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

• I don't know what the first period looked like. I also don't know what all but the final 1:22 of the second period looked like. Why? Nobody's been able to explain that to me. Somehow, the recording that I had set to begin at 7:30 didn't begin until 9:06.
• I'm told that the first two periods weren't that exciting anyway, so maybe it's better that I only got to watch the third period. Sadly, I also missed overtime for other DVR failure-related reasons.
• What I did get to see of the third period looked like solid Red Wings hockey. The Wings were carrying the play to the Coyotes and playing their standard puck-possession game.
• You know what Justin Abdelkader has done since coming back into the lineup? He's made those around him better.
• You know what Jiri Hudler has done? Nothing.
• How nice was it to see Rafalski back in the lineup?
• Zetterberg's overtime tip-in was beautiful hockey.

1. We get to see how the Wings bounce back from a less-than-stellar performance in Vancouver on Saturday tonight.
They definitely looked better in the portion of the game that I got to see. It's hard to make an assessment based on such a small sample, though.

2. How about playing a little defense tonight?
There were more turnovers than I would've liked to have seen during the third period, but it was a much improved effort over Saturday night.

3. The Wings dropped their last game against the Coyotes, so here's hoping they find a way to solve Bryzgalov this time around.
It was indeed a much happier outcome than the last time around.

Hero: Henrik Zetterberg
He came through with the winner in OT. Not only was it a pretty tip-in, but it also ensured that we wouldn't have to witness a shootout tonight.

Villain: Lee Stempniak
I still haven't witnessed the Jimmy Howard writhing in pain incident, but perhaps that's for the best. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous. And stabby.

Final Thought:
Have you ever ordered a Coke in a restaurant and gotten served a root beer? That's what it feels like to come home, sit down on the couch, and prop your feet up expecting to watch your recording of a hockey game only to discover that someone decided that you shouldn't be able to watch the Red Wings that night.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes GP...

Red Wings: 8-3-1

Coyotes: 4-5-4

1. We get to see how the Wings bounce back from a less-than-stellar performance in Vancouver on Saturday tonight.
2. How about playing a little defense tonight?
3. The Wings dropped their last game against the Coyotes, so here's hoping they find a way to solve Bryzgalov this time around.

Red Wing Zen:

Jonathan Ericsson

1-0-1, +/- 0, 19 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Martin Hanzal

1-2-3, +/- 4, 10 PIM

Red Wings vs. Coyotes Game Seven GP...

13. The Wings need to stop the bleeding on the penalty kill. Sure, another three-goal performance from Phoenix’s powerplay is unlikely, but then again, that’s what we said after Game One.
12. The top two lines need to reappear again. When they’re clicking, good things keep happening for the Wings.
11. Coming out strong and aggressive is going to be really important. They can’t afford to be tentative and passive at the start of the game.
10. Jimmy was far from the reason for the Wings’ loss on Sunday, but he needs to be in top form tomorrow.
9. The Wings need to find a way to solve Ilya Bryzgalov. He may very well have stolen the game for the Coyotes during the first few minutes of play.
8. How many times am I going to be flailing around in search of my tin foil hat?
7. Earth to Playoff Franzen. Where are you? The Wings kind of need you to start producing.
6. It sure would be nice to see a full sixty-minute effort…
5. Can the defense avoid hanging Jimmy out to dry again?
4. It would be nice if the powerplay came back to life and scored more goals than it allowed. That’s a pretty good target, I think.
3. I hope that Justin Abdelkader keeps hitting everything in sight.
2. Capitalizing on mistakes: whoever does a better job of this is probably going to be playing some more hockey this season.
1. This is it. Game Seven. It’s all or nothing. Which team wants it more? No fear. No excuses. No mercy. No limits.

Red Wings 2, Coyotes 5 (3-3): Post Game Snipes...

• I missed the entire first period, running in the door seconds after the horn went. This was upsetting, because from what twitter and the radio tell me, it was the only period worth watching. Thanks, soccer, rain, accidents, construction, and Ann Arbor.
• I scared the crap out of my mom because I was driving while she napped. When the Coyotes scored their shorthanded goal, I was screaming, “NO, NO, NO!” and woke her up. Brief moments of panic ensued on her part. I should not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle while hockey is on the radio.
• Stuart’s goal was a beautiful shot after a nice pass from Datsyuk. He momentarily redeemed himself after that turnover that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Game Seven of the Finals last year.
• I really didn't think that it was possible for the Coyotes to have another game where they scored three powerplay goals on the Wings. That shows you what I know.
  
• I didn’t even react to the Coyotes’ last goal. I just kind of shrugged and sighed and went back to waiting for time to run out so I could move on with my life.
• Darren Helm’s goal was very clearly over the goal line after looking at the replays. Of course, I was 100% convinced that they were going to rule that it was not a goal. But mostly I just didn’t care at that point.
• My Bryzgalov nighmares that plagued me before the series but have been dormant for the last several days? Yeah, I won’t be sleeping much until after Game Seven.
• I still don't know why Abdelkader ended up with a Game Misconduct at the end. It looked like Yandle was the one pulling wrestling moves out there.
  
• This makes it two straight series going to Game Seven for the Wings. Three out of their last four have gone to seven games. Not cool, boys. It's fairly apparent at this point that the Detroit Red Wings do not want me to live past the age of 23.
• The Wings have scored exactly two goals in each of their losses this series. That doesn't really mean anything, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
  

GP Review:
13. It’s a day game on NBC. Uh oh.
Yeah. That…

12. The Wings still need to work on their faceoffs. There’s really no reason for Phoenix to be winning more draws.
They actually won the faceoff battle today, not that it mattered much.

11. The Eurotwins need to keep firing on all cylinders. The last couple of games have been quite a show.
I barely noticed them in the part of the game that I saw. To be fair, I kind of checked out after Wolski’s goal and was only half watching. I stand by my statement that as the Eurotwins go, so go the Wings.

10. What tin foil hat-inducing moments are going to occur as the Wings try to end the NHL’s team’s season?
I got nothing. I suspect the Wings’ parade to the penalty box in the second was an attempt to even things out after the first period, but that goes on in every single game around the league.

9. The first few minutes of this game are going to be key. The Wings need to get off to a much better start than they did last Sunday.
It sounded like they came out flying, but couldn’t buy a goal. This is better than last Sunday, at least, even though the outcome was the same.

8. I’m looking at Dan Cleary to do something good tomorrow. This worked for Miller last time, so it’s worth a shot.
Well so much for that…

7. Jimmy Howard needs to stand strong again. He’s had an incredible run over the last two games, and has managed to restore all of the fickle fans’ confidence in his abilities.
Sure, the first goal should’ve been stopped, but Brad Stuart also shouldn’t have turned the puck over like that. Jimmy didn’t look nearly as good as he has the last couple of games, but he was miles away from being the reason the Wings lost today.

6. Are we going to have to put up with Shane Doan again?
He was scratched again today. You’ve got to figure that if he can hold a stick at all, he’ll be in the lineup on Tuesday.

5. This series, the Wings have played better when they’re the ones carrying the physical play to the Coyotes. They need to keep hitting hard and not letting Phoenix run around.
They once again outhit the Coyotes, and Abdelkader in particular looked like one of the few guys who wanted to end the series at the Joe. It’s too bad that things like that don’t show up on the scoreboard.

4. The PK and powerplay need to keep doing their thing. Since the disastrous first game, the PK has been fantastic. Special teams may very well determine the winner.
I went ahead and bolded that last sentence. Yeah…

3. The second defensive pairing has looked much better over the last two games. Brad Stuart, in particular, had a great game on Friday night. The Wings need them to keep bringing their physical presence.
Why does it seem like every time we heap praise on Stuart, he goes out and does something that makes us all facepalm? It’s like the man is addicted to being in the doghouse or something.

2. Will we get treated to a full-game effort tomorrow?
Yeah right.

1. The Coyotes are going to come out hard hoping to get another home game in Phoenix. The Wings need to take this game seriously and shut them down. There’s no reason to make another trip to Phoenix and risk all of the assorted bad things that can happen in a Game Seven.
They did not take the game seriously at all. Now we get to live in terror for the next 48 hours as we wait for Game Seven.

Hero: Justin Abdelkader
He at least looked like he was interested in the third period. That’s more than can be said for most of the team.

Villain: Derek Morris
Way to go after Abdelkader to make him defend himself after throwing a clean hit. And then hitting him while he was down on the ice.

Final Thought:
Ken Holland needs to tell the NHL schedulers that the Joe is mysteriously booked until 7:30 every weekend until eternity. It’s so weird. How did the facilities manager let something get on the schedule like that?

Red Wings 3, Coyotes 0 (2-2): Post Game Snipes...

• During warmups, Sara, Amanda, Liz, and I tried to lure Homer in with some Homerbait candy that is one of his favorites, according to the Ikea staff. Sadly, we were not successful.
• Apparently someone saw Amanda’s “Snipe Snipe” shirt and asked her if she wrote SSDD. How cool/random is that?
• All day yesterday, I had horrible visions of this game going to six overtimes, and me crawling into work in the morning still wearing my jersey and smelling like a hockey arena.
• The scoreboard wasn’t working on at least two sides for the start of the game. Luckily, they got it working by the midway point of the first. People cheered.
• Why on earth was Z’s first goal originally credited to Bertuzzi? They had to have had a good look at it during the review.
• Datsyuk had four penalty minutes last night. I don’t think he knew that the Lady Byng votes had already been cast.
• Imagine if Zetterberg played the entire regular season like he did the playoffs.
• I didn’t see a single fan in a Coyotes jersey or shirt all game. I’m sure their fans were just being respectful of our building. Yeah right. I saw a bunch of Team Sweden jerseys, who I tallied in the Red Wings’ column and yet I didn’t see a single Phoenix one.
• I want the world to know that during that long PK in the third period, the LGRW chants didn’t stop for one second. That crowd last night knew its hockey. I was NOT a fan of the “Stanley! Stanley!” chant that was going around at the end of the game. That’s just not cool. Seriously guys, it’s only halfway through the first round. Remember what happened after the “Stanley” chants started at the end of Game 5 of the ’08 Finals.
• There were entire sections of the upper bowl standing up for the last few minutes of the third period from Datsyuk’s goal on. It was amazing. Seriously, the building was louder last night than it was during the third round game I went to last season. And, for the record, the building was full from start to finish.
• My only regret from the night was that there was no "Don't Stop Believin'." The late stages of the third were the perfect opportunity for it. We did do an epic job of rocking out "Livin' on a Prayer" though, if I do say so myself. You could hear us still singing well after play had started on the broadcast.
  
• I put my pictures up on photobucket. I can't edit them here at school, so they're pretty rough looking, but there they are.
  

GP Review:
15. This entire team needs to wake up and start taking this series seriously.
This game was much, much better. The boys looked engaged and made me feel a lot better about this whole playoffs thing.

14. Jimmy Howard needs to tighten things down and start looking like his regular season self again.
Boy did he ever. It was nice to see him turn in his first career playoff shutout after having a lot of fans calling for his head. Remember the days of STFU Ozzie? Maybe he passed that mentality onto Jimmy.

13. Defense, sunshines. Defense. It’s kind of important.
Vast, vast improvement over the last few games. I mean there’s still some work to be done, but it looked good.

12. Rafalski sat out practice with his old man back. Is he going to be able to go tomorrow? Are we going to wish he wasn’t?
He actually resembled an NHL defenseman last night. Having him playing real hockey made a huge difference with the defense.

11. I want to see the Eurotwins in full flight. There are few things more spectacular than seeing Datsyuk doing those crazy things he does in person.
I went to the game. Zetterberg and Datsyuk both scored. Coincidence? I think not. I stand by my statement that as the Eurotwins go, so go the Wings.

10. I’m hoping that his goal late in the game was the spark Franzen needed to get going. The Wings need him to start acting like playoff Franzen.
Franzen was more noticeable for good and bad reasons last night. His pass to Datsyuk was stellar, and he was actually driving the net from time to time, but stupid penalties are not good ways to show up on my radar.

9. Can we avoid any octopus-fumbling to start the game? I really had a terrible feeling when I saw that octopus slip out of Al’s hands on Sunday. It’s just bad karma.
There were tons of octopi on the ice last night both before the game and in the third period. Al executed a textbook octopus swing to kick off the game, and all was well. I’m telling you: this was key.

8. Are the Wings going to have to deal with Shane Doan? I would not be unhappy if he had to sit out tomorrow.
No Doanface. No sadface from me.

7. Make Bryzgalov work. His life hasn’t been difficult enough so far this series, and he’s already demonstrated that he’s beatable.
Bryzgalov was good last night, but Jimmy was better. That might be what this comes down to.

6. How many times are whistles going to go a split second before the Wings put the puck over the goal line? I think I remember a quick whistle preventing a goal against the Wings once ever. Usually these things even out.
There were no intent to blow incidents last night (which was good because, let’s face it, me being out in public during one of those would not be good), but that didn’t stop them from reviewing Hank’s first goal.

5. All I’m really asking is for a sixty-minute effort tomorrow. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
This was as close to a sixty-minute effort as we’ve seen all series.

4. Special teams could be the key again. It’s no coincidence that the game when the powerplay and PK were clicking was the one that the Wings won.
The PK was dynamite. That 5-on-3 in the third period nearly killed me. The best part was that the Wings were steady for the most part on the PK. They weren’t collapsing and running around. They stuck to their system and got in the passing lanes. Sometimes that’s half of the battle. What an improvement from Game One.

3. Where is Playoff Helm?
Helm was much better last night. He’s still not at playoff monster level, but he looked good.

2. I’m 1-0 in my playoff viewing career at the Joe. Please don’t drag me down to .500 with another lackadaisical effort.
2-0 baby. I’m taking donations to attend the rest of the games if you’re interested.

1. Mike Babcock said it best. What this game comes down to 99% of the time is deciding that you’re going to work harder than the guy on the other side of the ice. Every guy in the lineup could use an attitude like that.
Last night validated that, I’d say.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
I was so happy for Jimmy. Way to answer your critics, sunshine.

Villain: None of the above.
I'm feeling magnanimous today.

Final Thought:
This was one of the top three most fun games I’ve ever been to at the Joe. The crowd was even louder and more rowdy than it was during the third round last season.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes Game Four GP...

I'm heading down to the game tomorrow with high hopes of running into some of my favorite tweeps during warmups. My seats are way up in the rafters, which is awesome because I'm pretty sure my little sister got a free ticket to sit way down in the lower bowl with her friends' parents. Regardless, I'll be there to take in my second ever playoff game at the Joe. My first was the overtime victory in Game Two of the Chicago series last season. The one with the Campbell turnover and Samuelsson goal to end the game. I've got some fond memories of that night. Let's add to them tomorrow.

15. This entire team needs to wake up and start taking this series seriously.
14. Jimmy Howard needs to tighten things down and start looking like his regular season self again.
13. Defense, sunshines. Defense. It’s kind of important.
12. Rafalski sat out practice with his old man back. Is he going to be able to go tomorrow? Are we going to wish he wasn’t?
11. I want to see the Eurotwins in full flight. There are few things more spectacular than seeing Datsyuk doing those crazy things he does in person.
10. I’m hoping that his goal late in the game was the spark Franzen needed to get going. The Wings need him to start acting like playoff Franzen.
9. Can we avoid any octopus-fumbling to start the game? I really had a terrible feeling when I saw that octopus slip out of Al’s hands on Sunday. It’s just bad karma.
8. Are the Wings going to have to deal with Shane Doan? I would not be unhappy if he had to sit out tomorrow.
7. Make Bryzgalov work. His life hasn’t been difficult enough so far this series, and he’s already demonstrated that he’s beatable.
6. How many times are whistles going to go a split second before the Wings put the puck over the goal line? I think I remember a quick whistle preventing a goal against the Wings once ever. Usually these things even out.
5. All I’m really asking is for a sixty-minute effort tomorrow. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
4. Special teams could be the key again. It’s no coincidence that the game when the powerplay and PK were clicking was the one that the Wings won.
3. Where is Playoff Helm?
2. I’m 1-0 in my playoff viewing career at the Joe. Please don’t drag me down to .500 with another lackadaisical effort.
1. Mike Babcock said it best. What this game comes down to 99% of the time is deciding that you’re going to work harder than the guy on the other side of the ice. Every guy in the lineup could use an attitude like that.

Red Wings 2, Coyotes 4 (1-2): Post Game Snipes...

• I viewed this spectacular game from the comfort of the Commune at Sara’s house. We had a delicious Swedish smorgasbord and sampled some of Homer’s favorite candy. The consensus was that it tastes like gummy bears mixed with memory foam. I really don’t think there could be a better favorite candy for Homer. It really fits his fake personality perfectly. Aside from the game itself, we had a fabulous time. Let's face it, Wings fans are just a little bit cooler than everyone else.
  
• Everyone’s already said it, but this game was miserable. It was pretty apparent that the dozen or so people gathered at the commune cared way more about the outcome of the game than the Wings did.
• Things went wrong right from the start. Not only did Al drop the octopus when he was twirling it, but the Wings gave up a goal on the first shift. Way to go, guys.
• That has to be one of the top ten worst games of Nick Lidstrom’s career.
• We were all shocked that Franzen’s goal went in the net. It was out just as fast as it went in, and nobody was willing to celebrate until we knew for sure. I didn’t think there was any net to shoot at, but it managed to squeak its way in off of the post. Maybe that’s the spark The Mule needs to get going.
• Shane Doan tripped over Jimmy Howard and crashed into the boards. At present, he’s day-to-day with an undisclosed injury (I’ve got ten bucks on his shoulder.). Really, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
  

GP Review:
15. Playoff Franzen, wake up. Where are you?
He had a brief flash of brilliance with his goal in the third, but he’s still not pulling his weight. The whole top line needs to do more, but he’s been one of the Wings’ biggest underperformers.

14. Now that the series is back in a real hockey city, Wings fans can demonstrate how a building should sound.
According to Twitter, there were the standard insults about empty seats in the Joe. I think those people are stupid and petty. It’s the same old story every year from people who have nothing better to do. If you can’t rip the hockey team (and really, there were plenty of things to insult about the Wings’ performance yesterday), go after the economy. Because there’s nothing more funny than fellow Americans struggling to find jobs and make ends meet. I know I’m rolling on the floor laughing. And beside that, the Joe wasn’t really empty. Until the final few minutes of the third period, the building was pretty full and there were LGRW chants a plenty.

13. The Wings need to cut down on the back-and-forth action. Sure it was fun (or maybe heart-attack-inducing) to watch, but the whole series can’t go on like that.
Well they certainly did cut down on the back-and-forth. Unfortunately, that meant that their offensive rush was pretty much eliminated while still allowing the Coyotes to have numerous chances. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

12. The PK needs to keep clicking. It was spot-on in Game Two after a disastrous outing in Game One.
They did manage to kill off all three of their penalties. This was one of the few things they did right.

11. The Wings need to keep dishing out the physical play. They were much better in Game Two largely because of the fact that they weren’t running around looking scared.
According to the boxscore, the Wings actually outhit the Coyotes yesterday. That’s nice, but I’d much rather see them outscore the Yotes.

10. The big guns need to lead the way again. I have a theory that goes something like “As the Eurotwins go, so go the Red Wings,” but that applies to all of the big guns.
Yeah, how about that?

9. The defense needs to tighten up. There were still too many turnovers and generally sloppy play last game.
If only…

8. The boys need to keep testing Bryzgalov. He was my number one nightmare heading into this series, but hasn’t kept me from sleeping at all so far.
We were talking about this at the commune yesterday. I’m afraid we may have jinxed things. I’m so sorry.

7. They still need to keep an eye out for Shane Doan. He was less destructively physical in Game Two, but still managed to run Nick Lidstrom with a late hit.
Doan took himself out of the game after tripping over Jimmy Howard and crashing into the boards. The fact that it was self-inflicted made me laugh a little.

6. Bring your tin foil hats. You’re bound to need them.
We busted out the tin foil during the game and came up with some…interesting creations. There was a fist hat. There was a bonnet. There was a face mask. Nothing helped.

5. NBC’s pretty much said that their plan is to talk up the Coyotes and their Cinderella story all day this afternoon. Start mentally preparing yourself now.
Yeah, they did just that. Nobody was surprised, and at least they were up front about it.

4. Sixty minutes? Pretty please.
This actually reads like a joke at this point.

3. The powerplay converted a couple of times in Game Two. Special teams are liable to be the deciding factor in this series. If the Wings’ powerplay can keep clicking, they’ll be in good shape.
They did manage to tally a powerplay goal, but it wasn’t enough.

2. Watch out for Wojtek Wolski. He’s been dangerous all series. Plus, he’s got that whole ex-Av thing going on.
Sure enough, he scored a goal. I’m never singling out a player in one of these again. I guess at least I get to say that I told you so.

1. If you’re going to the game, make sure you arrive early enough to catch the pre-game show. You’ll see some familiar faces. Andy and Maria would like some recordings youtubed if you’ve got a camera with you. If you’re not going, according to Malik, this WDIV camera will be working at all times except when the game’s on. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it might be worth a try.
The Wings posted the video today. It’s pretty awesome. I can’t wait to see it in person tomorrow.

Hero: Valtteri Filppula
He’s been one of the few Red Wings actually playing at his expected level during this series. He scored the powerplay goal to tie the game up late in the first period.

Villain: Sami Lepisto
He scored less than thirty seconds into the first period and spoiled everybody’s fun. Not cool.

Final Thought:
If the Wings actually bothered to take things seriously, the probably wouldn’t be trailing in this series.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes Game Three GP...

It's pretty exciting that I only have to write fifteen of these things today. Wings' victories are like gifts that keep on giving...all the way up until the next gameday anyway.

15. Playoff Franzen, wake up. Where are you?
14. Now that the series is back in a real hockey city, Wings fans can demonstrate how a building should sound.
13. The Wings need to cut down on the back-and-forth action. Sure it was fun (or maybe heart-attack-inducing) to watch, but the whole series can’t go on like that.
12. The PK needs to keep clicking. It was spot-on in Game Two after a disastrous outing in Game One.
11. The Wings need to keep dishing out the physical play. They were much better in Game Two largely because of the fact that they weren’t running around looking scared.
10. The big guns need to lead the way again. I have a theory that goes something like “As the Eurotwins go, so go the Red Wings,” but that applies to all of the big guns.
9. The defense needs to tighten up. There were still too many turnovers and generally sloppy play last game.
8. The boys need to keep testing Bryzgalov. He was my number one nightmare heading into this series, but hasn’t kept me from sleeping at all so far.
7. They still need to keep an eye out for Shane Doan. He was less destructively physical in Game Two, but still managed to run Nick Lidstrom with a late hit.
6. Bring your tin foil hats. You’re bound to need them.
5. NBC’s pretty much said that their plan is to talk up the Coyotes and their Cinderella story all day this afternoon. Start mentally preparing yourself now.
4. Sixty minutes? Pretty please.
3. The powerplay converted a couple of times in Game Two. Special teams are liable to be the deciding factor in this series. If the Wings’ powerplay can keep clicking, they’ll be in good shape.
2. Watch out for Wojtek Wolski. He’s been dangerous all series. Plus, he’s got that whole ex-Av thing going on.
1. If you’re going to the game, make sure you arrive early enough to catch the pre-game show. You’ll see some familiar faces. Andy and Maria would like some recordings youtubed if you’ve got a camera with you. If you’re not going, according to Malik, this WDIV camera will be working at all times except when the game’s on. I don’t know exactly what that means (I can't tell if it's going to be shut off before the puck drops and only show the building filling up and warm-ups, or if it will be on during stoppages in play and commercials. It's not clear yet.), but it might be worth a try.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes Game Two GP...

This is no fun. I was really hoping to only have to write fifteen things in this GP. I really hope this game is more fun to watch than the last one. Today has been long and miserable. Four hours of sleep plus my continued frustration at the game last night have not made for a pleasant day.

If you haven’t already, read this post by Sara (@it_burns_us). It sums our obsession up perfectly. I promise that it will make your life.

16. Shane Doan. Someone’s got to step up and start dishing it back to him. It’s only a matter of time until he knocks one of the Wings out of the series with an injury.
15. We get to see the long-awaited and much called-for return of Justin Abdelkader. Here’s hoping he lives up to the expectations we’ve all set for him.
14. Lidstrom’s not happy about getting high-sticked and then lied to. This is probably the closest to angry that we’ll ever see him.
13. Look for the big guns to make more of an impact tomorrow.
12. The PK needs to be fixed like woah. I don’t really think another three-goal failure is likely, but something needs to get done.
11. On a similar note, the powerplay needs to come through. That should be the Wings’ bread and butter.
10. What are the odds that the Wings show up to play a full game?
9. Jimmy Howard needs to keep up his good work in playoff game #2. He also needs a lot more support from the guys skating in front of him.
8. Where was my Playoff Zetterberg? Come to think of it, what about Playoff Franzen?
7. The Wings need to make Bryzgalov’s life a lot more difficult. They had plenty of shots, but most of them were routine saves. He gave up a softie to open the scoring and needs to get tested more.
6. Helm needs to keep his head up.
5. What tin-foil-hat-validating events will transpire tomorrow?
4. The Wings need to be better on faceoffs. There’s no reason for them not to be.
3. The excuses about injuries and the like are gone. The Wings can’t afford to let another game slip away from them.
2. I’d really like to not be the crazy girl screaming at her TV in the middle of the night again. Let’s please make this game stress-free and painless.
1. I want to see more Homer.

Red Wings 2, Coyotes 3 (0-1): Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings looked pretty good at the start of the game.
• Homer’s goal from close to the blue line was wonderful. It just kind of floated into the net past Bryzgalov’s glove. In his intermission interview (which totally validated For Sure…), even he didn’t know how it went in.
• I was kind of amused by the fact that the Wings’ first powerplay came off of a goalie interference penalty against Phoenix, when those memos the NHL sends out every year usually target Homer. Irony. It’s delicious.
• Mickey Redmond dropped a “for sure” when talking about Homer’s goal. I loved it.
• Lidstrom’s goal was one of those perfect seeing-eye shots that couldn’t be replicated if he tried it a million times.
• I never had a problem with Shane Doan before this season. Maybe I just never paid enough attention to him (It’s that whole, “Oh yeah, they have a team in Phoenix,” mentality, I guess.), but I never realized how dirty he was. He’s going to hurt someone before this series is over.
• The game-winner for Phoenix came after some textbook interference was ignored right after the faceoff. Guess who it was? Shane Doan.
• What happened to the penalty kill? Seriously, of all the times to fall apart.
• The non-call on the high stick that Lidstrom took was atrocious. And people wonder why Wings fans are conspiracy theorists. A four-minute powerplay there could’ve changed the game.
• This game was miserable to watch. The second and third periods felt like they dragged on forever.
• The Wings’ big names need to act like it.
• I hope the Wings come out angry on Friday.
  

GP Review:
16. Every single playoff round for as long as I can remember, my nightmare has been seeing the Wings come up against a hot goalie. This seems like it happens over and over and over again to them, and Ilya Bryzgalov is definitely the kind of guy who can cause me to lose sleep.
Bryzgalov was not the issue tonight. He hardly had to work for the last 40 minutes. And Homer’s goal was way soft.

15. The Wings are starting their playoff series on the road for the first time in forever. I’m still a little confused. Still, it’s intriguing.
Their whiteout was actually pretty impressive. In this day and age, though, it’s kind of stupid with the road team wearing white.

14. Will there be more octopi than snakes thrown on the ice?
Twitter told me that there was an octopus before the game, but I don’t have any visual confirmation of that. There was, however, one confirmed snake sighting.

13. Jimmy Howard’s making his playoff debut. I think he’ll be just fine.
He should’ve had the third goal, but looked good other than that. He made a bunch of nice saves, and was far from the problem.

12. What tin-foil-hat-inducing moment will we bear witness to?
It’s probably best if I don’t even get started on this one.

11. The FSD crew will be in rare form tonight, I’m sure. I can only imagine what beautiful turns of phrase they’re going to grace our ears with. I’m still mad I missed Murph’s mock awards on Sunday.
Ken Daniels referred to Datsyuk as “The Datsyukian One” during the third period. Is that new?

10. What percentage of the crowd will be cheering for the Wings? I’m willing to bet that half of the crowd noise the broadcast feed picks up will be LGRW chants.
The Coyotes fans were actually louder than I expected. I figured there would be more Wings fans in attendance.

9. I hope the game doesn’t go to a shootout. Oh. Wait. You mean ties are decided by real hockey in the playoffs? Wowzer.
Honestly, I would’ve been okay with a shootout, if only because there aren’t many opportunities for dirty hits during the skills competition.

8. This probably goes without saying, but it’s crucial to start out strong and stomp on the Coyotes’ little Cinderella story right out of the gate. Set the tone right off the bat and don’t let them get even a spoonful of confidence.
I thought this was what the Wings were doing at the stat of the game, but then they went to sleep.

7. Sixty minute game? Oh pretty, pretty please.
No.

6. How much support is the defense going to give Jimmy? As much as I’d love to see him stand on his head, my life expectancy will be a lot higher if he doesn’t have to save the day.
Not nearly enough. This loss wasn’t on him.

5. Two words: Playoff Zetterberg. Oh my goodness, do I ever love watching that man drive opposing star forwards batty.
Sadly, Playoff Zetterberg did not seem to make an appearance tonight. It’s wakey-wakey time, Z.

4. In a similar vein: Playoff Helm. Yeah.
Early on, he was in hit everything mode, but kind of faded as the game went on. Of course, he blended right in with the rest of the team.

3. One huge difference between last year’s playoff roster and this one is Andreas Lilja. I never expected to be that relieved to see him in the lineup. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he turned out to have been the missing link?
Well he certainly didn’t have any effect on the penalty kill. I thought that was supposed to be his thing.

2. I hope you’re not expecting rational thoughts or actions from me for the next little while. Word to the wise: It’s best if you don’t speak to me on gamedays. It’s also advisable to avoid me for a 24-hour period after any Wings’ loss. Trust me, you’re better off.
I really should’ve warned my roommates that the playoffs were starting. Yelling, screaming, jumping on my bed. It all happened. I’m also going to be running on 4 hours of sleep tomorrow thanks to my wonderful life decisions to stay up and watch hockey/blog about it.

1. No fear. No excuses. No mercy. No limits.
The Wings certainly looked intimidated by the Coyotes’ rough play. They were probably more concerned about making it through the game intact than anything else.

Hero: Tomas Holmstrom
He scored one of the most uncharacteristic goals of his career, and then gave a fantastic intermission interview. I really do love that guy.

Villain: Shane Doan
You know why.

Final Thought:
I’m all for Abdelkader being in the lineup instead of Williams (Who?) on Friday.

Coyotes Series Preview...

I, quite inexplicably, wrote the Game One GP before writing the series preview for the first round, so this is going to be pretty short.

Like I’ve said a couple of times already, the key to this series is going to be Ilya Bryzgalov. The Coyotes are going to live and die by his performance. I’m not kidding when I say that red hot opposition goalies give me nightmares. Bryzgalov (nickname: Breezy. What?) has the potential to spoil all of the Wings’ fun. If they can score on him as consistently as we all know they can, there’s no reason they can’t win this series. However, if he totally stands on his head, we might have to deal with and agonizing few games here.

The Coyotes fans are all up in arms about the prevalence of Wings fans in their home arena. This makes me laugh way more than it probably should.

The Wings are actually healthy for a change. They're hungry too. That's a dangerous combination, sunshines.

Guy to Grudgingly Respect: Ilya Bryzgalov
This probably would’ve been Shane Doan until the whole knee-on-knee incident. He’s a force to be reckoned with, and you have to appreciate what he’s done this season.

Guy to Fear: Ilya Bryzgalov
Yeah, he’s listed twice. Get over it. Nightmares. I have nightmares. For real.

Guy I’m Probably Going to Laugh at a Lot: Robert Lang
Just because.

Game time is in one hour. We've been waiting a long time for this. Let's get going.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes Game One GP...

Look, a shiny new GP format just for the playoffs. The idea is that for every win the Wings pick up, I get to knock one pre-game point off of my list. Obviously this is just a playoff special (Can you imagine me trying to come up with 82 things to say about the first game of the regular season?), and, uh, I’ve got high hopes that it’ll get easier as the Wings move forward. That’s perfect for me because my stress level rises exponentially with each passing playoff game. I'm going to try to keep some sort of GP Answers section in my recaps, but since they're not all questions anymore...I'm just winging it. (See what I did there?)

Sixteen things to look out for:

16. Every single playoff round for as long as I can remember, my nightmare has been seeing the Wings come up against a hot goalie. This seems like it happens over and over and over again to them, and Ilya Bryzgalov is definitely the kind of guy who can cause me to lose sleep.
15. The Wings are starting their playoff series on the road for the first time in forever. I’m still a little confused. Still, it’s intriguing.
14. Will there be more octopi than snakes thrown on the ice?
13. Jimmy Howard’s making his playoff debut. I think he’ll be just fine.
12. What tin-foil-hat-inducing moment will we bear witness to?
11. The FSD crew will be in rare form tonight, I’m sure. I can only imagine what beautiful turns of phrase they’re going to grace our ears with. I’m still mad I missed Murph’s mock awards on Sunday.
10. What percentage of the crowd will be cheering for the Wings? I’m willing to bet that half of the crowd noise the broadcast feed picks up will be LGRW chants.
9. I hope the game doesn’t go to a shootout. Oh. Wait. You mean ties are decided by real hockey in the playoffs? Wowzer.
8. This probably goes without saying, but it’s crucial to start out strong and stomp on the Coyotes’ little Cinderella story right out of the gate. Set the tone right off the bat and don’t let them get even a spoonful of confidence.
7. Sixty minute game? Oh pretty, pretty please.
6. How much support is the defense going to give Jimmy? As much as I’d love to see him stand on his head, my life expectancy will be a lot higher if he doesn’t have to save the day.
5. Two words: Playoff Zetterberg. Oh my goodness, do I ever love watching that man drive opposing star forwards batty.
4. In a similar vein: Playoff Helm. Yeah.
3. One huge difference between last year’s playoff roster and this one is Andreas Lilja. I never expected to be that relieved to see him in the lineup. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he turned out to have been the missing link?
2. I hope you’re not expecting rational thoughts or actions from me for the next little while. Word to the wise: It’s best if you don’t speak to me on gamedays. It’s also advisable to avoid me for a 24-hour period after any Wings’ loss. Trust me, you’re better off.
1. No fear. No excuses. No mercy. No limits.

There are no 7-11s in Ann Arbor. This is going to cause a serious problem when it comes time to obtain my ceremonial playoff Slurpee on gamedays. I'm used to being only half of a mile away so I could even run out during intermissions. I hope Speedway slurpees are going to cut it.