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

• Tonight was much more fun than Thursday was. It's always nice when the real Wings show up to play.
• I wasn't planning to go to the game, but my family attended the Hockeytown Authentic costume contest this afternoon in an attempt to win tickets. My brother and sister went in our two-person horse costume and ended up winning. Since my brother had a previous commitment, I got to be my sister's chaperone to the game. You can add our visit to Hockeytown today to the long list of ridiculous things I've done in the name of my Red Wings fandom.
• The team actually got off to a good start this time around. They slacked off a little in the second period, but still managed to hold off the Predators.
• During the second period, there was a play where Nashville had the puck at the blueline and TAWD dove at the defenseman and knocked the puck away. I have to give credit to him for making a nice defensive play, but in fairness to the Predator (I can't remember who it was), I'd give up the puck too if there was a serial killer lunging at me.
• Pavel Datsyuk is a ridiculous human being. Find me a better stick-handler in the NHL right now and I'll eat my hat.
• Jersey foul or not?
• One of the personal highlights of the game for me was introducing my little sister to the fine art of Kesler Dancing.
• There were quite a few people in costume at the Joe. My favorites were the guys dressed as the Blues Brothers who were running around high-fiving people on the concourse after the game. I also liked the dude in a Darth Vader mask that he had painted red. I though pairing it wit a Lidstrom jersey was a bit odd, since I would've thought a TAWD one would be more appropriate.

Hat Trick:
1. Ozzie's getting the start again. Here's hoping he looks better than he did on Thursday.
He looked much, much better, as did the rest of the team.

2. Nashville is inexplicably leading the division right now. Let's fix that.
Well, the Wings tied the Predators in the standings, but the Blackhawks jumped ahead with their victory over Minnesota. No worries, though. The Hawks have already played 13 games, as opposed to the Wings who've only played 9. Despite this disparity, the Hawks find themselves a mere 2 points ahead of the Wings.


3. Is the team going to show up on time for a change?
They looked much more prepared to start the game at puck drop tonight. The second period was a bit rough as they let Nashville carry the play more than any other time in the game, but they rebounded with a stronger third period.


Hero: Pavel Datsyuk
The man is on fire. He looks unstoppable out there right now. I said to my sister tonight that we're truly lucky to get to watch him play every night. Not many other guys out there can guarantee at least one moment of jaw-dropping brilliance during every game.

Villain: Shea Weber
He drilled Ozzie right in the mask near the end of the third period. Luckily Ozzie was fine, and the crowd spent the delay caused by his broken mask chanting “Ozzie! Ozzie!” just like old times. It made me smile.

Final Thought:
That game gave me some much-needed peace of mind to carry me through to Wednesday when the Wings finally play again. At least it's not Thursday, I guess.

Red Wings vs. Predators GP...

Red Wings: 5-2-1

Predators: 5-1-3

Hat Trick:
1. Ozzie's getting the start again. Here's hoping he looks better than he did on Thursday.
2. Nashville is inexplicably leading the division right now. Let's fix that.
3. Is the team going to show up on time for a change?

Red Wing Zen(ish):

Doug Janik

0-0-0, +/- -1, 5 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Sergei Kostitsyn

(Obviously not from his tenure in Tennessee [see what I did there?], but too good to pass up.)

1-0-1, +/- -2, 2 PIM

Red Wings 4, Coyotes 2: Post Game Snipes...

• The Wings looked awful in the first period. Across the board. I'd say I was surprised, but well, I wasn't.
• The thing that everyone is missing with Chris Osgood these days is the fact that he is a backup goalie. Backup goalies give up soft goals and make you cringe when they're in net. It's the way of the world. We're still looking at him as '08 Ozzie and he just isn't that goalie anymore. I think Wings fans will be a whole lot happier if we can realign our expectations to be more realistic for a backup netminder.
• Darren Helm had his best game of the season so far.
• I'm still regretting not smuggling in a bottle of Pepsi for Ozzie. I think it would've helped matters.
• At one point during the game, Pavel Datsyuk did something ridiculous and then passed the puck to Doug Janik who proceeded to blow the entire play. Amanda and I screamed, “JANNNNNNNNNNIK!” in perfect unison. I think we shook our fists at him, too. Or maybe that was just me.
• Pav is a ridiculous human being. He had a shift during the second where he absolutely victimized Pyatt and made him look like a peewee hockey player. That man just does things the puck that nobody else can. Nobody.
• The Commune found out that Gary Bettman was in the building toward the end of the second period. Hearing this news prompted us to exclaim (again in unison), “Well THAT explains it!”
• Mickey's interview with Bettman was much less argumentative than the last one they did. Hearing Bettman speak still gives me the shudders.
• Homer's penalty near the end of the game was killer.
• That was an ugly, ugly turnover by Kronner on the empty-netter, but booing him was uncalled for.
• The Wings could not hold the puck in the zone to save their lives tonight.
• I loved how hard Helm was working on that last shift. The team was down by two with less than a minute left in the game and he was still out there going strong.
• Kat and I rode the People Mover back to Greektown after the game. There were dancing homeless men on our train. One of them did the Moonwalk. Bros were singing “Beat It” for them to dance to. It was epic.

Hat Trick:
1. There's been a lot of talk lately about the third line not producing offensively. Will they redeem themselves tonight?
No, they still look disorganized and not quite on track.

2. The top line stole the show the last time the Wings played seemingly six years ago. Does that mean it's the “second” line's turn tonight? A glitter kittens goal celebration at the Joe with the Commune has the potential to be epic.
It was definitely the Pavel Datsyuk show tonight. Mule did score on the powerplay, though.

3. How many last-minute goals will the Wings allow? That's a sad trend that I've never been able to fully wrap my head around.
None, if you don't count the empty-netter. At least that's something. 

Hero: Pavel Datsyuk
I can't even tell you how many times we just laughed and looked at each other in disbelief up in the stand at the Joe after Datsyuk did something ridiculous. Amanda's mom texted her asking if anyone was going to show up to play the game with Pavel. We got the sense that after the first period, he just said, “Ah, screw it. We're going to lose anyway. Might as well have some fun,” and went out there and skated and stickhandled circles around the Coyotes. He put on a show last night, and it's too bad that the rest of the team didn't really look like they were interested in winning. Plus, he tallied his 600th career point.

Villain: Lauri Korpikosky
He scored the Coyotes' shorthanded goal, and then put sealed the victory with the empty-netter at the end.

Final Thought:
Isn't it sad that slow starts like that are predictable for the Wings?

Weekly Wrap-Up Volume One...

Caption Mondays:  There were some good entries in the Caption Contest from last week. Allison from The Secret Lives of Hockey Players came in with a last-minute submission an hour before the contest ended to take home the prizes. Who knew that Ozzie saved Jimmy's life all those years ago?  I guess we have him to thank for Jimmy's play these last two seasons.  Allison wins some Wings swag from last season, as well as a copy of the program from opening night. I popped her captions into the original graphic so you can get the full effect:

Trivia Tuesdays: This week, Andy from Fight Night at the Joe had the first trivia answer, although Graham wasn't far behind. The question was: The Wings hold the record for fastest two goals scored by the same team in a playoff series. Who scored the goals? How far apart were they?

Answer: Norm Ullman scored the goals 5 seconds apart during the second period. Detroit was playing Chicago in the 1965 playoffs. The Wings won that game 4-2, but ended up dropping the series in Game Seven.

Stay tuned next week for another picture to caption on Monday (although not for prizes this time) and some more trivia on Tuesday in addition to the usual SSDD nonsense you've become accustomed to.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes GP...

Red Wings: 5-1-1

Coyotes: 2-3-3

Hat Trick:
1. There's been a lot of talk lately about the third line not producing offensively. Will they redeem themselves tonight?
2. The top line stole the show the last time the Wings played seemingly six years ago. Does that mean it's the “second” line's turn tonight? A glitter kittens goal celebration at the Joe with the Commune has the potential to be epic.
3. How many last-minute goals will the Wings allow? That's a sad trend that I've never been able to fully wrap my head around.

Red Wing Zen:

Nick Lidstrom

1-7-8, +/- 4, 0 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Eric Belanger

2-4-6, +/- -3, 2 PIM

SSDD Trivia Tuesdays Volume 1...

Welcome to Trivia Tuesdays here at SSDD. Each week, I'll ask a trivia question, usually related to the Wings, and post it Tuesday morning. I'll post the answers on Friday. I'd like to keep a running total of weekly winners, so make sure you comment with a blogger account so I know who you are. This week's question:

The Wings hold the record for fastest two goals scored by the same team in a playoff series. Who scored the goals? How far apart were they?

Happy googling.

Red Wings 5, Ducks 4: Post Game Snipes...

• HOLY EUROTWINS, BATMAN!
• I missed most of the game thanks to the fact that we have Dish Network at work and, well, you all know about how they hate hockey and also probably puppies. Then, thanks to some siblings who have a special talent for DVRing endless hours of useless programming and not deleting it, I sat down to watch what I'd missed only to discover that we ran out of space after the first period. So yeah, we've got 18 hours of Hannah Montana and Suite Life and soccer games that nobody cares about, but not the Wings game. At least I managed to catch the second half of the game on the FSD replay.
• I was driving home from work when Zetterberg scored to tie up the game in the third period. I went from perfectly safe driver to road hazard in a fraction of a second. I still think there should be some kind of ignition lock on my car that prevents it from being started while the Wings are on the radio.
• My dog experienced her first run-and-hide-because-Kris-is-scary moment of the young season when Pav scored the game-winner. She's half Canadian, so I really think she should've been more appreciative of my jubilation.
• Speaking of Pav's goal, that deke was just nasty. Has there ever been a game in which he didn't do at least one thing that was absurdly amazing?

Hat Trick:
1. Round two with Anaheim. I'm guessing we don't see anything quite as dramatic as Datsyuk's Gordie Howe hat trick from opening night, but games against the Ducks always get me riled up.
Pav didn't throw any punches tonight, but I think he got his point across. As usual, he got the last laugh.

2. Old friend Andreas Lilja makes his return to the Joe tonight.
Anyone notice who was victimized by Datsyuk's nasty deke on the game winner? None other than dear old Lilja.

3. TAWD sat out practice yesterday. Is he going to be able to play tonight or will he be hunting for kittens under the bleachers during the game? Or both?
He played (and presumably went kitten hunting as well) and picked up an assist, but that didn't stop Henrik Zetterberg from passing him for the team scoring lead.

Hero: The Eurotwins
This was one of those nights that causes me to assume that their pregame routine involves them wearing rings and combining forces a la Captain Planet. “Dangle!” “Conn Smythe!” “Snot Rocket!” “BEARD!” And light shoots into the middle from their rings and by their powers combined, they become the Eurotwins. Someone needs to get a hidden camera into the locker room to confirm this.


Villain: Teemu Selanne
Selanne found himself Kronwalled during the game and instead of taking it like a man, he went and whined to the media about the fact that there was no call on the play as well as the vast penalty disparity that he imagines goes in favor of the Wings. It would seem that every time the Ducks play the Wings, the Wings get all of the powerplays. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that his teammates are a bunch of goons and thugs. Cowboy up, little boy.

Final Thought:
Imagine if the Eurotwins keep going like this all season. Just take a moment and think about that. You're smiling, aren't you?

Red Wings vs. Ducks GP...

Red Wings: 4-1-1

Ducks: 3-4-1

Hat Trick:
1. Round two with Anaheim. I'm guessing we don't see anything quite as dramatic as Datsyuk's Gordie Howe hat trick from opening night, but games against the Ducks always get me riled up.
2. Old friend Andreas Lilja makes his return to the Joe tonight.
3. TAWD sat out practice yesterday. Is he going to be able to play tonight or will he be hunting for kittens under the bleachers during the game? Or both?

Red Wing Zen:

Ruslan Salei

0-0-0 +/- -1, 12 PIM

Point and Laugh:

Todd Marchant

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

Red Wings 4, Flames 2: Post Game Snipes...

• Right at the beginning of warmups, someone fired a shot that cracked one of the panes of glass behind the net. I was standing nearby, so I decided to indulge my photo-geeky tendencies and set up shop right behind it to see if I could get some artsy shots. It was nice to have something a little different than the standard warmup pictures I have a million of. My pictures from the night are on Photobucket, as always.
• There was a very drunk Canadian (I'm assuming he was Canadian) who was way more excited about his national anthem than anyone I've ever seen before.
• There was an odd mixture of colors in the stands tonight. There was a lot of pink in support of breast cancer awareness, but it just made me think that everyone let Homer do their laundry and he mixed the reds and whites (just like training camp). I even wore a pink tank top under my jersey so I could enter the raffle, though I had to borrow it from my mom's closet. I have no pink clothing.
• There were also numerous orange hats being worn in tribute to Kenny Rucker. I love that the organization turned his seat orange and honored him during the game. Little things like that make me love this team even more.
• Datsyuk made two gorgeous passes setting up Zetterberg's goal. It was classic Eurotwins beauty.
• How good was Jimmy Howard tonight? He made a ton of good saves and should've been the first star (Who chose those, anyway?).
• Nik Kronwall gave me a scare when he got taken down in the first period. He seemed to get up slowly and when he was back on his feet, he just kind of stood leaning over at the blue line without moving for 10 seconds or so. (That part got cut out on the FSD broadcast as it was zoomed in on the action.) Luckily, he turned out to be just fine.
• It was nice to see the powerplay convert when Lidstrom fired a shot from the blue line in for his first goal of the season. Even better was the play Datsyuk made to set up the goal.  I seem to remember yelling something along the lines of, "Holy dangle, Batman!" afterward.
• I spotted a pretty epic jersey foul during the first intermission. This lady was in line with a woman in a Mrs. Osgood jersey. T'was the Mrs. Ozzie jersey that first caught my eye, but as I whipped my camera out, I noticed the writing embroidered at the bottom of the Iginla jersey. Bonus foul points for spelling his first name wrong. It also inspired Lauren to create this maxi-jersey-dress/rodeo clown costume paying tribute to all of his middle names.
• I had absolutely no idea how Johan Franzen's goal ended up in the net until I got home and watched on the DVR. It was way down at the opposite end of the rink from where I was sitting and we really couldn't see on the scoreboard. It has to be one of the oddest goals I've seen in a long time. Dude banked the puck off the side of the goalie's head. How can anyone not be thrilled to have the Mule back?
• I got some strange looks for celebrating Bertuzzi's goal by screaming, “GLITTER!!!” and, “KITTENS!!!”
• During the third period, they did a trivia thing during a commercial break. One of the questions was something about how many Honda dealerships there are in the metro-Detroit area. The question was greeted with a round of boos that was way louder than any directed toward a Flames player. It made me laugh.
• I rode the People Mover back to Greektown after the game and it was naturally packed with Wings fans. We got a nice loud LGRW chant going for a while. After it died down, a Flames fan yelled, “Go, Flames, go!” One of the Wings fans responded by yelling, “Hey, who invited the flamer?” It was one of the more entertaining People Mover rides I've had.  Bonus points for it not ending with me getting stuck on the train, and running down the middle of the street through six inches of snow without a coat on back to my departure point.  Not that that's ever happened to me before or anything.

Hat Trick:
1. How's the powerplay going to shake out with the changes Babcock has been making in practice?
The powerplay went 1 for 5 on the night and looked like it had better puck movement in general. One of the final powerplays in the third period was pretty shaky and it seemed like Calgary had more chances than the Wings did, but other than that, I thought it looked better.

2. The Mule is back. This can only mean good things.
Good things like scoring the game-winning-goal? Oh yes.

3. How are the Wings going to look after the ridiculously absurd layoff between games? They always seem to look pretty meh after stretches like that. Also, since I missed Saturday's game, it's been a whole week since I saw a live hockey game. That's just way too long.
They got off to a sluggish start in the first period. Luckily, Howard came to play on time and kept the team in the game until the rest of the guys decided to wake up. I thought they got steadily better as time went on.

I've Got My Eye on You:

Dan Cleary: 0-0-0, +/- -2, 0 PIM
Cleary was on the ice for both goals that the Flames scored. He was a big part of the blown defensive coverage that led to Calgary's first goal. I've been a little disappointed with the whole third line so far.

Curtis Glencross: 0-2-2, +/- 2, 0 PIM
He seemed like he was all over the place tonight. He assisted on both of the Flames' goals and was part of some good scoring chances.

Hero: Jimmy Howard
The fact that he wasn't named the game's first star is borderline criminal.

Villain: Mikael Backlund
He scored both of Calgary's goals. Ouch.

Final Thought:
There really is no better way to watch a hockey game than sitting in Joe Louis Arena.

Red Wings vs. Flames GP...

Red Wings: 3-1-1

Flames: 3-2-0

Hat Trick:
1. How's the powerplay going to shake out with the changes Babcock has been making in practice?
2. The Mule is back. This can only mean good things.
3. How are the Wings going to look after the ridiculously absurd layoff between games? They always seem to look pretty meh after stretches like that. Also, since I missed Saturday's game, it's been a whole week since I saw a live hockey game. That's just way too long.

I've Got My Eye on You:

Dan Cleary

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

Curtis Glencross

1-0-1, +/- 1, 4 PIM