuart
That puck he scooped out of the net was millimeters away from crossing the goal line. It turned out that it didn’t matter much, but it was huge at the time.

Jonathan Ericsson gets the Golden Facepalm
He made the turnover that led to the Kings’ first goal. It was a costly mistake, and he can’t be making turnovers like that in the defensive zone.

What I Learned:
The Wings haven’t really turned a corner after all.