Well that was… interesting.  I don’t know.  We started off great, faded in the middle, and came back strong again through OT, and couldn’t get it done in the shootout.  Again.

– The Wings controlled a lot of the play in the start, but towards the middle, got stuck at 8 SOG and their momentum just continued to fade and Chicago took advantage to score 2.

+ Hopefully Lidstrom’s warming up offensively?  He scored his third of the season from the side of the net in a very un-Nick-like area.

+ Pavel looked like he was awake and up for the game from the puck drop.  Same with Zetterberg, who had a return to form today.  The Eurotwins looked like the all-world players they are, and should look like every night.  The whole first line with Bertuzzi played great, combining with Rafalski and Lidstrom for the first two goals.  Zetterberg’s goal was just a classic–stretch pass from Raffi to Pavel, who split between Hossa and Duncan Keith to pass to Zetterberg, who shoveled it in.

+ While we’re talking about Datsyuk, his shootout goal was a filthy dirty changeup that floated over Niemi’s pads and in.

+ And for once!  Bertuzzi’s spin-o-rama found success in the shootout.  On the other hand, the Brian Campbell Spin-O-Rama Count was unofficially tallied at 4.

+ Way to show some truculence, to use our favorite Brian Burke-ism, Patrick Eaves.  He got some solid hits in, after getting blasted under the eye.  I said this last time, he should be re-signed immediately.

– Patrick Sharp was left completely by himself when Duncan Keith passed him the puck, and all he had to do was pop it in.  Utter lack of defensive coverage there, Wings.

– An incredible case of failure by NBC on multiple parts, the most egregious being the missed goal.  They were showing a useless replay and letting the Douche Canoe blather on about something unimportant, and as a result we missed Patrick Eaves’ goal.  And I still cannot understand why Eddy Olczyk is allowed to be the color commentator for nationally broadcast games in which the Blackhawks are playing.  I have the same problem with Joe Beninati calling Capitals games on Versus.  I’m sure they try their best to be unbiased, but unfortunately they do not do a very good job of it.  And how come Ken Daniels never does national broadcasts?  Is it not in his contract for him to be able to do games outside of FSD?  He’s be good at it…

+ Helm is really learning how to slow down a little bit when he’s coming in on net, so that he can create a better scoring opportunity for himself.

– Going back to the Douche Canoe for a moment, he made a ridiculous comment about how when the Blackhawks get Adam Burrish and some other player (I honestly can’t remember who, and it’s likely not someone very important) back into the lineup, they won’t have any holes in their team, except for goaltending.  What about Detroit, Pierre?  What about when we get Mule, Kronwall, Holmstrom, and even Jason Williams back?  We certainly won’t have any holes then, either, including goaltending.  And we’re going to be fucking scary.

– Someone also might want to mail Pierre a new pair of underwear for when he talks about Jonathan Toews (and Rosby).  The best comment?  ”[Toews] speaks perfect English, and great French, too.”  Petrella had the perfect reply to that which was, “He’s from Winnipeg, not Kenya, ya douche.”

+ I like the organ at the JLA.  Big fan of them playing the Super Mario Brothers theme, which totally beat listening to freaking Linkin Park at American Airlines Center yesterday in Dallas.

– I hate the shootout.  If there were ever a case against ending games in a shootout, I think this was a very strong one.  That overtime was so exciting and riveting, and they just cut it off after 5 minutes to head to a one-on-one skills competition.  That the Blackhawks simply have more depth in, with Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Sharp.  I don’t honestly understand why Babcock threw Cleary out there rather than Filppula, who I think has a little better set of hands on him for things like that than Dan(ny) does.

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