Red Wings 2, Predators 3: Post Game Snipes...

Hello, world; it's been a while.  I thought that moving back to Michigan would reignite my motivation to blog about the Wings, but I still wasn't feeling it.  It took the start of the playoffs to get me back in the swing of things.  I'm not sure what it was, but when I set out to pick up a friend to go watch the game tonight, I had all kinds of ideas running through my head.  So here we go.  I'm back -- at least for a little while.

• I'll be honest.  I didn't have a great feeling about the game all day.  Truth be told, I don't have a great feeling about the series in general, but that's how I've felt about every Wings playoff series ever.  Well, except for that time the Wings steamrolled the Avs in the second round a couple of years back, but I think that one was more of a surrender than a playoff series anyway.
• All those things we were worried about coming into the game (namely the penalty kill, powerplay, and defense) actually kind of worked.  Somehow the Wings still managed to lose.  If we're looking for positive things to take away from the game, these successes are pretty heartening.
• In a moment of weakness in the third period after one of the Wings' glorious open net chances that, according to every law of physics should've gone in, and taking into account Nashville's first two goals, I determined that the Wings weren't destined to pull this comeback off because they just didn't have any luck tonight.  To win in the playoffs, you need a lot of skill.  You need the drive and endurance to battle through every game.  You also, however, need a little bit of luck.  You need those fluky bounces to go your way.  The Wings just didn't have it tonight.  That can change, though.
• Goals like Nashville's first one are the number one reason why NHL playoff overtime is the most terrifying ordeal in sports. 
• I couldn't hear much of the commentary at the bar, but I'm assuming that there was a lot of "just like Modano" talk after Helm's injury.  It sounds pretty ugly.  I wish he'd sat out an extra game instead of rushing back from the knee injury for the opener.  I can't imagine him being back this season.  That's a huge loss for the Wings.
• The pre-game conversation in the referees' dressing room, at least in my mind: "Wow, these were the two least penalized teams in the league during the regular season; it's probably going to be a pretty boring night for us out there...  Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we called them for a dozen or so penalties?  Each?"  "Yeah, it would at least give us something to do out there.  Plus, I noticed this really hot chick sitting behind the scorers, so going over there to announce penalties all night will give me a chance to check her out."
• I hope Hank comes out mad in Game Two.  He usually dominates when he's all riled up.
• I doubt Weber will get suspended.  He probably deserves a game, but these are the playoffs and this is the NHL, and Zetterberg (we think) wasn't injured.  It'll give us something to bluster and rage about for the next couple of days, and if we're lucky, it'll light a fire under the Wings and give them some extra motivation, but I'd be shocked if any supplementary discipline came out of it.  But if Shanny wants to bench Weber for a game or two...I wouldn't complain.
• During one of the Wings' crazy powerplay chances, I slammed my hand onto an empty chair behind me and I was pretty sure that I broke a bone for a couple of minutes.  I'm fairly certain now that it's just fine, but it wouldn't have been the first time I've injured myself while watching playoff hockey.

Thoughts on the Realignment...

Now that I've finally had a chance to look at the realignment plans, I'm developing a deep sense of confusion. I actually feel like the NHL might've done something right. That doesn't happen very often, so it's going to take me a while to get used to that fact. It's not exactly what I would've drawn up in a perfect world, but it's a heck of a lot better than the current system. At least for the Wings and Columbus. It doesn't seem like it affects other teams nearly as much.

(Sidenote: All of these news articles are describing the decision as “radical.” Is it really that radical? The new Conferences don't deviate a whole lot from the way things are now.)

I think the thing that bothers me the most is the fact that the Florida teams are grouped together with the northern teams in the East. It just doesn't make sense to me, and things like that tend to annoy me forever. Also, through my Wings-fan goggles, it seems an awful lot like pandering to teams like Pittsburgh, Philly, and Washington. On that note, funny how the coddled little Eastern teams ended up in the smaller divisions, eh?

I'm also not super excited about having to see the same old boring Central Division teams over and over again, but that has a lot to do with the current quality of competition. A couple of years down the road, those teams could change a lot and make life interesting. Well, maybe not Columbus, but you get the idea.

Mostly though, I like the fact that the Wings' travel is going to be cut down significantly. This makes the biggest difference in the playoffs. I've said for years that there would be at least two extra Stanley Cup banners hanging in the rafters from the last decade if the Wings had been in the Eastern Conference. Think about how much easier all of those long playoff runs would've been if they hadn't included multiple trips to the west coast. I've always secretly enjoyed the west coast roadtrips because I like staying up for the late games, but I recognize that I'm kind of strange in that sense.

I think my favorite part of the plan is the potential reseeding after the second round of the playoffs. It opens up a whole array of Finals match-ups that could never happen in the current format. Imagine if the Wings had been able to face the Avs in the Stanley Cup Finals during the rivalry years when they were the league's two best teams by a mile. Imagine the possibility of a “Subway Series” with the Rangers and Islanders matched up in the Finals. (That one was a joke, ok?) The league's top two teams should have the ability to play for the Cup in the Finals, even if they both happen to be from the same Conference.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings: 16-7-1

Avalanche: 12-13-1

Season Series: 2-0

Red Wings Zen:

Point and Laugh:

Video Candy:

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings: 6-5-1

Avalanche: 7-6-1

Red Wings Zen:

Point and Laugh:

Video Candy:

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings 1-0-0

Avalanche 0-0-0

Red Wings Zen:

Point and Laugh:

Photobomb!

Video Candy:

Weekly Wrap-Up Volume Seventeen...

Caption Mondays: The general consensus this week was that the gentlemen in the stands were checking out Henrik Zetterberg. In light of that, here are two sets of captions for your reading pleasure.

From Norm:
Linesman: "Hey 40, those guys behind the glass-are they checking you out too, or just me?"
Zetterberg: (silence)

From Sara Neuie:
Zebra: I just don't get it man... I'm not a bad-looking fella, I'm tall, I've got a job with authority, why can't I get a girl?
Hank (gnaws on mouthguard): I'm telling you, chicks dig beards. Especially Swedish chicks.
Zebra: Really? You think that'd work?
Hank: Well, whatever you do, don't go around making faces like the guys behind us...

Trivia Tuesdays: Clark beat TimFill to the punch this week. That'll teach you to read things, Tim.

This week's question: The Wings hold the record for most home overtime losses in a single playoff run. How many OT losses did they have? What year did they set this record?

The Answer: They set this record during the '02 Cup run with four home overtime losses. One was against Vancouver, two were against Colorado, and one was in the Finals against Carolina.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings: 27-10-5

Avalanche: 21-15-6

Red Wing Zen:

Darren Helm

4-12-16, +/- 7, 6 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Philippe Dupuis

3-8-11, +/- 6, 19 PIM

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

• First of all: congrats to the old man on win #400 tonight. You kids stay off his lawn now, you hear?
• This game was a tale of two Ozzies. The second goal he gave up in the first period was incredibly typical of his play for the last two seasons. Then, he somehow found another gear and played like a crazy man for the rest of the game, looking like he did back in the '09 playoffs.
• I loved the celebration after the game. I especially loved the fact that Draper was the first one out to congratulate the old man.
• As those of you in the twitter crowd know, Jenn Ho caught Ozzie drinking a Pepsi during practice on the first day of training camp this fall. I don't think it's a coincidence that he played like that in the Pepsi Center.
• So that Jiri Hudler guy scored a goal. I'm not sure what's up with that.
• During an interview, he referred to Tomas Holmstrom as a “Swedish Terminator.” I loved it. I loved it a lot.
• How about the powerplay tonight? It was absolutely lethal.
• Did the Wings even touch the puck during the second period? It's been a while since I've seen them get worked over like that. Ozzie absolutely stole the game for them during that stretch. He was especially spectacular during the 5-on-3 kill.
• Toward the end of the game, the Wings fans in attendance got a couple of, “Ozzie! Ozzie!” chants going. I want to track each and every one of them down and hug them. Way to represent Hockeytown.
• That late-game tying goal was oh-so-reminiscent of the game against Dallas. I was crushed. I was sure the Wings were going to blow it for Ozzie. Luckily, the Wings got a powerplay late in OT and were able to salvage the victory for him.
• I'm not normally one to talk to my TV and try to vicariously coach the players (the playoffs being the obvious and understandable exception, of course), but this game had me mumbling things about shooting lanes and making shots count during OT.
• Jan Mursak wasn't terribly noticeable, which is good for a rookie making his NHL debut. The one thing (other than the penalty he took) that stood out was when he hustled back to negate a break for the Avs. It was a small play, but it stood out in my mind.
• How many times over the course of your Wings fandom has there been an odd-man rush against the Wings that's caused you to panic until that glorious moment when you realize that Nick Lidstrom is the man back? As soon as you see TPH back there, it seems like the odds are suddenly stacked in the Wings' favor, despite being outnumbered on the rush. Please don't ever leave us, Nick.

Hero: Chris Osgood
The old man stole the show tonight. It would've been good form to make him the hero on the night of his 400th win as a congratulatory measure, but this honor (Oh look, I've gone and developed an exaggerated sense of self-importance.) was earned, not given out of a sense of decorum. I want to see more of this edition of Ozzie.

Villain: Matt Duchene
He opened the scoring for the Avs in the first period, and then almost ruined the game by tying it up late in the third.

Final Thought:
Even the most die hard of Ozzie haters has to feel good for the guy tonight. It's been a long time coming.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings: 22-9-4

Avalanche: 19-12-4

Red Wing Zen:

Brad Stuart

2-9-11, +/- 5, 24 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Daniel Winnik

5-8-13, +/- 5, 16 PIM

Red Wings 3, Avalanche 1: Post Game Snipes...

• Bert's goal came on a shot that was just nasty. I could watch the replay all day long.
• Shortly afterward, Mule attempted the same shot Bert scored on from the other side of the rink like he was playing a game of H-O-R-S-E. Sadly, he was not successful. I guess that means he gets an H.
• Lidstrom extended his point streak to 11 games. Pavel Datsyuk did not.
• After two periods of total domination, the Wings decided to stop skating during most of the third. After Colorado finally got on the board, they really turned things up for a while and I thought they were going to score again and really make things interesting. The Wings looked a little better during the last five minutes.
• There was only one commercial break during the third period. It didn't come until 3:20 left in the period. If I'm not mistaken, the teams played almost nine minutes without a whistle.
• Eaves took a holding penalty in the third period. He definitely didn't get his money's worth for that one.
• Dan Cleary has been unstoppable lately. He's scored in five straight games now.

1. Jiri Hudler finally made an impact in the game on Thursday. Was that enough to wake him up and get him going or is he going to go back to being invisible again tonight?
The little guy finally put a puck in the net. Well, actually, he banked it in off of Budaj's skate. The result is all that really matters, though. Here's hoping he's finally going to look like the player the Wings thought they were getting back this season.

2. Now that Mule finally netted #100, is he going to go on one of his tears again? I certainly hope so.
Franzen picked up an assist on TAWD's powerplay goal in the first period. He didn't manage to score any of his own, but he looked threatening. It would've been nice to have seen him capitalize on that breakaway he #Eavesed.

3. Courtney, one of the co-founders of the other blog I write for—Chicks Who Give a Puck—is an Avs fan. In light of that, I think it'd be fun if everyone spent the day tweeting her to let her know where your allegiance lies for tonight's game. She's a good sport, so give her some good-natured joshing today. I'll let you know if we're still on speaking terms in the recap tonight.
Now that the game is over, we're all on the same side again. Liz, Ellen, and I get to retain CWGAP bragging rights now, though.

Hero: TAWD Bertuzzi
This was one of those nights when Bert looked like a giant (maybe a viking? A giant viking?) pillaging his way through some peaceful little medieval village. He was blasting through town, out-muscling the men, and rounding up kittens like a takeout meal.

Villain: John-Michael Liles
He broke the shutout in the third period. It added a little drama to the game and made things interesting, but it would've been nice to see Jimmy pick up the shutout.

Final Thought:
The Wings just keep on rolling.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings: 10-3-1

Avalanche: 8-6-1

1. Jiri Hudler finally made an impact in the game on Thursday. Was that enough to wake him up and get him going or is he going to go back to being invisible again tonight?
2. Now that Mule finally netted #100, is he going to go on one of his tears again? I certainly hope so.
3. Courtney, one of the co-founders of the other blog I write for—Chicks Who Give a Puck—is an Avs fan. In light of that, I think it'd be fun if everyone spent the day tweeting her to let her know where your allegiance lies for tonight's game. She's a good sport, so give her some good-natured joshing today. I'll let you know if we're still on speaking terms in the recap tonight.

Red Wing Zen:

Johan Franzen

7-3-10, +/- 4, 8 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Jonas Holos

0-2-2, +/- 4, 2 PIM

Red Wings 4, Avalanche 5 (SO): Post Game Snipes...

• I missed almost half of the game again due to work. At least we get Versus (unlike FSD...ahem Dish Network) there so I got to glance at the game a little bit.
• I wasn't terribly impressed with what I saw. The Wings gave away a point tonight, and while I find that frustrating, there were several times last season when we would've been breathing a sigh of relief and saying, “thank god they at least picked up a loser point.”
• TAWD (the NHL's official pronunciation guide tells me that this is how his name should be pronounced and by golly I wouldn't want to offend Bertuzzi, so I'll probably never type Todd on this blog again) and the Mule seem to be clicking quite well. Franzen had a pair of pretty goals and seems to be well on his way to that breakout season we've been looking for from him. TAWD's actually been doing good work, meaning that someone in the organization finally found an adequate supply of kittens and glitter with which to stock the locker room.
• DUHG Janik got into a fight. He didn't do a very good job. The way it's been explained to me, you're supposed to hit your opponent in the face with your fists in those types of situations, and he really didn't manage to do that.
• Jimmy Howard looked surprisingly good in the shootout. It's a shame the Wings' shooters couldn't accomplish anything.
• Has anyone ever come up with an explanation for why Henrik Zetterberg is so bad at shootouts? I feel like he should be much, much better.
• Speaking of Z, I could've sworn the Versus announcer was calling him Zett-a-berg instead of Zett-er-berg. I don't know if I'm hearing things or if it was bothering other folks out there. I also thought I heard him describe Brad Stuart as a “flashing defenseman” so there's the possibility that I'm just losing my mind.
• I was thinking during the second intermission that the fourth line was the only one that hadn't scored a goal yet. Then Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves went and combined for a shorthanded goal in the third period. It was quite pretty.
• Pavel Datsyuk's goal was also rather nice.
• The best play I saw from the Wings came during overtime. I really thought they were going to put the puck in the net with the way they were buzzing. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and we were forced to endure the first Wings shootout of the season.
• My dad took that opportunity to insist that I should've aggressively sought out Mike Babcock when we were up at training camp to relay the message that he should have the Wings practice shootouts.  I'm sure that would've gone well.

Hat Trick (now containing a goal, an observation, and a question):
1. I want to see the powerplay make me smile.
It converted in the second period. You can't ask for much more than that. It would've been nice if the Wings had gotten more than one chance on it.

2. There's a good possibility that the combination of the Avs and Versus is going to make me stabby tonight.
Oh yes, stabbiness ensued. For some reason, Versus only comes in on the one TV that has the DVR hooked up to it. This means that the other three TVs I have access to in my house won't play it. However, the rest of the family was watching their recording of Glee instead of acting like civilized people who watch hockey and I was stuck watching a choppy feed on my laptop. None of this would've happened if we'd just been able to watch FSD.

3. The first game was headlined by the top line, and the second game by the second line. Who's going to lead the way tonight?
There was a pretty good mix tonight. There was a little bit of scoring from all over the forward lineup. It's interesting, though, that no defensemen have scored for the Wings yet.


I've Got My Eye on You:

Pavel Datsyuk: 1-0-1 +/- 0, 0 PIM
Pav's goal on the powerplay was quite nice.  He looked particularly good during overtime.  It's a pity he couldn't convert in the shootout.

Scott Hannan: 0-0-0, +/- 0, 0 PIM
The feed I was watching was too grainy and stilted to pick out much in the way of jersey names/numbers so I don't have anything to say about him. It was all I could do to keep track of the Wings out on the ice.

Hero: Johan Franzen
A two-goal night is usually enough to qualify for game hero status. I'm especially fond of the way he scored his second goal. (Yes, I copy/pasted that from the last recap. Why mess with perfection, right?)

Villain: Brandon Yip
You could pretty much see where the shootout was heading when none of the Wings' top guys could put the puck in the net. He sealed the deal by finally beating Jimmy Howard and thus reminding all of Hockeytown why we hate shootouts so much.

Final Thought:
I still hate the shootout.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Red Wings: 2-0-0

Avalanche: 1-1-0

Hat Trick (now containing a goal, an observation, and a question):
1. I want to see the powerplay make me smile.
2. There's a good possibility that the combination of the Avs and Versus is going to make me stabby tonight.
3. The first game was headlined by the top line, and the second game by the second line. Who's going to lead the way tonight?

I've Got My Eye on You:

Pavel Datsyuk

1-1-2, +/- 2, 5 PIM

Pav stole the show on Friday night with his Gordie Howe hat trick for the ages. He's one of the few players who can guarantee you at least one “how did he DO that?!” moment per game. It's always fun to see what he has in store night after night.

Scott Hannan

0-0-0, +/- -3, 0 PIM

Hannan (ironically pictured in a Sharks uniform face-washing Peter Forsberg above) is a shut down defenseman who spent several seasons in San Jose before heading over to Colorado three seasons ago. He was apparently an all-star once, which I'm assuming is a little-known fact since I had no idea about it.

2010-2011 Player Profiles: Ruslan Salei...

Hey, kids, guess what? Hockey's almost here. That means it's time for me to get back into this whole blogging thing that I've neglected during the off-season. Since I lack the creativity to come up with a new gimmick, I decided to continue the Player Profiles series I did last year leading up to the season. I'll be taking a look at a different player (almost) every day between now and when hockey starts. By my count, there are 5 days until the Wings open the regular season. Get excited. Today's subject:

Ruslan Salei

2009-2010 Regular Season: 14 GP, 1-5-6, +/- -1, 10 PIM

2010 Playoffs: 1 GP, 0-0-0, +/- 0, 0 PIM

Season Highlight: ?

Season Lowlight: Sitting out most of the season. Also, playing for Colorado.

When I read about Salei's signing, I was kind of meh about it. I didn't really care one way or another. Now, after seeing him at training camp and in the pre-season, I think we're looking at yet another steal by Kenny Holland. He looks solid out there. He's making good decisions with the puck and provides a steady veteran presence on the third pairing that can hopefully counter Jonathan Ericsson's mistakes.

I think he's exactly the kind of guy the Wings need on the third pairing. If he can stay healthy, he's going to turn out to be a good, solid acquisition. He's not flashy and he's not going to dazzle anyone, but that's not his role. He's going to eat up minutes and be a defensive presence that will hopefully rub off on Ericsson or, down the road, Jakub Kindl.

What he needs to do to make me smile: Be smart with the puck.

Adventures of A Red Wings Packrat: Voodoo Doll Edition...

I recently discovered that I have an entire drawer full of Red Wings merchandise. I also have several shelves in my room devoted to the Wing-related memorabilia that I’ve collected over the years (I’m the world’s biggest packrat). Some of the stuff is pretty odd, and since I have nothing better to do this week, I thought I’d write about some of them.

Many of you may recognize this little beauty. It’s the Patrick Roy voodoo doll that the Free Press printed during the Wings-Avs series in ’02. It’s the original newsprint stuffed with Kleenex and sealed with staples. It really is a piece of artwork. During that series, we printed off several copies of the voodoo doll and they were abused in various ways. One found a permanent home underneath the bedpost in my brothers’ semi-bunk beds. It was subsequently forgotten and discovered months later. Another copy was repeatedly thrown against the wall in the family room when the Wings were firing shots on him. If I recall correctly, one of my brothers went the traditional route and stabbed one of the copies with a pin over and over again. For my part, I had another copy that I just shook nervously whenever the puck was in play (well, right up until about halfway through the first period of Game 7).

This particular version, being the original, got treated a little better than the others. As the only surviving voodoo doll (that we know of…who knows what we’ll find in my brothers’ rooms?), it’s enjoyed a place on my memorabilia shelf for the last eight years. In related news, the fact that it’s been eight years since the ’02 Cup makes me feel really old. My personal favorite touch is the 666 on the back.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of my random collections. Next up is Nick Lidstrom’s beer bottle. How did I acquire that, you ask? Tune in next time I decide to stop being lazy and write another one of these to find out.

Hockeytown Garage Sale...

Last weekend, I met up with Amanda and Courtney at Hockeytown Authentics for the used equipment garage sale. We had a blast even though I’m pretty sure everyone else in attendance thought we were raving lunatics. That’s actually pretty par for the course for me as I often wonder why society lets me venture out in public.

We had a great time geeking out over the game-used jerseys, sticks, skates, and gloves. Amanda and I fist-bumped with Zetterberg’s used gloves. We totally felt the Eurotwin power in that moment. We were also amused by the fact that I was able to walk up to a pile of skates on a table and immediately pick out Z’s. Malik was not impressed with my equipment identification skills though. He says it was too easy. Whatever.

Another highlight was the Brett Lebda jersey and autographed stick. You’d better believe there was some RAAAAGGGGHHHHing going on when we posed for pictures with those.

One of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen was hidden away on a shelf at the store. This is a sleeping bag meant to look like a hockey player. The head is a detachable pillow so when you’re not using your sleeping bag (that feels like it’s lined with plastic grocery bags) you can cuddle with the disembodied head. It was selling for $50. For $5, I would’ve bought it just to use as a conversation piece.


The best moment, though, had to be when Courtney found a little goal light on a stick. She turned it on and commented that it would be a lot more fun if it made the goal horn noise too. Naturally, I whipped out my cell phone and played the goal horn ringtone on repeat. Then we took a video and pretended to celebrate the imaginary goal. It was pretty clear that everyone around us thought we were insane. This was the result:



Other things that amused us:

• Homer’s stick with absolutely no curve.
• The many repairs done to Homer’s game-worn sweater.
• Realizing that Ericsson's stick is taller than I am.
• Datsyuk’s pants that had giant holes cut into them and hemmed that way.
• Getting into Draper’s pants.
• The wide variety of Pasha sticks.
• Discovering a horrific puck bunny t-shirt. None of use even understood what correlation “It’s raining men” had with the Wings or hockey.
• Used equipment bags were selling for $500-700. As far as I could tell, all of the players’ numbers were accounted for so I don’t know that anyone actually purchased one.
• Amazing kids’ helmet-style hats and inexplicably green Cat in the Hat-esque ones.

I didn’t buy any of the equipment, but I did raid the autographed book clearance table. I snagged a copy of 48 Hours with the Detroit Red Wings that was autographed by Brett Hull and On Tour with the Red Wings & Stanley 2008 signed by Homer. The 48 Hours book has a busted dust jacket, but both of them were way below list price. I also picked up birthday presents for my three siblings and a coloring book for myself for a grand total of $68. The coloring book has a jersey math section. I love it. I’d consider our visit a success. I really had no intention of buying anything because I didn’t figure I’d find anything in my price range.

After our adventures at the store, we walked next door and hung out at Joe Kool’s talking hockey for a couple of hours. We reminisced about the good old days of the Wings-Avs rivalry (Courtney’s a die hard Colorado fan) and how much we missed hating each other’s teams. We talked about the Tomas Holmstrom-Dustin Byfuglien debate and why we think Homer’s in a class of his own. We told the story of H2H. I got a ridiculously small yet overpriced pizza. The whole day was fabulous. Check out the rest of the pictures on Photobucket.

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

• This game was right out of the How to Beat the Red Wings textbook. I hate outings like this.
• Of course, it didn’t help that the Wings completely went to sleep during the second period. I guess they were bound to have a bad effort after they’ve been on such a roll.
• I really hate these “At least we got a point?!” games. They’re no fun at all.
• On one shift Shea Weber had both Lilja and Filppula limping after blocking his shots. Ken Daniels (I think it was him.) called Lilja a tripod, which is something I’m just going to leave alone. Surprising absolutely no one, the Predators scored shortly afterward. I really think the boys should be discouraged from trying to block his shots. It rarely works out well.
• The Preds’ first goal bounced in off of Homer’s stick. They’re second bounced in off of Z’s skate. It was a typical stifling trap game capitalizing on a couple of lucky bounces.
• Nick Lidstrom wiped out and got walked around for a great scoring chance during the third period. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before. He almost looked human for a fraction of a second there. It was weird.
• It’s really exciting that Datsyuk is starting to take more shots like the one that sent the game to overtime. We’ve been talking about the need for more shoot all season long, and these last few games have showed why that’s so important.
• Sixteen seconds into overtime? Seriously? At least they got a point.
• During the post-game, Mickey York made fun of Barry Trotz’s lack of a neck. Then he called Erat a figure skater. My appreciation for him rose infinitely.
• In other news, I went to the scavenger hunt this morning. My mom and I teamed up with high hopes for a victory, but we were derailed by a failure in communication. I jumped in the car and yelled for her to drive to Hockeytown Café, which she interpreted to mean Hockeytown Authentics. I was so busy eating the Stanley Cupcake we had made at the bakery that I didn’t notice that we were going the wrong direction until three miles later. Once we finally made it to the right Hockeytown and realized that we had been eliminated, we tried to help my dad and sister by googling things on our phones. It didn’t help. They were busy driving up and down Jefferson in Grosse Pointe. When they finally did find the Timmy’s they were looking for, my dad couldn’t drink the iced coffee fast enough anyway.
• I’m really in love with the cupcakes we got at the start of the scavenger hunt. They totally made getting up early worthwhile.
• We seriously debated letting the air out of my dad’s tires and stealing his spark plugs before we left for the scavenger hunt. That would’ve been pretty awesome.
• Congrats to Sara and Greta for winning the suite tickets. I was really glad that they went to folks that I know.
  

GP Answers:
1. The Wings need three points to clinch a playoff spot. These two points are huge in terms of securing a place in the postseason and trying to pass Nashville for the fifth seed. Are they going to bring themselves that much closer to where we all know they belong?
Well, they got the one. Now they just need one more victory to guarantee a spot. Or, they could wait for Colorado or Calgary to lose, but I like my first idea better. They still have two games in hand on Nashville, so fifth place isn’t out of the question, but it would’ve been nice to pick up the points in the head-to-head matchup today.

2. Again with the sixty minutes thing. Babcock has pointed out that the last two games haven’t been ideal efforts. Now’s the time to get that sorted out and back on track. Can the boys play a complete game?
The first and third periods weren’t terrible, but the second was a nightmare. Not only was it dominated by Nashville, but it was also boring.

3. Is anyone going to score a goal this time around?
There were plenty of goals to go around. They just didn’t quite fall to the right side. Although to be fair, most of the scoring was technically done by the Wings, as two of Nashville’s goals went in off of Detroit forwards.

4. What ridiculous thing is Bertuzzi going to do in an attempt to score? On Thursday, he spiked the puck into the net, put one in with his skate—an extremely borderline success, and smacked the goalie in the face with his stick. I’m telling you, there’s a header coming.
He didn’t do anything special that I noticed. He did look like he was about to kill Dan Hamhuis at one point. That particular altercation led to Bertuzzi in the box negating a Wings powerplay. I’m still not sure why coincidental minors weren’t handed out there, but I suspect it had something to do with the fact that Bertuzzi was trying to murder someone again.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
See, Pav? This is why we need more shoot! Aside from that goal, he was all over the ice this afternoon. He set up one goal while sitting on his butt on the ice after falling down. He’s been displaying a lot of Dangle Dangle magic over these last couple of games.

Composite Sticks get the Golden Facepalm
Draper’s broken stick led to one of Nashville’s goals, and later on Franzen’s stick literally disintegrated in his hands to negate a brilliant scoring chance. I have a sneaky suspicion that Mickey Redmond’s going to break into the Wings’ locker room tonight and replace all of their sticks with wood ones.

What I Learned:
There should really be a federal law banning the trap. This goes beyond the scope of the NHL. It needs to be an act of Congress.

Red Wings vs. Canucks GP...

1. The last time the Wings won three games in a row was in a different century (or at least that’s what it feels like). Can they make it three in a row tonight?
2. Can the powerplay actually keep working consistently after a good performance against Colorado on Monday?
3. How is Lilja going to hold up in his second game back? This is when his conditioning should start catching up to him.
4. Just how Danglelicious is Pavel Datsyuk going to be tonight?
5. How many goals are going to be called off because of Tomas Holmstrom’s behind?

Red Wings 3, Avalanche 2: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings looked good in the first period. They had a lot of energy and carried the play. They even had a two-goal lead to show for it.
• All that momentum got taken away midway through the second period when Kerry Fraser waved off a Franzen goal on yet another weak call against the Wings. It just blows my mind how regularly this has happened this season. Maybe it’s because I’m sweating games out more than I usually do, but I can’t ever remember this many obnoxiously bad calls going against the Wings at crucial moments.
• Predictably, after the bad call, the Avs started to carry the play and tied up the game shortly thereafter. As much as I missed the Wings during the Olympic break, I did not miss the NHL one bit. I just wish there was some way the Wings could exist in a fantasy world where we didn’t have to deal with Little Gary and his league of crackpots.
• I think Tomas Holmstrom kicked Fraser’s dog over the break or something. Yeah, that must be it.
• The versus announcers said that Datsyuk had been, “Danglelicious all night.” This could be this season’s version of fabulosity. It’s been over a year since that beautiful quote, and I’m proud to say that it’s still a regular part of my vocabulary. In fact, only West Wing quotes and an insult sequence from In the Heat of the Night are in the same range of television-inspired quotations in my life. Make it stick.
• Some intrepid folks on Twitter have begun cobbling together a Beyonce parody for Danglelicious: I’ve joined forces with @mpetrella, @mserven, and @beanie168. Read and enjoy.
• It was weird to see the powerplay convert.
• McCarty made a good argument in favor of NHL participation in the Olympics during the post-game show. Because I needed another reason to love the guy.
  
• That’s all I’ve got. I’m out of mid-season blogging shape after that long break. I’m going to have to get my game legs (fingers?) back.
  

GP Answers:
1. Are the Wings going to come out of the Olympic break as dazed and confused as I am? Or can they continue playing like they did against Ottawa before the break? (That happened this century, right? It’s been a while.)
They looked stunningly good during the first period. It’s amazing how refreshing that is after this season.

2. How will the Wings’ Olympians fare after their short break? Only Rafalski played yesterday so the rest of the team should be in pretty good shape. Honestly, Sweden and Russia getting knocked out early might’ve been the best thing to happen to the Wings in a long time.
Rafalski looked fine. There was some debate about whether he would play or not, but playing yesterday didn’t seem to affect him at all. I wanted Sweden and Russia to do well for the Wings who were playing for their countries, but since I’m neither Swedish nor Russian, my loyalty to the Wings is much stronger. Those extra few days of rest for the Wings’ big guns could pay dividends down the road.

3. Lilja’s slated to make his long-awaited return to NHL action tonight. It should be interesting, to say the least. How is that going to work out for him and the team? It sure would be a shame to have put Maltby out of action for the rest of the season to make room for the old, turnover-machine version of Lilja.
Honestly, I barely noticed him. The boxscore tells me that he played 9:28 and was -1, but aside from a couple of random times, I didn’t see him do much. Then again, I spent most of the third period laughing about song parodies, so it’s possible that I missed something. Kudos to him for working to get back in the NHL though. I probably would’ve just given up and fallen into deep despair after the first two weeks of constant headaches, let alone almost a full year of them.

4. Can Rafalski bring his stellar Olympic play back to the Wings? If he plays like that down the stretch, things are going to be looking happier around here.
He wasn’t spectacular, but he was just fine.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Pavel Datsyuk
He was, of course, Danglelicious.

Tomas Holmstrom gets the Golden Facepalm
A veteran like him should know better than to go out kicking referees’ dogs before important hockey games. Shame on him.

What I Learned:
Nothing compares to Red Wings hockey. For better or for worse.

Red Wings vs. Avalanche GP...

Yesterday, midway through the USA-Canada game, I realized that the Wings were back in action tonight. I’d actually completely forgotten that, which is a testament to how much I enjoyed the Olympics. After spending the last two weeks planted in front of my TV for most of the day watching every second of Olympic coverage, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with my life. I’d be 100% okay if they decided to have the Olympics every day. In order to fill the void left by the sudden lack of curling, ski jumping, aerials, and biathlon, I guess I’ll have to get back in the swing of blogging.

Before I return to the Wings, though, I have to say that the game yesterday was incredible. The two teams could not have made a better argument for NHL participation in the Olympics if they had brought flow charts and bar graphs. I was absolutely ecstatic when we tied the game in the final minute. Not even I, the ultimate homer, thought that Team USA would medal in these Olympics, so taking Canada to overtime in the gold medal game was incredible. Honestly, the thing that I’m most upset about is the fact that it had to be Crosby who scored the OT winner. He did next to nothing all tournament, but that’s not going to stop him from having statues erected in his honor all over Canada. I would’ve been more than okay if it had been Iginla, who I’ve always respected, or Nash who I have no issues with despite his status as a consistent Wing-destroyer. On the other hand, the shot of Yzerman and co. jumping up in the air after the goal made me feel a lot better. I’m glad Stevie isn’t going to have his Canadian citizenship revoked now.

1. Are the Wings going to come out of the Olympic break as dazed and confused as I am? Or can they continue playing like they did against Ottawa before the break? (That happened this century, right? It’s been a while.)
2. How will the Wings’ Olympians fare after their short break? Only Rafalski played yesterday so the rest of the team should be in pretty good shape. Honestly, Sweden and Russia getting knocked out early might’ve been the best thing to happen to the Wings in a long time.
3. Lilja’s slated to make his long-awaited return to NHL action tonight. It should be interesting, to say the least. How is that going to work out for him and the team? It sure would be a shame to have put Maltby out of action for the rest of the season to make room for the old, turnover-machine version of Lilja.
4. Can Rafalski bring his stellar Olympic play back to the Wings? If he plays like that down the stretch, things are going to be looking happier around here.