Wings 3, Predators 2 (OT): Post Game Snipes...

• The night began with a turkey feast with my little sister’s Girl Scout troop. We dined on the turkey that I won while turkey bowling at the Joe the day before Thanksgiving. It was pretty tasty for something I picked up on the ice at a hockey rink and then carted around the stands for two periods.
• After seeing Helm take that puck to the face, one of my 12-year-old Girl Scouts suggested that the Wings should do the same to Nashville, that they should “aim for the nose, because that hurts the most.” Obviously, I’ve been a good role model. The girls did spend a lot of time distracting me so I missed large portions of the game.
• Unfortunately, I missed the goal in OT because I was too busy wrestling with my brother to prevent him from deleting an awkward picture that I took of him. I caught it on the replay though and managed to salvage the picture, so all is well. Although I have to say that when I walked back into the family room and saw the celebration, I actually thought they were replaying the end of last night’s game.
• Bert’s first goal was the result of a spin move that actually worked. It was incredible. His second goal was another beautiful “goal-scorer’s goal.” I’ve never quite figured out what that means, but it was fantastic.
• I don’t know if this makes me a bad person or not, but I was actually kind of relieved when I realized that Jordin Tootoo was the injured Predator. I certainly never want to see players get hurt, but if one guy had to go down...I feel like silencing the whistles was a public service. I was just glad that I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of the game listening to them.
• The Wings’ PK streak ended at eight games and twenty-seven straight kills during the second period. While it was disappointing to see the streak end, it was going to happen eventually. That’s a pretty darn good run, and they need to keep up the good work. Now if we could just get that powerplay sorted out.
• Pavel Datsyuk had two assists tonight. Ken and Mickey originally wanted to award Miller’s goal to him, but his shot had clearly gone off the crossbar.
• Miller’s goal got reviewed briefly, and even though the replays clearly showed that his stick was below the crossbar…I was nervous that they would find some excuse to call it back.
• Not only did the Wings score first, but they also built up a two-goal lead. I was totally confused...until they let Nashville tie the game during the third period and force overtime.
  
• I never really had anything against Shea Weber before, but he certainly earned his way onto my list tonight.
• Since nobody was able/willing to believe what happened during OT last night, the Hockey Gods went and made it happen again. I think we’ve finally arrived in Wonderland because none of this makes any sense at all. I keep looking around and all I see is Todd Bertuzzi grinning at me like a gap-toothed Cheshire Cat.
  

GP Answers:
1. Ville Leino finally picked up a point last night, and Todd Bertuzzi came through with two goals. They’ve been the focus of much of the criticism for underproduction this season. Can the two of them build on the Anaheim game and keep putting up points?
Leino wasn’t completely invisible, but he still needs to do more. Bertuzzi, However, stole the show again. When he broke the scoreless tie in the second period, he had accounted for the last three Wings goals. He now has four of the last five. Not only that, but he’s also scored two straight OT game-winners. Yeah, I know. It’s hard for me to believe too. I love how confident he looks and how much fun he seems to be having out there. If he keeps this up, he may just make a convert out of me.

2. I haven’t seen the Wings’ starter announced anywhere, but I haven’t exactly had a lot of time to go looking for it. Based on the back-to-back rotation thingy Babcock likes to do, I’m assuming we’ll see Osgood in net tonight. Will we get treated to playoff Ozzie or regular season Ozzie tonight?
Osgood was fine. I’m not entirely sure what he was doing on the second Nashville goal, but there was so much else going on during that play that I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

3. During the post-game last night, Mickey Redmond was already getting feisty about those stupid train whistles the Nashville fans seem to enjoy using all the time. Keep in mind that this is also the same franchise that used to do the ridiculous screechy air-quote fangs. No team has the right to be that obnoxious, especially one that’s never won a playoff series. How long will I last before I have to mute the TV to keep from throwing things at it?
I had to watch the first period with the TV on mute anyway and then with Tootoo gone there was little whistle-blowing for the remainder of the game. My TV was quite relived to be saved from being pelted with whatever was within my reach.

4. Datsyuk and Zetterberg have been missing an absurd amount of shots that they should be putting on net and/or burying. The Eurotwins need to collectively recalibrate their targeting computers or something. Datsyuk had the game on his stick during the final minute of the Ducks game, and hit the side of the net. Zetterberg had a great scoring opportunity in close at one point and sent his shot about 300 feet wide of the net (Go ahead, challenge my measurements if you want. I dare you.). It’s like the two of them have caught Mikael Samuelsson cooties or something. Will they be able to figure out their issues tonight, or will I spend another game pulling my hair out?
Datsyuk had two assists tonight, but they both had issues putting the puck on the net. If they start burying half of their chances…

Cookies and Cupcakes for Todd Bertuzzi
He scored two goals tonight, including the overtime winner. If that doesn’t earn you free dessert, I don’t know what does. His second goal came off of an absolutely ridiculous shot move. Please, please let this carry over and get him on a roll. (Copy/pasted from last night’s Post Game Snipes with the exception of the one correction. I don’t know what to make of this.)

Derek Meech gets the Golden Facepalm
I don’t know if the second goal can really be pinned on him, but he’s due for one of these and I couldn’t single anyone else out who I felt deserved this.

What I learned:
Maybe my dad was right about Todd Bertuzzi…

Wings vs. Predators GP...

Wings vs. Predators @8 PM

1. Ville Leino finally picked up a point last night, and Todd Bertuzzi came through with two goals. They’ve been the focus of much of the criticism for underproduction this season. Can the two of them build on the Anaheim game and keep putting up points?
2. I haven’t seen the Wings’ starter announced anywhere, but I haven’t exactly had a lot of time to go looking for it. Based on the back-to-back rotation thingy Babcock likes to do, I’m assuming we’ll see Osgood in net tonight. Will we get treated to playoff Ozzie or regular season Ozzie tonight?
3. During the post-game last night, Mickey Redmond was already getting feisty about those stupid train whistles the Nashville fans seem to enjoy using all the time. Keep in mind that this is also the same franchise that used to do the ridiculous screechy air-quote fangs. No team has the right to be that obnoxious, especially one that’s never won a playoff series. How long will I last before I have to mute the TV to keep from throwing things at it?
4. Datsyuk and Zetterberg have been missing an absurd amount of shots that they should be putting on net and/or burying. The Eurotwins need to collectively recalibrate their targeting computers or something. Datsyuk had the game on his stick during the final minute of the Ducks game, and hit the side of the net. Zetterberg had a great scoring opportunity in close at one point and sent his shot about 300 feet wide of the net (Go ahead, challenge my measurements if you want. I dare you.). It’s like the two of them have caught Mikael Samuelsson cooties or something. Will they be able to figure out their issues tonight, or will I spend another game pulling my hair out?

I may or may not be watching the game tonight. We’ll see how this whole cookie-baking party goes down.

Wings 3, Ducks 2 (OT): Post Game Snipes...

• I felt like the game was going to be a good one because during the pre-game show, Mickey York made an Elin Nordegren joke and then Ozzie almost nailed Ken Daniels with the puck while he was standing on the bench doing an intro. It didn’t let me down.
• Rafalski took a puck to the face during the first period and scared me half to death as he laid on the ice. He returned after receiving some stitches and ended up making a great play to knock a sure goal off of a Duck’s stick.
• I still don’t have any idea what happened during that scrum in front of the Wings’ net with two minutes left in the first. I thought the puck was in the net, but then the replay showed that it wasn’t. But it looked like the referee had signaled for a goal. Then they went to Toronto to review it and that should’ve made me feel better, but I didn’t get my hopes up because I’ve been burned in the past. they ended up getting the call right and the Wings got a powerplay out of the whole mess. This was a little weird because we had all assumed that Jimmy Howard was the one getting called for the penalty. Since the call was against Anaheim, whether or not the puck was in the net probably wasn’t relevant, but I’m okay with whatever was going on since they came to the right conclusion about the goal.
• The Wings’ PK hasn’t allowed a goal in the last 8 games. That’s incredible considering how dismal it was to start the season.
• The powerplay managed two goals tonight. This was especially exciting because I had almost forgotten that you could score on those things. They had 11 opportunities, though, so anything less would’ve been pretty pathetic.
• Brett Lebda got shaken up during the second period. It looked like something with his shoulder. While he was wandering around on the ice, Anaheim scored their first goal. The fact that the Wings sustained an injury and gave up a goal on the same shift pretty much sums up this season. He returned to the ice shortly after, so I don’t know what his problem was. I can tell you, though, that I’ve never been that relieved to see Lebda on the ice in my life.
• It is surprisingly frustrating to watch the game without a clock. Especially when there’s a powerplay.
• Howard made a couple of good saves on a scrum in the first. It felt like it took absolutely forever for the whistle to blow. I would’ve been pretty angry if the puck had gone in with all of those intent to blow calls and quick whistles that have gone against the Wings this season. One of the quotes of the night came from @mserven in response: “Holy mother of LaRue, what does a RW goalie need to do to get a whistle?” You can bet that “Holy mother of LaRue” will be popping up here at SSDD in the future.
• The Wings second goal looked an awful lot like the Ducks’ second goal. Maybe karma finally decided to turn in their favor.
• More fun came during the post-game interview when Trevor Thompson compared Todd Bertuzzi to a pre-teen. While sitting right next to him. It was a pretty gutsy move as far as I can tell. Bert, to his credit, didn’t kill him.
• Mickey York opened his game recap with this quote about Rafalski’s puck to the face: “The Wings needed another injury like they needed a hole in the head. And four minutes in, they got both.” I really can’t think of any way to follow that, so I’m just going to move onto the next section.
  

GP Answers:
1. Ville Leino makes his glorious and injury-mandated return to the lineup tonight. How will he respond to his benching and Babcock’s less-than-kind comments about him? Please let this little stint in the press box be more effective than the last one since it made absolutely no difference in his play.
He looked a little better tonight and picked up an assist on the Wings’ first goal. I still want him to do more, though.

2. I really feel like I should not have to go into every game wondering if the Wings are actually going to be able to put a puck in the net. But that’s what it has come to. I don’t know who’s starting for Anaheim, but they’re going to make the red light behind him turn on at least once tonight, right? Please.
There was a while there when I was wondering if the Wings were heading toward another two-game goalless streak, but they came through in the third period and overtime to win the game. Good lord, did that feel good.

3. Looking at the Wings’ lineup tonight makes me want to hide under the bed in the fetal position. I just…have trouble accepting that as their second line. Maybe this makes me arrogant, but is this for real? I think we’re all, as Jessie from Bingo Bango said, waiting find out that this season has been one big joke right from training camp. The Wings have been playing their games in undisclosed locations and those guys we’ve been watching lollygag around the ice are just impostors. Like in that movie Dave, except the real ones are healthy and not in a coma. And they’re just waiting to surprise us as a giant Christmas present.
Yes. That lineup was, in fact, real. And it even managed to eke out an overtime win. I don’t even know what to make of this season.

4. Every time the Wings play Anaheim, I have to ask myself the same question: What will the Ducks do tonight to make me hate them even more?
The Ducks answered this one during the second period on the play that began with Corey Perry elbowing Ville Leino in the face. Getzlaf chimed in with a hit on Abdelkader, who then ended up fighting with Perry. I use the term fighting generously because the only clip they really played showed Perry sitting on top of Abdelkader and wailing away. It was pretty classic Duck goonery. I did like Abdelkader’s spunk when he was flat on his back on the ice and still swinging at Perry.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Todd Bertuzzi
He scored two goals tonight, including the overtime winner. If that doesn’t earn you free dessert, I don’t know what does. His second goal came off of an absolutely ridiculous shot. Please, please let this carry over and get him on a roll.

Jimmy Howard gets the Golden Facepalm
He played pretty well again, but that second goal has to be stopped.

Pavel Datsyuk gets an Extra Facepalm (?—please help me come up with something better to call this.)
He had the game on his stick, wide open in front of the net during the final minute of regulation. If Bertuzzi hadn’t come along to save the day (No, I can’t believe I just typed that either.), Pav would’ve taken a lot of the blame.

What I learned:
No matter how many hours of hockey I watch and obsess over, there are still moments that can completely baffle me. And I kind of like that.

Wings vs. Ducks GP...

Wings vs. Ducks @7:30 PM

1. Ville Leino makes his glorious and injury-mandated return to the lineup tonight. How will he respond to his benching and Babcock’s less-than-kind comments about him? Please let this little stint in the press box be more effective than the last one since it made absolutely no difference in his play.
2. I really feel like I should not have to go into every game wondering if the Wings are actually going to be able to put a puck in the net. But that’s what it has come to. I don’t know who’s starting for Anaheim, but they’re going to make the red light behind him turn on at least once tonight, right? Please.
3. Looking at the Wings’ lineup tonight makes me want to hide under the bed in the fetal position. I just…have trouble accepting that as their second line. Maybe this makes me arrogant, but is this for real? Is that actually our second line? I think we’re all, as Jessie from Bingo Bango said, waiting find out that this season has been one big joke right from training camp. The Wings have been playing their games in undisclosed locations and those guys we’ve been watching lollygag around the ice are just impostors. Like in that movie Dave, except the real ones are healthy and not in a coma. And they’re just waiting to surprise us as a giant Christmas present.
4. Every time the Wings play Anaheim, I have to ask myself the same question: What will the Ducks do tonight to make me hate them even more?

Wings 0, Blues 1: Post Game Snipes...

• I missed the majority of the game tonight thanks to a variety of unfortunate circumstances. I guess I didn’t miss a whole lot though. You know, something like a goal…
• Cleary managed to get hurt during the five minutes of the game I was able to watch. This was exactly what I needed to make my day more enjoyable. At first I was hoping he just got the wind knocked out of him, but I don’t recall seeing him on the ice afterward. In his post-game interview, Babcock said he was being tended to in the training room. I don’t know what that means, but the way things have been going this season, it’s probably a serious upper-body injury that’ll keep him out of the lineup for three months.
• Nick Lidstrom apparently hit two goalposts tonight. Seriously.
• The Wings second line tonight was Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Cleary. Yeah, I said “second.” Not fourth. This is really what it’s come down to.
• According to the box score, the Wings had six powerplays. And scored on exactly zero of them. That’s just not acceptable. The fact that the PK killed off four penalties is a small consolation, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that the powerplay couldn’t find a way to finish.
• The box score also tells me that they had 42 shots on net. And scored on exactly zero of them.
  
• I saw the replay of that no-goal call when Bertuzzi and Rafalski knocked it in after it was covered by Conklin’s pad. I would have loved it if they let the goal stand, but I’m not particularly surprised by it. It was probably the right call, and even if it wasn’t, it was far less obnoxious than some of the other ones we’ve seen recently. Or maybe I’m just too jaded at this point…
  

GP Answers:
1. Abdelkader will be centering the second line tonight, which is not bad for a guy who was supposed to be in Grand Rapids this season. He’s played very well over the last stretch of games. How will he look after getting bumped up to the scoring lines?
I don’t know. The five minutes of play that I did see didn’t tell me much. There wasn't a whole lot of scoring going on, though.

2. Datsyuk and Lidstrom got points on Sunday against the Rangers. Will finding the scoresheet wake the two of them up from their offensive slumps?
Well, that’s a big, fat no.

3. Jimmy Howard has created a huge, giant, enormous goalie controversy here in Hockeytown!!! Now that he’s the shiny, new, official, media-anointed starter how will he look tonight? Having to ask that question every night is no fun (but to be fair, I always ask the same of Ozzie), but he still terrifies me in net sometimes.
Guy let in one goal all game. You can’t expect much more from a goalie in the NHL. The Blues didn’t have a ton of shots, but he made enough saves to give the Wings a chance to win. When you only give up one goal, your team ought to at least get a point out of the game.

4. The Wings haven’t exactly been tearing it up at home recently (1-4-1 in their last 6 home games). Can they turn things around and make the home crowd happy?
No. It turns out that they couldn’t even score a goal. There was nothing to celebrate at all. They're now 1-5-1 in their last seven (got it right this time!), including three shutouts.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Jimmy Howard
I don’t know if anyone else was on their game tonight, but Howard only gave up one goal tonight, and I’m of the belief that no starting goalie who limits the opposition to a single goal deserves to take a loss.

All of the skaters get the Golden Facepalm
Okay, Ty Conklin played well tonight. That's no excuse though. Even with all of the injuries, the Wings still have enough talent that they should be able to put at least one puck in the net every night. Three shutouts at home in the last seven games? Inexcusable. Unacceptable. Disgusting. I don't care what adjective you want to use, that just can't happen.

What I learned:
The fun never stops during Finals week. Never ever.

Wings vs. Blues GP...

Wings vs. Blues @7:30 PM

1. Abdelkader will be centering the second line tonight, which is not bad for a guy who was supposed to be in Grand Rapids this season. He’s played very well over the last stretch of games. How will he look after getting bumped up to the scoring lines?
2. Datsyuk and Lidstrom got points on Sunday against the Rangers. Will finding the scoresheet wake the two of them up from their offensive slumps?
3. Jimmy Howard has created a huge, giant, enormous goalie controversy here in Hockeytown!!! Now that he’s the shiny, new, official, media-anointed starter how will he look tonight? Having to ask that question every night is no fun (but to be fair, I always ask the same of Ozzie), but he still terrifies me in net sometimes.
4. The Wings haven’t exactly been tearing it up at home recently (1-4-1 in their last 7 6 [Thanks to @EtchedInCold for pointing out that apparently nobody bothered to check to see if I could count single digit numbers before they let me into grad school. On the plus side, though, at least I'm still qualified to be an NHL ref.] home games). Can they turn things around and make the home crowd happy?
5. Leino's benched again. In what way will he fail to live up to our expectations for a healthy scratch tonight? It'll take some effort, but I'm sure he'll find a way.

I’m going to be missing at least the first period tonight. I can’t imagine that my group meeting will be done before 8, so I’ll be joining in progress. Also, if anyone wants to steal me a zamboni toy, I would love you forever.

Random side note: Word claims that ‘zamboni’ isn’t a word. This is what the spellchecker suggests instead: hambone, bambini, ambones, mamboing, and sambaing. I had to look up what an ambon was, and nearly got sent back to kindergarten because it took me three tries to realize that mamboing was referring to doing the mambo (and not pronounced mom-boing) and that sambaing was the same thing but with the samba (and not pronounced Sam-bang).

So Long, Mac...

So Darren McCarty officially announced his retirement today (which was odd because I had been under the impression that it already was official, but that’s not really the point). Somehow, back when he announced it the first time, the news somehow got lost in the shuffle here at SSDD. But Mac deserves better than that. I always loved him, even in his bizarre goatee, weird colored hair, and Grinder days. He was one of those guys who you just loved to love because he always seemed like he was having a great time out there. It felt like every time he stepped out on the ice was the best moment of his life.

I was absolutely thrilled when he returned to Detroit for a shot at redemption. Remember in ’08 when he scored that goal in the first round against Nashville? Just try to convince me that you didn’t want to reach through your TV and give the man a hug. I could watch that goal celebration over and over again. Maybe it was just me, but that goal carried with it more than your usual excitement over a Wings’ playoff tally. I was proud. Really proud. It’s one of those little moments that hockey gives you that makes you keep coming back night after night no matter how rough things are. (And maybe, just maybe, someone out there who’s through some of the same things McCarty went through might find that goal meaningful.)

But that wasn’t even his most memorable goal. Oh no. He gave us this little beauty that went down as the game winner for the ’97 Cup.



Yeah that one. The one that we still can’t believe he scored twelve years later. Even Steve Yzerman didn’t believe that he scored that goal (“We were celebrating and the first guy I see is Stevie Yzerman in the pile. His eyes were as big as saucers and he said ‘What the [expletive] was that? I had no idea.” --For the record, that's exactly what was going through my mind at that moment, except I was a kid and didn't use words like that.). But really, what Mac will go down in Red Wings lore for is this:



I’m pretty sure I’ve already written about 37,856 words about that one moment in hockey history, so I won’t bore you with that. However, if you don’t watch that video at least 3 times a day, I’m afraid that I can’t consider you to be a real Wings fan.

This comment (yeah, I know, it’s from an Avs fan) from that Adrian Dater post does a pretty good job summing up one of the things that endeared McCarty to fans so much over the years:

I have love for Darren McCarty. On March 23, 2002, the Avs played the hated Red Wings at the Pepsi Center... this was the game where Hasek tried to fight Roy, but ended up stepping on a stick as he skated in and ended up on his keester. Anyways, I went to this game. My dad took me for my 14th birthday, got some great seats in the lower bowl. We made sure to show up early (we got out to one or two Avs games a season only because tickets were spendy and hard to come by). We were seated on the Red Wings side for warm ups, and I walked down to the glass and stared in awe as guys like Lidstrom, Yzerman, Shanny, and so on made it look so easy before the game.

OK, so here's my real story: at one point, McCarty skated by the boards and pointed at me (having that guy point at you as a chubby, awkward 14 year old certainly gets your attention). On his next go round the ice, he skated up with a puck, flicked it up and bounced it off the top of the glass back onto the ice. Next time he came back, except this time picked up a puck and threw it as he skated by -- except this time it sailed to far and ended up in the hands of a guy 4 rows behind me. Finally, one last time he skated around, picked up a puck, stopped at the glass, pointed at me and tossed a puck over the boards into my hands.

That was awesome. He had no reason to go out of his way and insure I got a puck, but he did. I was even wearing an Avalanche black practice jersey, but it didn't matter; he still saw the look on my face and made sure I got a puck. I still keep that puck on my desk up here at school in Washington. For that, I will always have some love for Darren. I had always seen him as an enemy goon, but there was nothing goonish about the way he made my day. The Avs lost, but the real memory of the day came from before the game thanks to a "hated rival".

I wish him the best.

I’m not usually one who’s inclined to agree with things said by people who support the Avalanche, but that was kind of classic Darren McCarty so I'll make an exception this one time. He's always been one of my favorites. I really do hope that the whole Versus thing works out. Maybe he’ll teach them how to run a hockey broadcast.