Saturday, November 20, 2010

Red Wings 3, Wild 4 (OT): Post Game Snipes...

  • I swear the Wings are trying to kill me. They waited until I was driving down the highway to tie the game and take the lead.
  • This recap is going to be even more jumbled than usual because due to real life commitments, more DVR deletion issues, and the lateness of the FSD replay, I watched the game in this order: last ten minutes of the third-overtime-second period-first ten minutes of the third-first period.
  • In the pre-game, Ken Daniels said that if you knew that Cal Clutterbuck was leading the Wild with 6 goals, you were a true hockey fan. I knew that. To be fair, it was only because the random number generator landed on his number for my GP, but I did know it. There you go: the Ken Daniels stamp of approval.
  • This wasn't Jimmy's best night. He's been on a roll lately, so he was bound to have an off-night at some point and he just didn't look as sharp as he usually is.
  • So since when did Rig learn how to play defense?
  • Is it really necessary to say, “Here comes Helm with good speed?” It seems kind of redundant.
  • Dan Cleary's goal-scoring streak finally came to an end tonight, but he still leads the team with nine goals on the season. Who called that at the beginning?
  • Cal Clutterbuck had the audacity to score a goal after I was kind enough to feature him in the Point and Laugh section of today's GP. Wait, hmm...okay.
  • Minnesota's first goal came right after Zetterberg's penalty expired, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well have been a powerplay goal. Even though he was out of the box, Z never got back into the play.
  • Ken Daniels mentioned that Helm was the only Wings forward without a goal at least two-hundred times. I'm pretty sure Helm finally went out and scored just to get him to stop.
  • Was it just me, or did it seem like Lidstrom's targeting computer was a little off tonight?
  • I hate the trap. I just thought everyone should know that.
  • The Wild really turned things on towards the end of the third period. I wasn't at all surprised when they scored. You could just kind of feel it coming.
  • Patrick Eaves scored the go-ahead-goal during the third period. Drew Miller “scored” on Wednesday. Not bad for a couple of guys rotating in and out of the lineup.
  • I really think the first intermission interview was the first time I've ever heard Ruslan Salei speak.
  • The Eurotwins looked uncharacteristically out of synch tonight.
  • The two goal reviews tonight were some of the most pointless reviews I've ever seen.
1. The Minnesota Wild bore me. I know that's not nice, but I'm pretty sure everybody but Minnesota fans agree with me.
Okay, there's no way Minnesota fans can't recognize how boring their team is. The folks in Minny are supposed to be smart hockey people, so they've got to see it too.  I can't fathom watching 82 whole games of that.

2. The powerplay had a bit of a resurgence during the third period last game. I'm hoping that'll be a spark that gets them going. Babcock is mixing up the units for tonight, so maybe they'll start to build some momentum.
It converted again when Johan Franzen scored during the third period. There's still a lot of room for improvement. Missing that five-on-three opportunity earlier in the game was unfortunate.

3. I want to see the top line get going again like they were at the start of the season. Will they be able to get back to dominance against a weaker Wild team tonight?
It was another quiet night for the Eurotwins. It's not a noticeable issue since the Wings are still picking up points, but you can't count on getting two goals from your fourth line every game.

Hero: Darren Helm
He was hustling all night long on the fourth line. He finally netted his first goal of the season meaning that all of the Wings forwards have now recorded at least one goal. Plus, he was thoughtful enough to score before I got in the car so there was no dangerous swerving.

Villain: John Madden
He sealed the deal with a goal in OT. The Wings had been looking pretty good through overtime until that point.

Final Thought:
I enjoyed the Wings' last game against the Wild much more than this one.

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