Friday, October 30, 2009

Wings 5, Oilers 6 (SO): Post Game Snipes...

  • I can’t decide what to name this season so far. I’m torn between the Season of FML, the Season of the Constant Heart Attack, and the Season of Aaarrrrggggghhhh.
  • When the Oilers had their first flurry right at the start of the game, I turned to my Mom and said this: "Wow that was close. I would've been pretty upset if they gave up another goal 30 seconds in." To say that I was not amused when they actually let one in at 42 seconds would be an understatement of epic proportions.
  • If you had told me that the Wings would get a point out of this game when I returned from the first intermission at the exact moment the Oilers scored their fourth goal, I would’ve laughed at your face.
  • As I was sitting on the couch typing the previous bullet point, Mike Babcock announced that Filppula broke his wrist and will be out for 6-8 weeks. On the off chance that I survive this season, I’m going to be bald and emaciated by the time April rolls around.
  • No seriously. When is this whole hockey season thing going to get fun?
  • Wouldn't it have been nice if the Wings had buried one of the 18,000 shots they rang off the post at the end of the second period? I know, I know...wishful thinking.
  • Darren Helm finally got around to scoring his first regular season goal. At the time, I sarcastically applauded, thinking that it wouldn’t mean much in terms of changing the game. Overall, he was much more noticeable tonight.
  • Zetterberg’s goal was one of the flukiest bounces I’ve seen in a while. I almost couldn’t believe that the Wings had been the beneficiaries of such a lucky bounce.
  • It was also nice to see Patrick Eaves join in on the fun. Also, Todd Bertuzzi. Please, pretty please, can they get going now?
  • No joke, the Wings’ scoresheet read something like this: Helm, Zetterberg, Ericsson, Bertuzzi, Eaves. Yeah. I know.
  • For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this team is so awful at overtime and shootouts. Let’s not even mention the lame excuses for shootout attempts that Z and Datsyuk offered up.
  • Why is it that every time I see an Edmonton Oilers jersey, I feel like I've time warped back to the '80s?
  • I don’t even know what to make of the game other than the jumbled thoughts above. I missed large portions of it because I decided to spend the first intermission catching up on the Office episode I’d DVR’ed earlier. When I flipped back to the game and saw the fourth goal go in, I decided to go ahead and watch the end of the show before coming back. Then large chunks of the third period were missed because my dear father stole the remote while I was up for intermission and decided to watch the end of a movie that we’ve all seen before. Fortunately, I didn’t miss any goals, but I was not a happy camper.
  • It’s tempting to celebrate the fact that they got a point out of the game, but I’m not sure I’m that thrilled about the whole deal. These last two comebacks have been fun and all, but there are some enormous unresolved issues left over from last season that have yet to be solved. And righting the ship isn’t going to get any easier now that Flipper’s out for a while.
  • One positive note: the Wings have scored 5 goals in each of their last two games. Now that the offense is functioning, if they could just get the defensive side of things worked out, we'd be in business.
Cookies and Cupcakes for the Hockey Gods
I know this was intended to praise the player who brought me the most joy during the course of the game, but I’m going to use my executive authority to send the imaginary baked goods over (up?) to the Hockey Gods. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’ve done something to seriously offend them. So this is my lame attempt to make amends. I swear I didn’t notice the puppies I apparently kicked. Or the babies that I apparently punched. Or the little old ladies who I tripped in the crosswalk to steal their groceries. I have no idea what kind of bad karma I’m being punished for, but I’m hoping these cookies and cupcakes (I’ll throw in some brownies for good measure too) will atone for it. Please.

Jimmy Howard’s rebound control gets the Golden Facepalm
I know it’s hard to pin this loss on Howard, but he gave up horrendous rebounds all night. He made some really good saves when the Wings needed him to, but at some point he’s going to need to address the rebound issue.

What I learned:
Just when you think you’ve hit rock bottom, Valtteri Filppula can go and break his wrist so your night’s 100% ruined instead of the usual 75% or so that results from a Wings loss.

4 comments:

  1. Not hard to blame it on Howard at all. He's erratic, gives up monster rebounds, and is always out of position...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I refer to it as "The Lost Season" and I'd give those Cookes and Cupcakes to Eaves. I really like the way he crashed the net. Looks like he's going to get some additional ice time now so here's to hopping that kind of play starts in the first minute of the first period.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @choliis
    I'm not saying he played well, but any time a team like the Wings gives up 5 goals in a game, you have to look at what the rest of the team was doing in front of him.

    And Eaves did look a lot better last night, but I'm going to give bribing the Hockey Gods a chance first. It used to work with my managers at my old job...

    ReplyDelete
  4. The season of the Bad LSD Trip.

    (Or so I assume.) :)

    ReplyDelete