Black Hawk(s) Down

I was down at the Joe tonight for the Wings/Blackhawks game tonight, so I wasn't taking notes, but as usual that doesn't stop me.

Osgood started in net, as Dom was out for supposedly precautionary measures relating to "thigh tenderness". It is about the right time in the season for him to break himself, right? Let's hope not. Cleary was also still out, as were Samuelsson and Zetterberg, and of course new acquisition Bertuzzi as well - and Chelios wasn't playing either but I didn't see anything on that anywhere; anyone know why?

I don't really have a lot to say about the game itself - the 6-2 score should really tell you the majority of what you need to know anyway. The Blackhawks didn't look awful out there though - it wasn't like we just dominated them mercilessly (insert Hasek - or lack of Hasek - pun here). The first period was spent almost entirely in their zone - right, of course, until my friend and I moved up to the glass to watch the rest of it. Two nice goals, and what could have been another, but Filppula botched a really nice opportunity.

He made up for it, though, seven minutes and some into the second, which was followed directly by a really nice Jiri Hudler breakaway goal (I told my friend he couldn't bear to let Val get ahead of him) that I really wish had been on my side of the arena. The Hawks made it on the scoreboard before the end of the period though - thanks to none other than our (former) own Jason Williams - the entire audience applauded and cheered for him, and I remembered why I'm so proud to live in Hockeytown. He never really panned out for us, other than being useful in shootouts, never quite fit the way we'd hoped, but we were still willing to cheer the guy on and wish him well.

Forty seconds in to the third, Nik Lidstrom netted his 200th career goal, and once again the entire crowd stood and cheered right up until the puck dropped for the next faceoff and even then you could hear people chanting his name. A mere two minutes later the Hawks answered back again - another Williams goal. There was less cheering this time, but it was still acknowledged. Two goals against us, both unassisted, I for one was proud of the guy. Before the period ended though, Franzen brought the total up to 6-2 and the Wings finished out the game strong.

So, sure it was a game against the Blackhawks, who aren't really a team known for their strength lately, but it was excellent to see these sorts of results while missing so many key players. I loved getting to see the young guns out there on the ice so often (Hudler and Filppula both racked up nearly 15 minutes of ice time, and even the three Griffins call ups - Ellis, Langfeld, Hussey - pulled 6-7 apiece), and they certainly made use of the time. Even better was the way the points spread across the lines - just as people have started to worry we're turning into a one line team and relying on the Eurotwins far too much, after starting the season talking so much about have a full capable four being the reason we were doing so well at all, a few injuries and everyone steps it up again. Robert Lang had his first multi-point game since January tonight, Datsyuk of course contributed three assists, Filppula and Hudler all figured in, and Calder netted a point for himself as well, making him two for two in the last two games.

This should prove to be an interesting month - tonight leaves us once again tied with Nashville (though down three on games won) with four head to head battles left that will more than likely decide the leader of the Central Division.

Mostly unrelated, I have to take a moment to express my gratitude toward the guys working the sound booth at the Joe, at least tonight. I normally don't pay that much attention to the music, other than cringing at the occasional horror, but they were really on tonight - Three Dog Night's "One is the Loneliest Number" after the first Chicago goal, Trapt's "Headstrong" and Beck's "Loser" in regard to fights, Three Dog Night's "Two Less Lonely People" while Chicago's #10 is being escorted to the box for a Detroit 5 on 3 opportunity, and my very favorite, the Chiffons' "He's So Fine" (do-lang-do-lang-do-lang, anyone?) after Robert's goal - I literally couldn't breathe when I realized just how hilarious it was.

--

Last but not least because I do so seem to enjoy throwing extra things on the end of my posts here, and since I was talking about music, after all - but I spent a good hour earlier in the day going through, for about the millionth time, all the little Marty Biron parodies, and in the process stumbled upon what is my new favorite thing Buffalo has ever done (and okay it might spawn from my latent Oilers-love of Jaroslav Spacek): Spacek Oddity. All you actually need to know about this is that David Bowie is involved and the first line would seem to be "This is ground control to Jaroslav".