Red Wings vs. Blues GP...

Red Wings: 28-12-6

Blues: 22-17-6

Red Wing Zen:

Valtteri Filppula

11-16-27, +/- 1, 14 PIM

Point and Laugh:

David Backes

14-21-35, +/- 15, 58 PIM

Red Wings 5, Blues 2: Post Game Snipes...

• I headed down to the Joe with the lovely Sara Neuie for tonight's game. I think it's safe to say that we had a good time.
• We knew it was going to be a good night when we were walking on the concourse and came across a beer vendor who was singing Christmas carols, but replacing every syllable with the word 'beer.” I don't even like beer and it made my day. I spent my whole drive home singing beer songs along with my CD player. Seriously. Give it a whirl.
• I don't know who DJed tonight, but they should be banned from the building. It was the worst collection of “music” I've ever heard played there. I suspect it was our DJ friend from the Town Pump up there playing his stupid techno music. Seriously, a little rock here and there wouldn't have killed anybody. Techno “Jingle Bells” made me want to stab my ear drums. When they finally played a Bon Jovi song in the third period, I threw my arms up in the air and
• So that Nick Lidstrom guy...he's pretty good, eh? We were pulling for curly fries as soon as he scored his second goal. I was surprised to find out that that was his first career hat trick. It just seems like after all these years, he would've had one already. As far as I can recall, this was the first hat trick I've ever seen in person. It was perfect. The Perfect Hat Trick.
• I can promise you that yelling, “Curly Fries!” in the stands at the Joe was way more fun than yelling, “Junior Roast Beef Sandwich!” would've been. No contest.
• I'm going to map out every Arby's in a 20-mile radius and visit each one for my free Perfect Curly Fries tomorrow.
• Helm and Kronwall are the only two Wings who recorded a point tonight who aren't on one of my fantasy teams. It was a pretty lucrative night.
• It was Dollar Pretzel Night at the Joe. I don't know if I've mentioned it on here before, but I'm a big fan of carbs.
• I managed to complete the rare concession stand + bathroom trip in a single intermission. Anyone who frequents the Joe knows how impressive that is.
• We loved Kronwall's little kick after he scored his goal. We're pretty sure he learned it while drinking Captain and Kesler dancing at karate practice (no, that's not supposed to make sense to anyone but Neuie). I think the Kronner Kick should be part of all future goal celebrations.
• Henrik Zetterberg had four assists. That's...a lot.
• Datsyuk made most of the crowd at the Joe laugh in astonishment at least twice tonight.  Watching him play hockey is just pure fun.
• The Wings' penalty kill looked fantastic during their first kill. The Blues were barely able to enter the zone at all.
• You know who else looked good tonight despite not really factoring in on the scoresheet? Todd Bertuzzi.

Hero: Nick Lidstrom
This one's pretty obvious. He sent all of Hockeytown into a frenzy by buying us all lunch tomorrow. Thanks, Nick.

Villain: David Backes
He tried to destroy poor Homer along the boards. At least the Wings made the Blues pay on the ensuing powerplay.

Final Thought:
Going to Astoria for a victory celebration is more fun than going to Astoria to eat your feelings after a loss.

Red Wings 7, Blues 3: Post Game Snipes...

• This was one of the Wings' worst games of the season. I know you're thinking, “But Kris, they won by four goals. This is very true, however until they came alive in the third period, things were looking pretty ugly. There were turnovers galore and it seemed like the Wings couldn't complete a pass.
• The first goal of the game was batted into the Blues' net by Jaroslav Halak. Instead of clapping or cheering, I just sat there and laughed. It was enough to send my brother running into the room to see what was so funny.  Drew Miller ended up getting credit for the goal, but even he laughed it off.
• Jimmy Howard ended the first period with an absolutely killer save with fractions of a second left on the clock.
• Johan Franzen got called for a weaksauce holding call during the second period. Predictably, it led to a powerplay goal for the Blues. It always seems like it's the cheap calls that lead to pucks going in the net.
• Justin Abdelkader scored on a pretty deflection in front of the net to retie the game after the Blues' powerplay goal.
• Cleary continued his hot streak with two goals tonight. He's been unbelievable lately. I drafted him in one of my fantasy leagues and people said I was stupid for taking him so high. Who's laughing now, little bro?
• Zetterberg's goal came after he made a strong, strong play on the puck. It was nice to see the first line do something good since they hadn't done a whole lot up to that point.
• Kronner gave us all a scare when he took a blindside hit. He took his time getting up, but returned to the game afterward. Though it was blindside, it wasn't a headshot as it didn't look like any head contact was made in the couple of replays that were shown.
• That offensive outburst in the third period was a glimpse into what the Wings can do when they're firing on all cylinders. In a little over three minutes, they took over the game and turned a mediocre game into a lot of fun.
• The Wings scored their last two goals on the powerplay. Up until then, it had looked pretty ugly. Here's hoping that that success continues. The Wings are way too good to have such a lousy powerplay.
• Good job going after Jimmy at the end of a blowout, Backes.

1. The Wings had another lengthy break between games, having been off since Saturday. Will they be ready to go on time?
No, it was another one of those games where they don't show up to play at the start of the game. They really didn't wake up until the third period.

2. The Wings get to face off against Jaroslav Halak for the first time tonight. It definitely has the potential to be one of those games where the Wings skate circles around their opponent but can't seem to put a puck in the net.
That definitely wasn't the case tonight. Halak let in (scored on himself, really) a laughable goal to kick things off and then got lit up in the third. We got plenty of Jaroslav HaLOLk.

3. The Blues sit only two points behind the Wings for the Central Division lead. This could shape up to be the main battle for the Wings down the road. It'd be nice to be able to pick up a couple of points against a division rival to stay on top of the pack.
The Wings did indeed stay on top with what looked like a decisive win on the scoreboard, but wasn't really that great.

Hero: Dan Cleary
He turned in another two-goal performance. He's now in the midst of a six-game goal streak. Night in and night out, he's one of the hardest-working Wings on the ice, and it's nice to see him getting rewarded on the scoreboard.

Villain: David Backes
I don't care if he's an American hero. Going after Jimmy is a major offense. Plus, my bro wants to buy his jersey, and I consider wearing another team's logo to be an unforgivable sin.

Final Thought:
The Wings pulled off a win tonight that they didn't really deserve.  They definitely didn't deserve to win by four goals.