There was more ugly this season than I care to remember. It was a rough year for the team and us fans.
Brad May’s no-goal was the most ridiculously bad call I’d ever seen at the time. Of course, Jim Joyce had to go and one-up him a few months later (Can you tell I’m still bitter?), but this was disgraceful and bungled by the NHL. Objectively speaking, the May call was worse than the one in the perfect game because of its sheer ridiculousness even though in context it mattered less. This was a perfect example of officiating incompetence by the NHL and makes a compelling argument against the intent to blow nonsense that has been plaguing the league.
That was the worst incident by far, but the officiating all throughout the playoffs was a joke. It wasn’t just the Wings-Sharks series. I don’t think there was a single series that wasn’t influenced by lousy calls and pathetic excuses for refereeing. Not that any of us should be surprised. This is the only measure of consistency the NHL has.
The Wings didn’t suffer from an injury bug this season. It was a full-blown plague. There were several stretches when the team was fielding a roster that was half Griffins. The Wings didn’t lose the most man games of any team in the league, but I would argue that they lost more important man games than anyone else. They weren’t losing grinders; it was the stars going down. November, December, and January were absolutely brutal. A casual fan probably wouldn’t have even recognized the team they were fielding during that stretch. Ugh.
Of course neither one of them can hold a candle to the Shetuzzi. This is the stuff of nightmares. Behold it in all of its glory:
NBC and Versus continued to provide astonishingly bad coverage. The announcers are pathetically bad, and at one point, NBC missed a Wings goal right off of a faceoff because they were showing nonsense. These are the NHL’s broadcast partners. I can’t stand when they pick up Wings games.
There was plenty of bad to go around this season. It was by far the most stressful one in recent memory. We really did get to see how the other half lives.
After this season, can we all just agree that the shootout needs to go? The Wings were absolutely miserable at it all season long. There’s really no good explanation for this either. They should really be a lot better what with all of their talent. If anyone out there has an idea, let me know. Aside from that, a shootout on the final day of the regular season determined which team got into the playoffs. Not cool.
The much-hyped trip to Sweden to start the regular season turned out to be a bust. The Wings came home with an 0-2 record and not a lot to show for their travel. Little did we know that the event was going to be a perfect preview of what most of the rest of the season was going to look like.
Remember how excited we all were to see a whole season of Jonathan Ericsson? Big Rig didn’t quite live up to the promise he showed during the playoffs last season. He seemed to devote this year to turnovers and giving Wings fans heart attacks.
This shootout goal that won the game for Dallas was an absolute joke. It wasn’t the most ridiculous event of the season, but it was up there. It was just another one of those moments that makes fans hate the NHL. And of course it had to be "scored" by Steve Ott.
Todd Bertuzzi.
In January, Brett Lebda managed to break Tomas Holmstrom’s foot during practice. Just when we thought the injury plague was going away and some of the guys were coming back, another one went down. That was definitely not RAAAAGHHHH.
Remember when we thought Nick Lidstrom would never score a goal again?
The powerplay was pathetic for a long stretch of the season. Like most of the events of this season, this was unusual and difficult for Wings fans to adjust to.
The Brad May experiment was clearly a failure. He was useless for sticking up for his teammates. Last time I checked, that was his only purpose for being in the NHL. There’s a reason he ended up finishing the season in Grand Rapids.
Patrick Eaves’ shootout attempt during the H2H weekend was the stuff of legend. It was like his own little gift to our party. It even spawned the #Eavesed hashtag. Since the Wings ended up winning the game, it’s easy to laugh about now. It’s one of those moments the poor guy is never going to live down. Watch and enjoy:
During a home game, a section of the lower bowl had to be evacuated because a couple of guys had found their way up into the rafters. It was…interesting.
NHL scheduling during the playoffs once again baffled everyone involved. Was it really necessary to take a lifetime off before the Finals?
The Wings’ early playoff exit was a major disappointment. After the way the season went, it wasn’t particularly surprising, but it hurt nonetheless. Not as much as the end of last season’s playoffs, but still not fun.
I was so happy to see Franzen back on the ice that I just wanted to reach through my screen and hug him. But that would’ve made my brother jealous, so I didn’t. I actually clapped each of the first dozen* times I saw him on the ice.
Brad May got into a fight. Pretty much everyone on Twitter was confused. I was glad I wasn’t alone.
Todd Bertuzzi took a penalty about three* seconds into the game. The Wings managed to kill it off, but it made me angry.
Darren McCarty was on Versus again. It made me smile. He looks more comfortable now that he’s got a few shows under his belt.
My little brother probably shed tears of joy at the sight of The Mule’s stache.
During the first period, one of the announcers called Jimmy Howard a pitchback. I laughed a lot. It kind of works in an abstract, overly-complex metaphoric way I guess. At the beginning of the season, he was like a brand new pitchback, but by this point, he’s not as bouncy anymore because the bungee cords have been stretched out and deadened from use. I should know. We killed a couple of those things back in the day.
Draper’s goal also made me laugh. There was something really awesome about how bizarre it was. It looked like he was celebrating before the puck even went into the net. It was like he had a psychic moment there and knew the puck was going in. It was reviewed, and I was terrified that they would rule it a no-goal because I’ve lost any semblance of faith in the review process. They got the call right, though, and the Wings ended the period up 1-0.
Jimmy Howard had to make approximately 102* saves in the first period. That’s just ridiculous.
The Wings’ second goal was reviewed too, of course. Nothing can come easy this season. This one was another bounce off of a skate. It was nice to see the Wings actually get a couple of lucky bounces for a change.
After announcing that the second Wings goal had been upheld by Toronto, the referee started to make the no-goal sign before catching himself and pointing at center ice. My head was this close to exploding.
There was some sort of delay before the faceoff after the Wings’ tying goal. I was anxiously waiting for them to drop the puck so we could get moving lest Toronto decide to get involved again.
The Wings looked pathetic for most of the game. I promise you that they didn’t deserve the point that they managed to pick up.
I dozed off during the second intermission and missed the first eight minutes of the third period. I really don’t think I missed much. The fact that I fell asleep during a Red Wings hockey game says a lot, though.
Henrik Zetterberg should not be nearly that bad at shootouts. I feel like there has to be a logical explanation for it, but I can’t wrap my head around it and that makes me sad.
Datsyuk had one shift during overtime when I swear he skated circles around all four Blues like they were cones in a practice drill. He seemingly pulled 462* dekes. It was something else. I wish he would’ve scored then so a) the Wings would’ve won the game and b) it would’ve been one of the sweetest goals I’ve seen in a while. Alas, it was not to be.
Jimmy Howard made a ridiculous save during OT to keep the Wings in the game. I was 187%* sure that the puck was going in the net when he slid across the crease. I was wrong.
Jason Williams (Who?) scored the Wings’ lone goal in the shootout. That’s pretty unfortunate for everyone involved.
I was really impressed with Franzen’s play. More please.
Fun moments with Versus: During the first intermission, someone said, “speaking of enormous loads…” and the whole panel started giggling. After the game, Darren McCarty was talking about the Wings and he said, “I got four reasons to be a homer.” It was pretty awesome. We’ve all got more than four reasons to love that guy.
About ten minutes after the game ended, @VersusNHL tweeted this: “Brad Boyers with a crazy deek shoots and scores. Zetterburg up next. game on the line. He misses. St Louis wins the shoot out!” No, I didn’t change the spelling. Or the capitalization. Or the grammar. This was by far the worst, but most of their tweets were horrendous. It looks totally unprofessional. It’s like they hired a kindergartener as an intern to run the Twitter account or something. Boyers? Deek? Zetterburg? Come. On.
Raise your hand if you think the guys wearing red and white sweaters tonight looked like a playoff team. Thanks to their loser point and the fact that Chicago pulled out a shootout win tonight, the Wings managed to stay a point ahead of Dallas in the playoff race. They're still within striking distance of Nashville and Calgary, which is encouraging. However, it's going to take more than that effort to do anything worthwhile.
GP Answers: 1. Obviously, the big story is the long-anticipated return of Johan Franzen. How is he going to look shaking off all those months of rust? As I said before, I was really impressed with him. He picked up an assist and had several shots. I liked the fact that he was throwing his weight around and checking guys. We’ll see how he holds up in his second game back. That’s when guys tend to fade a little. It was absolutely fantastic to see him back.
2. Can the Wings, for once this season, play a full 60 minutes? No sleepy starts. No collapses. No heartbreaks. Just a full 60 minutes of Red Wing hockey. I don’t even know why I bother asking things like this any more.
3. How many players are going to go down with injuries? I really wish this one was a joke. None, as far as I know. I’m not even willing to speculate about that any more, though.
4. I’ve seen a lot of potential line combinations tossed around, but nobody really knows what we’re going to see. There’s a pretty good possibility that Mike Babcock doesn’t even know since so many guys are day-to-day. How is the lineup going to shake out? Things started clicking when Babcock put Franzen up on the top line with the Eurotwins. Bertuzzi looked totally out of his element tonight. After his few weeks of glory back in December, he’s totally disappeared.
Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk He was good. And he deflected in a goal off of his foot that may or may not have been intentional. Either way, it managed to pass a War Room review and pull the Wings within one. I still can’t get over that one shift he had in OT.
An Extra Stick Tap for Johan Franzen He gave me a reason to smile tonight, when not many other guys were doing anything worthwhile. It’s good to have The Mule back in the lineup.
Todd Bertuzzi gets the Golden Facepalm You can’t take stupid penalties .06 seconds into the game. The Wings killed that one off, but he took another penalty later in the game, and the Blues scored on the delayed call. While they were putting the puck in the net, Todd was standing around in front of the net daydreaming. Or possibly deciding which of his hostages to eat for dinner. You decide.
What I Learned: My dog could get a job working for Versus and still represent them better than whoever’s behind their twitter account. She’d probably be the cream of the crop there. Like Air Bud, but with a keyboard.
*This number may or may not have been invented in my head.
At some point during the game, the Twitter conversation turned to Oregon Trail references. I think it had something to do with the Versus guy saying that Filppula was circling the wagons, when really Phoenix had circled their proverbial wagons and Filppula was circling them. Or something like that. In accordance, I decided to write this edition of PGS in those terms. So, I set out on an online journey through the original version of the game. My wagon leader was Mike, and he was joined by Nick, Patrick, Pavel, and Jimmy. (No word on who was wearing the dresses. I'll leave that to you to decide.) I’m sure you can guess how things ended.
Kronwall threw a check on his first shift of the game. I liked it a lot. In fact, I liked it so much that I forgot to use punctuation when I twittered about it. It was like that promising moment when you leave Independence with just your wagon full of belongings and 5 imaginary friends to set out across the open frontier.
I was not happy about Brad May being in the lineup tonight. I’ve been hard on Leino, but I still think he’s better than May. That being said, May actually had one of his better games as a Wing. He threw together some shifts full of hard work and even drew a penalty, if my memory serves me correctly.
Henrik Zetterberg’s play to set up Datsyuk’s goal was a thing of beauty. When he knocked that puck out of midair and settled it down, I thought to myself how awesome it would be if they scored off of it because of how great the play was. The boys didn’t let me down…at least in that one instance.
It should be mandatory that the Draper-Helm-Eaves line take the shift immediately following a goal against for the rest of forever. When someone in your wagon party dies out on the trail, you don’t hang around and wallow in misery. You want to get away from that spot as fast as possible and escape the bad karma and memories. To do that, you rely on your fastest oxen (Is that an oxymoron? I’m not all that familiar with livestock.) to get you away as fast as possible. And also to score goals. Or something like that.
There was a weird turn of events in which the Wings actually recovered from giving up goals against rather well (see above bullet point for part of the reason for this). Usually, they just kind of roll over at the first sign of adversity, but they kept up their strong play even after the wagon capsized while trying to float it across the river.
During the third period, the Eurotwins got involved in a scrum in front of the Wings net. Pavel looked particularly feisty, and Z was dragging guys off of Jimmy Howard. I liked it a lot. You have to stick together and defend your wagon party if you’re going to make it to Oregon. Everyone’s in it together.
Things were looking good when the Wings took a 4-2 lead late in the third on Lidstrom’s second goal. I was feeling happy for a change, and was getting ready to thank the Wings for cheering me up after a bit of a rough day. We were so close to Oregon, you could almost see the Willamette Valley on the horizon.
And then this happened. I’m pretty sure it’s more accurate of a description of the last two minutes than I can give:
I was absolutely not surprised one bit when Phoenix scored in overtime. I was hoping the Wings could survive it and take their chances in the shootout, but I’m a realist. I could see that coming a mile away, just like those rocks downstream.
This has nothing to do with the game tonight, but it made me laugh kind of a lot. I guess you could apply it to most of the rest of the season, though:
GP Answers Lessons from the Trail: 1. There’s a lot of hype surrounding Kronwall’s return tomorrow, and I’m as excited as anybody. I know it’s going to take him a couple of games to get up to speed, but what kind of impact will he make tonight? Oh boy, was it nice to see him out there on the ice. He just…looked good. There was one play during the second period (I think) when he held onto the puck in the offensive zone, deked a couple of Coyotes, and made a pass. I just sat there wondering how that play would’ve looked if Derek Meech had been there instead. Hint: It wouldn’t have been nearly as pretty.
2. How many minutes of hockey will the Wings actually show up for tonight? 20? 30? 55? It’s anybody’s guess. 58 give or take a few seconds. What is it about SIXTY minutes that the Wings can’t seem to get into their head? This team got all the way to the Columbia river, decided to float down it instead of taking the safe toll road, and crashed and burned in the rapids. It was pathetic.
3. The top two lines have apparently been shuffled with Cleary slated to play with the Eurotwins and Bertuzzi moving down to the second line. Will that have any impact? The Eurotwin connection was beautiful. I noticed Cleary a lot over the course of the night, but Bertuzzi was fairly invisible. The Eurotwins once again looked good early on, but seemed to fade toward the end. They (and the rest of the team) need to get it in their heads that the destination is Oregon. Not the Green River, not Independence Rock, not the Snake River. Oregon. Finish strong.
4. How many times will the Versus broadcast make me angry tonight? Every time they said, “[Goalie] says no.” There were also two instances during the first period when a penalty was called, the announcers mentioned it, and then said that they’d get back to it after the break. That makes me want to bang my head on the wall. It’s also possible that I have anger issues. Let’s just say that the Versus broadcast team would not be welcome in my wagon train. They would've been the first ones cast out when the food supply got low.
5. The Wings backed into the 8-spot in the Conference due to Calgary’s loss last night (thanks, Ty Conklin). A loss tonight puts them back out of the playoff picture, while a win will help them start to solidify their position. Which direction will they go? They haven’t exactly wowed us this season when they’ve had chances to pass opponents. I’m not even going to touch this one. There’s no doubt in my mind that this team would’ve died out on the trail. At least they got a point out of it.
Cookies and Cupcakes Buffalo Meat for Nick Lidstrom His first goal was absolutely vintage Lidstrom. When was the last time you saw him do that? Here, I have a screencapped picture of a snipe I made while hunting bear that I think captures the beauty of his first goal (His second wasn’t exactly shabby either.):
An Extra Stick Tap Ration for Henrik Zetterberg I’ve watched the replay of his play to set up Datsyuk’s goal numerous times and I’m still amazed by it. Maybe it’s because of my previous life as a bunting specialist in softball, but that kind of hand-eye coordination wows me. He would’ve been a good guy to have around on our trip down the Oregon Trail.
Brad Stuart gets the Golden Facepalm Dysentary That was brutal. Where is the Brad Stuart we fell in love with not so long ago? Kronwall coming back was supposed to help him, not make him even worse. I don’t get it. There’s a reason he didn’t get to come along in my wagon tonight. He would’ve been the first to die for sure, even though Patrick suffered not one, but two broken arms on our journey.
What I Learned: I’m better at Oregon Trail than the Wings are at holding leads. (For the record, I actually won the game these are screencapped from. I don’t lose.)
1. The last time the Wings played Washington, we barely noticed Alex Ovechkin. Thanks largely to Nick Lidstrom, he just didn’t look threatening very often. The box score says that he got an assist, but the Wings did a great job limiting his chances. Will they be able to repeat that performance? 2. The Eurotwins were in vintage form on Sunday. They were the best players on the ice, and I think we’re all still trying to piece our minds back together after Datsyuk’s shootout goal. If the Wings want to gain any ground, they’re going to need efforts like that from them on a consistent basis. Are they going to live up to our lofty expectations? 3. I haven’t heard who’s slated to start in net yet. Will Ozzie finally get a chance to redeem himself? He played the first game against Washington this season, and since it’s against an Eastern Conference opponent, a potential loss would hurt less, I suppose. You’ve got to figure that he’s going to get a start one of these days. I know Howard’s on a hot streak and is young, but at some point he’s going to need a break. 4. The Wings have a chance to break into the top 8 with a win against the Caps. They’ll need LA to lose to San Jose, but it’s within reach again. They’ve had a few chances to do that over the last few weeks, and haven’t been able to put a good effort together. Can they finally get over that hurdle and start working their way up the standings? 5. The Chicago game on Sunday was by far the best hockey I’ve seen since the playoffs. The Wings dominated for large stretches and controlled the play. They looked like the better team out there despite still missing some key guys from the lineup. I know we won’t be treated to that kind of hockey every minute of every game, but can the Wings keep up that level of intensity and drive on a regular basis? It sure would make moving up in the standings a lot easier. 6. Will Ville Leino or Brad May be in the lineup? Does it matter?
One other note: Ville Leino did this the last time these two teams met. Remember when we thought he’d actually be good? I’m pretty sure that was the last time he’s been anywhere near the crease.
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? 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? 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? 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.
They actually looked for the first few minutes. My attention was slightly divided between the WJC Final and the Wings game, but they looked like they had some jump. Then they got that first powerplay and gave up a shorthanded goal and the rest of the period was just a hot mess.
During the first intermission, Keating accidentally called the Wings the Denver Red Wings. He’s officially banned for life. Of all the teams to mash up…unforgivable. Unacceptable. A travesty. A shamockery…you get the idea. The craziness continued after his interview with Z later on that break.
Zetterberg joked that, “This is the first time the injured guys needed a bus to get to the game.” He also did an epic job at looking nonchalant and pretending like he didn’t notice that Keating was being weird again. I’m pretty sure he ran away as soon as the camera shut off, though.
Team USA won the WJC. It’s not really Wings-related, but I was pretty excited. Especially since they looked horrible after they gave up two goals with less than three minutes left in the third to go to OT.
Ritola had a fantastic move on a chance on Hiller. It was pretty, but he couldn't finish it.
I hate Brad Watson.
We somehow ended up talking about Man Pocky on Twitter during the game. @jennyquarx and I are starting a campaign to make its use as slang for attractive men universal. Get on board.
Filppula scored his first goal since his glorious return from IR.
There were more fights in this game than I’ve seen in a Wings game in a long time. Not that May’s and Bertuzzi’s were really great fights or anything.
Where on earth was Datsyuk tonight? He apparently got an assist on Flipper’s goal, but for the life of me, I can’t remember seeing him on the ice more than once or twice. That’s not the kind of performance the Wings needed from their top gun.
This game was definitely not worth staying up this late. I have to get up at 5:30 AM.
GP Answers: 1. Every time the Wings play Anaheim, I have to ask myself the same question: What will the Ducks do tonight to make me hate them even more? Darren Helm got smoked on a hit before he’d touched the puck during the second period. The Wings got a powerplay out of it (and of course didn’t score), but I was just relieved that he wasn’t hurt.
2. When is Nick Lidstrom going to score a goal again? It’s been the better part of a decade since he put one in the net, and I’m going to copy/paste this into every GP until he does. No dice tonight.
3. Cleary and Zetterberg are expected back on Thursday (*fingers crossed*). That means two guys are going to be headed to Grand Rapids or the press box. I had my money on Ritola being the first to go, but now that he’s being kept in the lineup over Leino tonight, who knows what could happen? Tonight would be a really good time for one (or more) of the bubble guys to have a “statement game.” Will it be May who starts sitting regularly? Leino (answer: most likely)? Maltby? What about Ritola? They have to know that they’re on the bottom rung of the ladder, so it would be nice to see them playing like they have something at stake. Nobody stepped up. Nobody at all.
4. Is getting a powerplay actually going to be an advantage for the Wings tonight? It’s probably (hopefully) the last chance for some of the guys on the 2nd unit to show their stuff tonight, so maybe they’ll take advantage. No. In fact, their lousy first powerplay and the shorthanded goal that Anaheim scored on the PK seemed to suck the life right out of the Wings. Their second go-round seemed to actually resemble a powerplay, but still…it’s pathetic.
Cookies and Cupcakes for Valtteri Filppula He scored the Wings’ only goal to make the game close in the third period. Since nobody else really felt like doing much apparently, he wins the baked goods.
An Extra Stick Tap for Derek Meech I liked his fight in the second period because it was the right kind of fight. He got hit and didn’t like it so he started the fight. It wasn’t staged or planned or any of that nonsense. I liked it.
Todd Bertuzzi gets the Golden Facepalm He made a glorious pass…right to Saku Koivu that lead to the Ducks’ shorthanded goal. He also missed a glorious opportunity in front of the net on a powerplay in the second. I don’t know how he didn’t bury that one.
What I learned: The Wings appear to be blissfully unaware of the fact that they’re currently sitting outside of the playoff picture and lack any sense of urgency.
1. Every time the Wings play Anaheim, I have to ask myself the same question: What will the Ducks do tonight to make me hate them even more? 2. When is Nick Lidstrom going to score a goal again? It’s been the better part of a decade since he put one in the net, and I’m going to copy/paste this into every GP until he does. 3. Cleary and Zetterberg are expected back on Thursday (*fingers crossed*). That means two guys are going to be headed to Grand Rapids or the press box. I had my money on Ritola being the first to go, but now that he’s being kept in the lineup over Leino tonight, who knows what could happen? Tonight would be a really good time for one (or more) of the bubble guys to have a “statement game.” Will it be May who starts sitting regularly? Leino (answer: most likely)? Maltby? What about Ritola? They have to know that they’re on the bottom rung of the ladder, so it would be nice to see them playing like they have something at stake. 4. Is getting a powerplay actually going to be an advantage for the Wings tonight? It’s probably (hopefully) the last chance for some of the guys on the 2nd unit to show their stuff tonight, so maybe they’ll take advantage.
1. Leino looked better on New Year’s Eve. He did things like skate and appear to have a purpose out there on the ice. He even scored a goal. With Brad May’s injury, he’s guaranteed another shot at playing, so can he build on that performance and work his way out of the doghouse? 2. Guys will be coming back from injuries in the next couple of weeks. It’s time for the guys who’ve been playing to start fighting for their jobs. Who’s going to play well enough to guarantee himself a spot in the lineup every night? 3. Tonight marks the start of a 5-game roadtrip. Ten points are at stake (How do you like those mad math skills?) on the trip, and it’s important for the Wings to start stringing together some wins. Will they be able to start it off well and set a good tone for the rest of the roadtrip? 4. When is Nick Lidstrom going to score a goal again? It’s been the better part of a decade since he put one in the net, and I’m going to copy/paste this into every GP until he does.
This is the last GP before I start school again. Beginning Monday, it’s going to be tough to get GPs up during the week as regularly as I’ve been doing. I’m going to try to write them the night before games, but since I’m an all-star procrastinator, they’re probably going to be coming in the evenings instead…or not at all from time to time. I’m going to do my best to keep things going, but this next semester’s going to be pretty rough. Please bear with me as I stagger my way toward the finish line of the ridiculously intense, one-year, super condensed master’s program that I was crazy enough to enroll in.
The game got off to kind of a rocky start as the Wings took a penalty 11 seconds in. Fortunately, the Wings were able to kill it off.
Datsyuk was the first Wing not named Todd Bertuzzi to score in over 4 games. This is a truly horrifying stat.
That “tripping” call against Filppula late in the third period was a joke in every sense of the word. There is absolutely no way in the universe that that was a trip. Maybe, maybe a hook if you really want to be ridiculous, but I was always under the impression that tripping involved taking out a player’s feet…or at least involve actually being responsible for knocking the opposing player down.
I think it’s fairly apparent that the Wings’ PK is more of a scoring threat than their powerplay right now.
We had a Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve. Ville Leino also scored. Just saying…
The Wings’ PK, which has been lights out since Thanksgiving, allowed two powerplay goals last night. It’s hard to complain about that though, since it’s been so good recently.
Craig Anderson was upset about Ville Leino's goal (although, to be fair, it has to be kind of embarrassing to be the guy who finally lets the loafer score). Here's a super high-quality video of him whining about the call. Adrian Dater is involved. You've been warned.
GP Answers: 1. 2009 hasn’t exactly been good to Wings fans. I think we’re all looking forward to 2010 and the joyous frolicking that surely awaits us in the new year. Before the ball drops in Times Square, though, the Wings have one more game to win. Can they send this less than stellar year off with a bang? Yes. I still haven’t seen the whole game, but the Wings appeared to throw together a solid effort. I’m beyond ready for 2010 to start bringing good things.
2. The rivalry’s dead and yadda yadda yadda. I don’t care. I still take great pleasure from beating the Avs. Will the Wings pretty please end the year with a good, old-school beat down? It would take me right back to my childhood in the ‘90s. Despite Holmstrom’s 500 penalties on the night, there wasn’t any nastiness going on. Not that I expected there to be much, but a girl can dream.
3. This is the last home game before the Wings begin a 5-game roadtrip out west (and randomly to New York at the end…NHL scheduling win for sure). During that trip, some key guys are slated to come back from injury. Can the guys in the lineup tonight hold down the fort until reinforcements come (see what I did there?)? I didn’t really realize that I asked the same question 8 times in a row. Obviously, the boys were able to get things together, and…well, you get the idea.
4. When is Nick Lidstrom going to score a goal again? It’s been the better part of a decade since he put one in the net, and I’m going to copy/paste this into every GP until he does. Not last night.
5. Patrick Eaves is out with the flu tonight (thanks, Rafalski), which pretty much negates our theory about it being caused by lack of hair to cover one’s head. As a result, Leino is going to find his way back into the lineup out of necessity (this is becoming a trend). If ever there was a time for him to come back into the game looking like an NHL player, I would think that this would be it. Will he be able to reclaim his roster spot from Ritola with a strong game tonight? Well, he came up with a huge goal in the third period. It took a video review to make sure that it stood, but it was a good goal, and a beautiful tip-in. I still think Ritola played a little better, but Leino showed up where it counts—the scoresheet. Apparently Brad May is now day-to-day with a lower body injury from last night (Seriously? More injuries? I don’t care that it’s just May.), so it’s pretty likely that Leino will be getting another shot tomorrow.
Cookies and Cupcakes for Darren Helm Two shorthanded goals in the New Year’s Eve game? Even though one was an empty-netter, that’s spectacular. Over the course of the season, he’s created approximately 7,394 breakaways or partial breaks for himself with his ridiculous speed. We were all just waiting for him to finally finish one of them. Not only did he finish, but he finished with style.
Tomas Holmstrom gets the Golden Facepalm At one point during the third period, he missed what could’ve been an easy tip-in because he was too busy taking a cross-checking penalty in the crease. I was pretty annoyed with that one.
What I learned: In the month of December, the Wings’ scored 4 powerplay goals. They also scored 3 short handed goals. When your powerplay is almost tied offensively by your PK, you know you have some issues. On the other hand, they only allowed 5 goals on the penalty kill, which is pretty darn impressive.
I got to go to the game tonight. I was pretty excited that we were able to get student rush tickets. We didn’t get to sit next to each other, but we were right behind one another.
I braved the People Mover for the first time since the Auto Show Incident of ’05. Every time we slowed down to stop in a station, I became paranoid that we were getting stuck. I had no intention of sprinting through the streets of Detroit with no coat on again.
We got there early, and there were a lot of seats open in the row my ticket was in, so we thought we might get to sit side-by-side for a while. Other people showed up, though, with tickets in that row. My friend went to climb up into the row behind us where her ticket was, and somehow managed to have the chair collapse around her leg. She got her foot stuck in the seat and couldn’t get it out for literally 4 minutes. Other people around us were trying to give her suggestions for what she should do to free herself, but I was laughing too hard to even breathe. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures during the incident. I’m pretty sure she’ll never forgive me for not doing more to help (in addition to my hysterical laughter and photography, I also elected to climb up into the seat she had been attempting to reach so the other people could have theirs and almost knocked her down in the process…which only led to more laughter). I’m also pretty sure that the people around us thought I was the world’s worst friend for standing there and laughing at her (I’m not going to fight that accusation). It was one of the best moments of our friendship…that’s probably over now because I wrote about this on my blog. I also want to apologize to all of Section 222 for the ruckus that we caused.
I was swiping free programs left and right. They have pictures of my dad and me inside, and I collected a stack to take home and show people to make them jealous. Because I am that petty. Then we went to eat at Pizza Papalis and the waitress dropped pizza sauce on them and I was sad.
The first period was nothing to write home about. I was pretty disappointed with the Wings’ effort and I figured we’d be in for a long game. Fortunately, though, they were able to turn things around and played quite well for the rest of the game. Although, I have to confess that my ability to intelligently watch the game was hampered by my frequent bursts of laughter every time I thought about my friend getting her foot stuck in the seat. Kind of the same way I’m having a hard time typing this now because I’m laughing again. Maybe you just had to be there.
I don't know why I never noticed this before, but I was pretty amused to see that Henrik Zetterberg is guarding the entrance to the women's bathroom here on the concourse. It just...seems fitting somehow.
The PK looked pretty good tonight. Although, at one point I did wonder if it was just that Columbus’ powerplay looked really bad. Either way, they did a great job limiting the Blue Jackets’ opportunities.
The Wings scored a powerplay goal. This really caught me off guard and I can’t even muster a witty comment about it.
That non-goal that was reviewed was really strange. When I first saw it, I was sure it was in. When they showed a replay on the scoreboard, I was even more sure that it was in. So was everyone else in the stands. I was in disbelief that they called it a no-goal. I thought we had just seen another incident as bad as Brad May’s non-goal last month. I had to call home and find someone who was watching the game on TV so I could figure out what the explanation was. Now that I’ve seen the replay, it’s pretty obvious. I was completely baffled for a few minutes there, though. (My one complaint is about how lousy the replays that get shown on the scoreboard are. They invented slo-mo for a reason.)
During the last couple minutes of the game, people in the stands were chanting for Babcock to put Bertuzzi on the ice with the empty net. It was kind of a funny moment.
The people sitting behind us in section 222 were incredibly annoying. Seriously. Nobody cares what you think.
The offsetting minors for interference and diving kind of bother me. I’m one of those folks who thinks that a play is either interference or a dive.
Am I the only one who barely noticed Rick Nash tonight?
There are few things more fun than singing the Hockey Song at the Joe.
I’ve uploaded all of my pictures (including some of the ones from our Detroit adventure during the afternoon) here. Revel in the glory of my new camera that I got yesterday. 12-power zoom=fantastic pictures even from the nosebleed seats.
GP Answers: 1. How will Fabio Filppula look in his glorious return to the Wings’ lineup? Being able to welcome an injured Wing back to the lineup feels kind of strange. I’ve forgotten how to be happy about hockey-related matters. I thought he looked pretty good. There were a couple of plays on which he looked a little rusty, but he played well on the PK and the powerplay and had a couple of good chances. He consistently looked like a guy who could create offense…and at this point, that’s all I ask.
2. I haven’t seen the Wings score a goal in 12 days. While I realize that I may have missed a few while I was out living it up in the hockey wasteland that is Florida (Seriously, ESPN, it would kill you to show a game highlight here or there?), it’s still been an awful long time since the Wings put a puck in the net. By the end of the game on Wednesday, I had stopped caring if they won, I was just hoping for a goal. And that makes me sad. So, will the boys find the back of the net tonight? It took them until the second period, but yes, they did score. Twice, in fact.
3. I’m told that Datsyuk put on quite a show while I was out of contact with reality. Will we get to see some more of his magic tonight? Yes. He set up Bert’s first goal, and did a bunch of other nifty things that are beyond my ability to describe.
4. When is Nick Lidstrom going to score a goal again? It’s been the better part of a decade since he put one in the net, and I’m going to copy/paste this into every GP until he does. (As promised, copy/pasted from the last GP I wrote, which I’m pretty sure was right around the same time Lidstrom scored.) Not tonight. He picked up an assist, but still no goal.
Cookies and Cupcakes for Todd Bertuzzi Another two-goal game? He must’ve known that Petrella was in attendance. My favorite part was the nonchalant way in which he deposited the puck into the net on his second goal. I don’t know why, but it amused me.
An Extra Stick Tap for Patrick Eaves and Darren Helm Eaves was my nominee for the baked goods after the first period. He was all over the place on those first to PKs. He had a bunch of interceptions and just all-around solid plays. He didn’t have anything to show for it, but I kept noticing the #17 over and over again throughout the whole first period. Darren Helm is obviously on here for that save of the week candidate that he made. When I saw that, I fully expected them to look at it in Toronto and announce that it had gone into the net. Again, they never showed a good replay of it on the scoreboard, so I had no idea what happened until I got home and watched the replay online.
Derek Meech gets the Golden Facepalm Turnover city on the Jackets’ goal. Ugh.
What I learned: Darren Helm used to be a goalie when he was a kid.*
*I made this up in my head. Unless it’s actually true, in which case I want full credit for being smart.
Interesting Quotes: Me: *by the Riverwalk* "Don't fall in. I'm not going in after you to save you." G: *with hockey tickets in her back pocket* "Oh, you know you'd go in after me...Just to get the tickets." Me: "Nnnnnnno...Yeah. Okay."
1. The big question is the defense. While this one game obviously won’t be indicative of the next 4-8 weeks, it’ll be a preview into life with a defensive pairing that consists of Brett Lebda and Derek Meech. How many near heart attacks will those two tag team to give fans? 2. Ericsson finally got some powerplay time on Saturday. I think it’s safe to say that I liked him a lot better there than on the penalty kill. Reason dictates, however, that he’ll be seeing a lot of time on both special teams units in the coming weeks. How will he step up into his expanded role after a fairly shaky start? 3. Also regarding Ericsson, he’s slated to be paired with Stuart. How much will having a better partner improve his performance? UPDATE (11/23/09 1:35 PM): It turns out Ericsson will actually be paired with Lidstrom. This is even better. It's no accident that his best games came when he was forced to fill in for Rafalski during the playoffs last season. 4. Where have all the goals gone? After netting 19 in 3 games, the Wings have only managed 4 (even if we count Brad May’s, 5 isn’t much better) over the last 3 games.
The Preds have come a long way from the days of their obnoxiously annoying tradition of squeaky air quotes fangs (They don’t do that anymore, right? I haven’t heard it in a while.) that inspired my siblings and me to take a picture in front of their building mocking them. They currently sit one point behind the Wings, so this would be kind a nice win to pick up.
Okay, I’m a little behind the ball on this one thanks to an epically long paper that I chose to hold off on writing until 48 hours before it was due. However, now that it’s all safely uploaded, I’m free to finally get my hockey-rant on. And, yes, rant I will. If you’re not in the mood for a good old-fashioned upbraiding of the league, you might try checking out a non-Wings blog for the time being. It’s been over 24 hours now, and this one still stings.
It’s frustrating as a fan of both logic and hockey to see these things that defy any standard of reason occur over and over again. Let’s not kid ourselves here. This is ugly, and it’s embarrassing for the league. If we want to move on to legislating things that are arguably judgment calls like, say, hits to the head, that’s going to be pretty darn hard if we can’t even figure out the simple things like whether or not the puck’s in the net.
Every person watching that game last night knew that the goal should have counted. The Dallas Stars knew that. So did their fans, come to think of it. Everyone, that is, but one Dennis LaRue. Because in the moment that the puck entered the net, he was apparently distracted by a bumblebee. Or something shiny.
His rationale for waving off a game-tying goal? It seems that he had already blown the play dead when the puck entered the net. He didn’t even bother to invoke Wings fans’ favorite “intent to blow” rule. He tried to tell us that not only did he intend to blow his whistle, he had, in fact, already done so. Never mind that there was clear evidence that this was a fantasy. Never mind that every standard of reason and logic said that it should have been a goal. Never mind that whatever shreds of credibility that the NHL’s officiating system had been clinging to were blown away along with the goal.
The league (admittedly to my surprise) issued a statement addressing the controversy that was amusingly labeled as an “explanation.” It managed to pretend to apologize for “apparently” blowing the call while at the same time supporting the decision process that led to the travesty. It really was an artful maneuver. Some people seem to think that the NHL’s admission of an issue represents intent to enact something to remedy similar situations in the future. I, however, am not nearly that optimistic. I will, as always, continue to expect the worst from the league until I am given concrete proof (something for which I have an innate respect, thus disqualifying me from ever being a part of the NHL’s staff).
If we’re to assume that the play was ended by LaRue’s intent to blow his whistle instead of the actual act of blowing it, we then have to question what on earth he was thinking. In order for this to be a legitimate reason, he would have had to have lost sight of the puck somewhere when it was out in the open. There was no scrum in front of the net. There were no bodies falling every which way and obstructing his view. There was no need to protect Alex Auld. If LaRue can’t keep track of the puck in that situation, he quite simply should not be refereeing games in the NHL. And the league’s “explanation” is tacitly admitting that much…but not really, because that would also involve an unseemly admission of fallibility.
And I haven’t even gotten to the issue of what was going on with the phone call from Toronto. I can’t believe I was actually relieved to see that they were going to weigh in on the situation. I mean, what’s the point of having a video review if they can’t overturn the ref? Even if he was adamant that he ended play before the puck ended up in the net, why couldn’t they say, “Listen, sunshine, we know you think you know what you saw, but we’ve got this fancy moving picture box here in Toronto that proves you’re delusional. Best not make fools of the whole lot of us.” Now I’m not normally an advocate of pulling rank, but if ever there was a time for that it was last night. (Yes, I understand that “intent to blow” calls are non-reviewable, but the sheer ridiculousness of that little rule is another rant for another night…or rather one that I seem to recall making sometime in the not too distant past.)
Do you honestly think that the NHL (or any employer for that matter) would tolerate that level of incompetence from anyone else on its payroll? If, say, an accountant made a catastrophic and incredibly public error while doing his or her job, how much longer do you think they’d be employed? If a member of the league’s legal staff screwed something up as epically as LaRue did, don’t you think they’d be polishing their resumes faster than you can say “intent to blow?” But for some reason, the league likes to imagine that its referees enjoy some mythical level of infallibility. Kind of like how Dennis LaRue imagined that he had blown the whistle before the puck ended up in the net.
And you know what one of the worst parts of this is? That it’s getting blown up into a Wings-fan-conspiracy-theorist debate. This is ironic, because I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time reading Wings blogs out there today, and I have yet to find one that is crying conspiracy. I fully do not believe that the NHL could be competent enough to pull of a conspiracy of the scale that size. Let’s be realistic. They can’t even figure out how to tell if a puck’s in the net, and you expect me to have a theory about an elaborate plot against my team? Please. That would require some level of competence, which clearly is not possessed by the NHL.
Instances like these are why it’s so difficult to be an NHL fan. Every single die-hard out there is a hockey fan because they made an active decision to become one. Hockey’s not an easy sport to get into, especially in the United States where it doesn’t have a presence like the other major sports. People are probably not going to stumble onto a game on tv when they’re flipping channels and they’re not going to discover it by watching mainstream media coverage. For the most part, we fans came to the sport, drawn in by family or friends who were fans before us. But how do we sell the game to others when we ourselves can’t even stand to think about the league? When the utter absurdity that emanates out of the league offices continues to baffle even those of us who know the game inside and out? When inconsistency and arrogance never fail to win out over justice and humility?
Honestly, sometimes I think that the fact that I keep coming back to watch games and spend my money night after night after horrendous mistake-filled night is clearly indicative of some level of masochism at best if not full-blown clinical insanity.
Post Game Snipes:
I really would’ve liked the Wings to have come out with a little fire after getting robbed like that. It would’ve been a nice show of character from a team that still seems to be struggling to find an identity and consistency.
Although, to be fair, I would’ve liked to have seen them show up to play from the beginning of the game instead of relying on Jimmy Howard of all people to keep them in the game.
Speaking of Howard, he’s playing…well. He gave the Wings every chance to win last night, and they, with a little help from LaRue, chose not to take advantage.
The one highlight was Henrik Zetterberg’s beautiful goal. Z is absolutely on fire. Keep it up, please. I want more.
At one point during the first period (possibly in response to Brad May’s “slashing” penalty), I posted this on Twitter: “Another cheap call against the Wings. Is this really what I'm going to have to deal with all night?” Oh how sweet and naïve I was at that point. Little did I know what was lying in store for me.
Babcock called May’s rant-inspiring non-goal (I’m still searching for what to title this one as The Goal That Wasn’t has already been assigned to Brad Watson’s playoff magic.), “as dumb as I’ve ever seen.” Which is putting it mildly…
But really the killer quote out of all of this is the one from Alex Auld regarding the play. He said, “That’s the ref’s judgment call obviously. We caught a break there but I feel like you work for those too.” Now, I’m really curious as to what kind of “work” he put in to earn a gift like that. How exactly does one go about earning something like that? No really, do tell. We’d all like to know.
Cookies and Cupcakes for Jimmy Howard I literally never expected that there would come a time when I would feel like he was the best Wing on the ice. And yet, there he was Wednesday night, keeping the score close enough that the non-goal will be causing us sleepless nights for weeks on end.
Jonathan Ericsson gets the Golden Facepalm He had a beautiful tip-in during the first period. Unfortunately, it was into the Wings’ own net.
What I learned: That no matter what reason and logic and your eyes tell your brain about reality, it’s still okay to ignore them in favor of your imagination.
1. So it appears that we won’t get to see Marty Turco tonight. That’s a shame, considering how he’s historically fared at the Joe. Will his backup manage to fail as spectacularly in Detroit as Marty has in the past? 2. I’ve seen different reports today regarding which Wings forward will be scratched. As of now, it sounds like Brad May will be in the lineup, though. Who’s taking bets on how long it’s going to take him to square off against one of the Stars? (Ott, anyone?) 3. Speaking of Ott, how many minutes into the game will it be before I begin throwing things at my TV whenever I see him on the ice? 4. Jimmy Howard is making his fourth straight start tonight. He was almost untested against Columbus, looked pretty solid against Vancouver, and looked shaky during the third period of the Anaheim game. All in all, it hasn’t been a bad run for him. I was starting to consider turning my opinion of him around until the issues toward the end of the game on Saturday caused me to hold off on that. Will he use tonight to continue work his way into my good graces as a reliable backup (please) or live up to my pre-season perceptions?
Okay, so I may or may not have phoned this one in. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m missing something important here, but school and illness are forcing my hand. I might be on Twitter during the game tonight. I might not. It depends on how much of my gigantic paper that’s due tomorrow night that I get done before puck drop.
