Not Quite the Comeback Kids: Ducks 6, Wings 3

Right here, you are to pretend there is a picture from tonight's game.
I'll even type so that it's in a sort of box-like shape and add color.
And maybe tomorrow morning Blogger will have gotten its act together.
But as I have to work at 8:30 I don't feel like fighting it at the moment.

During the Red Wings Live pregame show, John Keating made the comment, "If Anaheim is the City of Angels, tonight's lineup is heavenly." (I know, I cringed too.) Unfortunately the way the game panned out it didn't look like there were many angels on either side of the ice - the entire game devolved into alternating powerplays and penalty kills, which made for a pretty exciting game, but not necessarily the outcome I was hoping for.

The Ducks struck first as Kent Huskins got away from Valtteri Filppula who looked rather shaky tonight in general - he's had a rough start to the season (0G, 0A, +1) after proving last year that he has the potential to make a strong impact on the team. Shortly after the Wings tied it up thanks to Kris Draper, who extends his goal streak to five games. Unfortunately, the Ducks weren't done, and nailed us again on a five on three. At the very end of the first period, I looked away for thirty or so seconds, and when I turned back there were three penalties and the Ducks were on the powerplay yet again - seems to be the story of the game.

The Wings' defense looked a little lacking tonight as well - for a good portion of the evening they looked more like they were reacting than going out and making plays, definitely not a smart way to play against a dangerous team like the Ducks. Especially, as every broadcaster will tell you fifteen or sixteen times, now that they've recovered from their strenuous season start.

At the start of the second things started looking up - the announcers got a bit ahead of themselves at first ("Datsyuk SCO - oh wait did that not go in?") - but the Wings rallied to tie the game off of a goal by Zetterberg and one by Brian Rafalski that looked as if it could have been tapped in by Zetterberg as well. Following that frenzy, Zetterberg played like a man possessed, and only by the grace of Ilya Bryzgalov (who looked great tonight) did he not score about five consecutive goals. He did score what would have been another goal on a wide open net, but it came after a whistle and was discredited immediately Even without those, he extends his point streak and continues to lead the league with fourteen points thus far - "After a while you just lose superlatives don't you?", say the announcers. Yeah, you do.

Unfortunately, what looked like it could have been a brilliant comeback fell short when Earl Sleek's favorite Sammy Pahlsson notched a shorthanded goal that took the Ducks up once again, and they never looked back, scoring two more (one an empty netter) before the game ended. At least Corey Perry's on one of my fantasy teams.

Despite the end result, the Wings didn't look bad tonight either - in the third period they crushed the Ducks 15-2 with regard to faceoffs, and Draper is pushing 70% on his draws. The Eurotwins weren't as visible as they were in yesterday's game, but they still come on strong - the momentum turned for the Wings in the second as a direct result of their efforts. At one point Pavel Datsyuk even got into a little scuffle and lost his helmet.

Interestingly, at one point Andreas Lilja held the puck behind the net for what seemed like honestly forever - and the Ducks fans started booing him. Shouldn't you guys still be happy about what he did for you last season? And what he proceeded to do about thirty seconds later? I wonder if we'll be seeing Derek Meech step in for him on a trial basis sometime soon - Lilja's errors are starting to rack up consequences.

And on the topic of Ducks fans - what exactly is it they're yelling out there? The Honda Center is loud enough, but when it comes right down to it, it sounds like what they're yelling is something along the lines of "LET'S SKLJFLKNEWRNCKKKAFFFAO..asdf..fdlii...kkkkszhhh". Uhhh. I know "Let's go Ducks" might not really work that rhythmically, but take a cue from the Leafs and try on "Go Ducks Go" maybe?

Last but definitely not least, Captain Elbows, where were you tonight? I was looking forward to hearty Pronger-booing, but he didn't even do anything more offensive than get some yucky close-ups. Yeah I said it. Yucky.

Next up, the last of the California bunch this Thursday!