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

• I'm a little bit rusty here. It's been so long since I got to watch a Wings game that I had to re-teach myself the concept of icing during the first period.
• In one play during the third period, Ian White blocked a shot with his face,and then Henrik Zetterberg made a kick save on the goal line to keep the puck out of the net. White ended up with several stitches and a hospital visit out of the deal.
• Wouldn't it be nice if Fil's and Franzen played the way they've been playing all the time?
• Win five, lose six, win four. Nobody can accuse the Wings of not being streaky.
• For a while there, I thought last night was going to be one of those games where the Wings fire 100 shots at a no-name backup goalie and make him look like an All-Star starter. Obviously, they figured things out in the end, though.
• The broadcast had several nice tributes to Mickey Redmond. He deserves all of them. I sure do love that flannel-wearing, ginger-ale-drinking, bingo-bango-saying, composite-stick-hating guy. He's one of a kind.
• I particularly enjoyed Homer's analysis of the goal that was originally credited to him before being switched to Kronner. I also enjoyed the fact that he told Murph that the goal didn't go in off of him, but asked him to do him a solid and say it did anyway.
• Kindl got into a fight at the end of the game. I like the effort, but he didn't really do so well.

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

• Long story short: the Wings didn't play their greatest game, but they got lucky with some quick goals at the start of each period and that was enough.
• I've never seen Nick Lidstrom get hit as hard as he did early in the game.
• Game Four should be boatloads of fun. I'm sure the Coyotes won't be trying to injure anyone now that their backs are against the wall.
• Lidstrom only had 18 minutes of ice time. In a playoff game. That's crazy.
• Every game makes me like Phoenix less and less.
• The Wings' penalty kill was a disaster tonight. On the other hand, Phoenix's looked much better than it did in the first two games.
• I think Filppula took more shots in the first five minutes of the second period than he did for the entire regular season. I wish he'd do that more often.
• How about that pass Rig made to set up Franzen's goal? Pretty good, eh?
• This was an odd game. There were stretches where the Wings looked unstoppable, and the Coyotes didn't seem to have the slightest chance. Then, just as quickly, momentum would shift the other way and the tide would turn briefly.
• This is not an acceptable way to treat Nick Lidstrom.
• One more win to close out the series...skate to throat time, boys.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
He was on tonight. The Wings' defense hung him out to dry plenty of times, but he stood tall and kept them in the game.

Villain: Shane Doan
Yup, I still dislike him.

Final Thought:
The Wings are going to have to play better if they want to close out this series on Wednesday.

Red Wings vs. Bruins GP...

Red Wings: 33-16-6

Bruins: 31-17-7

Red Wing Zen:

Valtteri Filppula

12-19-31, +/- 1, 16 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Michael Ryder

16-15-31, +/- -4, 31 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 2, Flyers 3: Post Game Snipes...

• Another year, another “Oh look, the Wings showed up to play one period of hockey” recap.
• Someone yelled at Filppula on the twitters shortly before he scored his goal. I can't remember who it was, but it was excellent work.
• You know who's playing good hockey right now? Henrik Zetterberg. Not that that's unusual, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
• Raise your hand if you were shocked to see Ozzie out there at the start of the third. I was.
• Somewhere partway through that game in Colorado, the Old Man found his mojo and has looked good ever since.
• Ozzie was able to completely relearn his goaltending technique a few years ago, but he seems unable to figure out the trapezoid rule. In his defense, it's a really stupid rule, but it's not like it's new anymore
• The 5-on-3 powerplay the Wings had in the first period was one of the worst 5-on-3s I've ever seen. They barely even got the puck over Philly's blue line.
• Mule couldn't have bought a goal tonight with his entire season's salary.
• I didn't see exactly what happened to Brad Stuart when he went down. At first, I thought he took the puck in the face. While getting nailed in the back of the head isn't great, it's probably better than the face. They never showed a replay at the Joe, so I was left diving for my phone to check my always-reliable Twitter feed to find out what happened.
• Because we bought tickets so late, our seats weren't together, so we “upgraded” during the first intermission. We befriended some Flyers fans who had evidently staked out the same row of seats. Even though they were rooting for the wrong team, they were nice and knew hockey. It was more than I could say for the two obnoxious Wings fans near us who we were secretly hoping would fall down the stairs.

Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
He's been great over the last few games as he took on a much bigger load with Datsyuk's absence. I hope he keeps his roll going and that his wonky back holds up.

Villain: Daniel Carcillo
For scoring a goal and being Daniel Carcillo.

Final Thought:
I miss Pavel Datsyuk...the most.

Red Wings 5, Canucks 4 (OT): Post Game Snipes...

• I was planning on going to the Joe tonight with student rush tickets, but when we got there, we discovered that it was already sold out. We ended up at a freezing cold bar in Greektown instead.
• Pav's been the Wings' best player this season, and losing him for a month is killer. Luckily, I was at Astoria when I got the bad news, so delicious baked goods were within reach. What had begun as a victory celebration at the bakery turned into the ever-so-rare celebratory/eat-your-feelings pastry excursion.  Thank god for carrot cake.
• I already miss Pav...the most.
• We were quite amused (after it was over, of course) by the play when Jimmy Howard was way out of the net and Rig was left to play goalie. It was terrifying at the time, but we got a good laugh out of it.
• Except for that one play with Rig as a goalie, the beginning of the game was all Wings.
• Look, it's a Homerfly!

• You know what's awesome about being a Red Wings fan? Sitting back after an exciting overtime victory and picking apart all of the things your team did poorly during the game.
• Our reaction to Fil's goal went something along the lines of, “Wait, he shot the puck? Are you sure that was Flippy?”
• Dan Cleary continues to amaze everyone.
• Luongo should've made the save on Z's overtime goal. I would've been pretty upset with Jimmy if that shot had gone in at the other end of the ice.

Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
Two goals on the night are usually enough to earn a guy hero status.

Villain: Mikael Samuelsson
He's on my list now for sure. As if tripping Pav when he broke his hand/wrist wasn't enough, Sammy had to go and add a goal later.

Final Thought:
Fil, Mule, and Hudler all need to do more to make up for missing Pav for the next few weeks. Zetterberg needs to be as dominant as he was tonight for the rest of his fellow Eurotwin's absence.

Red Wings 4, Ducks 0: Post Game Snipes...

• I didn't get to watch this one live thanks to work, but thanks to the modern miracle of DVR technology (and the fact that I instructed my little sister to guard my scheduled recording with her life), I still got to see the Wings shut out the Ducks by a score of 4-0 for the second time this season. This game wasn't nearly as much fun as the first 4-0 win, but I'll take what I can get.
• Stop wearing your ugly third jerseys when you play the Wings! Even better: stop making ugly third jerseys in general. Ugliness aside, it's a smart business decision—if you're using them as a pull for extra attendance, don't waste them on a night when the Wings would've already drawn in extra fans for you anyway. Wear them when you play the Coyotes. Or just burn them. One or the other.
• The Wings got off to a pretty good start with Johan Franzen's goal less than two minutes into the game. They had the Ducks on their heels for most of the first period after that.
• Oh, Helm...you and your lack of finish. One of these days you're going to get some hands.
• The second period was much slower for the Wings. Anaheim took over late in the first after their powerplays and carried that momentum over to the next period. The Wings weathered the storm, though, thanks to Jimmy Howard and managed to add to their lead.
• We picked on Homer a little bit during this week's episode of TP:60. I like to think that inspired him to score his goal tonight. I'm sure he's a regular listener.
• Congrats to Henrik Zetterberg for picking up his 500th career point. It's fitting that the assist came on a Circus line goal.
• Hey, Corey Perry: you lose at life. (And hockey.)
• Were there any Ducks fans in the building tonight? The cheering was ridiculously loud after the Wings scored. That's got to be pretty embarrassing for the Ducks fans who were in attendance, although probably to a lesser degree than actually being a fan of a team that employs Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.
• Dan Cleary just keeps on rolling. I love it. I also loved his candidness during his second intermission interview.
• I was amused by the play near the end of the game where Zetterberg lost his stick and made a kick pass to center the puck. It would've been sweet if Cleary had scored on it.
• Filppula's goal with less than a minute left made me laugh. I loved the scoreboard symmetry to the season opener.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
It's really hard to not get the top honors when you pitch a shutout. He looked sharp tonight and more than earned his breather tomorrow.

Villain: Corey Perry
Anaheim would instantly become 8000% more likeable if he no longer played for them.

Final Thought:
When the Wings play the Ducks, I find myself inordinately distracted by Hiller's helmet. A large part of me wants to hate it, but there's also a part of me that thinks it's exceedingly awesome. I guess I'm still on the fence about it.

Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 2: Post Game Snipes...

• I was concerned about how the Wings would start this game since it had an early start time, but they actually looked pretty lively in the first period.
• During the pre-game show, FSD did a segment where they asked players about their hidden talents. Darren Helm's talents were walking on his hands and doing the Worm.
• I've had a long-standing suspicion that when Chris Osgood is on the bench, he's doodling instead of charting faceoffs. The hidden talents segment made me positive that I'm right, as Ozzie revealed that he likes to draw pictures.
• Jiri Hudler claimed to be a good BBQer. I'm not sure I'd want to eat something he cooked.
• The Circus line looked threatening all night. Zetterberg, in particular, had a lot of good chances and looked dominant with and without the puck. He didn't end up with any points to show for it, but it was definitely one of his best games of the season.
• We were subjected to the Blue Jackets' hideous third jerseys for the second game in a row. I'm sorry, are Wings fans being punished for something? Evidently Mickey Redmond likes them. He said something about Columbus looking like a whole different team when wearing them. Ken Daniels responded by saying that they looked like the Florida Panthers. Boom.
• Kronwall and Helm scored fourteen seconds apart in the second period. Just like that, the Wings went from trailing to being in the lead. That's what this team can do to you.
• The penalty kill in the third period was outstanding. The Wings out-worked and out-played the Blue Jackets for all of Filppula's double minor, as well as the two-minute 5-on-3 kill in the middle of it. The fans at the Joe were on their feet applauding the team. Everything about it made me smile.
• Filppula ended up with the game-winner for the second game in a row. I'm guessing his finely-tuned fashion sense finds the ugly third jerseys the Blue Jackets were wearing objectionable.
• The Wings were 0-5 on the powerplay tonight. Ouch.
• After the game, FSD showed a slo-mo replay of Jimmy Howard squirting water on his face from the water bottle. It prompted my little brother and I to laugh hysterically. Was that really something we needed to slo-mo?

Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
He didn't pick up any points on the evening, but he was dominant throughout the whole game. I was really convinced that he was going to score tonight. Obviously, I was wrong, but that doesn't take away from his effort.

Villain: Steve Mason
He looked like he'd been shot after Abdelkader's goalie interference penalty. The little peek he took to make sure the ref had noticed his acting was cute, too.

Final Thought:
That's not a bad way to close out Thanksgiving weekend at all.

Red Wings 2, Blue Jackets 1: Post Game Snipes...

• Special teams were key in the game tonight. The Wings relied on their strong PK to kill off FIVE straight penalties. Columbus ended up going 0-5 on the powerplay. The Wings then got 3 straight powerplays, one of which resulted in a goal.
• I personally thought that the Jackets deserved a major penalty for wearing such ugly jerseys. Or maybe the refs were trying to help them out because they felt sorry for them.
• Franzen finally scored his first road goal of the season.
• When I first saw Columbus' third jerseys, I was kind of ambivalent. I thought they were stupid because I dislike the concept of third jerseys in general (they're nothing more than a cash grab) and they looked exactly like most other third jerseys out there on the market. However, as the game wore on, every time FSD showed a close-up of a Blue Jacket player, I hated them a little bit more. The cream on the shoulders really took them from mediocre to ugly. The font used for the numbers didn't help matters either.
• After returning from a commercial, Larry Murphy was going over a play that had happened earlier and said “Umdinger” instead of “Umberger.” I found it way more amusing than I should have. Umdinger.
• At the end of the game, Jakub Voracek proceeded to smack himself on the head with his stick. Why? The world may never know.
• Anyone else think that a Jared Boll penalty shot was much less punishment for the Wings than a two-minute powerplay would've been?
• Mike Modano left the game after being cut on the hand/wrist with a skate blade. Trevor Thompson's post-game tweets about it didn't sound promising.
• Valtteri Filppula picked up the game-winner on the powerplay. I don't know why, but I always forget about him. He needs to do more things like that so I'll remember him.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
He made stop after stop after stop to keep the Wings in the game including a huge (although not terribly challenging) save on the penalty shot in the second period. After having a rough night in Atlanta two days ago, he bounced back and was the star of the game by far.

Villains: The Referees
Five straight penalties, plus a penalty shot, against the Wings? Columbus conveniently taking the next three straight penalties? Changing standards for hooking? Tonight was a classic example of NHL officiating.

Final Thought:
The most important regular season game in franchise history didn't turn out so well for the Blue Jackets.

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

• I missed the entire first period and most of the second due to a combination of work (we're lucky enough to have Dish Network there) and birthday stuff for my bro. I'm probably never going to get to see the DVR recording of it due to the fact that the TV's been claimed for the rest of the day.
• The banner ceremony was ridiculously long. I was pretty happy about it though, because I was stuck at work and I would've missed way more of the game if it had actually started at 8:30. Instead, puck drop wasn't until 9:05 and I was able to get home during the first intermission.
• I arrived just in time to see Jiri Hudler's interview about returning to Detroit. Needless to say, the rest of the evening was spent quoting his, “I missed Ozzie...the most,” line with ever-longer awkward pauses. We even got to see the creepy tongue clucking thing he does with apparent BFF Ozzie after the game. I think having Hudler back makes up for the loss of Brett Lebda, especially since Huds has actual hockey talent.
• I was so glad that the Wings were able to spoil their party. I didn't realize just how much I wanted that until it was tied in the third period and I was
• I'm not sure why the review on Bertuzzi's goal took so long. It looked pretty cut and dry from what FSD was showing. I was starting to wonder if karma was going to even out for allowing Cleary's goal to stand on Friday.
• I was disappointed that I missed most of Kindl's season debut. I've been on the Nugget's bandwagon since training camp and I was excited to see him in the lineup last night. I was told that he looked solid, but I didn't really get to see enough of the game to tell.
• My first reaction to Filppula's game-winner wasn't to cheer or to clap or any of the normal goal celebrations. I just sat there and laughed. Welcome to the Marty Turco era, Blackhawk “fans.” It wasn't a shot on net. It wasn't even a pass. It was just an accident...that ended up in the net. I loved it.
• How about that second line, eh? Remember last December when the Hawks shut the Wings out twice in a row and they were feeling all high and mighty? The Wings' second line back then featured Ville Leino and high-scorers Justin Abdelkader and Drew Miller. Little bit different now, huh?
• How sad is it that when the Wings received their 5-on-3 powerplay in the third period, everyone watching the game began bracing for the inevitable makeup calls? There are days when I hate the NHL. Yet for some reason I keep coming back day after day after day.

Hat Trick:

1. Last night set a tone. Let's see if the Wings can follow through with it.
Starting out the season 2-0 is much better than last year when they went 0-2 in Sweden. Even better is the fact that I'm already having way more fun this season than I did at the start of the last one.

2. Ozzie's getting the start. This should be interesting.
I thought Ozzie looked pretty good from what I saw. He made some good saves in the third period and he made some key saves late in the game to preserve the Wings' lead.

3. Please, pretty please ruin the Blackhawks' banner night.
Mission accomplished. Now let's get down to the business of leaving them far behind in the Central Division.

I've Got My Eye on You:

Henrik Zetterberg: 0-0-0, +/- 0, 0 PIM
The whole top line seemed to have a quiet night last night, but that's the beauty of the kind of depth the Wings have.

Niklas Hjalmarsson: 0-0-0, +/- -1, 0 PIM
I really enjoy hearing Hjalmarsson's name called on the broadcast. I didn't get to watch much last night, so I can't really comment much beyond that.

Hero: Valtteri Filppula
A two-goal night is usually enough to qualify for game hero status. I'm especially fond of the way he scored his second goal.

Villain: Duncan Keith
He got away with a nasty elbow on Ruslan Salei during the second period.


Final Thought:
Boy was ruining their party ever fun.

2010-2011 Player Profiles: Valtteri Filppula...

Hey, kids, guess what? Hockey's almost here. That means it's time for me to get back into this whole blogging thing that I've neglected during the off-season. Since I lack the creativity to come up with a new gimmick, I decided to continue the Player Profiles series I did last year leading up to the season. I'll be taking a look at a different player (almost) every day between now and when hockey starts. By my count, there are 20 days until the Wings open the regular season. Get excited. Today's subject:

Valtteri Filppula

2009-2010 Regular Season: 55 GP, 11-24-35, +/- -4, 24 PIM

2010 Playoffs: 12 GP, 4-5-9, +/- 1, 6 PIM

Season Highlight: Scoring this nice shorthanded goal on his birthday.

Season Lowlight: Breaking his wrist.

Last year was supposed to be Filppula's breakout year. Instead, he missed a good chunk of games due to a broken wrist suffered on a seemingly harmless play. He didn't exactly put up the point totals the Wings were expecting from him last year, but neither did most of the other guys on the team.

This season, he needs to finally come into the form that the Wings have been expecting from him. He has good hands and can serve as an excellent set-up man. He needs to find a way to put up the points that justify his contract this season. He's expected to center the second line with Johan Franzen and Todd Bertuzzi, so there should be plenty of opportunities to put the puck in the net.

Aside from that, he's finally going to be challenged for the title of Best Hair in the Wings Organization by the arrival of his brother who is slated to play in Grand Rapids. It's going to be a battle out there.

What he needs to do to make me smile: Be a reliable scorer on the second line.

Red Wings vs. Sharks Game Three GP...

12. STAY OUT OF THE BOX!!! Even if it means playing no-contact girly hockey.
11. The Wings need to start better. The beginning of Game Two was a disaster wrapped in a blanket of nightmares.
10. I want to see more production from the second line. If I’m not mistaken, the Zetterberg unit hasn’t tallied a point yet this series.
9. Somebody needs to shut down Pavelski. He’s scored half of San Jose’s goals so far this series.
8. On the off chance that the Wings get any powerplays, they need to make them count. Special teams have been make or break all playoffs.
7. San Jose has had too much success at getting traffic to the front of the net. The Wings need to adjust their game and keep them to the perimeter.
6. Home sweet home: They’re back at the Joe where the Hockeytown faithful will be out en masse. Take advantage of the love from the crowd.
5. What ridiculousness will have you reaching for your tin foil hat tonight?
4. Would it kill somebody to win a faceoff here and there?
3. The Wings haven’t done a particularly good job entering the Sharks’ zone. They’re losing too many rushes at the blue line.
2. Jason Williams (Who?) is in the lineup again in place of Patrick Eaves. What are the chances that he does something useful this time around?
1. The Wings have made a habit of playing best when their backs are against the wall. I know they’re not facing elimination tonight, but they absolutely can’t afford to go down by three games. They can still pull this out if they play like the Wings team we saw in Game Seven. Make it happen, boys.

Red Wings 4, Coyotes 1 (3-2): Post Game Snipes...

• I cannot express how much fun I had hanging out with the #redwingscommune on our fieldtrip to Hockeytown. You guys made my day like you wouldn’t believe. I’m so glad that we didn’t have #communefail again. That would’ve been way too much to handle.
• How good does it feel to see the Wings leading the series? Please close them out on Sunday, boys.
  
• During the first period, we answered trivia about the Wings and I tied with a bunch of other people for the most right. We had a bean bag toss to determine who got a Pavel Datsyuk autographed puck. After two rounds in which none of us managed to score (obviously we were intellectuals, not athletes, and they kept letting us move closer), two of us finally scored. We had one more round and my octopus bean bag (How cute are these?) hung right on the edge of the hole and slowly fell in. I was really excited.
• They were also giving away loads of free stuff (spring cleaning for their storage areas?). We got Red Wings bags, No Limits signs, Budd Lynch bobbleheads, ornaments, pom poms, playoff t-shirts, glasses cases, water bottles, car flags, and scrubs.
• I’m sorry, but when did it become legal to stand on the goalie while scoring a goal? There’s no way that flies if Homer does it.
• This is how we celebrate goals at the Commune:
  
  
  
• This game was so similar to Game 4—a close, back-and-forth game until the third period when the Wings score with a couple of quick goals. I like it. Except for the unnecessary stress part.
• Todd Bertuzzi drew a penalty. We were all a little confused.
• We had a good laugh at Homer’s goal since he was cruising behind Bryzgalov in the crease.
• Datsyuk’s goal was just a thing of beauty. Not many goalies are going to stop that shot, but even fewer players are going to be able to make it.
• Z’s empty net goal was about as skillful as they come. A lot of the credit for it has to go to Filppula, though. He’s the one who chased the puck down and stripped the Coyotes player of it.
• The second period was rough. The Wings were on their heels and there was a definite sense of panic going throughout the Commune.
• That was a nasty hit Rafalski took when he drew the boarding penalty.
• What was going on with Phoenix fans beating up Wings fans in the crowd? Stay classy, bandwagoners.
• There was actually one Phoenix fan in the bar. She was sitting right behind us with a group of Wings fans, and we couldn’t understand why they would be willing to hang out with her. They were giving her a really hard time after the game, though, so all was well.
  

GP Review:
14. We need to see more special teams magic tomorrow.
The powerplay did not look too hot. On the other hand, the PK was spot on again. I can live with that, all things being equal.

13. Can the defense hold steady again?
The defense was better again. The second period was a nightmare, but that was more of a team-wide issue than just the defense.

12. I’m still looking for full-fledged Playoff Franzen.
I think he’s starting to emerge. He’s looked better over the last couple of games and picked up an assist on Datsyuk’s goal. That whole top line was going tonight.

11. Shane Doan might be back tomorrow. What is he going to do to make us hate him?
No Shane Doan. No sadface here. Also no Doanface, but that's probably for the best.

10. Which team is going to work harder?
This one was pretty even. I’d say the Wings outplayed the Coyotes, but the also went to sleep for large stretches of the second period. They’ll need to be better in Game Six.

9. Jimmy needs to follow up his shutout and Calder nomination with another strong game. I have high hopes that that game was just what he needed to get his head straight and confidence back.
Oh yes he did. Those two quick saves he made on a rush in the third may very well have saved the game for the Wings.

8. How many goal reviews will we have to endure?
They reviewed Miller’s goal (which, to be fair, wasn’t that unreasonable), and even came up with the right call. The goal that should’ve been waved off was the Coyotes’ lone tally. That was just ridiculous

7. Insert standard sixty-minute effort question:
The second period was not good, but you already know that. The Coyotes got a lot of momentum off of their illegal goal, and I was pretty worried for a while. The Wings don’t tend to respond well to adversity.

6. Faceoffs need to improve.
Where do they post faceoff statistics online? I can never find them because they’re not in the boxscores. At any rate, the Wings should still be better on those than they have been. They’ve got good faceoff men. There’s no reason for us to be talking about this at this point.

5. The Wings need to keep up their physical play. I’m sure the Coyotes will be amped up to be back in their building, and the Wings have to keep dishing it back.
Brad Stuart and Justin Abdelkader had some good hits out there, and Helm was doing his thing too. I think I even witnessed Todd Bertuzzi throw a hit. The Coyotes weren’t running around tonight, and the Wings were actually more dominant physically.

4. They also have to get off to a fast start. The first five minutes of the game will be crucial for setting the tone.
Their pace from the start was pretty good. It would’ve been nice for them to have scored on that early powerplay they got, but the happy outcome of the game makes me not care so much.

3. The Eurotwins need to keep doing their thing. They’re absolutely essential.
Datsyuk: goal. Ztterberg: goal. Keep it up, boys.

2. I’m looking for good things from Drew Miller. He’s looked feisty so far, and I like that.
Did I call that or did I call that? I’m going to start saying something like that about a random Wing in every GP.

1. How many of Hockeytown’s finest are going to be detained by the Coyotes’ arena security?
There was an octopus on the ice near the end of the game. I hope there was a hat being passed around in a bar in Phoenix to bail the thrower out. We were thinking of wiring some money from Hockeytown too.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
Twice in a row for Jimmah. He has really turned things up since getting called out by people who weren’t happy with his Game Three performance.

Villain: Ed Jovanovski
He now leads the playoffs in goals scored while using the opposing goaltender as a stepstool.

Final Thought:
Life really is better in the Red Wings Commune.

Red Wings 2, Coyotes 4 (1-2): Post Game Snipes...

• I viewed this spectacular game from the comfort of the Commune at Sara’s house. We had a delicious Swedish smorgasbord and sampled some of Homer’s favorite candy. The consensus was that it tastes like gummy bears mixed with memory foam. I really don’t think there could be a better favorite candy for Homer. It really fits his fake personality perfectly. Aside from the game itself, we had a fabulous time. Let's face it, Wings fans are just a little bit cooler than everyone else.
  
• Everyone’s already said it, but this game was miserable. It was pretty apparent that the dozen or so people gathered at the commune cared way more about the outcome of the game than the Wings did.
• Things went wrong right from the start. Not only did Al drop the octopus when he was twirling it, but the Wings gave up a goal on the first shift. Way to go, guys.
• That has to be one of the top ten worst games of Nick Lidstrom’s career.
• We were all shocked that Franzen’s goal went in the net. It was out just as fast as it went in, and nobody was willing to celebrate until we knew for sure. I didn’t think there was any net to shoot at, but it managed to squeak its way in off of the post. Maybe that’s the spark The Mule needs to get going.
• Shane Doan tripped over Jimmy Howard and crashed into the boards. At present, he’s day-to-day with an undisclosed injury (I’ve got ten bucks on his shoulder.). Really, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
  

GP Review:
15. Playoff Franzen, wake up. Where are you?
He had a brief flash of brilliance with his goal in the third, but he’s still not pulling his weight. The whole top line needs to do more, but he’s been one of the Wings’ biggest underperformers.

14. Now that the series is back in a real hockey city, Wings fans can demonstrate how a building should sound.
According to Twitter, there were the standard insults about empty seats in the Joe. I think those people are stupid and petty. It’s the same old story every year from people who have nothing better to do. If you can’t rip the hockey team (and really, there were plenty of things to insult about the Wings’ performance yesterday), go after the economy. Because there’s nothing more funny than fellow Americans struggling to find jobs and make ends meet. I know I’m rolling on the floor laughing. And beside that, the Joe wasn’t really empty. Until the final few minutes of the third period, the building was pretty full and there were LGRW chants a plenty.

13. The Wings need to cut down on the back-and-forth action. Sure it was fun (or maybe heart-attack-inducing) to watch, but the whole series can’t go on like that.
Well they certainly did cut down on the back-and-forth. Unfortunately, that meant that their offensive rush was pretty much eliminated while still allowing the Coyotes to have numerous chances. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

12. The PK needs to keep clicking. It was spot-on in Game Two after a disastrous outing in Game One.
They did manage to kill off all three of their penalties. This was one of the few things they did right.

11. The Wings need to keep dishing out the physical play. They were much better in Game Two largely because of the fact that they weren’t running around looking scared.
According to the boxscore, the Wings actually outhit the Coyotes yesterday. That’s nice, but I’d much rather see them outscore the Yotes.

10. The big guns need to lead the way again. I have a theory that goes something like “As the Eurotwins go, so go the Red Wings,” but that applies to all of the big guns.
Yeah, how about that?

9. The defense needs to tighten up. There were still too many turnovers and generally sloppy play last game.
If only…

8. The boys need to keep testing Bryzgalov. He was my number one nightmare heading into this series, but hasn’t kept me from sleeping at all so far.
We were talking about this at the commune yesterday. I’m afraid we may have jinxed things. I’m so sorry.

7. They still need to keep an eye out for Shane Doan. He was less destructively physical in Game Two, but still managed to run Nick Lidstrom with a late hit.
Doan took himself out of the game after tripping over Jimmy Howard and crashing into the boards. The fact that it was self-inflicted made me laugh a little.

6. Bring your tin foil hats. You’re bound to need them.
We busted out the tin foil during the game and came up with some…interesting creations. There was a fist hat. There was a bonnet. There was a face mask. Nothing helped.

5. NBC’s pretty much said that their plan is to talk up the Coyotes and their Cinderella story all day this afternoon. Start mentally preparing yourself now.
Yeah, they did just that. Nobody was surprised, and at least they were up front about it.

4. Sixty minutes? Pretty please.
This actually reads like a joke at this point.

3. The powerplay converted a couple of times in Game Two. Special teams are liable to be the deciding factor in this series. If the Wings’ powerplay can keep clicking, they’ll be in good shape.
They did manage to tally a powerplay goal, but it wasn’t enough.

2. Watch out for Wojtek Wolski. He’s been dangerous all series. Plus, he’s got that whole ex-Av thing going on.
Sure enough, he scored a goal. I’m never singling out a player in one of these again. I guess at least I get to say that I told you so.

1. If you’re going to the game, make sure you arrive early enough to catch the pre-game show. You’ll see some familiar faces. Andy and Maria would like some recordings youtubed if you’ve got a camera with you. If you’re not going, according to Malik, this WDIV camera will be working at all times except when the game’s on. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it might be worth a try.
The Wings posted the video today. It’s pretty awesome. I can’t wait to see it in person tomorrow.

Hero: Valtteri Filppula
He’s been one of the few Red Wings actually playing at his expected level during this series. He scored the powerplay goal to tie the game up late in the first period.

Villain: Sami Lepisto
He scored less than thirty seconds into the first period and spoiled everybody’s fun. Not cool.

Final Thought:
If the Wings actually bothered to take things seriously, the probably wouldn’t be trailing in this series.

Red Wings 7, Coyotes 4 (1-1): Post Game Snipes...

• Overall, this was a much, much better effort from the boys. Obviously, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, but I’m in the midst of a free-curly-fry-induced good mood, and have no desire to be overly critical right now.
• Poor Mickey Redmond sounded like he was in rough shape last night. I wanted to make him chicken noodle soup and tea. I’ve always wanted him to be my adopted grandpa, since both of mine have been gone for at least twenty years.
• Justin Abdelkader came out and threw some hits on his very first shift. It was beautiful, and exactly what the Wings had been lacking in Game One.
• Dan Cleary made a brilliant play early in the game that prevented a sure Coyotes goal. It was incredible. You could see the gaping net and the Phoenix player with the puck on his stick, and there was absolutely no way it wasn’t ending up in the back of the net…and then Dan Cleary was there.
• The ice was ridiculous all night.
• The second period was absurd. There’s really no other way to describe it. That’s kind of what I imagine the 1980s looked like in the NHL. I was okay with the back and forth, though, because I felt like the Wings’ chances were better in an open, run-and-gun style game than trying to get past the trap.
• I don’t remember whose goal I was celebrating (probably because of brain damage), but I managed to hit my head on the ceiling while jumping on my bed. This really shouldn’t have come as a surprise, because I only have about a half inch of clearance when I’m just standing on it, but I guess that’s why adults aren’t supposed to do things like that.
• The Wings had one shift during the second during which I could swear they took 50 shots. It was absolutely ridiculous. They didn’t end up scoring on it, but boy, was it fun to watch.
• FSD came up with a technical difficulties screen a couple of times during the broadcast. The first time it happened, the last thing I saw was Todd Bertuzzi’s elbow filling up my entire screen. I’m pretty sure he killed the cameraman.
• How perfect was it that Abdelkader scored that beautiful goal? I felt like all of our calls for him to be in the lineup were validated in that moment. And of course, Babcock looked like a genius.
• Williams who?
• Shane Doan’s face after scoring his goal was terrifying. As soon as I saw it, I thought “Puck Daddy photoshop contest,” and sure enough, one has been launched. Seriously though, that’s the stuff of nightmares.
• Henrik Zetterberg has now bought me lunch twice this season. If he keeps this up, people are going to start to gossip.
• Random, but the Wings had 13 shots in each period. Now that’s consistency. It’s also my favorite number. But I digress…
• Word on the street that the octopus-throwing Wings fan got arrested last night. That’s just lame.
  

GP Review:
16. Shane Doan. Someone’s got to step up and start dishing it back to him. It’s only a matter of time until he knocks one of the Wings out of the series with an injury.
Aside from his late interference hit on Lidstrom, he was much less noticeable than he was in Game One. This is good.

15. We get to see the long-awaited and much called-for return of Justin Abdelkader. Here’s hoping he lives up to the expectations we’ve all set for him.
I think it’s safe to say that he far exceeded our expectations for his play last night.

14. Lidstrom’s not happy about getting high-sticked and then lied to. This is probably the closest to angry that we’ll ever see him.
He just kind of did his same old Lidstrom thing. Not that I’m surprised…

13. Look for the big guns to make more of an impact tomorrow.
Take a look at that boxscore. Three goals from Zetterberg, one from Datsyuk, and a pair from Filppula. The only one missing from the scoring fest last night? Franzen. Sure, he picked up an assist, but he has yet to wake up for his playoff tear this season.

12. The PK needs to be fixed like woah. I don’t really think another three-goal failure is likely, but something needs to get done.
They were 100% on the penalty kill last night. It doesn’t get much better than that.

11. On a similar note, the powerplay needs to come through. That should be the Wings’ bread and butter.
They scored two goals on three powerplays. That’s more like it.

10. What are the odds that the Wings show up to play a full game?
They weren’t perfect, but in the grand scheme of things, I’m not looking for perfection. I’m just after wins.

9. Jimmy Howard needs to keep up his good work in playoff game #2. He also needs a lot more support from the guys skating in front of him.
He let in four goals, which is a concern, but with the crazy, back-and-forth style that was being played last night, I don’t think it’s a huge issue.

8. Where was my Playoff Zetterberg? Come to think of it, what about Playoff Franzen?
Zetterberg certainly delivered. Franzen, not so much. It’s not that he was bad, it’s just that I’m looking for that crazy Franzen that we all know and love.

7. The Wings need to make Bryzgalov’s life a lot more difficult. They had plenty of shots, but most of them were routine saves. He gave up a softie to open the scoring and needs to get tested more.
He was definitely tested more, and didn’t exactly rise to the challenge. None of the Wings’ goals were softies, per se, but he didn’t exactly steal the game either.

6. Helm needs to keep his head up.
The Coyotes as a whole were less physical last night than in the first game. This isn’t really related to the point above it, but I didn’t want to leave one without a comment.

5. What tin-foil-hat-validating events will transpire tomorrow?
I actually felt pretty good about the game. Sure there were some chintzy penalty calls, but there was nothing egregiously bad.

4. The Wings need to be better on faceoffs. There’s no reason for them not to be.
The faceoffs seemed better, but there’s still a long way to go.

3. The excuses about injuries and the like are gone. The Wings can’t afford to let another game slip away from them.
Wheras Game One resembled a game from November, this one looked more like the real Red Wings that we know and love. Tighten up that defense a little, and they’ll be in business.

2. I’d really like to not be the crazy girl screaming at her TV in the middle of the night again. Let’s please make this game stress-free and painless.
Ummmmm…not so much. There was more than enough stress to go around last night, particularly during the second period.

1. I want to see more Homer.
You know who doesn’t want to see more Homer? Ilya Bryzgalov.

Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
That one’s pretty obvious.

Villain: Shane Doan
Seriously, his face is going to keep little Michigan children up at night for years to come.

Final Thought:
Don’t disappoint the home crowd tomorrow, boys.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Red Wings Stats and Trivia Geekfest...

I’ve never been much of a stat-head before. I think people tend to put too much stock in them a lot of times. I am, however, absolutely enthralled with the game notes packet I got when I was covering the suite event on Tuesday (and that Drew was kind enough to leave for me). I know it’s a little weird, but it is what it is. These were current at the start of the Edmonton game, so the numbers may have changed a little bit, and I’ve updated things like their record and points. I’m not messing with the percentages and decimals and things like that, though.

• In one-goal games, including the one against Edmonton, the Wings are an impressive 19-6-13 (Well, not so much the 13, but you get the idea.). Being able to win tight games like that is going to serve them well down the road. They don’t fare quite as well in two- and three-goal games (10-7 and 11-10 respectively).
• The Wings have a 22-29 record all time in the shootout. That’s one that I will never understand.
• This season, the Wings are 25-14-7 when outshooting their opponent. They’re also 13-7-6 when being outshot. I know at least a couple of those 13 wins that were Jimmy specials.
• They have almost identical records against the divisions in the Western Conference: 10-6-3 in the Central, 10-6-4 in the Pacific, and 11-6-3 in the Northwest. That’s consistency.
• This is one of my favorite breakdowns: March was their best month by far with 25 points. Next was November (Remember when we all thought that would be the turning point of the season?) with 17 points. December and January each brought 16 points (Side note: Edmonton didn’t have a single win in January. Ouch.). They only got 13 points in October. They picked up 6 points in February, but that was the Olympic Break so it doesn’t really count. I guess it’s good that they’re peaking at the right time.
• The boys have scored 62 first period goals, 70 second period goals, and 71 third period goals. In contrast, opponents have scored 59 first period goals, 67 second period goals, and 62 third period goals. (This one was updated to include the Edmonton game.)
• The Wings had outshot opponents 827-695 in the third period prior to the Edmonton game. The other period breakdowns aren’t that interesting. I like the third period shot differential though.
• The Wings rank second in the NHL in terms of penalties taken.
• The boys have been outscored 5 on 5 this season 130-140 (updated to include Edmonton). They’ve also been outscored 6-7 4 on 4. They’ve also scored ten empty net goals.
• Z is only 2 for 11 in the shootout. Even Jason Williams (Who?) is 3 for 8.
• Nik Kronwall leads the team in shorthanded points with four. Darren Helm leads them in shorthanded goals with three.
• As of Tuesday, the Wings had lost 300 man games to injury this season. Edmonton, in contrast had lost 464. That divides out to more than 5.5 whole seasons for the Oilers. Ouch.
• Jimmy Howard’s starting streak is the longest for a Detroit goalie since Tim Cheveldae started 29 in a row in ’91-’92.
• Prior to the Edmonton game, the penalty kill had been clicking at a rate of 94%. They’d killed off 63 of 67 penalties in that span. In the previous twelve games, they’d killed off 33 of 34 penalties for a rate of 97%. Where were those numbers during the playoffs last year?
• Datsyuk has had the team’s longest point streak this season. It lasted six games from February 13th to March 9th.
• Homer had the team’s last hat trick on the road in February of ’07 against Nashville.
• Brendan Shanahan was the last Wing to have a four-goal game in March of ’01 against Calgary.
• Sergei Fedorov was the last Wing to have a five-goal game the day after Christmas in ’96. That event was near and dear to my heart because I’d unwrapped a spiffy new #91 jersey the day before and was wearing it as I sat on the floor and watched that game. It was my first moment of belief in the Hockey Gods, as I was sure that he was scoring all of those goals for me. Little did I know that just a short while later he would fall from my favor. No Red Wing has ever had a five-goal game on the road.
• Valtteri Filppula has taken the team’s last home and last road penalty shots. He scored in December ’07 at the Joe, but missed this past October in Buffalo.
• Kirk Maltby is the last Wing to have scored two shorthanded goals in a road game. He did it against San Jose all the way back in October of ’02.
• The Wings are ranked 2nd in the NHL in shots on goal per game, averaging 33.3.
  

And now for the fun player facts:

• Chris Osgood likes the Black Eyed Peas. He’s got some pretty questionable taste in music.
• Dan Cleary, on the other hand, likes The Killers, which I can at least respect.
• Derek Meech idolized Steve Yzerman growing up.
• This one is one of my favorites: Patrick Eaves lists Five Guys Cheeseburgers as his favorite food. I would have to agree with him that they’re quite delicious.
• Kirk Maltby likes Metallica. Bring on the jokes.
• Jason Williams (Who?) and Brett Lebda both list sushi as their favorite food. Ew.
• Lebda’s idea golf foursome would include Tiger Woods, Megan Fox, and Robin Williams. Go ahead and make your jokes now.
• Kris Draper’s favorite food is steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Now that’s a meal I could enjoy. Not only are we name twins, but we’re apparently food soulmates as well. Mmmm steak and potatoes…
• Henrik Zetterberg’s favorite sport other than hockey is kite surfing. He also likes steak and Bob Dylan. I’m not 100% sure what kite surfing is, but I can definitely get behind the steak and Dylan.
• Darren Helm’s ideal golf foursome would be Tiger Woods, Shaq, and Mike Myers. That’s quite an eclectic group.
• Todd Bertuzzi’s favorite musical artist is James Taylor, which I find surprising (assuming I’m thinking of the right James Taylor).
• Nik Kronwall’s hockey superstition is that he always puts his skates on in the same order. This amused both Drew and me because, well, there are really only two options for the order in which one puts on skates or shoes.

Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 2: Post Game Snipes...

• This was a good win, but there were way too many scary moments—Filppula and Franzen, I’m looking at you—when we were all crossing our fingers hoping the guys weren’t hurt. I could really do without that kind of stress in my life.
• It was kind of weird watching this game alone at home. I’d watched three in a row (H2H, post H2H, and the alumni suite) out and about with real people. It was like I actually had a life for a while.
• Henrik Zetterberg somehow ended up nearly getting a piggyback ride on Rick Nash. I still haven't quite figured out the physics involved, but it made me laugh.
  
• At one point, Bertuzzi spiked the puck into the net like he was playing volleyball. He must have been hanging out with Helm, whose favorite sport other than hockey is apparently volleyball. Bert followed that up later by deflecting a puck in with his skate. I was fully convinced that his next attempt would be a header.
• I was shocked that they overruled the no-goal call on Bert’s goal. That’s three calls in a row that have gone in the Wings’ favor—one against the Wild, one against Edmonton, and now this one. Those are the kinds of things you need to have going in your favor if you’re going to go anywhere in the playoffs. The kinds of things that were going against them early in the season.
• Pavel Datsyuk’s goal was everything that a goal should be. There was a little bit of dangle and a whole lot of snipe. I don’t think watching that will ever get old. Ever. He made all three Jackets trying to defend against him look ridiculous, and Mason never had a chance on the shot. Nobody stops that one.
• I think the general consensus is that Mule isn’t allowed to remove his skate until after the playoffs are over. It wouldn’t be hard. It would be just like those fake Zetterberg commercials last season.
  

GP Answers:
1. I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but are the Wings going to play a full sixty minutes tonight? There should really be a sign in the locker room reminding the team of the length of a typical NHL game. Maybe by the “To whom much is given, much is expected” sign, which has always bothered me on some level. There’s something wrong with the grammar, but I can’t figure out how to fix it. It drives me crazy. Really.
I don’t know anything about the beginning of the game since my professor decided to keep us late tonight, but aside from the first few minutes of the second, what I saw looked pretty solid. They gave Columbus more chances than I would like, but there weren’t many stretches when the BJs were dominating.

2. The Wings are riding a season-high six game winning streak. Can they “make it seven?” See what I did there?
Don’t look now, but the Wings have now won seven games in a row. I’m so glad that my lame attempt at being punny wasn’t a jinx.

3. Can the boys contain noted destroyer of Wings, Rick Nash?
His only appearance on the scoresheet was for his trip to the penalty box in the third. He didn’t even get a hat trick tonight. spectacular.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
That was one of my favorite goals of the season. He also assisted on Homer’s early goal.

An Extra Stick Tap for Tomas Holmstrom
He was all over the place tonight. I love that guy.

Todd Bertuzzi gets the Golden Facepalm
You’re carrying a stick for a reason, sunshine.

What I Learned:
Maybe, just maybe, the Hockey Gods are starting to come back around to the Wings’ side.

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 5, Wild 1: Post Game Snipes...

• You know what the best thing about this win was? You never felt like it was going to get away from the Wings. Even after that goal they gave up at the end of the first period, it seemed like the game was well in hand.
• They started strongly, didn’t let up in the second period, and finished strongly in the third. It was as complete an effort as this team has given in a while.
• I’m not ready to call it a turning point or a statement game yet, though. We’ve seen flashes of brilliance from this team all season long, but it hasn’t been sustained for any significant amount of time. That being said, the fact that the offense has really kicked things into gear recently (five goals tonight, five against the Hawks, five against the Predators) is a good sign. Over the last few games, they have started to put together bits and pieces of dominant efforts where they looked like the real Wings for stretches, but couldn’t string together a whole game. The fact that they didn’t quit once they had the lead and kept pressing is incredibly encouraging. Maybe, just maybe, they finally got the message. We’ll see.
• Zetterberg certainly turned things around after getting called out by almost everybody.
• Bertuzzi was completely invisible all night except for that part where he took a penalty. That was only the second time all game that I noticed him on the ice.
• I was incredibly uncomfortable when Miller’s goal went to review. It certainly looked like a good goal to me, but this season has killed any faith that I had in the NHL’s review system.
• Dan Cleary had one of his best games of the season, I thought. He appeared to be working hard and doing good things out there. Now he just needs to keep that up.
• Once again, if the Wings had had Franzen all season, we’d be a lot more cheerful around Hockeytown right about now.
• At one point, after some slick passing by the Wings, Ken Daniels called it “pinball wizardry.” Being a big fan of The Who, I liked it a lot.
• Seriously, this is what watching a Wings game ought to feel like. It’s been too long.
  

GP Answers:
1. Can Valtteri Filppula spark Z? I still maintain that he’s not 100%, but I guess that could just be Todd Bertuzzi’s aura dragging him down. Maybe getting some time away from Bert will help get Z’s offense going.
Zetterberg had his best game in a long while. His goal came when he was on the ice with Patrick Eaves and Kris Draper, not his normal linemates, but he seemed to be buzzing all night. Keep it up, sunshine.

2. In the event that the Wings manage to get a lead, will they be able to hang onto it?
Yes. Yes they did. And they looked good doing it.

3. What percentage of the game will the Wings bother to play tonight? I think I’m going to make this like the Lidstrom question earlier this season and post it in every GP until I see a 100% effort.
I’ll give them the 100%. I was going to go with 99% because of that letdown at the end of the first, but I’m in a good mood right now and I’m feeling generous. I’m still going to ask this question on Saturday though. One game of a solid effort doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

4. Can Jimmy Howard get those rebounds under control? They’ve slowly become an issue again since the Olympic break.
There were some shaky rebounds, but nothing bad came of them. Minnesota’s only goal bounced in off of Stuart’s leg, and Jimmy had no chance on it. Hopefully this game will settle him down some.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Henrik Zetterberg
Like I said before, this was his best game in a long time. With any luck, he’ll get on a roll and we’ll get to see dominant Zetterberg more often.

An Extra Stick Tap for Johan Franzen
How can you not love the Mule? I mean really.

Chris Chelios gets the Golden Facepalm
He marked his return to the NHL by deflecting a shot into his own net tonight. I know it wasn’t his fault, but it wasn’t exactly a banner way to start his tenure there. What’s that you say? He’s not a Wing anymore and is therefore ineligible for the Golden Facepalm? Well, I get to make the rules around here, sunshine, and what I say goes. So there.

What I Learned:
I don’t think there are many teams that can beat the Wings if they play like they did tonight. There are definitely only a few out there who could win a best-of-7 series against the version of the team that we saw tonight. Now if we could get treated to that version more often…