Red Wings vs. Ducks GP...

Red Wings: 5-5-1

Ducks: 5-5-3

Red Wings Zen:

Point and Laugh:

Video Candy:

Red Wings 4, Ducks 0: Post Game Snipes...

• I didn't get to watch this one live thanks to work, but thanks to the modern miracle of DVR technology (and the fact that I instructed my little sister to guard my scheduled recording with her life), I still got to see the Wings shut out the Ducks by a score of 4-0 for the second time this season. This game wasn't nearly as much fun as the first 4-0 win, but I'll take what I can get.
• Stop wearing your ugly third jerseys when you play the Wings! Even better: stop making ugly third jerseys in general. Ugliness aside, it's a smart business decision—if you're using them as a pull for extra attendance, don't waste them on a night when the Wings would've already drawn in extra fans for you anyway. Wear them when you play the Coyotes. Or just burn them. One or the other.
• The Wings got off to a pretty good start with Johan Franzen's goal less than two minutes into the game. They had the Ducks on their heels for most of the first period after that.
• Oh, Helm...you and your lack of finish. One of these days you're going to get some hands.
• The second period was much slower for the Wings. Anaheim took over late in the first after their powerplays and carried that momentum over to the next period. The Wings weathered the storm, though, thanks to Jimmy Howard and managed to add to their lead.
• We picked on Homer a little bit during this week's episode of TP:60. I like to think that inspired him to score his goal tonight. I'm sure he's a regular listener.
• Congrats to Henrik Zetterberg for picking up his 500th career point. It's fitting that the assist came on a Circus line goal.
• Hey, Corey Perry: you lose at life. (And hockey.)
• Were there any Ducks fans in the building tonight? The cheering was ridiculously loud after the Wings scored. That's got to be pretty embarrassing for the Ducks fans who were in attendance, although probably to a lesser degree than actually being a fan of a team that employs Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.
• Dan Cleary just keeps on rolling. I love it. I also loved his candidness during his second intermission interview.
• I was amused by the play near the end of the game where Zetterberg lost his stick and made a kick pass to center the puck. It would've been sweet if Cleary had scored on it.
• Filppula's goal with less than a minute left made me laugh. I loved the scoreboard symmetry to the season opener.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
It's really hard to not get the top honors when you pitch a shutout. He looked sharp tonight and more than earned his breather tomorrow.

Villain: Corey Perry
Anaheim would instantly become 8000% more likeable if he no longer played for them.

Final Thought:
When the Wings play the Ducks, I find myself inordinately distracted by Hiller's helmet. A large part of me wants to hate it, but there's also a part of me that thinks it's exceedingly awesome. I guess I'm still on the fence about it.

Red Wings 4, Ducks 0: Post Game Snipes...

• This was one of the most fun games I've ever been to. I went and bought a ticket last night on a whim and I'm so glad I did. It would've been more fun if I'd been sitting with the Commune, but the building may very well have exploded if we'd all been together for this. I think I'm going to make it a point to attend opening day from now on.
• Obviously, the big story is Pavel Datsyuk and his Gordie Howe hat trick. I kind of can't believe I witnessed that. Guess he's not taking home the Lady Byng this year.
• As much as I loved seeing him fight, I don't really want to see him do that again. It was a major relief that he didn't get hurt. As much as Corey Perry had it coming to him, it wouldn't have been worth it if the Wings had lost Datsyuk. Still though, the crowd chanting, “Datsyuk Datsyuk Datsyuk” as he was escorted to the penalty box was awesome. I love being at the Joe.
• There are some teams out there in the NHL that I can understand why their fans like them. I may not necessarily agree, but I can see why they might root for them. The Ducks are not one of those teams. They have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I was sitting near a Ducks fan at the Joe and I was really tempted to ask him that when things got ugly.
• I was also annoyed by the fans in the upper bowl who booed Ozzie when he was introduced before the game. Not cool.
• Jimmy answered all the sophomore slump worries by pitching a shutout in the first game. He had a pretty quiet evening, but he was there to make the saves that mattered.
• The Wings' first goal was quite pretty.
• Even better was getting to see Mike Modano's first goal as a Red Wing. The crowd was absolutely thrilled for him. You could tell it was more than just an average goal celebration in the stands.
• I was stunned when Dan Cleary's goal stood. As soon as the play happened, I figured it was no-goal, and based on the replays that were shown on the scoreboard at the Joe, I wouldn't have been particularly upset if the call on the ice had been upheld. Now that I've seen the replay on FSD, I'm even more shocked. Even Mickey Redmond didn't think it was a goal. Turns out that Toronto thought it was, “a good hockey goal.” Go figure.
• At one point during a commercial break, they had to replay a scoreboard marriage proposal because apparently the couple wasn't paying attention the first time it was shown. Nice.
• In the midst of all the good, I specifically remember some atrocious defensive zone turnovers by Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filppula, and Kronwall. 
• They were playing Don't Stop Believin' during Brad Stuart's fight. Shouting along with the crowd during the fight was epic. Another awesome moment came when they played Buttercup late in the third. The crowd kept singing after they cut the music for the faceoff, and continued throughout the whole play until we were drowned out by Hey Jude at the next stoppage. It felt like a playoff game at the end there.
• God I hate the Ducks.

Three Things:

1. There's a clean slate tonight. It's a chance to start over and start the march toward what we hope is a celebration in June. Here's hoping the boys start off on the right foot.
I'd call that a heck of a start to the season. If only every game would turn out to be that much fun.

2. How long are the defensive pairings going to stand as they are now?
Well, Ericsson left the game in the second period with back spasms and will be replaced by Kindl tomorrow, so that kind of threw a wrench in things.

3. I still flinch every time the Wings play the Ducks out of fear that the elbows will start flying. Let's just try to get out of opening night uninjured.
Well they lost Ericsson, but it's hard to know exactly what messed his back up. Other than that, the Wings seemed to have survived intact.

Players to Watch:

Darren Helm: 0-0-0, +/- 0, 0 PIM
Helm had a pretty quiet night. He won some faceoffs and did some good work on the penalty kill, but I didn't notice him a whole lot.  He did get some rare powerplay time at the end.

Aaron Voros: N/A
Well I really screwed this one up. I chose a guy who didn't play. I'm off to a great start here at ye olde blog this season.

Hero: Pavel Datsyuk
I love that man.

Villain: Ryan Getzlaf/Corey Perry
I can't stand those two. Way to be classy.

Final Thought:
Real, meaningful Red Wings hockey at the Joe is a glorious sight. I think we're going to have more fun this year than we did last time around.

Wings 3, Ducks 2 (OT): Post Game Snipes...

• I felt like the game was going to be a good one because during the pre-game show, Mickey York made an Elin Nordegren joke and then Ozzie almost nailed Ken Daniels with the puck while he was standing on the bench doing an intro. It didn’t let me down.
• Rafalski took a puck to the face during the first period and scared me half to death as he laid on the ice. He returned after receiving some stitches and ended up making a great play to knock a sure goal off of a Duck’s stick.
• I still don’t have any idea what happened during that scrum in front of the Wings’ net with two minutes left in the first. I thought the puck was in the net, but then the replay showed that it wasn’t. But it looked like the referee had signaled for a goal. Then they went to Toronto to review it and that should’ve made me feel better, but I didn’t get my hopes up because I’ve been burned in the past. they ended up getting the call right and the Wings got a powerplay out of the whole mess. This was a little weird because we had all assumed that Jimmy Howard was the one getting called for the penalty. Since the call was against Anaheim, whether or not the puck was in the net probably wasn’t relevant, but I’m okay with whatever was going on since they came to the right conclusion about the goal.
• The Wings’ PK hasn’t allowed a goal in the last 8 games. That’s incredible considering how dismal it was to start the season.
• The powerplay managed two goals tonight. This was especially exciting because I had almost forgotten that you could score on those things. They had 11 opportunities, though, so anything less would’ve been pretty pathetic.
• Brett Lebda got shaken up during the second period. It looked like something with his shoulder. While he was wandering around on the ice, Anaheim scored their first goal. The fact that the Wings sustained an injury and gave up a goal on the same shift pretty much sums up this season. He returned to the ice shortly after, so I don’t know what his problem was. I can tell you, though, that I’ve never been that relieved to see Lebda on the ice in my life.
• It is surprisingly frustrating to watch the game without a clock. Especially when there’s a powerplay.
• Howard made a couple of good saves on a scrum in the first. It felt like it took absolutely forever for the whistle to blow. I would’ve been pretty angry if the puck had gone in with all of those intent to blow calls and quick whistles that have gone against the Wings this season. One of the quotes of the night came from @mserven in response: “Holy mother of LaRue, what does a RW goalie need to do to get a whistle?” You can bet that “Holy mother of LaRue” will be popping up here at SSDD in the future.
• The Wings second goal looked an awful lot like the Ducks’ second goal. Maybe karma finally decided to turn in their favor.
• More fun came during the post-game interview when Trevor Thompson compared Todd Bertuzzi to a pre-teen. While sitting right next to him. It was a pretty gutsy move as far as I can tell. Bert, to his credit, didn’t kill him.
• Mickey York opened his game recap with this quote about Rafalski’s puck to the face: “The Wings needed another injury like they needed a hole in the head. And four minutes in, they got both.” I really can’t think of any way to follow that, so I’m just going to move onto the next section.
  

GP Answers:
1. Ville Leino makes his glorious and injury-mandated return to the lineup tonight. How will he respond to his benching and Babcock’s less-than-kind comments about him? Please let this little stint in the press box be more effective than the last one since it made absolutely no difference in his play.
He looked a little better tonight and picked up an assist on the Wings’ first goal. I still want him to do more, though.

2. I really feel like I should not have to go into every game wondering if the Wings are actually going to be able to put a puck in the net. But that’s what it has come to. I don’t know who’s starting for Anaheim, but they’re going to make the red light behind him turn on at least once tonight, right? Please.
There was a while there when I was wondering if the Wings were heading toward another two-game goalless streak, but they came through in the third period and overtime to win the game. Good lord, did that feel good.

3. Looking at the Wings’ lineup tonight makes me want to hide under the bed in the fetal position. I just…have trouble accepting that as their second line. Maybe this makes me arrogant, but is this for real? I think we’re all, as Jessie from Bingo Bango said, waiting find out that this season has been one big joke right from training camp. The Wings have been playing their games in undisclosed locations and those guys we’ve been watching lollygag around the ice are just impostors. Like in that movie Dave, except the real ones are healthy and not in a coma. And they’re just waiting to surprise us as a giant Christmas present.
Yes. That lineup was, in fact, real. And it even managed to eke out an overtime win. I don’t even know what to make of this season.

4. Every time the Wings play Anaheim, I have to ask myself the same question: What will the Ducks do tonight to make me hate them even more?
The Ducks answered this one during the second period on the play that began with Corey Perry elbowing Ville Leino in the face. Getzlaf chimed in with a hit on Abdelkader, who then ended up fighting with Perry. I use the term fighting generously because the only clip they really played showed Perry sitting on top of Abdelkader and wailing away. It was pretty classic Duck goonery. I did like Abdelkader’s spunk when he was flat on his back on the ice and still swinging at Perry.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Todd Bertuzzi
He scored two goals tonight, including the overtime winner. If that doesn’t earn you free dessert, I don’t know what does. His second goal came off of an absolutely ridiculous shot. Please, please let this carry over and get him on a roll.

Jimmy Howard gets the Golden Facepalm
He played pretty well again, but that second goal has to be stopped.

Pavel Datsyuk gets an Extra Facepalm (?—please help me come up with something better to call this.)
He had the game on his stick, wide open in front of the net during the final minute of regulation. If Bertuzzi hadn’t come along to save the day (No, I can’t believe I just typed that either.), Pav would’ve taken a lot of the blame.

What I learned:
No matter how many hours of hockey I watch and obsess over, there are still moments that can completely baffle me. And I kind of like that.

Wings 7, Ducks 4: Post Game Snipes...

• I live blogged the game from a bar tonight with two of my classmates. It was a pretty good moment in my college career. So if you happened to be out and about and you saw three people typing away on their laptops, there’s a pretty good chance it was us. I can't imagine that there were many other people out with a setup like that on Saturday night. I’m fairly certain our waitress thought we were nuts. Especially when we asked if there was any way we could move closer to an electrical outlet. Fun times. It probably would’ve turned out better if we hadn’t sat around talking the whole time instead of blogging. Maybe.
• Z scored a hat trick. Guess what I’ll be having for lunch tomorrow. I don’t think anyone else understood why I yelled, “Yes! Arby’s!” when he put it in the empty net. I’ve been coveting that for quite a while now, as it fits perfectly into my freegan lifestyle. He was buzzing all night. You just kind of had a sense that he was going to put one in eventually.
• The Wings looked excellent during the first period. I was pretty happy with their effort when they went to intermission. The second period was a little shaky, but they managed to escape with the lead. The third period was just...crazy-nutso, to quote the great Wayne Brady.
  
• During the third period, George Parros left his feet to hit Ericsson, driving his face into the boards. You know you got some good air when you manage to do that to the Big Rig.
• The Wings took a pretty obvious too many men on the ice penalty during the third. I was really confused because I was reasonably sure they were on the penalty kill, but there were actually 5 skaters on the ice. They realized and one of the guys bolted for the bench, but they got called anyway. This kind of made me wonder why that call couldn’t have been made in the Stanley Cup Finals. Apparently the NHL didn’t think of teaching their referees to count single digit numbers until this summer.
• Ericsson’s non-fight amused me a lot. While he never did quite get his helmet off, it was nice to see him step up and at least attempt to defend Z after he got mauled out in front of the net.
• It was nice to have a little confirmation that, yes, I do in fact still hate the Ducks.
  
• Cleary, Rafalski, and Helm also picked up goals for the Wings. Cleary's was briefly reviewed, and while I was fairly certain that it would count, after watching the video from last night's Toronto-Chicago game, I wasn't ready to take anything for granted.
  
• At one point, Brad Stuart made an awesome save in the crease. I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure this was his best game of the season.
• Zetterberg had a 5-point night. Datsyuk had a goal. Kronwall had two assists. I mention this because all three of them are on the fantasy team that I’m matched up against this week. It figures that they would choose now to wake up. I can’t really complain, though.
• The Wings have scored 19 goals in their last 3 games. Not bad for a team that had 1,192 goals walk away in the off-season, eh? They’ve also already equaled their win total for all of October so far this month. They currently sit exactly one point behind Chicago for the division lead. I’d also like to point out that the Wings have scored 10 goals more than the Hawks have thus far, for what it’s worth.
• No games until Wednesday again. I hate long breaks like this. Don’t people know that I need my hockey fix? I guess it’s a good opportunity to get Ozzie healthy, though.
  

Cookies and Cupcakes for Henrik Zetterberg
Z finally, finally hooked the citizens of Hockeytown up with our long-awaited free Arby’s. As if, you know, we needed another reason to love him.

Jonathan Ericsson gets the Golden Facepalm
You know why. He apparently thought Christmas came early and decided to gift wrap a goal for Corey Perry. I’ve watched the replay of this goal several times now and I still don’t understand what he was thinking or trying to do or looking at.

What I learned:
That there is, in fact, such a thing as free Arby’s.

Wings vs. Ducks GP...

Wings vs. Ducks @7 PM

1. Chris PYG may have departed from the formerly mighty Ducks, but there’re still plenty of goons to hate. So who’s going to make me want to throw things at the TV tonight? Perry? Getzlaf? Niedermayer? Someone’s bound to throw an elbow or two. I’d also steer clear of the press box if Bob Murray is in attendance, or at least make sure the seats are bolted down. Anaheim’s classiness doesn’t stop on the ice, sunshines.
2. I’m getting really tired of asking this question every day, but which Red Wings team is going to show up tonight? The one that absolutely walked all over Columbus or the one that had to rely on Jimmy Howard of all people to keep them in the game against the Canucks? I swear this team is schizophrenic.
3. Saturday’s aren’t always kind to us Wings fans. Will the boys put on a better show than they did last weekend?
4. There’s going to be a ceremony to honor Nick Lidstrom for his 1,000th point before the game tonight, so how long is it going to take the Wings to get their heads in the game? In addition to having a case of schizophrenia, I think this team has the attention span of a 3-year-old.
5. I’ve been assigned to live blog an event of my choosing for one of my classes. Since it was obviously a no-brainer to choose a Wings game, two of my classmates and I will be setting up shop at a bar tonight to run an event using Cover it Live. Yes, you read that correctly: I’m going to be doing homework on my laptop in a bar on Saturday night. I feel like it’s gong to be the ultimate college experience. How many strange looks will our little trio get? How many times are we going to be informed that we’re the ultimate nerds? It should be a rollicking good time, so feel free to join us.