Red Wings 7, Sharks 1 (1-3): Post Game Snipes...

• The game didn’t exactly get off to a wonderful start. The Wings took a too many men penalty right off the bat. Naturally, the question Wings fans had was, “Why didn’t the linesman warn them that they had too many men and give them time to get legit?” Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?
• Mike Babcock says Stuart’s expected to return on Saturday. He was injured in the first period on this hit by Rob Blake. While I still maintain that he wilted under the intense in-person hatred of Sara’s hubby, having him in the lineup is going to be important when the series returns to California.
• I really was shocked that the one Franzen goal wasn’t called back for interference. Normally, I would feel the slightest tinge of guilt, but not the way this series has gone so far.
• I was really amused when people at the Joe threw their hats for Franzen even though those of us watching on TV knew the first goal would be switched to Bertuzzi. Mule just wouldn’t allow those fine fans’ hats to go to waste, though, and kindly scored two more goals of his own.
• Speaking of Bert, he had a ridiculously good game tonight.
  
• Curly fries tomorrow! I think a four-goal performance is worthy of a large curly fries instead of the mini one you usually get. Speaking of which, in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Wings have now equaled their total number of hat tricks from the last two regular seasons. Not that it matters, but it was a thought that popped into my head.
• Dan Boyle scored on his own net again. It was another fluky play, and actually bounced in off of a teammate, but it made me laugh. What did he do to the Hockey Gods?
• Franzen’s natural hat trick was the first by a Wing in the playoffs since McCarty did it in ’02 against Colorado. That was a memorable game too, in the sense that I didn’t watch the third period of it where all the fun happened. I blame the city of Birmingham. I’ve never liked it there. But I digress.
• Predictably, the Sharks decided to go out and goon it up when the game got out of hand. The refs tonight at least had the good sense to penalize them for their hi-jinks. I don’t really understand that mentality. I was concerned that someone was going to get hurt, but the Wings did a pretty good job standing up for themselves.
• Thornton threw a nice elbow on Zetterberg in front of the net. In this picture, one guy shows character and leadership. The other, not so much. I’ll leave the interpretation up to you.
• I’m pretty sure nobody actually landed a single punch in Abdelkader’s “fight.” Oh well, I guess it’s the thought that counts.
• Of course, the goonery did inspire Mickey Redmond to exclaim, “She’s getting rough and dirty! That’s the way I like it,” which very clearly made my day.
  

GP Review:
12. I’ll start with the obvious: The Wings need to find a way to win this game.
Yeah, that just happened. For real.

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.
I didn’t see Ritola do a whole lot, but he at least didn’t stand out in a negative manner. Or try to kill me.

10. The Datsyuk line can’t afford to get taken advantage of defensively like they were on Tuesday.
The defense was tight all around. The offense maintained pressure in the zone. San Jose spent most of the game on their heels wondering what hit them. (Spoiler alert: It was a large, Swedish Mule.)

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.
We all had to take a moment to re-learn about the concept of a Wings’ powerplay. Nobody was quite sure what to make of the fact that they were allowed to have a man advantage. Once they settled in, though, things really took off.

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. He doesn’t need to be the savior of the world. He just needs to make the saves the team asks him to.
Jimmy wasn’t tested too much, but he made the saves when he had to.

7. Again, STAY OUT OF THE BOX!!!
Imagine that: a game where I didn’t notice any egregiously bad penalty calls. I even complimented the refs at one point on twitter. I know. The world may be ending.

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.
Not only did the Wings find a way to take advantage when San Jose gave them room, but they also cut down on their own mistakes.

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.)
That early penalty aside, the first period was dynamite. Five goals? I’ll take that any day.

4. Win faceoffs. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to play the puck possession game we know and love.
The teams were dead even in faceoff wins. It somehow seemed like the Wings were winning the really important ones tonight, though.

3. Andreas Lilja is back in the lineup on defense. Here’s hoping he can settle Ericsson down.
Ericsson made a really good defensive play tonight! Everyone was so excited that they twittered about it. Having Lilja in for Lebda was huge since Stuart left the game early on.

2. Zetterberg really stepped up his game on Tuesday. He and his line need to keep carrying the play to the Sharks’ top players.
His new “remixed” line was insane tonight. That’s all I have to say about that. insane.

1. Keep testing Nabokov. He hasn’t looked nearly as spectacular as a 3-0 series lead would indicate.
His save percentage for tonight was .444. That’s not a typo.

Hero: Johan Franzen
Somehow, 14% of FSN voters disagreed with this selection. Four goals? Six points? A #JohanFranzenFacts hashtag campaign dedicated to him? The Mule did it all tonight. I just hope having to file for a restraining order from my brother won’t distract him from the task at hand.

Villain: Joe Thornton
I was so glad when he got slapped with his 14 minutes of penalties. I’m so glad the Wings don’t respond that way when they find themselves losing by a large margin. Good on Todd McLellan for keeping him on the bench for the remaining time after his penalties.

Final Thought:
Don’t think of it as trying to climb out of a 3-0 series deficit anymore. Think of it as trying to climb out of a 3-1 series deficit. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.

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

• Play was a little chippy for the first few minutes, but San Jose took over after the Wings gave up the first goal. They responded in typical Red Wing fashion by sitting back and conceding play afterward.
• The Sharks’ first two goals both came off of rebound control issues. Get that sorted out please, Jimmy.
• On the first PK, Kronwall went down and couldn’t stand up at all. I nearly had a heart attack as I thought he was seriously injured again. Luckily, his skate blade had just popped out and the Wings weren’t hurt by it.
• Cleary’s goal came off of a good, hard-working play. It was a pretty novel concept.
• It was nice to see the Wings take advantage of their 5-on-3. They let those opportunities slip away far too often. Seeing the Flying Circus line click after all this time was a thing of beauty.
• The Wings looked good after they broke onto the scoreboard. I actually didn’t want the period to end because they had good momentum going. This was unusual because I’m typically counting down the seconds and hoping that the Wings survive to intermission.
• Derek Meech scored. I laughed. When the puck ended up in the net, I was just about to yell at my TV wondering why he was out on the powerplay. Clearly, Mike Babcock saw this coming and this was the reason he put Meech into the lineup tonight. Clearly.
• I love Patrick Eaves a little more each game.
• Kronwall left the game with what was described as a “slight tweak.” Normally this would be reassuring, but this is the ’09-’10 season and things are a little different. After the game, Babcock said that it was his ankle, not his knee. Unfortunately, it looks like he won't be able to play tomorrow against Anaheim. An ankle tweak's probably better than a knee, though.
  
• Jimmy Howard scared me for a minute there toward the end of the game when he got run by Joe Thornton. I never would’ve seen that coming at the beginning of the season.
• Darren Helm beat out an icing in the final seconds of the game to prevent another faceoff in the Wings’ zone. Yeah, it’s impossible not to love that guy.
• The Wings needed this win. They're now tied with Nashville in the standings and have finally actually passed Calgary. They're still stuck in 8th because Nashville has more wins, but this was especially big with Dallas and Anaheim creeping up behind them in the standings.
  

GP Answers:
1. Are the Wings going to show up tomorrow, or is Jimmy going to be standing alone again?
The first part of the first period was not pretty. I was almost convinced that the game was over when San Jose scored the first two goals. Then the Wings went and scored four unanswered goals, and things looked good. They were carrying the play and resembling themselves. Games like this make the pathetic efforts we’ve seen at times that much more frustrating.

2. What kind of impact will Homer’s return have on the offense?
That’s the Homer we all know and love. His presence was immediately noticeable. Not only that, but we got to see the Flying Circus line back in action after what seemed like forever. It’s good to see him back and looking good.

3. Much has been made of the Wings’ lack of killer instinct this season. Blown chances, sitting back on leads, lack of intensity, you name it… Can the Wings for once look like a team that knows what it’s doing?
I was tempted to start feeling happy midway through the third, but I refused to get excited because of the Wings’ penchant for third period collapses. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Wings took another late penalty. That’s a trend that has to stop. They kept up the intensity, though, and held on for the win.

4. Two games ago, the problem was the defense. On Sunday, it was the offense. What part of their game is going to give us fits against San Jose?
My only complaint tonight was the way they started the game. The defense was good, and the offense tallied 4 goals. It’s hard to be upset with that.

5. The powerplay has been looking more functional lately, but it’s still not converting as regularly as we would like. While they boys are able to establish control and cycle in the zone, but the pucks just aren’t going in. Getting Homer back should help in that regard theoretically. Can they start to get that sorted out tonight?
Look at that. The Wings converted twice. It was glorious. Please keep it up.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Tomas Holmstrom
I missed that guy. My excitement for his return was justified as he picked up two assists. He was in vintage form, causing all kinds of chaos in front of San Jose’s net.

An Extra Stick Tap for Henrik Zetterberg
He was great in both ends tonight. it was like he and Holmstrom signed a pact of awesomeness tonight.

Jimmy Howard gets the Golden Facepalm
San Jose’s first goal came off of a rebound that just shouldn’t have happened. Their second goal came off of a weak-ish rebound too. He did manage to lock things down after that, but the first goal was a killer.

What I Learned:
Nik Kronwall is the most fragile human being ever. Seriously.