Wings 2, Sharks 1 (SO): Post Game Snipes...

• For starters, I was shocked that I made it home in time to catch the opening faceoff. It’s not bad considering the fact that I walked out of class at 7:33. Thank you, Budd Lynch ceremony.
• If the Wings had put half of their chances on net instead of shooting wide or high or whiffing on the puck, there’s no way this game wouldn’t have been a blowout. It was like the entire team came down with MikaelSamuelssonitis tonight.
• At one point, Z broke into the zone and made Dan Boyle (I think) look like a fool. Mickey Redmond made the requisite undressing comments.
• At one point on the powerplay, Todd Bertuzzi wound up and fired a slapshot right into a Shark who had laid down to block it approximately 2 feet in front of him. Aside from making me laugh at the thought of it being an assassination attempt, it was an example of really poor shot selection. A couple of steps to either side, and he would’ve had a clear shooting lane.
• The Wings’ penalty kill looked good tonight. The powerplay, not so much.
• I could not believe that the play was not blown dead before Z scored his game-tying goal. It’s about darn time one of those types of calls went the Wings’ way. They’ve gotten burned far too many times on those in recent memory.
• Yep, I still hate overtime. Just in case you were wondering.
• When the game went to a shootout, I was pretty sure that the Wings were going to lose. I’m ever the pessimist, and past performances have given me nothing to be optimistic about. Then, incredibly, both Datsyuk and Zetterberg, amazingly, made dekes and, shockingly, scored. So it turns out that that’s how you score on an NHL goaltender in a shootout, eh? Who would’ve guessed?
• Ozzie looked pretty sharp tonight. And he stopped both of the shots in the shootout. Did someone convince him that Daylight Savings Time switched the calendar to may instead of just setting the clocks back an hour? If so, that anonymous individual is my hero.
  
• When Z scored to end the shootout, FSN showed a replay of the bench’s celebration. Jonathan Ericsson darn near pulled a Happy Hudler face there for a second. I’m probably going to mock him for it at least once more, but it was kind of endearing. I like the enthusiasm.
• The Wings are now tied at 17 points with Chicago (pending the outcome of their game). That’s good for third place in the Central since the Hawks have one more win than the Wings. Both the Wings and the Blackhawks have a game in hand over the division-leading Blue Jackets. See, maybe the Great October Panic of ’09 wasn’t so terrible after all…
  

Cookies and Cupcakes for Henrik Zetterberg and Brad Stuart
Don’t worry, I’ll make a double batch. Stuart gets one because I seem to recall promising them to whichever Wing laid out Dany Heatly. I thought the prize was going to go unclaimed until Stuart stepped up late in the game. However, there’s no way that I could not recognize how well Z played tonight. In tight games like these, your best players have to be your best players, and Z (and Datsyuk, but Hank stole the show) led the way tonight.

Todd Bertuzzi gets the Golden Facepalm
At some point this season, this guy’s going to not miss the net on one of the glorious scoring chances that he gets. Right? He was a shoe-in for this one tonight because he literally made me facepalm at least twice tonight between his turnovers and missed shots.

What I learned:
When you attempt to make a move in the shootout, good things are more likely to happen. (Okay, I already knew that, but it was nice to see the Wings figure it out.)