Breaking it Down

These late games are killing me. As a lot of you know, I work super early mornings - usually I have to get up around 4 am and be coherent enough to count a lot of money by 5, so staying up and watching games that start at 10 pm are out of the question. While I was able to watch the last two games despite their late starts thank to days off, I still find myself nearly falling asleep during them (and subsequently sleeping late enough that my "breakfast" this morning consisted of a toaster strudel and some Andy Capp's hot fries at 2 pm), so my comments about the particular games may not be quite as astute as in the past (...as if they ever were).

Coming off of two shootout wins against Chicago and the LA Kings, both of which involved a comeback on the Wings part, the Wings have improved their record to 7-1-1 on the season, not too shabby! However, not everything is smooth sailing when it comes to Wings hockey right now, as the team has more than a few struggles to go along with their strengths.

PROS:

• Goals for. The Wings certainly aren't short on firepower, as they lead the league in goals scored. Even better, the scoring is coming from across the board. Twelve players have notched goals thus far, and the team certainly doesn't need to be worried about secondary scoring.

• Marian Hossa, after starting the season not poorly but slowly, has stepped it up. The most talked-about addition to the team put up a goal and two assists in Saturday's game against the Blackhawks and then scored the winning shootout in the shootout as well, curiously enough with a slapshot that blew right past Hawks goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. Hossa now leads the team in points (12) and +/- (+7) and the chemistry between he and Pavel Datsyuk that seemed absent early in the season is really heating up. Don't worry though, Hank, I'm sure you're still Pav's favorite.

• Brian Rafalski is second in points (10) and started off the season with a 7-game point streak (h/t to Gorilla Crouch for that link - what a neat Yahoo feature!) that set a club record. There isn't much else to say - he's been awesome. How's that defense of yours doing over there, New Jersey?

CONS: (Please note the first time I typed that it read, "CONKS")

• Goals against. Usually a strong point for the Wings, this season the all-star defensive lineup has look just a little bit shaky. The team is 18th in the NHL for goals against, allowing an average of 3.11 per game - not a very pretty statistic. Not only that but the team who boasted a huge chunk of players in the top 10 league +/- this season has nine players in the red, lead by Brett Lebda who boasts a gaudy -7. Goaltending needs a little work as well; neither Chris Osgood nor Ty Conklin have been particularly bad, and both are racking up wins, but neither looks all that stellar, either. Osgood's save percentage is only .884 and he's 21st in the league in GAA. With the defense looking a tad wobbly, Osgood's going to need to step it up as well. Faultering defense and goaltending is a recipe for disaster. The Wings have been winning games, yes - close games. The defense needs to buck up and start playing like we all know it can, and should, be, or sooner or later these numbers are going to catch up with the Wings.

• Johan Franzen's knee injury could put him out for 3-4 weeks. The Mule came into his own last season, breaking a Gordie Howe record for game winning goals in a month near the end of the season, tearing it up in the playoffs, and starting strong this year as well. with 5 goals and 2 assists in 7 games played. Unfortunatley Franzen took a knee-on-knee hit from Brent Sopel in Saturday's game against the Blackhawks and is expected to miss a month with a left knee sprain. The Wings have looked okay without his firepower so far, but Franzen was a key piece to last year's success and will be missed. Luckily for the Wings, they have a substantial amount of talent in Grand Rapids - Finnish Ville Leino will probably get the call-up if it becomes necessary.

Overall, the Wings look better than they do worse - but there are still a few question marks. While I'd like to let their record do the talking, it's also tough to watch a team play below what you think its real abilities are. It's early on in the season though and hardly time to get worried. Tomorrow night's game against the penalty-prone Ducks will hopefully be a good time for them to break out the devastaing powerplay, and Thursday's romp with the Sharks (which has a 10:30 pm start and which I will definitely see on a delay) should be an extremely good measure of how good the team is. (Don't get worried yet, the answer is "very!")

Hossa Gets it Done

Last Saturday a group of coworkers and I headed down to the Joe to catch the Wings take on the Rangers - it seems like ages ago, having a three-day break in between games like this.

The game was fantastic one to see live, especially, from the quick start the Wings had out of the gate (Mikael Samuelsson scored 28 seconds into the first period, and Johan Franzen picked one up around three minutes in), to the sketchy third period where the Rangers not only tied it up but skated to a 4-2 lead on two goals by Aaron Voros. The real fun began with Jiri Hudler tied it up on the powerplay, but it was the ensuing overtime that was the icing on the cake.

After mentioning new Wing Marian Hossa's struggles to make a serious impact so far this season and jokingly swearing to my boss every time he fell short on an opportunity, it was Hossa who tapped in Pavel Datsyuk's shot to beat Henrik Lundvist and win the game in overtime for the Wings and also to notch his 300th career goal. So is Hossa ready to step up? Maybe, maybe not - after all, a tap-in is hardly proof of a sudden chemistry between the two, and more likely a happy coincidence. But you have to think Hossa's feeling better about, well, just about everything, scoring the goal that won a dangerous game against a team with one of the current best records in hockey. He'll be one to watch in tonight's game against the Blues (for the number one spot in the division - how weird is that!). About that goal, Hossa replied:

"It doesn't get any better than this, the 300th, the first goal as a Red Wing and the game winner in overtime."

I hope it does get better - let's see 301, 302, etc. With luck, that victory was an eye-opener to the team, who has seemed to be playing down to its opponents a little bit, as well as a jump-start to Hossa's season. Either way it was a fun thing to see live, and the Joe's reaction was awesome.

We'll see tonight in a game that promises to be interesting - Henrik Zetterberg will be back, along with Brad Stuart, but Andreas Lilja will be sitting out after undergoing an appendectomy. Also out will be Darren Helm, who was returned to Grand Rapids, but Darren McCarty, who cleared waivers today, could make his debut soon.

What's the Best Cure for a Hangover?

Okay, I know, the Wings have played four games already and I'm off to a very bad blogging start - the fact is, I have to get up for work at 4 am most days, and when the game ends I'm usually crashed mere minutes afterward. However, I promise to make a better go of it starting now!

It's been an odd start to the season so far, but nothing to panic about yet. The unexpected 3-2 season-opening loss to the Maple Leafs caught us all off guard, but the Wings bounced back against the Senators and Hurricanes before dropping yesterday night's game against the Canucks in overtime. While the Wings haven't looked all bad, they haven't look all good, either - here's a few observations I've made since the beginning of the season.

• For a team that preaches puck-possession, the Wings have made a lot of awfully bad turnovers thus far. From minor to downright cringe-worthy, it's something the team for sure has to work on in the upcoming games if they hope to regain the dominance of the past season.

• We haven't seen a whole lot of what's expected out of Marian Hossa so far - he hasn't looked bad, per se, but his chemistry with Pavel Datsyuk leaves a bit to be desired. However, coach Babcock remains insistant that we won't see the Eurotwins back together again to save the day, even on the powerplay. Personally I miss seeing them on the ice together, and I think it could be of some help, given the way the top line has performed so far, but what do I know?

• Ty Conklin looks fairly good in his debut - he scared me a little at first, with his flailing around (and has anyone else noticed his propensity for just falling over when making saves?), and his decision to cavort around the net especially against Carolina of all teams had me desperately hoping there would be no repeat of this debacle, but he did well to prove himself.

• It's been, so far, a season of weird bounces (take Thursday night's game against Vancouver, for example) - but the Wings, and Chris Osgood, though he's looked solid so far, can't use that as an excuse. Many were created by poor execution on the players' part as well, and the team as a whole needs to ramp it up a bit. They've looked a little like they've been playing down to their opponents lately, and if they don't step it up, the hangover label is going to come back in full force.
  

Things won't get easier yet, as both Henrik Zetterberg and Brad Stuart will be out tonight against a scary Rangers club, but Darren Helm, who was called up to fill in for Zetterberg, and Derek Meech, who will see his first action of the season tonight, are more than capable replacements. I'll be at the game - my first of the season - hopeful that we'll see the effort this club is capable of. Go Wings!! (PS the best cure I've found? Greasy McDonald's hashbrowns. Ask my lovely friends in DC. But don't try that, boys, it can't be good for you.)

End Notes:
Former Wing and NPI favorite Kyle Quincey suited up for his debut with the LA Kings last night. I was only able to catch the first period of the game, but he looked good paired up with Matt Greene, was given time on the PK to showcase his self-professed stay at home defenseman skills, and showed that despite the Wings lack of room for him, he is in fact an NHL-ready defenseman. He also, according to the Kings recap, was part of a scoring chance that helped to set up Anze Kopitar's game-tying goal, and took a slapshot seven minutes into the second period that caused Hurricanes' Frantisek Kaberle to leave the game with a leg injury. While you of course don't want to applaud another player getting hurt, congrats, Kyle, keep it up and all our best!

One More.

It's getting harder and harder to make an objective blog post. With every game the Red Wings win, it's harder to sit down and type up a post about what was good, what was bad, how the game went, who scored and when and how.

Part of it is because this far along, you watch the game like I did, in a room full of your best friends, biting your nails and rocking back and forth holding your breath when it's tied 1-1 heading into the third and you know, you know, the next goal takes the game. Or when the boys are up 2-1 and suddenly all those obstruction arguments Therrien's been giving have gotten the Penguins a 5 on 3 that could turn the entire game around if the Wings make just one little mistake. Part of it is sheer pride and part of it is because as a hockey fan you can't help but shiver when you think of any team, especially your own, hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup. Just one win left. Looking at that image on the Wings' website right now is with that one lowly little number still clinging to life at the far bottom bottom right gives me chills. One more game.

Last night the Penguins lost at home for the first time in, as we've been reminded approximately four thousand times between CBC and NBC, three months. There was some concern when Tomas Holmstrom sat out, but Darren McCarty took his place and the Wings persevered. Personally I'm glad he got to play a Finals game, to basically complete the story of his comeback - I bet he never thought it'd get this far.

The game was incredibly tight, tense, and spectacular. Marian Hossa scored first for the Penguins giving the collective Wings fan base a coronary, but captain Nick Lidstrom netted the tying goal at 7:06 in the first to even things back out and calm us all down enough to resume drinking our beer, at least for a little while. The second period was uneventful and scary even - so you knew the third was going to be a serious stress test. Luckily for Wings fans, Brad Stuart was able to slide a puck to Jiri Hudler who, despite saying he wasn't expecting the puck at all and "barely knew where the net was," deposited it behind Fleury, top shelf gloveside with a nice little backhanded flip - ironically a sort of improvised version of his favorite shootout move. It was great to see him get the gamewinner and I sort of adopted him as my Wings rookie last season and he hit some rough patches this year.

The one goal lead was hardly enough to quell the stress, and the rest of the period was almost painful to watch, though the Wings performed marvelously. Just when the feeling was starting to set in that the Wings would be okay, the unthinkable happened - Kirk Maltby went to the box for hooking and Andreas Lilja was called for a questionable instance of interference only moments later leaving the Wings forced to defend a 5 on 3 for an incredible amount of time. Fortunately the Wings performed exactly the way a Stanley Cup winning team should be expected to, and the group of Henrik Zetterberg, Nick Lidstrom, and Niklas Kronwall shut the Penguins' best opportunity of the night despite their monumental effort - Lilja should be thanking god, because despite his very solid play all night long, a game tying goal on a call on him would have sent him once again to Wings fans' doghouses. Zetterberg in particular tied up Sidney Crosby's stick and made an amazing maneuver with his skate to save what would almost inevitably been the tying goal. When asked if that sequence was the best he'd played in his life, Zetterberg answered, "What part?"

Crosby, however, was less impressed:

“He made a good play on me; he got my stick,” Sidney Crosby said. “I don’t think he did anything out of the ordinary besides what any other guy would do on a 5-on-3.”

Zetterberg's response?

"I don't know. I couldn't hear him. I think he was a little frustrated."

Beautiful, Hank. Sounds like Crosby's inexperience is surfacing - but you can only imagine the level of frustration the Penguins are facing right now. Zetterberg, on the other hand, may have just won himself the Selke in one quick move - and Pittsburgh failed to take even one shot during the duration of the two man advantage.

Game 5, Monday night, 8:00 PM, gives the Red Wings a chance to win the Cup at home in Detroit. The Penguins are a determined team who refuse to give up, and with that in mind may generate entirely different results than their past two visits to the Joe - but Wings fans have no reason to be anything but optimistic that soon the city will be able to celebrate the way they haven't since 2002. I want to see Nick Lidstrom be the first European captain to lift the Cup. I want to go downtown and see the parade that I missed six years ago when I was only fifteen and couldn't quite understand the way I do now just what it feels like to come this far. Monday. One more game. Don't kill me, Elly.

GO WINGS. ONE MORE.

The Curse of 10 (Stars 3, Wings 1)

How many times in the past few years have the Wings gotten to a 9 game winning streak? And yet 10 always seems to be inexplicably out of our reach. So maybe we should have expected it.

In general, the Stars outplayed the Red Wings last night. They the game for good reason - unfortunately for them there's going to be no one talking about the effort they finally mustered up and the hockey they finally got it in their heads to play. Because everyone is talking about Tomas' Holmstrom's rear end.

In an absolute debacle of a call, Kelly Sutherland, the center ice official, waved off a Pavel Datsyuk goal - which would have been the first of the game - on an interference call, claiming that Holmstrom was in the crease.

You tell me where the interference is.

When pressed to explain, the league conceded that his skates were outside of the blue paint, but that the call had been made because his backside was "hanging over the crease." ("I don't think that's a rule," says Henrik Zetterberg. Me either.) As if that weren't bad enough, the other excuse floating around is that it was a makeup call for a missed interference call on Homer in Game 1. Completely embarrassing. The idea of a perfectly legit goal being called off as basically an "oops we got it wrong" is disgusting. (Matt Saler [On the Wings] has a great post about this.) Congratulations, NHL, after making me think you had it in you to do something right (the fines assessed to Mike Ribeiro and Chris Osgood after Game 2) you go and spoil it with nonsense like this.

It's true you can't say that goal was the gamebreaker, but scoring the first goal in four straight games is quite the demoralizer. The Dallas Stars were playing great hockey last night, but there's no doubt in my mind that that call energized them, that they took something from it and went on to play better hockey, while it seemed to stick with the Wings in a much more negative manner. In some ways you can't blame them, but in others, things like this happen, and you can't use it as an excuse for not playing up to the necessary level.

Still, I have to say, most of last night's game is summed up by Datsyuk's reaction to his goal being waved off - "That's bullshit." (How great is his reaction there, actually? Not just the words, but the exasperated "whatever" screw-you hand wave? You can almost see him rolling his eyes despite the grainy Youtube quality. Pavel knows how inane that call was.)

And that's really unfortunate, because the Stars did play the better game, and they should be recognized for it - it's very unfortunate that they (hopefully!) won't have a win that isn't sullied by shoddy officiating and bush league "makeup" calls.

Podcasting again!

I once again guested on Finny (Girl with a Puck) and Connie's (A Queen Among Kings) "I'm Not a Puck Bunny" podcast, with Sherry (Scarlett Ice) and Cat (Untypical Girls). This week we spent a good portion of the time talking about this Dallas/Detroit series with reactions from both sides as well as the recent Fabian Brunnstrom sweepstakes, so plenty of things of interest for Detroit fans! As always you can check out this and every week's episode at http://imnotapuckbunny.podbean.com.

Unstoppable (Wings 5, Stars 2)

Early on in the season the Wings garnered a sort of reputation as a "3rd Period Team" - a team who, even if they faltered early, seemed to get it together and pull things off in the waning minutes of the game (remember Brett Lebda and that Minnesota game?). Of course there have been some notable exceptions to this idea - in fact there have been several games where the third period proved to be their downfall (how about the subsequent L.A. disaster, or the twice-blown lead in Nashville?).

Still, in this vein, what the Wings have been succeeding at continues to be sheer relentlessness - and for the second series in a row the opponent, lauded for this same quality, has failed to match their strides. Last night the Wings post a 5-2 victory over Dallas, giving them a 3-0 lead in the series - not unsurmountable, but a whole new level of challenge for the Dallas Stars, who now sit on the brink of elimination.

I feel like this image does a nice job summing up the current emotions of both teams right now.

Once again last night the Stars looked better than they had previously, knotting the game at two (goals from Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit and Nicklas Grossman - his first in the NHL - and Brad Richards for Dallas) until Jiri Hudler scored a breakaway goal off of a great pass from Niklas Kronwall to put the Wings up again. Shortly after, Henrik Zetterberg made a fool of Richards, beating him on a one-on-one, the goal which seemed to put an end to Dallas' hopes for the evening. Before the game was over, Datsyuk notched his third, completing the first hat trick of his career, and the third Wings hat trick in these playoffs. Even with Johan Franzen missing at least three games now, the Wings' offense has remained deadly.

Despite the "festivities" at the end of Game 2, there was little retaliation from either team in Game 3, at least of the sort that could have gotten them into trouble. While it would have been nice to see Darren McCarty wail on Mike Ribeiro just for old time's sake, I'm very grateful the Wings took out their frustrations over the whole deal in a purely winning-oriented manner. Their discipline and strength of character (with few exceptions; I concede the Osgood spear the other night) is another of their strong suits and has definitely been making a difference for them - even if Marty Turco disagrees:

"When the intensity rises, we like our chances in that regard, too," Turco said. "We don't think much of them on a personal, character level. We think that's to our advantage."

Really, Marty? Don't get me wrong, I like you, but maybe you should worry more about the Wings' outstanding ability to get pucks behind you than their characters, not to mention the fact that your highly-touted play coming into this series has fallen rather flat.

Wednesday night's Game 4 in Dallas (once again at 8:00 p.m. EST) should be interesting - the Wings have an opportunity to complete their second sweep in a row and secure a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals, but one can only assume the Stars will be putting out all the stops to keep their spectacular season alive. I believe - but no one can completely count the Stars out yet. GO WINGS!

Keeping it Going (Wings 2, Stars 1)

The Red Wings won last night to go up 2-0 in the series against the Stars. Since one of Dallas' main accomplishments thus far was two quick road wins in enemy territory, being able to stymie them so far this has to give the Wings a pretty good feeling about the series.

Then again the Stars came out much harder last night than Thursday. They controlled the puck better, they looked more dangerous, more alert, even their supposed deadly powerplay connected to give them the one goal (a Stephane Robidas slapshot) they would earn for the evening. Not to mention the Wings were out Johan Franzen, a huge blow given his playoff production so far (the man has 27 goals in 27 games - same as the Eurotwins combined). Defensively, the Wings looked very good, but as Matt noted, "I don’t think the Wings have fully hit their stride in this round." The good news is, they're still playing well enough to win, and we can add "yet" to that sentence and hope for the best.

Unfortunately for Stars, their improved play still wasn't enough. They scored a pp goal, but they went 1/6 on the evening and couldn't put anything together in the second, despite the Wings spending half the period in the box. It was apparent their frustration from the first game carried over into the second.

Tomas Holmstrom was great; he continued getting in their faces despite some abuse from Stars goalie Marty Turco (whose aggressive behavior, including a couple cheap shots on Holmstrom and Val Filppula, finally cost him, as he was called for slashing), and he got the entire team so wrapped up in his antics that oftentimes they let up spectacular scoring opportunities for the Wings, including the Henrik Zetterberg eventual gamewinner. Things like this are why Homer is such a huge asset to this team.

It doesn't help the Stars either that Chris Osgood is playing like a man possessed. At least twice I was absolutely convinced the Stars were going to tie the game, only to see the puck slide back down the ice on the stick of a Wing. So good, in fact, that when Mike Ribeiro slashed him two-handed across the chest from behind the net at the end of the game and he went down writhing in pain (which I will admit, now, was extremely silly looking and unnecessary on his part) every fan in the Joe went dead silent as I can only imagine visions of Dominik Hasek in net passed through their heads. And wouldn't you have?

Speaking of that hit, whether or not Osgood intentionally jabbed at him with the butt end of his stick, and I'm not saying he didn't as he certainly did hit it, that sort of intent to injure slash is never okay, and I hope the league is aware of this when meting out judgment.

But what's even more not okay? Throwing trash on the ice. Yeah, Wings fans, I know, you weren't happy - I wasn't either, but I kept my beer securely in my lap. There's absolutely no reason to be hurling towels, wrappers, hot dogs, half-drank cups of beer (especially this - those people sitting below you really don't deserve to get splattered), on the ice. The team doesn't appreciate it, the officials don't appreciate it, the management doesn't appreciate it, and it just makes you look like a jerk. It's completely unnecessary and totally tacky - way to show pride in our arena. Congratulations you guys, you just negated all that whining you did about Don Cherry calling us rednecks. I know this is a good series and I know it's getting all our emotions up, but that's no excuse. Please, guys, don't help make Detroit and its fans look as bad as people say it is - stay classy, guys.

Game 3 is Monday night in Dallas at 8:00 pm (who else loves our travel schedule these playoffs?) - GO WINGS! And of course, here are some Game 2 photos!

Make 'Em See Stars (Wings 4, Stars 1)

The post title seems to be the slogan the Wings are going with heading into these conference finals against the Dallas Stars - they were even giving T-Shirts emblazoned with it at the Joe for an impromptu red out. It's a fitting one, given the outcome of the game one, in which the Wings defeated the Stars 4-1 and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

The new addition for this years' playoffs? Flames shooting from the scoreboard when a goal is scored. Awesome.

I was in attendance and didn't take any notes, so this may be a little sparse - but I made plenty of observations:

I'd be really interested in knowing how much time the Wings were in control of the puck vs the Stars. It seemed like, especially during a large chunk of the first and second, literally every time the Stars had possession you barely had the chance to hope they didn't take advantage of it before the puck was securely on a Wing's stick again. Maybe, as suggested by several sources included Mike Babcock, they were still feeling the effects of that Sunday night marathon, but the Stars showed a remarkable lack of skill in passing and puck control.

Similarly, we were told to fear the Dallas powerplay - which did look a little bit scary shortly into the first period when the Wings took an early penalty, but the second pp of the night was absolutely abysmal, and it didn't look too much better from then on. Dallas' only goal was scored at even strength. The Wings on the other hand, went 3 for 5 on the pp with only Valtteri Filppula's breakway goal coming at even strength. If their pp continues to click like this for the rest of the series they're going to be scary.

For Dallas to have a chance in this series, their best players really need to shine, and last night they all but didn't show up. Brenden Morrow scored the lone goal, which is a plus for them, as he's a force the Wings really need to be able to contain, given his play as of late. But Brad Richards? He was so unremarkable that I spent all night referring to him as "That guy with Fedorov's number" until I finally realized oh, that's him? - not impressive.

Despite the numbers, Marty Turco didn't look horrible - and while it was fun to chant Turrrrcoooo with the masses, you almost felt bad for him. The guys in front of him were majorly letting him down, and nothing he let in was a complete softie. Despite getting as many goals put up against him, he looked much better than Jose Theodore ever did last series. His stick save on Henrik Zetterberg's wraparound attempt - an almost sure goal - was awesome, and it forced Chris Osgood to make a quick brilliant save of his own to keep the flow of the game in our favor. However, he wasn't the goalie he'd been made out to be either, and the Stars are going to need him better if they

For the Wings, I thought Dallas Drake had a really good night. Twice I saw him make extremely nice takeaways - and both times until I saw his number I thought it had been Pavel Datsyuk, quite a compliment. Filppula looked really good as well, especially given his status was questionable after he twisted his leg in the last game against Colorado. Then again the entire Wings team seemed to be really in sync all evening long. They let off the gas a little at the end, but luckily the very frustrated Stars team was still unable to take advantage. Still, they're going to need to put out a full 60 minute effort to keep the series going the way it is now. Game two will be a completely different beast.

My photo gallery from the game (mainly shots from warmups) is here, but here are some of my favorites:


I have managed to pick up tickets to Game 2 (Saturday at 7:00 pm) as well, so expect more on Sunday, after the drive back to Kalamazoo! And of course, GO WINGS!

Get Out Your Brooms! (Wings 8, Avs 2)

I know, I'm way late on the uptake - but Thursday was a night of celebration (though not at this bar, because the @#%&head bartender refused to put the game on any of their half a dozen televisions - a move which would have resulted in one less TV showing half naked girls in music videos), and this weekend I spent working Western's last MAC softball games of the year.

Thursday the Wings completed their sweep of the Colorado Avalanche in a decisive 8-2 rout that sends them to the Conference Finals for the second year in a row. With prospect Fabian Brunnstrom in attendance, the Wings Swedes apparently dressed to impress, notching all 8 of those goals themselves. Tomas Holmstrom got one, and Mikael Samuelsson two, but it the real stars were two other Swedes. Johan Franzen's second hat trick in three games (the first player to do so since Jari Kurri, 23 years ago), and 9th goal in the series (a feat which broke a Gordie Howe record). His first goal of the game, a quick (47 seconds later) follow up to Tomas Holmstrom's with 39 seconds left in the first, served to be the dagger in Colorado's heart - following it the Wings took off, scoring four in the second and one more in the third. The Mule continues to be on fire. Not to be totally outdone by Franzen, though, Henrik Zetterberg scored twice as well; the second of which was an amazing goal he put in while on his back on the ice (you know it's good when it even made the top play on Sportscenter the next morning):

Jose Theodore didn't look Game 1 bad, but he didn't look good either - and neither did backup Peter Budaj. Then again, they weren't getting a whole lot of help either, and having forwards who were scoring goals like that Zetterberg beauty isn't going to help anybody's confidence. Chris Osgood on the other hand, is doing his damnedest every single game to keep our faith in him firmly secured.

Despite the scoring circus the game turned into, however, the Avalanche stayed classy. I know I wasn't alone in worrying that he last few minutes of the game would turn into a brutal, cheap-shotting injury-fest, as the Avs tried to goon it up and leave their mark before their season ended - but they didn't. And that's awesome. Jibblescribbits sums it up perfectly:

Even though they were completely outplayed by Detroit, their character never sacrificed their class by gooning it up in defeat. Detroit fans remember Calgary last season, and Avs fans remember the Wild this season. Yet the Avs carried themselves with class and, despite being down 8-2 in an elimination game, still were trying. True character is revealed in tough times and no matter what the Avs proved they are nothing if not a team of character. So be proud of them, despite the pitiful game.

Losing in the manner they did is never easy, especially for a team who expected more out of themselves, and who didn't - or couldn't - play in a manner equal to their potential. And still, the Avalanche came out of the series demanding a certain respect for the way they responded. Kudos to them.

While the game was fun to watch, and it was fun to alternately cheer, gape, and laugh in disbelief as goal after goal went in, and while it's always awesome to watch your team sweep, especially playing as dominantly as Detroit did, on the other hand, it was bittersweet. No one though the rivalry was going to come back full force, but nearly everyone predicted a hard-fought series from both teams - and in the end, the Avalanche just didn't have enough gas in the tank to provide that. Of course, the ridiculous amount of injuries probably didn't help, either. Fans of both teams were pumped up expecting a series they didn't get (though perhaps they should have, as the Wings are now 8-0 against the Avs on the season), which was a little disappointing - not that I'm complaining about the actual outcome, either.

Other sources on Game 4:

• Matt @ On the Wings
• Joe @ Mile High Hockey
• IwoCPO's liveblog @ Abel to Yzerman
• Joe Hass' liveblog @ Behind the Jersey
• David @ In the Cheap Seats
  

The Wings' opponent for the WCF hasn't been decided yet, as San Jose pulled it off again last night when Joe Pavelski scored the OT gamewinner to push a Game 6. If you'd asked me halfway through the season who I'd rather play, I would've said San Jose, because Dallas was terrifying. Coming into the playoffs I'd have said Dallas, because San Jose was terrifying. At the beginning of this series I would've said San Jose, because Dallas was terrifying - are you sensing a pattern? Either way, the Wings are on a roll and looking forward to the rest, so fans have no reason to be anything but optimistic.

Finally, a round of thanks to all the Avalanche bloggers for their help, their banter, their vehement hatred, and their commitment throughout the series - it's a fact that you always end up reading blogs of teams you might never have bothered with come playoff time when they're the opposition, but you don't always find blogs you intend to keep reading afterward. Thanks for being along for the ride, guys! (And, of course, GO WINGS!)

Keepin' it Going (Wings 4, Avs 3)

Once again I missed the game - this series has really been a disaster in viewing terms, as I was spending the evening with a friend who will be moving soon, and it sounds like it was a good one. The return of Forsberg couldn't save them, either - here are some comments from around the web:

Matt @ On the Wings: Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg had probably their best game of the playoffs. [...] Peter Forsberg had some moments in which he looked dangerous, but the Wings did a great job of neutralizing him. I believe Nik Kronwall got a big hit on him and it was heart-warming to see little Brian Rafalski stand him up in the neutral zone in the third period. [...] The loss of Stastny compounded the loss of Smyth and made it much more difficult for Forsberg to make an impact. It was pretty obvious that he was playing hurt.

Mike @ Mile High Hockey: The Avs failed to take the body on Detroit's forwards as they entered the zone until the 3rd period, which resulted in plenty of opportunities for a healthy Detroit team to take advantage of a depleted Avalanche squad. When they did try to get the physical play up, it usually resulted in borderline hits that weren't called (luckily) or power play opportunities for the Red Wings. Quenneville also seemed to have the caution flag out for long stretches of the 1st and 2nd periods as the Avs looked content not to lose badly at times rather than putting the Red Wings on their collective heals.

Dave @ Gorilla Crouch: Detroit’s Big Three played a role in winning Game 3 last night, and in doing so put the Colorado Avalanche on the brink of elimination. [...] Finally, the Mule kept his improbable goal scoring run on track. He scored another goal last night which brings that remarkable run to 23 goals in 25 games. [...] Anyone who follows sports knows about the old cliche that your best players have to be your best players. Pavs, Hank, Lids and the Mule were just that last night and as a result the Red Wings are one win away from making a return trip to the Western Conference Finals.

Aaron @ The Dog and Pony Show: This Red Wings dominance was not unexpected. They were the best team in the regular season, and they are the best team in the playoffs. Detroit never had a post-lockout swoon like the Avalanche did, and by the looks of it they may never have any kind of swoon any time soon.

Let's hope so. The Wings have moved to 3-0 on the series, a familiar number this round, as both Pittsburgh and Dallas are up on their opponents by the same margin. Thursday night they battle the Avalanche in Denver for the sweep at 10:00 pm - GO WINGS.

(Meanwhile, Detroit sports fans rejoice for another reason - Tigers relief pitcher Jason Grilli is finally gone.)

Update: Mike Babcock has been nominated for the Adams Award, along with Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens and Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals. While the award is all but Boudreau's (and I certainly think he deserves it) for turning around the Caps this season, it's awesome to see Babcock recognized for his third straight 50+ win season with the Wings.

"Ride the Mule?" It's better than "Are You In?" (Wings 5, Avs 1)

Yesterday morning I made the comment that, since I was only going to be able to catch the first two periods of the game before having to get to campus for my commencement, "If the Wings aren't winning - and I mean blowout here - when I have to leave, there's going to be blood." While that may have been just a little hyperbolic, I certainly didn't expect the team to take such pity on my horrible luck with NBC broadcasts and do exactly that - it was 4-0 when I left for the ceremony, and when I announced the final 5-1 score, a quiet but enthused cheer snaked its way down my row of graduates.

This is what I like to see.

I missed a portion of the first period as well, because the bar I was at was full of people more interested in the NFL draft - I wished I'd heard Joe Hass' logic on the matter sooner so I'd had it to toss at them: "You can either watch Matt Millen make a mistake, or listen to the Wings fans chant “FIRE MILLEN!” after they announce the draft pick." I only missed the first few minutes though, and as soon as managed to get a bartender to make the switch I was rewarded with Johan Franzen's first goal of the night.

The Wings came out strong, playing hard, fast, dominant hockey, which was great to see after the Nashville series that oftentimes had the Wings starting out a little slower. This time they beat the Avs down from the beginning and allowed them no means of coming back. The game seemed tilted in the Wings' favor right from the beginning - Brad Stuart's wife had her baby over in LA and having taken care of things out there he came in to replace Andreas Lilja, so the Wings regained a strong defensive force while the Avs lost Wojtek Wolski for the series, and were also missing Peter Forsberg and Scott Hannan last night. Jose Theodore (being known as Jose Three-or-Four over at A2Y, which I love) did start in net, but was pulled once more after allowing four goals - he's apparently still "sick".

The Wings are played great hockey this series, and most importantly they're playing deep hockey. The Selke nominated Eurotwins impress as usual, but the second line of Franzen, Valtteri Filppula (who got impressively physical with Adam Foote last night), and Mikael Samuelsson are putting up points like there's no tomorrow, and the Jiri Hudler, Darren McCarty and Darren Helm line is quite the presence as well. It's great to see the talent shining from all places, and it's great that this allows for the big line to stay together - as good as they play apart, their best hockey happens when they're together. When the Wings play like they did last night there's just no stopping the pressure. Unfortunately for the Avalanche, they collapsed underneath it.

Actually, this is what I like to see, too. Good for you McCarty!

To their credit the Avs tried just about everything they could to get motivated and claw back into the game. After Franzen's second, Filppula and Henrik Zetterberg each notched one for the Wings, and the Avalanche looked to be out for the blood the Wings were saving me from having to spill at commencement. McCarty dropped the gloves for the first time with the Wings since his return, against Cody McCormick as the Avs tried desperately to gain some sort of momentum. With a 4-0 lead and a blatant challenge, I'm glad McCarty showed what he's (still) made of. Unfortunately for the Avalanche the fight did little to help and was followed by a string of penalties that ended the Wings up with nearly three minutes of 5 on 3 time. Peter Budaj, then in net, helped them hold the Wings off but by that point it was too little too late.

I missed the third period, but while it sounds like the Wings took their foot off the gas and made a couple sloppy plays at the beginning, the turned it around quickly and in the end it worked out all right. Joe has the liveblog here.

Both teams get a bit of a break as Game 3 in Colorado isn't until Tuesday. It's inarguable that this has become the Wings' series to lose, but the team is remiss if they don't expect at least a bit more effort coming from the Avalanche in their own building. Whether or not they get Forsberg and Hannan back (Darren McCarty thinks Foppa at least, will be back - "I'm pretty sure that, unless Forsberg's legs gonna fall off, he'll probably be in there for Game 3."), and regardless of who starts in net (one has to imagine it will be Budaj, but they seem to continue believing in Theodore), the Wings need to keep playing the way they did in Game 2, and not let this early lead allow for the debacle Game 1 almost became - or we'll be the ones making this sort of game recap post.

News on Octopusgate:

• I explained the matter to Elly who said: "But how about fighting? That gets people matter all over the ice." Good point. How about that, Mr. Bettman?
  

• Freep blogger proves that "matter" does not indeed fly off of the octopus at all - I hope he really did mail out the shower curtain he used in the experiment.

• Linesmen have to shovel the octopi up off the ice now - which takes longer and makes more of a octopi mattery mess. Al Sobotka doesn't seem too dissuaded by the new rules and twirled the octopus in the tunnel instead, an image that was put up on the Jumbotron. Unfortunately the NHL didn't like that either. What a bunch of crap.

Finally, if anyone finds that the "Ride the Mule" shirts being discussed in the post-game interviews really are getting made, direct me to them, all right?

A Good Start (Wings 4, Avs 3)

The Red Wings opened the series with a 4-3 victory over Colorado. The beginning appeared almost like it could have been a blowout, as the Wings took a 4-1 lead and the allegedly sick Jose Theodore was pulled in favor of Peter Budaj, but the team started to let the lead slip away from them as the game kept going, which left fans on the edge of their seats throughout the latter half.

I only caught the third period (I turned on the radio on my way home to Ken Kal praising Andreas Lilja's play, which I took as a good sign, considering some of his earlier gaffs) after getting home from class, and thus I didn't actually see any of the goals, but the hockey I saw was a much closer, tighter game, as predicted. Ryan Smyth looked incredible, and, like I noted earlier, the line of he and David Jones created a whole lot of great chances. Luckily for the Wings, Chris Osgood stood tall and made some incredible saves, and Johan Franzen hasn't forgotten his recently acquiring incredible scoring touch.

The atmosphere at the Joe looked awesome, and it's clear that people are really excited for this series. What I caught of this game was some fun hockey to watch, and I hope that keeps up throughout the series, whatever the final result (although, of course, go Wings!)

For a reaction from someone who caught the whole game, check out Joe Hass' liveblog over at Behind the Jersey.

Done and Done (Wings 3, Preds 0)

WINGS WIN SERIES 4-2

A familiar finish to a first round matchup, at least for Wings fans. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, this season's routing came with 100% less goalie freakouts that all but sealed the belief that the Wings would be taking game 6. It was a harder fought series than some expected, but in the end the Wings persevered the way we believed they would. Quick observations on the game:

• The first few minutes were frightening - the Predators were playing hard, harder than we thought this team might be capable of. The sheer amount of time the puck spent bobbling around in front of Chris Osgood had me cringing. Kudos to them for being able to instill that sort of fear in Wings fans everywhere - but unfortunately they couldn't keep up the pace.

• Speaking of Osgood, the longer this game went on the better he looked - Dominik Hasek didn't have a horrendous season or anything, but Babcock's decision to play Ozzie after Hasek dropped two games straight is looking pretty damn good right now. He's only gotten to play in two games, so these are obviously skewed some, but his stats? .981 SV% and a .39 GAA.

• Not to sell the opposition short, Dan Ellis was playing well again - the fact that he came into these playoffs inexperienced and played as strongly as he did should give Predators fans a lot of heart for the coming years. He nearly singlehandedly kept them alive through some parts of this series and as much as we said he was no Kipper, no Roloson even, to steal away this series, he did his damnedest to prove us wrong.
  

• Darren McCarty is having an amazing year. The fact that he got the opportunity to come back the way he did was one thing, the fact that he could perform well in the IHL was a given, in the AHL was a happy surprise, but seeing him back with the Wings scoring goals and playing the body like he did on those two defensemen that allowed for Jiri Hudler's third period goal is far beyond what anyone expected. Not only has he turned into the feel good story of the year, but he's gone from capable of playing at this level to a serious asset. We owe some serious thanks to Kris Draper for salvaging his career.

• Niklas Kronwall is excellent. No seriously, how well has he been playing lately? Someone needs to build him a little bubble so he can stay healthy all season because he is a serious force. I love him paired up with Connie's Brad Stuart, too. While our defense terrified me a little at the start of this game, guys like these make me worry less for the future.
  

• Nick Lidstrom's game winning goal was awesome. I mean, okay, it was a little ridiculous, yes. But it was awesome. When they interviewed him afterward he made it sound like he was trying to get that bounce in there and I for one hope he was - making the fact that it succeeded even more awesome. Not that I want it to be somewhat flukey goals like that to be what move us through the playoffs, but you have to admit, things like that are fun. And in this series we needed a little fun.
  

While this series frustrated me to no end at times, and while I have never been so sick of looking at Nashville's blue and puke yellow, it wasn't all horrible either. Maybe it's just because we generally only see Nashville during the regular season and, let's face it, just because we're the Red Wings doesn't mean any other team in our division is going to get all hyped up to see us 8 times a season any more than we are them. It was really great to see all the fans in Nashville give their them the support they did - maybe we write them off a little too quickly as a hick team that's just waiting to be moved to a hockey market that cares. The fans in this series were screaming, yelling, throwing catfish (which, still, ew - even if that makes me a hypocrite), and the city itself seriously got into it as well - throwing a viewing party at the Sommet Center where fans could watch the game on the jumbotron? Now that's cool (Becky, I'm totally jealous). So overall, good on you guys, Preds fans, for showing you are in fact a respectable bunch - consider me enlightened.

But of course, I'm still happy you lost! At any rate, thanks boys, for staying strong through the first round - now let's make it through the second. Dates aren't announced yet for the round two but rest assured we'll be ready for you, Colorado or Calgary.

That's More Like It (Wings 2, Preds 1)

It's been a frustrating week for Detroit fans, losing both game three and four over in Nashville - in fact, I didn't even make a game post for Wednesday's game because about all I could have mustered up after watching it would have been the google image search results for "margarita". And the frustration doesn't let up. While the Wings won 2-1 yesterday in overtime, moving them back up to 3-2 in the series, the game made you swear far more than cheer.


At the beginning of the series, one of the big questions was whether or not the inexperienced netminder Dan Ellis would be able to steal some games for Nashville - and last night he very nearly did. Ellis stopped 53 shots over the course of the evening, some of them absolutely painful for Wings fans to watch. Dan Cleary has at least two brilliant opportunities quashed by the kid. The Predators didn't look amazing but, with an effort like that at their back end, they looked good enough. Even with Chris Osgood, who got the nod tonight, playing well, the whole rest of the game after Valterri Filppula's first period goal had every Wings fan sitting on the edge of their seat just waiting for Nashville to seize on one tiny opportunity and tie it up - and they did, at 19:16 in the third period.

The disappointment was evident everywhere - Ken Daniels' voice as he made the call, Henrik Zetterberg's third intermission interview, my whiny IMs to Elly - but the Wings didn't let up. It would have been easy to let that devastation affect their play negatively, heading into overtime, but instead the team play hard (for the whole minute and some that OT lasted). Valtteri Filppula, who had an extremely strong game, broke up a Nashville play that resulted in the puck being coughed up to Niklas Kronwall, who in term passed it forward to Johan Franzen, the Wings Mr. Clutch, who scored on the breakaway to end the game.

The Detroit Free Press ran an article that included quotes from Kronwall on the goal:

“Dumont tried to put it out to their D-man and it ended up right on my blade, almost,” Kronwall said. “I just saw Mule in the corner of my eye and tried to give it to him. It wasn’t really a good pass, he was just able to handle it really well and he came in and scored.

“I was just like, please, please, please. We deserved to win. We played really well and just stuck with our game plan the whole time. There was never a time when we sat back and relaxed. We kept plugging away.”

Personally, I can say that Kronwall wasn't alone in thinking "please, please, please," as Franzen swept the puck up - by that point it felt like every Red Wing and every fan was thinking the same exact thing. The team celebrated after that goal like they'd just won the series - and I can see why. 54 shots on net, at home, and with the Predators missing both Jason Arnott and David Legwand, and we lose? That would be a huge blow to recover from, and everyone knew it. Luckily we won't have to - but we will have to play this next game tough, get more pucks in the net, and figure out a way to solve Dan Ellis. The frustration refuses to let up - how sick are we all of watching this Nashville team? Here's to hoping it only lasts for one more game.

No more Octopi?

Meanwhile, in yet another frustrating move for Wings fans, the NHL as decided to ban the twirling of octopi before games - by Al Sobotka or anyone else, for that matter. From now on, because matter "flies off the octopus and gets on the ice," it will now cost the team a $10,000 fee if anyone but the linesmen dispose of the octopi. Personally I really hope this gets completely disregarded and the tradition continues regardless of the extra fees - it's a huge shame to see something steeped in as much history (Al Sobotka has been twirling octopi throughout 17 years with the Wings, but the actual tradition goes back 56) put down for such a silly reason. Chris Osgood doesn't approve either:

“Certain teams and certain traditions, they should just leave them alone,” the Wings’ Chris Osgood said. “It’s a shame. It’s great for the atmosphere, and the fans love it. The league should ask the fans first before they do anything. That’s who pays to get into the rink and see the game.”

Christy Hammond has collected varying blogger opinions on the matter here, and everyone seems to agree that it's stupid, a shame, an outrage, what have you - me too.

Wings in 5? (Preds 5, Wings 3)

The Wings lost their first post-season game yesterday after leading first 2-0 and then 3-2 - unfortunate, yes, a late heartbreaker, yes, the reason I ordered a fourth beer, yes, but not the end of the world. I caught the game at a bar, so I missed most of the audio and was torn between the Wings and the Tigers (who mounted a great comeback win over the Twins - sorry Kirsten!) and thus don't have a lot of really intelligent commentary. The Wings didn't look spectacular but they didn't look horrid either - Nashville is getting a habit of scoring goals in quick succession against us, which really needs to be stopped, but getting past that, the boys are still managing to score. With luck they'll be hit withe some real urgency again before the game tomorrow night and can bring the series back to 3-1.

Here's what some others have to say:

Christy @ Behind the Jersey: You have to hand it to Nashville for continuing to come back and we finally saw some offensive production from the likes of Jason Arnott and David Legwand returned to the line-up. The crowd at the Sommet Center certainly was a factor in giving the team a much needed boost after their two key goals so you have to hand it to the fans as well. The series is on and let’s just hope the Wings come back Wednesday to take a 3-1 series lead before heading home.

Matt @ On the Wings: The Red Wings team that I saw in that period and a half was not the same one that won Games 1 and 2. They couldn’t pass efficiently, they made stupid decisions on attempted hits, and they looked frazzled. This experienced group let the crowd noise and Nashville’s exuberance put them off their game.

So okay, the Predators take one - the chance for a sweep is over but hey, most of us have been saying five anyway, right? Right.

Of course, does anyone else think the Predators are getting a little bit ahead of themselves with this nonsense? "The best moment in Preds franchise history"? "You have to wonder if this was a reversal of fortune where the direction of a series was changed in nine seconds"? Nobody's saying Nashville has absolutely no shot - but that's a far cry from a reversal of fortune that's all but handing Nashville the series.

And enough with the catfish.

The puck drop for Game 4 9:00 tomorrow night at the Sommet Center - GO WINGS!

Keep it Going (Wings 4, Predators 2)

Bad weather did finally cancel the baseball game I was supposed to work - but not with time for me to get to the Joe. Fortunately, it at least allowed me to watch the game from my couch, rather that missing it entirely, which I'm thankful for - because what a game.

I have to admit, like many other bloggers have mentioned, while Darren McCarty's goal in the first to start off the scoring was hardly a key to the game, it was an amazing feeling to watch it go in and to see his celebration - the same one we used to see back in the day. I watched him with the Griffins through his comeback and it was a joy to see how he only got better each time I saw him, something that doesn't look to stop any time soon, and even more so to see how much fun he was having. The man loves the game:

"[The goals are] all special in their own way. I don't know if one's more special, but they all go in the special box," McCarty said. "Those are great reminders that what I'm doing is right and I'm on the right path. Because miracles keep happening."

McCarty's comeback is getting labeled (even by Kris Draper) as the feel good story of this season and it certainly deserves it. He's done exactly what the Wings hoped he would do when they signed him to a contract to end out the season, score some goals, make some hits - after all, as he says, "It's all part of the game, it's all part of the playoffs. You've got to suck it up. Chicks dig scars, anyway."

It wasn't McCarty, however, who really cemented this game for the Wings. Dominik Hasek, despite his behind the net gaff in the second that helped the Predators to score two quick goals and tie the game up, he played like a madman, which is exactly what we need out of the crazy Czech. Sometimes it's tough to deal with Dom - every time he leaves the crease you're left wondering if he's going to be brilliant or make a costly mistake. He did both last night, but the good outnumbered the bad. The Predators were on full out attack mode through the first period, and Hasek stood strong. The man is meant for the energy and the competition of the playoffs, and he seems to have found his groove in these ones.

Unfortunately for the Predators, to crack someone like Hasek they're going to need their star forwards to get their heads in the game. And when it's Jordin Tootoo who's your best player and lead goal scorer, it's safe to say that hasn't happened yet. Speaking of Tootoo, his second goal was an easy pot after our favorite turnover machine Andreas Lilja tossed the puck right to him. The best part about that goal was Greg Zanon's obnoxious, Crosby-esque taunting goal celebration was caught mic'd up by NBC - the guy hoots and hollers and skates off yelping "Five hole, five hole!" at Dom - only to have the next Wings goal (Kris Draper) go in off of his skate minutes later, after Babcock wisely called a time out and calmed the team down. Karma's is certainly a bitch. Tomas Holmstrom, who looks remarkable upon his return and was another huge player for the Wings yesterday, notched the last goal of the night.

The Wings looked good, but they could look better. Valtteri Filppula has to be frustrated with the number of near sure thing tap-ins he's just missed on, for one. The breaks keep on coming, as well - in the first period Radek Bonk put the puck past Hasek, but he knocked the net off on the play. The goal was waived off not because the net was off the moorings, but because the ref said he lost sight of the puck. Unfortunate for Nashville, as the ruling basically everywhere is that the goal would have counted. Yet another break for the Wings, and while it may not have won them the game, it would be nice to see us get one without anything flukey working in our favor. Fortunately even with these bits of luck, the Wings have consistently looked like the better team.

The puck drops for Game 3 Monday night at 7:30 pm, GO WINGS!

It wasn't pretty, but did you think it'd be? (Wings 3, Preds 1)

The Wings took the early 1-0 lead last night in their first round series with the Predators, winning the game 3-1 on a goal from the continuously red hot Johan Franzen, and two from star Henrik Zetterberg. Unfortunately all I saw was the last five minutes of the second period, and the third, but this much was clear: The Wings weren't playing their best hockey, but then, they didn't need to be.

Dan Ellis was good, but not at all unbeatable, and while you can argue that Dominik Hasek wasn't particularly tested, he did what he needed to do. The amount of pucks he saw last night is the amount of pucks we should expected him to see regularly throughout the playoffs - the Wings have been a puck possession team all season and they're certainly not going to stop taking the heavy load off of him now. Meanwhile the big Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Tomas Holmstrom line was great, while the Predators big guns faltered - Jason Arnott was -2 with no shots and J.P. Dumont a -3.

There seems to be some controversy floating around over Niklas Kronwall's hit on Rich Peverly regarding if he left his feet or not (A2Y found this shot proving he clearly didn't!), and on whether or not Zetterberg's gamewinning goal came on a play that was offsides, but leaving both of those incidents alone, the Wings were still the better team on the ice yesterday night - and whether or not they were playing as good as they can be, they were playing as good as they needed to be, a point with which everyone seems to concur:

• Christy Hammond: Overall, it certainly wasn’t Detroit’s best game but in the end they found a way to get the win. And really, that’s all that matters. I must admit, it was certainly frustrating to see the Wings outshoot Nashville by so much and still end the second with a 1-1 tie. I definitely liked seeing Henrik Zetterberg get on the scoreboard in the first game of the playoffs. It was more comforting and reassuring than anything else to see a top player perform well in the first game of the playoffs.

• IwoCPO: the Wings don’t need to play perfect hockey to win this series. Limit mistakes, generate consistent offense, exhibit a few violent tendencies...and steady play in net. That’s really all that’s necessary.

• Mike Babcock: That’s what the playoffs are about, being patient and waiting for your opportunity. We weren’t great but we were good enough to find a way to win.

Well boys, I think we've reached a consensus - but if you're going to keep that up, just make sure you don't let it slip too far. Game 2 is a 2:00 pm matinee tomorrow afternoon, and I'm hoping it rains and pours so that WMU's baseball game will be canceled and I'll be able to make it after all. 70% chance, everybody hope with me! GO WINGS!

(Just one last little bit, did anyone else see Zetterberg come out as first star last night? He clapped - which is one of my favorite little hockey player quirks - but then he waved, gloves still on, only with his fingertips. He looked positively adorable - and remarkably clean shaven as well. Wanted to start fresh for the playoffs? I hope he gets as scruffy as usual by the end.)

McCarty Lured me Back.

Last night, some friends and I traversed back up to Grand Rapids to catch the Griffins again, having not had enough of hockey, $1 beer, or Darren McCarty. We were to be disappointed by the final score (4-1 Manitoba, though the Griffins blanked them 1-0 this evening), but certainly not the game itself.

I took longtime friend Nancy to her first hockey game - she cheered for the beer, and for McCarty's fight. (Also note, the scarf I'm wearing was made for me by the wonderful Connie! Thanks so much again!)

The Griffins roster is a little decimated right now as well, considering Kyle Quincey, Jonathan Ericsson, Garrett Stafford, Jimmy Howard, and Mark Hartigan are all playing with the Red Wings right now, but the game was a scrummy, entertaining one.

The single Griffins goal was scored by the newly acquired Francis Lemieux, formerly a Hamilton Bulldog, who's looked excellent in all thre games I've seen him in this season (two with the Griffins; one with the Bulldogs). McCarty looked good again as well - he hasn't regained as much speed as would be nice, but then again he never was the fastest skater on the ice, either. He didn't score, but he did fight (which I hear he repeated this evening as well):



During the pre-game I was standing next to a little girl with a sign that said "Darren, it's my birthday, give me a hug." She didn't get her hug, but McCarty smiled at the sign (it took him a serious excess of time to read it, and he looked perplexed at first - I wonder about his reading comprehension skills) and tossed her a puck. It seems he's been going out of his way to interact with the fans, which is only making his comeback bid more endearing to everyone involved. As of today, the Red Wings have offered him a contract for the remainder of the season

I was hoping to see Cory Schneider in net, but Drew MacIntyre started instead (the announcers tried may times to convince us to cheer "Druuuuuuuuuuu" - at first I thought they were teaching us the "you suck!" goalie jeer, but nope...who knows) instead, and the only other player I recognized was Jason Jaffray. I don't know much about the Moose, but I will say that the moose antlers on the numbers on the backs of their jerseys are one of my favorite design quirks ever.

For more pictures, including lots of McCarty, check out this gallery - here's to hoping the Griffins' 1-0 victory over the Moose will transfer to the Red Wings as they take on the Canucks this evening.

A Win, We Hope (Wings 4, Avs 0)

Edit 4:58 PM: Lidstrom spoke with DRW.com earlier; the consensus is that his knee is a little sore and swollen, but he doesn't have a headache, and will have an MRI tomorrow. He also noted the following:

"I have a pretty good mark on my chin where he hit me," said Lidstrom, a five-time Norris Trophy winner. "Whether he tried to or not, I don't know, but he followed through and finished with his elbow up on my chin and that's when my head went back into the glass."

Personally I'm really starting to wish we played them again this season .

--

It was great to see the Wings win last night, 4-0 over the Avs (whom they have now not allowed to score a goal in over 200 minutes if play), but the evening was marred by Ian Laperriere's hit against captain Nick Lidstrom in the first period. The hit itself didn't look necessarily bad, but Laperriere caught Lidstrom awkwardly and he went down hard.

While the injury is being called a "knee sprain" and doesn't appear to be too serious (Ansar Khan reports 7-10 days) the really scary part was just how disoriented Nick seemed afterward. He struggled several times to get up, and when he finally did he was wobbly, looked hazy and lost and needed help to get off the ice. Maybe it's just from watching so many Wings games (in which Nick has played 1,430 out of a possible 1,452 games, including the playoffs, since entering the NHL in 1991 - and most of those 22 games missed were because the team was resting him for the playoffs) and never seeing him look so misplaced out there, but it was hard to watch the highlights.

The hit inspired a bit of a resurgence of the the old Blood Feud rivalry days, and it was great to see Aaron Downey take on Laperriere in retaliation (to Laperriere's credit, it was also very classy of him to later say, "I would have done the same thing if it had been on the other side. I respect Aaron Downey and have no problem with what he did.") and coach Mike Babcock being restrained by a bench assistant as he leaned over to yell across the benches at Joel Quenneville - although it would have been more fun if every fan watching didn't have the captain on his mind.

Losing Lidstrom is obvious a worst case scenario for the Wings, but the captain only being expected out for 2-3 games is about the best we could have hoped for, and to hear this also from Khan helps as well:

"Lidstrom sat in his dressing room stall icing his knee, getting treatment and watching the rest of the game on TV. The Wings said he didn't sustain a concussion and he never blacked out. At one point he wanted to return to the game."

In the meantime, the Wings will look to bring back their winning ways without the help of Lidstrom, Dan Cleary, Dominik Hasek, Niklas Kronwall, and Brian Rafalski (though he is considered likely to return Friday). The defensive core has been shaken up a little but the Wings are still managing to get their game back and played solidly against Colorado, winning on two goals from Henrik Zetterberg, and one each from Valtteri Filppula and Chris Chelios, while goalie Chris Osgood put his struggles behind him and shut out the Avalanche.

Let's hope the dark days are over.