Red Wings 4, Flames 2: Post Game Snipes...

• Right at the beginning of warmups, someone fired a shot that cracked one of the panes of glass behind the net. I was standing nearby, so I decided to indulge my photo-geeky tendencies and set up shop right behind it to see if I could get some artsy shots. It was nice to have something a little different than the standard warmup pictures I have a million of. My pictures from the night are on Photobucket, as always.
• There was a very drunk Canadian (I'm assuming he was Canadian) who was way more excited about his national anthem than anyone I've ever seen before.
• There was an odd mixture of colors in the stands tonight. There was a lot of pink in support of breast cancer awareness, but it just made me think that everyone let Homer do their laundry and he mixed the reds and whites (just like training camp). I even wore a pink tank top under my jersey so I could enter the raffle, though I had to borrow it from my mom's closet. I have no pink clothing.
• There were also numerous orange hats being worn in tribute to Kenny Rucker. I love that the organization turned his seat orange and honored him during the game. Little things like that make me love this team even more.
• Datsyuk made two gorgeous passes setting up Zetterberg's goal. It was classic Eurotwins beauty.
• How good was Jimmy Howard tonight? He made a ton of good saves and should've been the first star (Who chose those, anyway?).
• Nik Kronwall gave me a scare when he got taken down in the first period. He seemed to get up slowly and when he was back on his feet, he just kind of stood leaning over at the blue line without moving for 10 seconds or so. (That part got cut out on the FSD broadcast as it was zoomed in on the action.) Luckily, he turned out to be just fine.
• It was nice to see the powerplay convert when Lidstrom fired a shot from the blue line in for his first goal of the season. Even better was the play Datsyuk made to set up the goal.  I seem to remember yelling something along the lines of, "Holy dangle, Batman!" afterward.
• I spotted a pretty epic jersey foul during the first intermission. This lady was in line with a woman in a Mrs. Osgood jersey. T'was the Mrs. Ozzie jersey that first caught my eye, but as I whipped my camera out, I noticed the writing embroidered at the bottom of the Iginla jersey. Bonus foul points for spelling his first name wrong. It also inspired Lauren to create this maxi-jersey-dress/rodeo clown costume paying tribute to all of his middle names.
• I had absolutely no idea how Johan Franzen's goal ended up in the net until I got home and watched on the DVR. It was way down at the opposite end of the rink from where I was sitting and we really couldn't see on the scoreboard. It has to be one of the oddest goals I've seen in a long time. Dude banked the puck off the side of the goalie's head. How can anyone not be thrilled to have the Mule back?
• I got some strange looks for celebrating Bertuzzi's goal by screaming, “GLITTER!!!” and, “KITTENS!!!”
• During the third period, they did a trivia thing during a commercial break. One of the questions was something about how many Honda dealerships there are in the metro-Detroit area. The question was greeted with a round of boos that was way louder than any directed toward a Flames player. It made me laugh.
• I rode the People Mover back to Greektown after the game and it was naturally packed with Wings fans. We got a nice loud LGRW chant going for a while. After it died down, a Flames fan yelled, “Go, Flames, go!” One of the Wings fans responded by yelling, “Hey, who invited the flamer?” It was one of the more entertaining People Mover rides I've had.  Bonus points for it not ending with me getting stuck on the train, and running down the middle of the street through six inches of snow without a coat on back to my departure point.  Not that that's ever happened to me before or anything.

Hat Trick:
1. How's the powerplay going to shake out with the changes Babcock has been making in practice?
The powerplay went 1 for 5 on the night and looked like it had better puck movement in general. One of the final powerplays in the third period was pretty shaky and it seemed like Calgary had more chances than the Wings did, but other than that, I thought it looked better.

2. The Mule is back. This can only mean good things.
Good things like scoring the game-winning-goal? Oh yes.

3. How are the Wings going to look after the ridiculously absurd layoff between games? They always seem to look pretty meh after stretches like that. Also, since I missed Saturday's game, it's been a whole week since I saw a live hockey game. That's just way too long.
They got off to a sluggish start in the first period. Luckily, Howard came to play on time and kept the team in the game until the rest of the guys decided to wake up. I thought they got steadily better as time went on.

I've Got My Eye on You:

Dan Cleary: 0-0-0, +/- -2, 0 PIM
Cleary was on the ice for both goals that the Flames scored. He was a big part of the blown defensive coverage that led to Calgary's first goal. I've been a little disappointed with the whole third line so far.

Curtis Glencross: 0-2-2, +/- 2, 0 PIM
He seemed like he was all over the place tonight. He assisted on both of the Flames' goals and was part of some good scoring chances.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
The fact that he wasn't named the game's first star is borderline criminal.

Villain: Mikael Backlund
He scored both of Calgary's goals. Ouch.

Final Thought:
There really is no better way to watch a hockey game than sitting in Joe Louis Arena.