Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 16-8-1

Blues: 14-9-3

Season Series: 0-1

Red Wings Zen:

Point and Laugh:

Video Candy:

This will never, ever get old.

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 9-5-1

Blues: 8-7-1

Red Wings Zen:

Point and Laugh:

Video Candy:

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 44-22-10

Blues: 34-32-9

Red Wing Zen:

Darren Helm

11-20-31, +/- 9, 16 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Alex Pietrangelo

11-30-41, +/- 16, 19 PIM

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 40-20-8

Blues: 31-28-9

Red Wing Zen:

Kris Draper

6-4-10, +/- 2, 10 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Vladimir Sobotka

6-18-24, +/- -5, 50 PIM

Red Wings vs. Sharks GP...

Red Wings: 37-16-6

Sharks: 33-21-6

Red Wing Zen:

Kris Draper

6-2-8, +/- -1, 8 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Jason Demers

2-16-18, +/- 10, 20 PIM

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 28-12-6

Blues: 22-17-6

Red Wing Zen:

Valtteri Filppula

11-16-27, +/- 1, 14 PIM

Point and Laugh:

David Backes

14-21-35, +/- 15, 58 PIM

Red Wings 3, Blues 4: Post Game Snipes...

• I don't have much to say about this one on account of Christmas activities, but it was one of those classic Red Wings losses that frustrate us to no end.
• The first period was atrocious. The second period was mediocre. The third period was phenomenal. Unfortunately, those kinds of games rarely result in victories.
• Lidstrom's 5-on-3 goal was essential. The Wings absolutely needed to score on that opportunity in order to make the game interesting towards the end.
• Nobody actually thought Darren Helm was going to score on that break he had, right?
• They poured everything they had at the Blues during the third period, but it just wasn't enough. As annoying as the rest of the game was, the third period onslaught was a sight to behold.

Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
He had another really good night in the absence of BFF Datsyuk.

Villain: Jaroslav Halak
He turned away all 15 of the Wings' third period shots and managed to hold out until the final horn without letting them tie the game up.

Final Thought:
Merry Christmas!

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 21-8-4

Blues: 16-12-5

Red Wing Zen:

Darren Helm

2-6-8, +/- 6, 2 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Roman Polak

1-1-2, +/- 2, 6 PIM

Red Wings 5, Blues 2: Post Game Snipes...

• I headed down to the Joe with the lovely Sara Neuie for tonight's game. I think it's safe to say that we had a good time.
• We knew it was going to be a good night when we were walking on the concourse and came across a beer vendor who was singing Christmas carols, but replacing every syllable with the word 'beer.” I don't even like beer and it made my day. I spent my whole drive home singing beer songs along with my CD player. Seriously. Give it a whirl.
• I don't know who DJed tonight, but they should be banned from the building. It was the worst collection of “music” I've ever heard played there. I suspect it was our DJ friend from the Town Pump up there playing his stupid techno music. Seriously, a little rock here and there wouldn't have killed anybody. Techno “Jingle Bells” made me want to stab my ear drums. When they finally played a Bon Jovi song in the third period, I threw my arms up in the air and
• So that Nick Lidstrom guy...he's pretty good, eh? We were pulling for curly fries as soon as he scored his second goal. I was surprised to find out that that was his first career hat trick. It just seems like after all these years, he would've had one already. As far as I can recall, this was the first hat trick I've ever seen in person. It was perfect. The Perfect Hat Trick.
• I can promise you that yelling, “Curly Fries!” in the stands at the Joe was way more fun than yelling, “Junior Roast Beef Sandwich!” would've been. No contest.
• I'm going to map out every Arby's in a 20-mile radius and visit each one for my free Perfect Curly Fries tomorrow.
• Helm and Kronwall are the only two Wings who recorded a point tonight who aren't on one of my fantasy teams. It was a pretty lucrative night.
• It was Dollar Pretzel Night at the Joe. I don't know if I've mentioned it on here before, but I'm a big fan of carbs.
• I managed to complete the rare concession stand + bathroom trip in a single intermission. Anyone who frequents the Joe knows how impressive that is.
• We loved Kronwall's little kick after he scored his goal. We're pretty sure he learned it while drinking Captain and Kesler dancing at karate practice (no, that's not supposed to make sense to anyone but Neuie). I think the Kronner Kick should be part of all future goal celebrations.
• Henrik Zetterberg had four assists. That's...a lot.
• Datsyuk made most of the crowd at the Joe laugh in astonishment at least twice tonight.  Watching him play hockey is just pure fun.
• The Wings' penalty kill looked fantastic during their first kill. The Blues were barely able to enter the zone at all.
• You know who else looked good tonight despite not really factoring in on the scoresheet? Todd Bertuzzi.

Hero: Nick Lidstrom
This one's pretty obvious. He sent all of Hockeytown into a frenzy by buying us all lunch tomorrow. Thanks, Nick.

Villain: David Backes
He tried to destroy poor Homer along the boards. At least the Wings made the Blues pay on the ensuing powerplay.

Final Thought:
Going to Astoria for a victory celebration is more fun than going to Astoria to eat your feelings after a loss.

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 19-7-3

Blues: 14-9-5

Red Wing Zen:

Patrick Eaves

5-2-7, +/- 3, 8 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Alexander Steen

8-10-18, +/- 4, 14 PIM

Red Wings 7, Blues 3: Post Game Snipes...

• This was one of the Wings' worst games of the season. I know you're thinking, “But Kris, they won by four goals. This is very true, however until they came alive in the third period, things were looking pretty ugly. There were turnovers galore and it seemed like the Wings couldn't complete a pass.
• The first goal of the game was batted into the Blues' net by Jaroslav Halak. Instead of clapping or cheering, I just sat there and laughed. It was enough to send my brother running into the room to see what was so funny.  Drew Miller ended up getting credit for the goal, but even he laughed it off.
• Jimmy Howard ended the first period with an absolutely killer save with fractions of a second left on the clock.
• Johan Franzen got called for a weaksauce holding call during the second period. Predictably, it led to a powerplay goal for the Blues. It always seems like it's the cheap calls that lead to pucks going in the net.
• Justin Abdelkader scored on a pretty deflection in front of the net to retie the game after the Blues' powerplay goal.
• Cleary continued his hot streak with two goals tonight. He's been unbelievable lately. I drafted him in one of my fantasy leagues and people said I was stupid for taking him so high. Who's laughing now, little bro?
• Zetterberg's goal came after he made a strong, strong play on the puck. It was nice to see the first line do something good since they hadn't done a whole lot up to that point.
• Kronner gave us all a scare when he took a blindside hit. He took his time getting up, but returned to the game afterward. Though it was blindside, it wasn't a headshot as it didn't look like any head contact was made in the couple of replays that were shown.
• That offensive outburst in the third period was a glimpse into what the Wings can do when they're firing on all cylinders. In a little over three minutes, they took over the game and turned a mediocre game into a lot of fun.
• The Wings scored their last two goals on the powerplay. Up until then, it had looked pretty ugly. Here's hoping that that success continues. The Wings are way too good to have such a lousy powerplay.
• Good job going after Jimmy at the end of a blowout, Backes.

1. The Wings had another lengthy break between games, having been off since Saturday. Will they be ready to go on time?
No, it was another one of those games where they don't show up to play at the start of the game. They really didn't wake up until the third period.

2. The Wings get to face off against Jaroslav Halak for the first time tonight. It definitely has the potential to be one of those games where the Wings skate circles around their opponent but can't seem to put a puck in the net.
That definitely wasn't the case tonight. Halak let in (scored on himself, really) a laughable goal to kick things off and then got lit up in the third. We got plenty of Jaroslav HaLOLk.

3. The Blues sit only two points behind the Wings for the Central Division lead. This could shape up to be the main battle for the Wings down the road. It'd be nice to be able to pick up a couple of points against a division rival to stay on top of the pack.
The Wings did indeed stay on top with what looked like a decisive win on the scoreboard, but wasn't really that great.

Hero: Dan Cleary
He turned in another two-goal performance. He's now in the midst of a six-game goal streak. Night in and night out, he's one of the hardest-working Wings on the ice, and it's nice to see him getting rewarded on the scoreboard.

Villain: David Backes
I don't care if he's an American hero. Going after Jimmy is a major offense. Plus, my bro wants to buy his jersey, and I consider wearing another team's logo to be an unforgivable sin.

Final Thought:
The Wings pulled off a win tonight that they didn't really deserve.  They definitely didn't deserve to win by four goals.

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 11-3-1

Blues: 9-4-3

1. The Wings had another lengthy break between games, having been off since Saturday. Will they be ready to go on time?
2. The Wings get to face off against Jaroslav Halak for the first time tonight. It definitely has the potential to be one of those games where the Wings skate circles around their opponent but can't seem to put a puck in the net.
3. The Blues sit only two points behind the Wings for the Central Division lead.  This could shape up to be the main battle for the Wings down the road.  It'd be nice to be able to pick up a couple of points against a division rival to stay on top of the pack.

Red Wing Zen:

Henrik Zetterberg

4-13-17, +/- 9, 4 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Erik Johnson

1-3-4, +/- -1, 13 PIM

Weekly Wrap-Up Volume Three...

Caption Mondays: Sara Neuie won this week again with her imaginary conversation about old man sweaters.

Dougie: Are you sure?
Hank: I'm telling you it works! How else do you think I got Emma?
Dougie: Huh, old man sweaters. I'll go shopping tomorrow. *smiles* I am so getting laid when I get back to Grand Rapids

Trivia Tuesdays: Andy actually waited over an hour to answer this week, giving other folks a chance to sneak in an answer before him. Nobody did, though, making him the three-time trivia champion. That makes the leaderboard:

Andy: 3
Everyone Else: 0

This week's question: The Wings hold the record for most penalty minutes in a single playoff game. How many minutes did they receive and how many penalties were they awarded?

The Answer: The Wings had a whopping 152 penalty minutes in a game against the Blues in 1991. St. Louis is in second place with 146 minutes of their own that day. Each team was awarded 33 penalties in what was apparently a rowdy game. Sadly, the Blues ended up winning 6-1.

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

• I only got to see the third period last night thanks to work, driving home, my dog pouncing on me when I got home, and the need to hand out souvenirs from vacation to my family. As such, this is going to be the lamest recap ever.
• I was driving down 696 when the Wings scored both of their second period goals. I really shouldn’t be allowed to be behind the wheel of a vehicle while there’s a hockey game on the radio. It’s kind of a safety hazard. They should install some kind of ignition lock that scans the airwaves for hockey broadcasts similar to the breathalyzers they have for drunk drivers.
• Also, remember when 760 used to broadcast the games? We once picked up a faint broadcast from them all the way in Disney World. That’s about 1200 miles away from my front door. I can’t even get 1270 to come in while driving through the Detroit suburbs. Lame. Even more lame? The fact that I forgot to check 97.1 to see if they had the game until I was half of a mile away from home.
• When the Wings scored to break the tie in the third period, I yelled so loud that my little brother cam flying out of his room and down the hall to see what was going on. I’m always cool, calm, and collected. This is a lie
• I’m told that Ken Daniels came within inches of giving a shout out to SSDD on a failed Datsyuk attempt in the third. Unfortunately, I was stuck watching upstairs sans DVR for reasons that have yet to be explained to me (This is probably for the best because I have a sneaky suspicion that it was because of American Idol.) and had been distracted by something else at that moment. It’s amazing how quickly I’ve become addicted to being able to rewind my live TV. I was way more annoyed by the fact that I was just watching a regular old cable hookup and couldn’t do that than anyone really should be.
• See how I spent all this time writing about myself since I really didn’t see much of the game? I learned how to fill space with the best of ‘em in AP English (ahem, Pinky).
  

GP Answers:
1. So who is Jimmy Howard going to beat up tonight?
No one that I’m aware of. And I think that’s the kind of information that would’ve found its way to Twitter.

2. I’ve been hearing that Dan Cleary is supposed to return to the lineup tonight. How much of a difference will having an actual forward playing forward make? Dressing eight defensemen is a little silly.
Ummmmm…it turns out that half-watching the third period isn’t a good way to get material to write a recap. Who knew?

3. We’re down to ten games left in the season, and the Wings are still barely clinging to a playoff spot (this, of course, didn’t deter them from offering playoff tickets for sale, an announcement that made me cringe because I believe in jinxing such things). They have a tendency to fall asleep against teams below them in the standings (See: Edmonton), but they can’t afford to do that tonight. Will they bother to show up to play?
They looked pretty good from what I saw in the third, but my twitter feed has told me that the first period wasn’t pretty. They managed to pull off a win though, and at this point I don’t even care how they look doing it.

4. The last two games have just been loaded with Eurotwin magic. What are they going to do to amaze us against St. Louis?
The dangling and the sniping have been in full force from the boys lately. Zetterberg in particular continued on his roll. This has to strike fear in the teams that the Wings are chasing in the standings. That can’t be a good feeling.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Valtteri Filppula
If only he’d listened to our pleading to shoot the puck sooner.

Jimmy Howard gets the Golden Facepalm
The Blues’ second goal had weak sauce written all over it.

What I Learned:
Listening to hockey on the radio is a miserable experience in every sense of the word.

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

1. Now that he's a local hero, who is Jimmy Howard going to beat up tonight?
2. I’ve been hearing that Dan Cleary is supposed to return to the lineup tonight. How much of a difference will having an actual forward playing forward make? Dressing eight defensemen is a little silly.
3. We’re down to ten games left in the season, and the Wings are still barely clinging to a playoff spot (this, of course, didn’t deter them from offering playoff tickets for sale, an announcement that made me cringe because I believe in jinxing such things). They have a tendency to fall asleep against teams below them in the standings (See: Edmonton), but they can’t afford to do that tonight. Will they bother to show up to play?
4. The last two games have just been loaded with Eurotwin magic. What are they going to do to amaze us against St. Louis?

I’ll be joining this one in progress, hopefully sometime early in the second period. Word on the street is that some early H2H revelers will be visiting the Joe tonight. This is a good way to ease the arena’s staff into the chaos that will occur on Friday. If they don’t pull this one off, I suspect that there will be 672% more alcohol consumed at the pre-game party on Friday. That’s just a rough estimate.

Red Wings vs. Flames GP...

1. Jimmy Howard has struggled a little since the Olympic break. The layoff seems to have left him a little rusty. Can he hold up in this key game against Calgary?
2. Datsyuk and Bertuzzi both missed practice today. Both are supposed to be ready to go on Tuesday, but if I’ve learned one thing from this season, it’s that the worst-case scenario almost always happens. Will their nagging issues affect their play significantly? It would be a shame to see Datsyuk’s post-Olympic tear suffer because of a flu bug.
3. Over the last little while, the Wings’ powerplay has slowly started to become respectable. Will their special teams keep up the good work, or will one of them start to falter? In the recent past, either the PK or the powerplay seems to be strong, but not both at the same time.
4. From what I read today, Jonathan Ericsson is going to be returning to the lineup tomorrow. How is he going to respond to his benching? Getting sat in favor of Brett Lebda has to be demoralizing for anybody, but especially a guy like Ericsson with his Adonis-like qualities.

It’s looking more and more like it’s going to be a three-horse race for the 7th and 8th seeds in the West. Five points separate the 5/6 teams from 7th place, and there are 4 points between Calgary in 9th and St. Louis in 10th. There’s a pack of teams from 10th to 13th that could definitely challenge if they put together a strong run (Anaheim *cough* Anaheim), and catching up to LA, Colorado, and even Vancouver and Phoenix isn’t out of the question for the Wings if they get going, but I’d put my money on the boys fighting with Nashville and Calgary for those last precious playoff seeds. Losing to Calgary tomorrow isn’t an option for the Wings, but you already knew that. I just hope that they do too.

Red Wings 5, Predators 2: Post Game Snipes...

• One of my favorite moments of the night was when Bertuzzi took a pass while still standing in the penalty box. It almost made the whole penalty kill worthwhile.
• Pavel Datsyuk’s goal was absolutely amazing. It was Danglelicious in every sense of the word.
• Early in the game, my dad informed me that he thought Helm was a bust. We bickered about it for a while, because that’s what we do when we watch TV together. Helm resolved our dispute by scoring two goals. No only does Helm love children, he also promotes familial harmony.
• I was really hoping for Helm to get the empty netter, but there are no free curly fries in Hockeytown today.
• This is the kind of game that the Wings need to play on a consistent basis from here on out. If they keep that up, getting into the playoffs won’t be a problem. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen anything this season that has convinced me that this could be a reality.
  

GP Answers:
1. The Wings are currently hanging onto the 8th spot in the West thanks to the teams they needed to lose actually losing for once (Is that a sign of things finally turning their way? I’m guessing no, but it’s nice to fantasize about things like that every once in a while.). Nashville’s managed to open up a 5-point gap ahead of them, and St. Louis and Calgary are tied one point behind the Wings. Only four points separate 8-13 in the West. This is scary stuff. What are the odds that the Wings ease some of our fears in this important game against Nashville? (Yes, I’m still getting used to the fact that we’re now forced to consider regular season games against Nashville “important.”)
I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel a lot better after that game. The Wings have consistently been failing to show up for important games against teams they’re fighting for position, and the fact that they came out and played like a team that wanted to win is reassuring. Of course, I’ll probably be back to banging my head against a wall tomorrow, but it’s always nice to see proof that we’re not all crazy for continually saying that this team can still dominate.

2. How will Jimmy Howard rebound from his less-than-stellar outing on Wednesday? The Wings need him to be strong down the stretch.
Howard was fine, not that he needed to be spectacular. Nashville only had 8 shots total in the first and third periods. They picked things up in the second, but they still only finished with 22 shots on net.

3. What percentage of the game are the Wings going to show up to play? We should start a pre-game betting pool to guess numbers.
I’ll give them a 100% because I’m feeling magnanimous today.

4. Can Franzen keep up his red hot scoring streak? Can a scoring streak be considered red hot after less than a handful of games? I vote yes in the context of this season.
He was actually held to no points for a change. It’s okay though. He’s probably going to exact his revenge on Chicago tomorrow.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Darren Helm
Where did that finish come from? I’d completely forgotten how long it had been since he scored a goal. There aren’t many guys who can electrify a crowd like he can.

An Extra Stick Tap for Pavel Datsyuk
That goal he scored was just beautiful and fun. In fact, fans enjoyed it so much that Gary Bettman is currently working on a way to remove plays like that from the game.

Brian Rafalski gets the Golden Facepalm
On the Predators’ first goal, he made a bad turnover on a poorly-advised pass and then proceeded to get embarrassed as he was walked around en route to the net. Not good.

What I Learned:
Playing Nashville is so much more enjoyable when it’s at the Joe. The train whistle thing they do at whatever their arena’s called now drives me up a wall.

Red Wings vs. Predators GP...

1. The Wings are currently hanging onto the 8th spot in the West thanks to the teams they needed to lose actually losing for once (Is that a sign of things finally turning their way? I’m guessing no, but it’s nice to fantasize about things like that every once in a while.). Nashville’s managed to open up a 5-point gap ahead of them, and St. Louis and Calgary are tied one point behind the Wings. Only four points separate 8-13 in the West. This is scary stuff. What are the odds that the Wings ease some of our fears in this important game against Nashville? (Yes, I’m still getting used to the fact that we’re now forced to consider regular season games against Nashville “important.”)
2. How will Jimmy Howard rebound from his less-than-stellar outing on Wednesday? The Wings need him to be strong down the stretch.
3. What percentage of the game are the Wings going to show up to play? We should start a pre-game betting pool to guess numbers.
4. Can Franzen keep up his red hot scoring streak? Can a scoring streak be considered red hot after less than a handful of games? I vote yes in the context of this season.

I won’t be watching this one live, but through the magic of DVR I’ll be able to catch it later in the evening. Unless, of course, I get word of another atrocious performance. In that case, I’m probably not going to subject myself to that kind of torture.

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

• 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.

Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

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?
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.
3. How many players are going to go down with injuries? I really wish this one was a joke.
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?

It’s been a couple of days since the loss in LA, and I have to say that it still hurts. There’ve been a lot of candidates for worst loss of the season so far, but I really think that one takes the cake. I didn’t want to say that in my recap because it felt like the same dramatic overreaction that I’ve had numerous times this season, but after stewing about it for 48 hours, I’m willing to let that label stick. Let’s just please move on and look forward to something for once.