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

• This was by far the best game I’ve seen the Wings play so far this season. If they pull off a couple more efforts like that in a row, I might be able to sleep again.
• That being said, aside from a few chances here and there, Boston didn’t look particularly threatening.
• Homer picked up another goal. Words cannot express how happy I am to see him being effective again.
• This is the start of the fifth season Versus/OLN has been covering hockey, and they still can’t figure out how to do a good job. They steadfastly refuse to show replays of penalties and other key plays, but managed to include a brief picture-in-picture shot of Tim Thomas skating to the bench when he was pulled for the extra attacker. I really feel like most people out there have a handle on the concept of how one skates to the bench. Then again, I’m kind of an intellectual snob, so maybe I’m totally off-base.
• While celebrating the Wings’ second goal, it occurred to me to wonder what my housemates think when they hear me cheering and clapping (and sometimes yelling things at the TV) alone in my room all the time.
• I was once again disappointed in Ville Leino. I was hoping he’d come out with some fire after getting benched, but he didn’t make much noise at all.
• The Wings’ defense included the likes of Brett Lebda, Derek Meech, and Doug Janik. And the world didn’t collapse around us.
• At one point, the Versus announcer described Jason Williams as having a “flamethrower of a slapshot.” While I’m not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean, I’ve added it to the list of absurd things I’ve heard come out of the mouths of Versus announcers. coughMastodoniccough
• Z's goal came after he jumped on a puck right off of the faceoff to start a powerplay. That's the kind of little stuff that the Wings hadn't been doing to-date. Nice to see.
• This was only the fourth game in which the Wings have scored first all season. It's also the first time that they've held on to win afterward. I think that stat is the most pleasing out of all of the positives of the game.
  
• The refs seemed content to let things go for most of the night…until the third period. It was like they suddenly decided that they hadn’t met their powerplay quota and had to make up for lost time by calling some cheap stuff. Sure some of their calls were technically interference, but much more obvious incidents had been let go previously. Seriously. Inconsistent officiating is the bane of every hockey fans’ existence.
• With their win tonight, the Wings now have 15 points which is good for 10th place in the Western Conference (It would place them in 7th in the [L]Eastern Conference, for the record. Must be nice, eh?). They’re a whopping two points behind Chicago for the Central Division lead. Maybe, just maybe, the sun will continue to rise.
  

Cookies and Cupcakes for Chris Osgood
It’s hard to post a shutout and not get this award. He made some solid saves when the Wings needed him to, but more importantly, he looked confident while doing so. For whatever reason, the Wings seem to play much better collectively when Ozzie’s on his game.

An Extra Stick Tap for Pavel Datsyuk
Honestly, I don’t know how opposing defensemen are able to sleep the night before they play the Wings just thinking about having to face this guy the next day. Seriously, nobody else in the NHL makes as many guys look utterly foolish as Pav does. And I love every second of it.

Jason Williams gets the Golden Facepalm
This was kind of a tough decision. Nobody really stood out as being particularly horrendous tonight. I decided to go with Williams because of the stupid penalty he took that negated the Wings’ powerplay in the third. It ended up not mattering in the long run, but it still didn’t make me happy.

What I learned:
There's no place like home.