Disappointing Start...

For a team that spent the whole summer talking about how they were going to return to playing lights out defense this season, the Wings sure didn't act like it. They got off to a pretty good start despite the fact that St. Louis scored first. After they took a two-goal lead, though, they pretty much shut down. All in all, it looked stunningly like most of their losses last season. And that's not good.

• Versus started the game with the scoreboard reading "St. Louis 4 Deroit 3" before they quickly reset it back to 0-0. So someone should figure out who made that mistake and we can all head to Vegas together.
  
• The fourth line was out there for the Blues' first goal, but after that, they looked great. Kirk Maltby had an assist on Ericsson's goal, and then scored one of his own on a shorthanded breakaway. Yeah, that Kirk Maltby. That whole fighting for a job thing really suits him well. I noticed that he played significantly better last season in the playoffs after getting benched too.
• Ericsson left the game with an ankle injury. So that's fantastic. Especially since it resulted in Brett Lebda getting even more ice time...
• ...and boy did he make an impact. He was on the ice for 3 of St. Louis' 4 goals, which indicates the kind of night he had. He looked awful. I would not be shocked to see Meech take his place in the lineup tomorrow if Ericsson's good to go.
• Ozzie looked average. He gave up a couple of bad rebounds, but I wouldn't pin the loss on him. One one of the Blues' goals, Brad Stuart was kind enough to set up a Homer-like screen right in front of Ozzie, and he really had no chance.
• Datsyuk didn't manage to score, but he was the best player on the ice. I have to believe that he's going to break that elusive 100-point mark this season. He looks like he's raring to go, and I love every second of it.
• On the other hand, the Zetterberg-Cleary-Bertuzzi line didn't look good at all. Hopefully it's just the effect of them all missing most of the pre-season and they'll turn things around. Otherwise, it's going to spell trouble.
• Chris Mason just made his way onto my list. He made a handful of incredible saves, and the Versus announcers credited him with "turning the game around." I don't really buy that, but he sure did keep the Blues in the game when the Wings were pressing.
• I also discovered why I shouldn't go to Meijer's after the Wings lose: I went to buy taco cheese, and instead walked out with cake mix, Halloween frosting, a bottle of wine, Disney princess cupcake liners, and some sprinkles. I had to go back inside to pick up the cheese.
• While at the store, some guy saw my Wings shirt and asked me if I thought they were going to win tonight. I had to inform him that they had already played and lost. I'm pretty sure he thought I was lying to him.

The Wings'll be back tomorrow. Same time, same place for round 2 of their Swedish Adventure. I was pretty disappointed with the game, but it felt good just to be watching the Wings play some real, live, meaningful hockey.