Red Wings vs. Canucks GP...

Red Wings: 26-10-5

Canucks: 27-8-5

Red Wing Zen:

Niklas Kronwall

8-13-21, +/- 6, 22 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Ryan Kesler

23-16-39, +/- 17, 38 PIM

Red Wings vs. Canucks GP...

Red Wings: 20-8-4

Canucks: 19-8-4

Red Wing Zen:

Niklas Kronwall

7-8-15, +/- 7, 14 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Ryan Kesler

16-10-26, +/- 10, 30 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 3, Canucks 6: Post Game Snipes...

• All that goodwill that Ryan Kesler built up during the Olympics? Gone.
• Sure the goaltending could’ve been better tonight, but the real problem was the guys skating in front of the goalies.
• At one point during the broadcast, Mickey Redmond went to such lengths to set up a jockstrap-in-the-rafters joke that there’s no way he didn’t have cue cards helping him get through it. I think it was worth the effort.
• Mickey was also thrilled when Datsyuk threw a sucker punch and took a penalty for it. He sounded like a proud papa whose kid just did something awesome. He might be hanging a copy of the box score on his refrigerator at home to commemorate it.
• I don’t know why it is, but it always seems like it’s the phantom penalty calls that result in powerplay goals. It’s never the blatant hooks or obvious cross-checking calls that teams cash in on. It’s the calls that make you want to bang your head on a wall in the first place.
• By the second half of the third period, when it had become clear that the Wings weren’t going to recover, all I wanted was to keep Luongo’s GAA down. I realized that I accidentally started him on my fantasy team and I figured that I might as well get something good out of the night. Then Franzen went and scored, and I was stuck trying to figure out if his points were worth weakening Luongo’s stats. I’m still not sure, but every game reminds me more and more how much we missed The Mule.
  

GP Answers:
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?
No. And except for a few minutes in the first period, they didn’t really look like they wanted to.

2. Can the powerplay actually keep working consistently after a good performance against Colorado on Monday?
Well, it didn’t much matter.

3. How is Lilja going to hold up in his second game back? This is when his conditioning should start catching up to him.
I didn’t really notice him much tonight. For a third-pair defenseman, that’s a good thing in my book.

4. Just how Danglelicious is Pavel Datsyuk going to be tonight?
He showed some moments of brilliance, as usual, but the Dangleliciousness that we’ve seen recently wasn’t there for most of the night.

5. How many goals are going to be called off because of Tomas Holmstrom’s behind?
Thankfully none. Although that might’ve actually gotten me interested in the game. This one was barely watchable.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Johan Franzen
If Franzen had been in the lineup all season, the Wings wouldn’t be in as bad of a position right now. I guarantee it.

Niklas Kronwall gets the Golden Facepalm
At one point, he had a glorious scoring opportunity, but only managed to step on the puck and wipe out. I got a kick out of it, and was still laughing as the Canucks proceeded to retrieve the puck, carry it down the ice, and score. At that point, I stopped laughing.

What I Learned:
We’re in for an ugly, ugly March.

Michigan Beats Canada...

I was going to write a recap of the USA-Canada game today, but I never quite got around to it. You'll just have to make do with this:

That game was everything that hockey should be. I had at least 127 moments when my heart stopped. If that doesn't sell people on hockey, nothing will. I recorded NBC while the game was on, and they even cut in to show the last 40 seconds or so after the empty net goal. They then stayed with hockey to show the post-game show, which annoyed me for reasons I don't quite understand. It probably had something to do with the fact that the post-game coverage was pointless and could never do that game justice.

Americans like to make fun of Michigan because we don't have any jobs, and Detroit has long been a punch line for the rest of the country. Those of you who think it's cute to make jokes about crime rates and unemployment should think again next time you want to mock us. There's no way the USA wins that game without Brian Rafalski, Ryan Miller, and Ryan Kesler. (Dear Rafalski, I had better see a ton of that kind of play for the Wings down the stretch. We know you can do it; there are no excuses.)

Kesler's empty netter is easily one of my top three empty net goals ever. I was 99% sure Canada was going to tie up the game during that long stretch they had when we couldn't clear the zone to save our lives, and then things turned around when he put Team USA up by two.

Brad Watson made the call that gave Canada the powerplay on which they narrowed the USA's lead to one goal in the third period. I'm just saying...

That was the most fun I've had watching a hockey game in a long time. The world would be a much better place if every game was like that one.