- Friday night, it was the fourth liners who were featured on the scoresheet. Tonight, it was the stars who took over. Franzen, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Lidstrom each found the back of the net. That's a pretty awesome list.
- The Wings went three-for-seven on the powerplay tonight. It was nice to see them convert later on since there were so many missed opportunities in the first period. With the two late-game penalties that went against Calgary, it would've been a major failure if the Wings hadn't been able to convert to tie the game.
- Dan Cleary left the game after getting wrecked against the boards in the corner. There's still no word on his injury, but I'm guessing it won't be happy since he didn't return. Someone should start tracking players who are on the receiving end of big hits. Whereas Lidstrom almost never gets rocked, it seems like Dan Cleary gets laid out at least once every game. It's like he needs some convex mirrors mounted on the side of his helmet or something.
- Ericsson also left the game briefly after blocking a shot with his ankle. He was helped to the dressing room, but came back to finish the game. That was a relief because he's actually been playing well lately.
- The Wings' first intermission naptime evidently ran over because they were totally flat-footed at the beginning of the second when they allowed Calgary to take over the game.
- Defensive zone turnovers came back to bite the Wings again tonight in a big way.
- Datsyuk's goal was the result of his best Tomas Holmstrom impression.
- Zetterberg's first goal came off of another strong play on the puck. Z had a really quiet stretch there where it seemed like he was drifting, but lately he's been working his way through the defense with strength better.
- The last-second tying goal was a classic Eurotwins goal. It was even more exciting because when Calgary cleared the zone right before it, I said to my dog, “Well, that's game.” Then Datsyuk broke in, danced through the defense, and dished it off to Zetterberg for the shot. I loved the waterbottle pop, too. It made it that much more dramatic.
- Abdelkader threw a nice, clean hit at one point and then got jumped after the whistle by a Flame who felt that he needed to get revenge. They ended up getting offsetting minors for roughing. What a stupid mentality.
- Bert got a double minor midway through the third when he took an interference call and then was slapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (most likely for being named Todd Bertuzzi). I figured that was the end of the Wings' chances since even if they killed all four minutes off, they'd be eating up a huge amount of time off the clock. Shortly afterward, though, Calgary took a penalty of their own and Zetterberg scored on the ensuing four-on-four. All in all, it was a much better result from Bert's penalties than I was envisioning.
It was another typical early start. If someone understands the Wings' problems with games that don't begin at 7 or 7:30, I'd love an explanation.
2. Jimmy Howard didn't have his best game on Friday night. How will he rebound today?
Four goals against isn't great, but I wouldn't rag on him too much. One of them could've been a little soft, but the defense didn't really do him many favors tonight.
3. I'm still looking for the top line to get going again. The Eurotwins have really quieted down lately and the Wings are going to need them to get scoring again.
They took over the game in the third period in true Eurotwins fashion. It was the best they've looked in a few games.
Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
His two third period goals sent the game to overtime and set the Wings up to win the game. His last-second tying goal was as exciting as they come.
Villain: Jarome Iginla
It was so nice of him to regain his scoring touch just in time to face the Wings.
Final Thought:
The Wings have come out flat three games in a row. In those three games, they've picked up five out of a possible six points. Think the rest of the league is scared?
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