Red Wings 5, Oilers 4: Post Game Snipes...

• In my GP, I said that I was going to have to buy Hollis a beer next time we all get together. I lied. I’m going to have to buy him an entire keg. This was incredible and amazing and wonderful all wrapped in a blanket of spectacular.
• I got to the Joe early and headed down by the Wings’ bench hoping to meet some of my new favorite people to watch warmups. I got to meet Sara’s little munchkin, and Homer came over and flipped him a puck. I was also amused by Franzen, who was playing hacky sack with a puck to entertain his teammates.
• Then I headed up to the suite. Nicole had a little “blogger station” set up for Drew and me with the banners from SSDD (Really wish I'd gotten around to making my updated banner sooner...) and NOHS printed out so we almost looked credible.
• I also got a bag full of goodies left over from giveaways—the bag itself was one of them, in addition to one of the mini dental kits and a couple more Hockeytown: No Limits signs. I also snagged an autographed picture of Joey Kocur that I’m going to give away as the prize to that contest that I still haven’t gotten around to judging.
• Some of the folks in the suite came in from Florida after they won the tickets. That, sunshines, is dedication. I think everyone had a great time in the suite. I tried to hang back and not get in the way so the people who actually won the contest could meet with the alumni and enjoy themselves. I will, however, admit to snagging the last can of Coke out of the fridge. I was burning up in my jersey.
• At different times, Joey Kocur, Brent Fedyk, Dennis Hextall, and Gerry Abel stopped in to sign autographs and take pictures. I’m told that some of the folks in the suite also tracked Gordie Howe down out in the hallway, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate to chase him down the hall.
• Hextall hung around and watched the game in the suite for quite a while.
• It turns out that my brother skipped class to come to the game. I didn’t know that, and my mom found out he was there from something that I tweeted. I just so happened to be on the phone with her when he walked in the door after coming home. I was not at all sympathetic about inadvertently ratting him out. He ended up sitting really close to Sara. I tried to take a picture of him, but he just glared at me.
• We were having a grand old time when the Wings were up 4-0. When Edmonton got their powerplay that they scored four seconds into, Drew and I didn’t like the call, but figured it wasn’t a big deal since the Wings had a big lead. Oh how that would come back to bite us.
• When Edmonton tied it up in the third period, we were having flashbacks to October. Luckily (very luckily, in my opinion), they managed to pull out two points. And they even did it in regulation, not that giving up a charity point to the Oilers would be heartbreaking.
• The Wings caught a break on Stuart’s goal. I didn’t realize it had been deflected until the replay and I was busy laughing at how silly the shot had made D-D look. As soon as I saw the deflection, I had a terrible feeling that it was going to get called back. I’m almost positive that the only reason that goal stood up was because it was originally called a goal on the ice. If the ref had waved it off originally, I think we would’ve gotten to see overtime. It was close for sure, but I don’t think the video was conclusive enough to overturn the call on the ice. How awesome is it to see two reviews go in the Wings’ favor in such close proximity? It sure beats getting LaRued.
• At least Edmonton didn’t sweep the season series. That would’ve been pretty embarrassing.
• How many glorious scoring opportunities did the Wings blow by hitting the post or missing the net? They could’ve easily scored ten goals tonight. Those missed chances nearly came back to haunt them.
• It was Henrik Zetterberg's 500th game and Pavel Datsyuk's 600th game. How fitting was it that they both hit milestones not only on the same night, but on a night on which I was there representing SSDD, their namesake blog?
  
• On my way out of the Joe, I ran into a mob that was surrounding Larry Murphy. I got his autograph on my old jersey and took a picture with him. And for those of you who were asking, there wasn’t the slightest trace of alcohol. So there.
• Have I mentioned that I really enjoyed the game notes package? I’m going to try to find time to write some stuff up from it.
• I also took a bunch of pictures, which I’ll put up on photobucket as soon as I have time. That will most likely be sometime this weekend.
  

GP Answers:
1. Can the Wings keep up their meteoric rise through the standings by beating the worst team in the league? This is exactly the kind of game that they like to sleepwalk through, which explains why more than one tenth of the Oilers points this season have come against the Wings. (How many times have I written that exact same sentence this season?)
They looked darn good for the first part of the game. The shot differential was exactly the way it should be against a last place team. Then the team decided to make things interesting and let Edmonton tie the game. Sixty minutes, boys. Six-oh. That being said, I guess I can’t really complain about a victory at this point.

2. How is Jimmy Howard going to follow up his birthday performance, shut/shootout victory, and subsequent listing as a top 3 star in the NHL? Please let it be with more spectacular play.
I wasn’t a big fan of Mr. Duff’s goal. Despite playing as well as he has, Jimmy’s given up a couple of softies lately. It’s hard to pin anything on him though, since most of the team seemed to shut down after they scored their fourth goal.

3. Am I going to survive the night, or just explode from pure joy right there in the middle of Joe Louis Arena?
Hey look, I made it. How about that? Seriously though, this was awesome. On my way home, I was thinking about the crazy ride this blog has taken me on, especially in the last week or so. I never imagined the opportunity to do something like this or attend a gathering like H2H when I randomly decided to start spouting my thoughts out into the internet a little less than a year ago. I really am grateful to the Wings organization and especially Nicole who is a full-fledged all star.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Brad Stuart
I still have no idea if his stick was actually below the crossbar, but kudos to him for tipping the shot for the winner and sparing us overtime/a shootout.

Patrick Eaves gets the Golden Facepalm
No really. This is deserving of a couple of these in a row. He totally got Eavesed.

What I Learned:
Greatest organization in sports. Final, period, end of discussion (tm Jeffy).