Wings vs. Stars GP...

Wings vs. Stars @7:30 PM

1. The Wings broke out of their scoring slump Saturday night with three goals. More importantly, they were the kind of gritty goals that the Wings keep talking about needing to score. So, can they keep it up tonight?
2. Todd Bertuzzi scored a big goal to win the shootout on Saturday. Will that help his confidence and get him to snap out of whatever funk he’s been in? I’ve done a lot of ragging on Bert over the last couple of months, but I would like nothing more than to see him get on a roll.
3. We all know what happened last time the Stars visited the Joe. We’re also aware of what went down against Calgary on Friday. This question is kind of sad, but what percentage of the goals that the Wings score tonight will actually be counted on the scoreboard?
4. Will Darren Helm be able to finish the breakaway he inevitably gets tonight? I kid, I kid…but only a little. One of these times he has to put one of those away.
5. The Wings’ special teams units both enjoyed 100% success rates against St. Louis on Saturday. This was a positive sign since both units have struggled lately. Can they build on that tonight?

I’ll be at the game tonight using the tickets I won while failing epically at turkey bowling the day before Thanksgiving. With any luck, this game will be more enjoyable than the last time I made the trek down to the Joe. Please. Now that they’ve figured out a way to put pucks in the net (and make them count) again, this is as good a time as any to start stringing wins together to start climbing the standings.

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

• When the Wings finally scored during the second period, I actually yelled “Hallelujah” in my family room. I never thought I’d be that excited about a goal in the regular season.
• The third and fourth lines looked fantastic early in the game. During the first period, they were better than the top two lines by far. I figured it was going to be a long night upon seeing that.
• When the Wings finally scored, it had been 175 minutes since their last goal. That’s almost three whole games. Three.
• Tonight was also the first time in a week that the Wings had scored more than one goal. Getting into the plural was a nice change.
• The first period wasn’t particularly good. Jimmy Howard had to work much too hard. The team woke up for the second half of the game and I actually felt like they were controlling play at times. It was a welcome change.
• It was nice to see the Wings pick up a win in the shootout. Really nice.
• That first goal was a thing of beauty. Datsyuk absolutely threaded a pass to Z who got it to Homer for a perfect tip-in. The boys looked downright relieved to see the puck in the net.
  
• The last-minute goal was fluky to the max, but sometimes you just need those kind of bounces to go your way. FSN awarded the goal to Pav at first, but it was announced at the arena as being Zetterberg's. At that point, I could not have cared less who they credited. All that mattered was that the puck was in the back of the net.
• Is it sad that every time the Wings scored, I was looking at the referee to make sure he wasn't waving the goal off?
• Justin Abdelkader played ridiculously well. He didn't have much to show for it on the stat sheet, but this has to have been his best game of the season.
  

GP Answers:
1. They managed 3 goals tonight, including an “ugly” one to tie the game up with less than a minute left in the third. It was good to see the Wings’ stars score and to see them grind out some goals. Now they just need to maintain it.
2. See above. Mason played well, but the Wings managed to do what they needed to win.
3. This one was a bit sarcastic, but I can’t complain about the officiating tonight. Sure I would’ve liked to have seen the Wings get a few more powerplays, but they were consistent and that’s more than we get on most nights.
4. The first period was a little rough, but I’d say they had a pretty good showing overall. @Mserven said it best on Twitter: “nice to see the Wings playing like they want to win rather than like they should win.”
5. Three goals in fact. Plus a couple in the shootout.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Jimmy Howard
He had entirely too much work to do throughout the game, and made some spectacular saves. I can’t fault him on any of the goals he let in. The second one in particular was an absolutely ridiculous shot. My mom pointed out earlier that I was a little harsh about him at the start of the season, and I’m happy to say that he’s been a pleasant surprise. (She would also like me to state that she liked him the first time she saw him play when we made a family trip to the Joe four years ago.)

An Extra Stick Tap for Todd Bertuzzi
When I saw that he was going in the shootout, I yelled, “Oh Jesus, Bertuzzi?!” While he was taking his long, winding approach, I promised him that I would lay off and give him a free pass for a week if he buried it. He did, and I’ll keep my word. There’ll be nothing negative about Bert on this humble blog until next Saturday. With any luck this’ll give him some confidence and he’ll start producing.

Darren Helm gets the Golden Facepalm
I hate to do this because he actually didn’t play badly, but oh man did he ever miss some glorious opportunities. He’ll probably be having nightmares about those two chances he didn’t bury with a few minutes left in the third. The Wings came back to tie it up, so all is well, but I was pounding my head on my keyboard there for a minute.

What I learned:
That seeing the Wings score a goal feels ridiculously good.

Wings vs. Blues GP...

Wings vs. Blues @ 8PM

1. No really, where is the scoring? I don’t want to hear about outshooting the other team or running into hot goalies (although, seriously, is it really necessary for every goalie the Wings face to have his best game of the season?) or continuing to plug away. Good teams find ways to win games even when things are tough. The Wings haven’t been able to do that recently and it needs to change. (Copy/pasted from the previous GP because nothing has changed…)
2. I don’t know who’s starting in net for the Blues, but I’m sure he’s going to choose tonight to show off. Just how good will the Wings make him look?
3. What glorious display of incompetence will we see from the officials tonight? I just can’t wait.
4. The Wings are 2 points ahead of the Blues, a conference rival, in the standings. You’d like to think that this would be the kind of game they’d show up for. Will it happen?
5. Can the Wings please, pretty please score a goal tonight? Seriously.

Wings 0, Flames 3: Post Game Snipes...

• Well, we’ll start out with the obvious: the Wings got hosed by the referees. Again. There’s absolutely no reason the powerplay goal they scored to tie it up in the first period should not have counted. Except that this is the NHL.
• At one point, I even tried using Twitter to jinx Kiprusoff’s shutout. I feel like I’ve reached a new low.
• The Wings managed to get shutout in back-to-back games for the first time since 1977. That’s almost a decade before I was even born. I’m obviously not equipped to deal with situations like this.
• If ever there was a time to try shuffling the lines, I would think it would’ve been the third period tonight. It baffles me to continually see the same ineffective line combos thrown out there game after game after game.
• The Flames scored less than 30 seconds into the game. It naturally resulted from some horrible defensive coverage which consisted of a bunch of Wings standing around and possibly staring off into space.
• Is it really necessary for every goalie the Wings face to have his best game of the season?
• Mike Babcock didn’t hesitate to bench Leino and Helm earlier in the season when they weren’t performing. Why hasn’t he tried it with Todd Bertuzzi?
• I fully intended to go to the game today, but ended up canceling my plans. Boy, am I glad I didn’t. I don’t think I could’ve handled being present for back-to-back shutouts.
• Bertuzzi tried a behind-the-back pass that not only ended up on a Wings’ stick, but resulted in a good scoring chance. It figures that if you try it enough times, it’s going to work at least once. I’m just concerned that he’s going to think that means it’s a good idea and keep trying it.
• The good news is that the Wings were generating shots and they had a lot of traffic to the front of the net. That’s a very good sign. At some point, you have to believe that they’re going to get things figured out.
  

GP Answers:
1. Still no answer. I don’t think there is one.
2. It wasn’t necessarily the defense that was the problem tonight. The Flames’ first goal was a result of a pathetic defensive effort, but unless the team can figure out a way to score a goal the defense isn’t going to make much of a difference.
3. Not one bit of line shuffling for the offense. I would appreciate someone explaining that to me.
4. The powerplay generated tons of shots, and actually managed to put a puck in the net in the first period. On the plus side, Calgary didn’t score any on their two powerplays (although one was abbreviated).

Cookies and Cupcakes for Chris Osgood
Letting in three goals probably doesn’t indicate that he had a great game, but he had no chance on the first one because of poor defensive coverage,the second one was just plain weird, and the third one was off of a great shot. Besides, nobody else did anything spectacular.

Mike Babcock gets the Golden Facepalm
Seriously, there’s wanting to stick with line combinations in order to develop consistency and then there’s plain old stubbornness. Things obviously aren’t working, but he can’t seem to bring himself to shake things up. I just…don’t understand. I wish he would tell us what it is he sees so I could at least get what he was going for.

What I learned:
It is possible for this season to be more miserable.

Wings vs. Flames GP...

Wings vs. Flames @ 7PM

1. No really, where is the scoring? I don’t want to hear about outshooting the other team or running into hot goalies (although, seriously, is it really necessary for every goalie the Wings face to have his best game of the season?) or continuing to plug away. Good teams find ways to win games even when things are tough. The Wings haven’t been able to do that recently and it needs to change.
2. What’s the deal going to be with the defense tonight? It looks like they’re going to be going with the same rotation from Wednesday night. I’m not entirely opposed to this. Ericsson looked a lot better when matched up with better partners and I think being out there with guys like Lidstrom and Rafalski will be good for him long-term.
3. Babcock was doing quite a bit of line shuffling during the last game. What’s he going to come up with tonight? The lines obviously haven’t been producing, so something needs to get changed. (I suggest finding someone else, anyone else, to replace Todd Bertuzzi on the top line. Datsyuk deserves better.
4. So far this season, it seems like the Wings have been living and dying by their special teams (a bold observation, I know). Over the last few games, neither the powerplay nor the penalty kill has done anything worthwhile. Will either of the special teams units give me hope tonight?

Happy shopping if you’re one of those crazy enough to risk life and limb venturing out in search of good deals today. I’ll be busy having Second Thanksgiving (which is a little like Second Breakfast, come to think of it [I’m pretty sure this is the second GP in a row in which I’ve made a nerdy joke. I should probably stop doing that.]) and possibly trying to snag some more Student Rush tickets.

Wings 0, Thrashers 2: Post Game Snipes...

• I’m so glad that I only paid $15 to see this game. The Wings looked terrible, the crowd was pathetically quiet for most of the night, and the highlight of my night was watching Ozzie and Draper goof around in the net during warmups.
• Although, I have to admit that getting to go out on the ice as part of the turkey bowling thing was pretty cool…even though I looked like an idiot. If you were one of the people who I’m sure was laughing at me, I just want you to know that I had a strategy. It just failed miserably. But our team still won and I’ve got a pair of free tickets to Monday’s game, so the joke’s on you. Also, I had the pleasure of walking around the Joe while my brother carried a frozen turkey for the next two hours. Amazing photographs obviously ensued.
• We went down right behind the Wings’ net to watch warmups and I’m reasonably certain that Justin Abdelkader was trying to kill me. He personally fired at least half a dozen shots that hit the glass directly in front of my face. My little sister was not amused by the whole firing squad effect. If you’ve never watched warmups from that spot before, you’re missing out. It will give you a whole new appreciation for the work that goalies do.
• The News’ recap of the game began with this paragraph:

  It might be time to call in a priest to bless the sticks, or maybe a witch doctor to remove the curse. Because no matter how hard the Red Wings grind, no matter how many shots and chances they create, the puck will not go into the net for them.

  I’ve got a better idea. The team could just bother showing up to play hockey games from time to time. There's a pretty reasonable chance that that would help.
  
• Todd Bertuzzi is officially a waste of ice time. And bench space. And cap space (although that’s less of an issue at this particular moment).
• Also from the News’ recap was this beauty:

  In the third, Bertuzzi broke up a play and went into the Thrashers' zone on a 2-on-1. Yet, he tripped before he could make a play. There was nobody near him, he simply lost an edge -- can you say snakebit?

  I’m not sure ‘snakebit’ is the right word (or the correct grammar for that matter). “Snakebitten” is something you say about a guy who’s having rough couple of weeks on the scoresheet. When you’re having a rough five years, well, then you have to consider the possibility that you just suck.
• Datsyuk tried that thing he does where he flips the puck over the back of the net. One of these times it’s going to work and I think my brain is going to explode from the sheer awesomeness of it.
• Brett Lebda and Brad Stuart should probably never share ice time again. I don’t know what their deal was, but whenever I noticed them paired together bad things were happening.
• My pictures are up on photobucket.
  

GP Answers:
1. The defense wasn’t the only thing Babs was mixing up. The forward lines got put through the scrambler too. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to help.
2. Howard was fine. He gave them a chance to win and they didn’t take it. To think that going into this season my biggest worry was the goaltending. I’m not saying it’s been stellar, but the guys between the pipes are certainly not the reason the Wings have been losing.
3. Still no answer for this one. Someone needs the team’s ability to score goals on a milk carton or something.
4. Same old, same old on the powerplay. I guess the answer’s ‘yes’ for this one.
5. Please refer to the second passage that I’ve quoted from the News above. Yes, that really did happen. And yes, it did look every bit as pathetic in person as it did on TV.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Jimmy Howard
Because nobody else deserves any.

Todd Bertuzzi gets the Golden Facepalm
Once again, please refer to the passage from the News quoted above. This one is a no-brainer.

What I learned:
That carrying a turkey around Joe Louis Arena can actually be ridiculously fun. Especially if your little brother holds it on his head to mock the people wearing the turkey hats (yeah, people actually bought those).

PS. Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

Wings vs. Thrashers GP...

Wings vs. Thrashers @7:30

1. Well Babcock’s announced his slightly wacky and yet oddly logical plan for the defensive rotation. Somehow, through rotation, line-juggling, and possibly the use of a Time Turner from Harry Potter, he’s going to make the six-man defensive lineup resemble an eight-man lineup. I kind of get it, and I’m all about anything that prevents a third pairing of Lebda and Meech from taking the ice, so I’m willing to give it a shot. Will anyone (on the ice or otherwise) have any clue what’s going on by the end of the game?
2. Babs is also going with Jimmy Howard in net tonight, which worries me much less than I would’ve imagined it would a couple of months ago. Can he keep up his strong play?
3. I asked the same thing last game; it still hasn’t been answered, so I’ll go with it again: Where have all the goals gone? After going on a tear of 19 goals in 3 games, the offense has absolutely dried up. I know the offense has been depleted, but except for the loss of Kronwall, the lineup that’s been on the ice for the last few games is not markedly different from the one that was lighting it up.
4. Part of the offensive stall has been due to the issues with the powerplay. The first unit has been generating some buzz, but if they can’t score, that leaves a second unit of Cleary, Bertuzzi, and Leino. Now, I like Cleary a lot, but there’s a reason we call him Charlie Buckets. He’s the kind of guy who has an uncanny ability to take advantage of the strengths of his linemates. On this unit, there just isn’t a whole lot for him to work with. At this point, I would rather see the third line get powerplay time over this bunch. Are we really going to have to suffer through a one-unit powerplay interminably? And I'm not even willing to discuss the PK...
5. Over the summer I made it very clear that I was unhappy with Bertuzzi’s signing. However, I resolved to give him a chance. I would say that a quarter of the season counts as a fair chance. So far he has done absolutely nothing to impress me. So what fine work does he have in store for us tonight?

Wings 1, Predators 3: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings were lucky to survive the first period only down by one. Their effort was sad.
• Drew Miller had his best game in a Wings uniform tonight. He was rewarded with his first Wings goal. It came off of a great individual effort.
• I really strongly dislike Todd Bertuzzi. More and more each game.
• Pavel Datsyuk had a beautiful check at one point during the second period. That’s an aspect of his game that continues to be underrated.
• Every time a goalie made a save, the Versus announcer would say, “____ says no.” Every time. I swear.
• The Wings really turned things on during the third period. It looked like one of their patented late-game awakenings. Unfortunately Pekka Rinne stood his ground and nothing came of it.
• Train whistles should be permanently and unconditionally banned from every live sporting event ever. Really, unless you are a train, there is no need for you to have one of those.
• A Predators fan decided that it would be a good idea to throw a hat on the ice after Erat’s second goal. Lame. Very lame.
• Darren McCarty did a decent job in his Versus debut. He looked nervous and I didn’t quite follow what he said during the first intermission, but he looked much more comfortable during the second one and in the post game.
• There is a very real problem with the powerplay in that if the Circus line fails to score…the team is left with a line of Cleary, Leino, and Bertuzzi.
  

GP Answers:
1. Well, the defense didn’t look spectacular for most of the game tonight, but neither did the rest of the team.
2. Well, Big Rig didn’t see any powerplay time but led all Wings skaters in time on the PK. This picture tells the story of the Preds’ first goal.
3. I didn’t notice Ericsson often, which is a good thing for a rookie defensemen. There’s no doubt that having a better defensive partner will improve his game. Just how much remains to be seen.
4. No answer for the lack of offense. Another game with only one goal scored. That’s not going to cut it.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Chris Osgood
There’s no doubt that he kept the Wings in it when they were busy sleepwalking through the first half of the game. He made some huge, huge saves.

Todd Bertuzzi gets the Golden Facepalm
This really could’ve gone to Thomas Holmstrom too, but Homer has actually made a contribution to the team so far this season, so he gets a reprieve. Bert took two stupid penalties, one of which led to the Preds’ first goal. The Versus announcer, in what may have been the first display of intelligent thought by one of their guys, said that he just didn’t think that Bertuzzi had the speed to play the Wings’ style of hockey.

What I learned:
This really is going to be a long season.

Farewell Shanny...

I kind of missed the boat in terms of career eulogies for Brendan Shanahan on account of him choosing to retire during the busiest week of my life (See how I manage to deflect blame for it away from myself? That’s talent.) But I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t at least make a couple of comments on the career of the guy who was my second favorite hockey player for the better part of my formative years.

I vaguely remember being upset when the Wings traded away Paul Coffey. I have no idea why, but I’m assuming it had a lot to do with the fact that I was barely 10-years old and not particularly bright. I do, however, know that I took an immediate liking to the Wings’ new arrival. He could score and he could fight and a few of you might remember the little-known incident in which he clotheslined Patrick Roy. At some point after the ’02 Cup, he became know as my alter-ego. It was mostly because I wore a Shanahan walking-jersey-foul to school the next day when we went around bestowing Wings players’ names on all of our friends. It was okay though, because I was Irish (I say “was” because we recently discovered that we actually have Scottish blood, not Irish…) and I embraced it. I still miss hearing the Irish Jig blasting from the speakers at the Joe.

How many guys left in the league could put it all together like Shanny did? Not many. And I think we’re all a little worse off for that. He deserved a better ending than his break with the Devils prior to the start of the season.

As far as the jersey retirement debate goes…I don’t see it happening. If the organization had any intention of doing so, they wouldn’t have let the likes of Derek Meech take it. I would have no problem with the team choosing to retire it, but I’m not sure he spent enough time in Detroit to have earned a place in the rafters. He played too many games for too many other teams, and even though his strongest legacy will be as a Red Wing, I think that’s going to keep #14 in circulation. That being said, I would much, much rather see his number on a banner than Fedorov’s. This post from Malik has two articles from the Edmonton Journal that sum up why.

Wings vs. Predators GP...

Wings vs. Predators @7 PM

1. The big question is the defense. While this one game obviously won’t be indicative of the next 4-8 weeks, it’ll be a preview into life with a defensive pairing that consists of Brett Lebda and Derek Meech. How many near heart attacks will those two tag team to give fans?
2. Ericsson finally got some powerplay time on Saturday. I think it’s safe to say that I liked him a lot better there than on the penalty kill. Reason dictates, however, that he’ll be seeing a lot of time on both special teams units in the coming weeks. How will he step up into his expanded role after a fairly shaky start?
3. Also regarding Ericsson, he’s slated to be paired with Stuart. How much will having a better partner improve his performance?
UPDATE (11/23/09 1:35 PM): It turns out Ericsson will actually be paired with Lidstrom. This is even better. It's no accident that his best games came when he was forced to fill in for Rafalski during the playoffs last season.
4. Where have all the goals gone? After netting 19 in 3 games, the Wings have only managed 4 (even if we count Brad May’s, 5 isn’t much better) over the last 3 games.

The Preds have come a long way from the days of their obnoxiously annoying tradition of squeaky air quotes fangs (They don’t do that anymore, right? I haven’t heard it in a while.) that inspired my siblings and me to take a picture in front of their building mocking them. They currently sit one point behind the Wings, so this would be kind a nice win to pick up.