I can’t believe people actually picked the Blackhawks to win this series.

Lidstrom and the rest of the Detroit defense corps held Patrick Kane to 0 points, 0 shots on goal, 1 hit, and -3 in 15:10 TOI. Toews have 3 shots on goal, and was -3.

The Red Wings came out sluggish, as I think we all expected. Babcock had a very interesting comment on that (via Kukla):

Q. How much at the start of the game do you think you guys still had Anaheim on the head or whatever? How long did it take you to get you out of it?

MIKE BABCOCK: Well, took us till Cleary scored for sure. That’s a good question. It’s a fact, as a coach, I knew that was going to happen. As much as you talk about it, as much as you try to prepare in the short-term, I knew that was going to be the case. I could just feel the electricity of the last series to the start of this one. This one’s going to get going, don’t get me wrong. But, you know, for us, I don’t think initially, at least in the first 10 minutes, we were ready to engage at that level.

Detroit knows they could have played better. Osgood and Cleary both mentioned in post-game interviews on NBC that they have got to cut down on the number of turnovers committed. And they also need to start on time, in Game 2.

Chicago has been brash and cocky leading up to the start of this series, referencing the last two games of the season that they won. What they fail to either realize or mention, is that Detroit was clearly not taking the last games of the season seriously. They won those games because the Red Wings pretty much didn’t show up. And that’s not a strong indicator of how Detroit plays in the post-season.

Zetterberg and Datsyuk were incredible, even while Pavel is still pointless. Helm was great, with two great scoring chances. Cleary was incredible, and Mule was his usual clutch self. The Filppula, Samuelsson, Hudler has been awesome all playoffs long. Drapes looked good, and really contributed in the face-off circle. Lidstrom basically shut down Kane and Toews by himself. Ericsson made a few poor choices throughout the game, but I wonder if the grind is just getting to him. I’m sure he’ll bounce back in Game 2. Kronwall and Stuart were a force. Except for that first goal which was a little weird, Osgood has been his usual solid self in net.

The Blackhawks should be scared, knowing that Detroit did not play a compete game, nor did they play their best, and yet still took the game 5-2. They’re just not ready to play with the big boys yet.

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