No word yet on the specifics, including the extent of how long Howard will be out.  Rafalski was put on short term IR and Draper on LTIR.  Injured reserve put Rafalski out seven days at minimum.  The schedule for the Wings is finally picking up too, which means we’re likely to see the Osgood/MacDonald tandem for at least 3 games, I think.  Please correct me if I’m wrong.

My take on this: I’m ok with it.  Let’s not all freak out.  It’s not a severe injury, and 3 games isn’t that many.  And admittedly, the histrionics did calm down a little once we found out it wasn’t anything major with Howard.  But I still don’t understand the fatalism about having Osgood start a couple games.  Give the poor guy a chance to redeem himself.  His play so far this season really hasn’t warranted the sheer vitriol he receives.  He’s 1-1-0 with a 2.49 GAA and a .905 SV%.

It’s up to Osgood to seize the opportunity, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that we’re going to lose the next few games 0-7.

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Now that’s what you call starting with a bang.  A big bang, punctuated loudly with 4 goals, a shutout, and a Gordie Howe hat trick.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Johan Franzen (Filppula, Bertuzzi), Mike Modano (Cleary, Stuart), Pavel Datsyuk (Zetterberg, Rafalski), Dan(ny) Cleary (Datsyuk)
Anaheim: none

Jonathan Ericsson Watch: 1 Game.

+ Wings looked good to start.  Good jump to the game, clean, crisp passing, and they put pressure on the Ducks’ weak defense.  The Ducks looked rather lost and discombobulated in the first, and the Wings definitely took advantage, to the tune of 12 shots on goal to 6.

+ Get on the Mule Train.  Franzen has developed a serious scoring touch, as shown by his ability to bring it at the end of the post-season and then pick right up where he left off to begin the 2010-2011 campaign.

+ First shot on net in a new uniform, in a new barn and it’s a goal for Mike Modano.  Ken Kal totally called it from the Red Wings TV preview.  But it’s got to be a relief for Mikey Mo, who doesn’t have to worry about his first goal looming over his head now.

= I sort of stopped paying attention to the game midway and towards the end of the first period, as that’s when the news came that goalie Ondrej Pavelec had collapsed in the middle of the Atlanta/Washington game.  He just lost consciousness out of nowhere, with the puck at the opposite end of the ice.  The news from Atlanta was really scary, and reminiscent of the Jiri Fischer situation.  That’s something you never want to hear about, regardless of the player or the team.  Thankfully it sounds like Pavelec is alright, and play resumed after he was taken to the hospital.

- The Ducks looked much more composed in the second, and by comparison the Wings looked messier.  Lots more play in their own zone in front of Howard and some less than ideal turnovers.  The Wings let the Ducks regain a bit more momentum, and fingers crossed that this lackadaisical, sleepy middle period isn’t a trend that we see again this season.  The Wings only got off 7 shots in the second, and Howard faced 9.

+ But the sophomore looked good.  The defense was strong for the most part in front of him, but he made some big saves when called upon.  He looked calm and confident, which bodes well for the season.

- At some point during the second Ericsson left the bench with back spasms.  He didn’t return to the game, and it looks like Kindl will get his chance sooner rather than later.  And no, leaving or not playing due to injury doesn’t count in the Jonathan Ericsson Watch pool.  It’s games played–updates are on the right sidebar.

+ The Eurotwins looked good.  Really good.  I’m so excited.

= I aLOLed (™ Tyler) at that goal review ruling.  Seriously, I really didn’t think it would be allowed, and that’s not based on my membership in the tin foil hat society.  But, apparently the “War Room” in Toronto didn’t think the goal was completely off its moorings when the puck crossed the line.  The annoying thing is that the Wings didn’t technically need the goal at that point, or ultimately at all.  And because I do believe in hockey karma, I’m waiting for when a goal gets called off against when they do really need it.

+ It wasn’t a donnybrook by any stretch of the imagination, but the fight between Corey Perry and Pavel Datsyuk was incredible.  And as awesome as it was, how many of you were alternately freaking out that Pav was going to end up concussed or with a broken hand?  Because I certainly was.  Thankfully Pav took down Perry at the end.  Datsyuk was really riled up, having gotten in the middle of two scrums earlier in the game.  I love it when he’s feisty because that’s usually when he plays his best hockey, when he’s hitting everything in sight and energized.  Proof of that was his goal and assist to complete the Gordie Howe Hat trick.

+ The Ducks make me laugh.  They self-destructed due to frustration towards the end of the game, with another fight between Brookbank and Stuart, and 2 more penalties for too many men and hooking with under 4 minutes left in the game.

- Detroit had 6 power play opportunities and managed to convert none of them.  Gotta work on that.

+ This is how you start a season.  This is how you redeem yourself from a disappointing 2nd round playoff exit last season and channel it into productive energy.  This is how you prove to the MSM and the rest of the hockey world that you’re not too old, and that you’re still a contender in the division and in the conference.  This is how you show everyone that you’re serious.  This is the kind of truculence that wins games (maybe the Leafs should take note…).

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This is what we’ve been waiting for all summer.  The drop of the puck in regular season.  Red Wings opening night.

Here are the lines, courtesy of Khan:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi
Hudler-Modano-Cleary
Miller-Helm-Eaves

Lidstrom-Ericsson
Stuart-Rafalski
Kronwall-Salei

Howard
Osgood

I can’t find an official lineup for the Ducks anywhere, but looking at their roster the most important thing will be managing their top 6.  A no brainer, really.  The interesting part is their defense.  With Pronger and Niedermayer gone it’s not exactly a strong blueline, so the Wings should be able to take advantage of that fact.  Then they’ll just have to focus on getting pucks past Hiller.

What I’m looking forward to:
Dude.  Red Wings hockey.  That’s enough for me.  But I’m also stupidly excited to see the Circus line back together.  They looked great during the pre-season, and I’m expecting them to make some magic.  I’m also really eager to see Modano’s first real game with the Wings.

Who I’m looking at to have a good game:
Howard and Ericsson.  I think we’re all anxious to see if Howard shows any signs of a sophomore slump, or if he comes out of the gate as strongly as he ended last season.  Ericsson was atrocious in the pre-season, but playing with Lidstrom should help bolster him, and hopefully he can just work on getting back to the basics.

Which reminds me that The Jonathan Ericsson Watch is kicking off tonight at 1 game.  You can, however, still get your over/unders in if you’re so inclined.  Closest guess will win… something.  Something awesome.

LGRW.

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In the spirit that is the pre-season, this is just going to be a mish-mash of notes and thoughts, rather than a fully fleshed out game recap.

• First up, Mountain Time sucks.  It’s great for the games on the West coast, sure, but for 7pm ET starts?  I live 5 minutes away from work, and I had to book it so I could get home for the puck drop, which is something I really hate to miss.  I’m seriously thinking about coming into work half an hour early on 7pm game days during the regular season.
• Tomas Tatar looks awesome.  I can’t wait until this kid’s gotten some more experience in the AHL and gets the call up.  He’s slick but not enigmatically so.  And from what the Olczyk and Pat Foley from CSN were saying, he didn’t even take warmups prior to the game?
• Jimmy only faced 8 shots, but he looked good.  And before we all start drawing comparisons to Osgood, can I just put out a plea to take the defense into account?  Osgood saw 27 shots in two periods thanks to what sounded like a lot of poor defense.  I’m not saying that Oz couldn’t have played better, or that Jimmy wasn’t the better looking of the two in terms of play, but still.  Some perspective, please.  Let’s see how he plays behind the full roster, please.
• The Mursak goal was a nice instance of being in the right place, in front of the net, and ready to tap in the rebound.
• I love watching Lidstrom bomb pucks from the point and seeing them go in, with Holmstrom’s ass in the goalie’s face.
• Until he shot the waived off goal, I felt like Kronwall had whiffed on about 4 shots from the point in a row.  Here’s to hoping that playing with Nick drags him up to the level we’ve been looking for.
• Ericsson looked a little… confused.  Saw him fumble the puck unnecessarily a few times.
• It’s so great to see the Pav-Z-Homer line out there again.  I see the argument for trying to spread out the scoring if necessary, but they’re just so effective together.
• I think everyone needs a refresher on the “goaltender interference” rule when it comes to being in the crease.  From the way the refs have called it the past few seasons, to even listening to the Chicago pxp guys, you’d honestly think that simply being in the crease was cause to waive off a goal.  I distinctly recall hearing Versus always harping on about Holmstrom’s skates being on the edge of the blue paint as if that were the deciding factor for goalie interference.

For tonight’s game, Khan has the lineup:

Jordan Owens-Valtteri Filppula-Todd Bertuzzi
Drew Miller-Justin Abdelkader-Francis Pare
Jamie Tardif-Cory Emmerton-Jan Mursak
Tomas Tatar-Joakim Andersson-Aaron Downey

Brad Stuart-Jonathan Ericsson
Doug Janik-Brendan Smith
Jakub Kindl-Logan Pyett

Chris Osgood
Thomas McCollum

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Today he was invited to take batting practice with the Tigers (along with Draper, Miller, Chelios, and McCarty), and got to catch a few balls in the bullpen from Justin Verlander.

If you’ve ever read a Helene St. James profile piece on Osgood, you’ll know that one of his “dream jobs” after retiring from hockey is to be a bullpen catcher for the Tigers, in addition to the Mayor of Plymouth, and a spokesperson for Bowflex.

And now Howard’s gotten to the bullpen first, it seems.

Bill Roose:

Verlander, who threw a no-hitter in 2007, praised Howard’s natural ability behind the dish.

“He did a really nice job, especially with breaking balls,” said Verlander, who is 5-4 with a 3.75 ERA this season. “I thought that he would be really good with fastballs, because there isn’t much movement, similar to a puck. But then the breaking balls, he did a much better job then I anticipated. He caught all of them, and that’s not easy to do.

“You see most guys who haven’t caught a breaking ball before and it catches them off guard. He did a great job, but it’s not surprising though; he catches 100-mile-per-hour pucks.”

Well… I don’t know about the mayorship of Plymouth, but I’m sure there’s an opening for a late-night infomercial spokesperson for Bowflex.

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#3: Jimmy Howard
You gotta hand it to the kid. His first ever playoff series, and it goes to Game 7, and he walks away a winner.  Sure, he let up some softies at some bad times.  Sure, he didn’t stand on his head every single game, or really steal a win at any point.  But he also didn’t completely lose a game, and that’s the most important part.  He got the benefit of the doubt from me this time.  He also bounced back in a huge way after flopping in Game 3 with the shutout in Game 4.

#2: Nicklas Lidstrom
Nick showed us in Game 7 that he’s not done yet, in which he doubled his points for the post-season thus far.  But what the stats don’t show is that he’s still an amazing shutdown defenseman, and still better than a Norris Trophy candidate this year *cough*mikgreen*ahem*.  He got his job done, played big minutes, and took zero penalty minutes.

#1: Henrik Zetterberg
If you ask me, Henrik Zetterberg was just made for the playoffs.  He only scored 23 goals in 74 games for a 31% scoring rate.  This round he had 6 goals in 7 games, with 2 GWGs.  That’s absurd.  Hank lifts his game to a completely different level this time of year, and it shows offensively.  Not to mention, he’s also still a defensive force, the only player other player along with Stuart who is +6.  He’s looked like the Conn Smythe winner of 2008.

Honorable Mentions:
Pavel Datsyuk (5-3-8, +2), Valtteri Filppula (3-4-7, +4), Brad Stuart (2-4-6, +6)

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Now that’s what I’m talking about.  I had faith in this team that they would bring it.  And boy did they ever, dismantling the Coyotes 6-1.

Pavel had 2 goals, Zata had 3 assists, and Nick had 2 power play goals and an assist.  They were, rightfully, 1-3, the stars of the game.  The big boys stepped it up and brought their A game when the team needed it.  Rafalski and Filppula also had 2 assists apiece.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Pavel Datsyuk (pp; Lidstrom, Rafalski); Pavel Datsyuk (Zetterberg, Rafalski);  Nicklas Lidstrom (pp; Filppula, Zetterberg), Brad Stuart (unassisted); Todd Bertuzzi (Filppula, Zetterberg); Nicklas Lidstrom (Rafalski, Franzen)
Phoenix: Vernon Fiddler (unassisted)

+ Detroit tore out of the gate.  This was an outstanding exhibition of classic Red Wings hockey.  Puck possession, defense jumping up, solid forecheck, and crashing the net.  A perfect penalty kill, including a 3-on-5.  A 3/7 power play conversion rate.  50 shots on goal to 33.  5 takeaways to Phoenix’s 9 giveaways.  Talk about finally putting the skate to the throat.  This was utter domination by the Wings.  This was them saying “if you think we’re done, go fuck yourself.”

+ What a relief to see the special teams all back to normal.  The first power play unit got cranking, and the PK was functioning like it should, rather than that weird anomaly from Games 1 and 6.

– Jimmy really probably should have been more prepared for that faceoff in which Vernon Fiddler just slid the puck between his legs right off the draw.  There’s just really no excuse for that.

+ Happy Birthday to Nick Lidstrom.  2 power play goals and some seriously ridiculous defensive play just reinforced the fact that he’s probably actually part android, because there’s no way he played anything like a 40 year old.  He had 7 SOG (plus 5 missed shots for 12 total), played 23:59, and looked like The Perfect Human he is.

+ Nicole from the Red Wings set up a very cool video chat, drawing on the #redwingscommune get-togethers that have been happening in Detroit.  Lots of fun, and a great way for us out of staters to join in.  With this, however, came the revelation of my secret identity.

See, I’m actually Pavel Datsyuk.  And Nick Lidstrom.  And Brad Stuart.  And… well, maybe not Todd Bertuzzi.  Every single time I got knocked off the #redwingscommune video chat, the Red Wings scored.  Every.  Freaking.  Goal.  All six of them.  Which of course led to jokes that I’m actually running off to score for the Wings.

Yep.  That’d be me.  Goal scorer extraordinair.

+ Speaking of goals, those Pavel Datsyuk goals were just beautiful.  Sublime, as my dad likes to call Pavel.  1:41 apart, and 2 minutes into the period, Datsyuk took control and set the tone early in the second.  That pass from Z to spring him and then the curl-and-drag by Pavel… what a thing of wonder.  I know this is kind of mean, but I can’t deny that I enjoyed seeing Bryzgalov just sitting there and look utterly defeated after Pavel’s second.

- Helloooo penalties!  I don’t understand how Darren Helm gets called for Diving, when right before that Keith Yandle got a nice 8.5 for his dive on the Drew Miller “trip.”  It’s the playoffs.  Referees need to learn to let the two teams play.  Cue the tinfoil hat accusations, which I don’t necessarily agree with, but you have to admit they were a little whistle-happy in the 2nd period, overall.

+ One good thing that came from said penalties?  Brad Stuart zipping out of the box to pick up the loose puck and flip it home.

= Weirdly, Zetterberg didn’t have a great night in the faceoff circle.  He went 7 and 11.  Conversely, Datsyuk went pretty much the opposite, at 12 and 7.  Wings barely held the advantage, 37 to 31.

– Where, oh where have Mule and Cleary gone?  Moving into the second round, the Wings are going to need scoring from everyone.  And against the Sharks, having a physical presence will be important again.  These guys need to step it up.

+ Congrats to the Coyotes though, for having a great season, and (now that it’s over) for putting up a good fight and giving us great hockey.

+ I knew they would do it.  Thanks, boys.

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As for the game, I don’t think I breathed the entire time the Wings held onto that 1 goal lead.  I’ve never been so relieved to get the safety goal.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Henrik Zetterberg (pp; Kronwall, Rafalski); Pavel Datsyuk (Franzen, Lidstrom); Henrik Zetterberg (Bertuzzi, Stuart)
Phoenix: none

– I missed the first 10 minutes, roughly, of the 1st period due to the awkward 6:30pm ET game start.  I did get home and fired up GameCenter Live just in time to hear Mickey and Ken Daniels trying to explain the Filppula non-goal.

– Looking at the faceoff stats after 1 period, I couldn’t even believe it.  7-20, in favor of Phoenix.  Shots were 17-9, Detroit, though, and the Wings did manage to even up on the draw to end at 30-31.  But that aside, 7-20 is just unacceptable.

+ I said after Game 3 that if Howard still looked shaky tonight, then I thought it might be time to pull him in favor of Osgood.  But Jimmy pulled up his big-boy pants, and has clearly taken to the Chris Osgood School of Zen in how he did not let Game 3 affect him tonight.  He was stellar in getting his first career playoff shutout.

– Niklas Kronwall has been absolutely brutal all series long.  Saler pondered if he was maybe injured, but a physical injury wouldn’t be causing his complete lapses in judgment and decision making.  My opinion has been if he’s not going to make the smart or even acceptable play, then he should at least step up in the hitting.

+ 5 goals in 4 games for Mr. Zetterberg.  He’s playing like the Conn Smythe winner of 2 seasons ago.  This is what the Wings need, and he’s giving it to them.

+ The PK was awesome tonight.  Less sitting back than we’ve seen, I think, and they were much more active in regaining the puck to shovel it down the ice.

– That said, can we please stop with the unforced turnovers?  My God, it just gives me a heart attack every time, because I could just see a bad giveaway leading to a tying goal by Phoenix.  Thank God Jimmy was on his game, because if he’d had a similar outing to Sunday, the result would have been drastically different.

= Every time I hear Petr Prucha’s name being mentioned in the PxP, I actually do a double-take.  I’m so used to him being a healthy scratch with the Rangers under Tom Renney that it’s weird to hear that he’s actually playing.

= Poor Helm was told to stand down by the ice after the game for the three stars, but it was actually Pavel who was the 3rd star, not Helm.

+ Speaking of Helm, he led the team with 7 hits.  Stuart was next with 6.  Franzen and Datsyuk each had 4.  It was good to see them pick up the physicality, and use it effectively.  Hits were 43-27, Detroit.  43!

= Mickey York totally called Crosby “Sidney the Kidney” during the intermission.  I don’t know if he was going for Sid the Kid, and then realized he’d said Sidney, but whatever.  It amused me.

+ It wasn’t a perfect game for the Wings, despite the shutout.  It wasn’t one of those brilliantly executed games where they just outplay their opponent in every regard.  But they ground out the must-win, from goaltending up to the top lines.  And that’s all that ultimately matters.

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The only plus from Game 3 was Shane Doan getting upended by Jimmy Howard and crashing into the boards, and going out for the remainder of the game.  Except even in the long run, the Coyotes seemed to step it up after it was heard that Doan wasn’t going to return, and the Wings let them.

They really shat the bed on this one, and I’m too irritated to write much more than that.

I WILL say, however, that I am not on board with any of the calls to bring in Osgood.  Look, I’m a huge Osgood supporter, which is no secret around here.  And yes, Jimmy hasn’t been stellar.  He’s let in bad goals both in terms of difficulty and in terms of timing, at least one per game.  But it’s not like the team up front has bailed him out much.  What does annoy me is that he’s letting in softies that, were is Osgood, everyone would be screaming to pull him from net.  If Ozzie had allowed a goal 29 seconds into the game, I know for certain my Twitter feed would have blown up with anti-Osgood tweets.  Jimmy’s getting the benefit of the doubt, I assume, because it’s his first ever playoffs.  At least that’s how I’m looking at it.  The thing is, he needs to make those imperative saves.  And if he doesn’t shore up tomorrow, then yeah, I’ll be wondering if Osgood shouldn’t get his fair shot.

Let’s. Go. Red Wings.

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On to the game.  I DVR’d this and watched it after, but once I realized the result, it felt like kind of a waste.  It certainly was a wasted effort by the Wings.  I, along with many others, I think, thought that Monday’s game was a sign that they were ready to really make a strong push in the remaining games and win those 15 out of 20.  Apparently not.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Jason Williams (Zetterberg, Bertuzzi); Henrik Zetterberg (Lilja)
Vancouver: Livonia Native Ryan Kesler (Raymond, Rome); Alex Burrows (D. Sedin, H. Sedin); Kyle Wellwood (Rome); Sami Salo (pp; Demitra, H. Sedin); Mikael Samuelsson (D. Sedin, H. Sedin); Ryan Kesler (pp; D. Sedin, Ehrhoff)

- According to TSN, the Red Wings have had 18 disallowed or waived off goals this season alone.  EIGHTEEN.  In 63 games.  That’s 1 every 3.5 games, or a goal called off in 28.57% of games.  With 19 games left, that means we can look forward to 5.4 more goals disallowed for the rest of the season.  Hooray.

- I realized that there are no Red Wings with 20 goals on the season yet.  That’s a hideously depressing stat.  Datsyuk and Zetterberg have the most, with 17.

- Kronwall  had an atrocious game.  He was in the box for 2 Canuck power play goals, one of them 5 seconds into the PP, and he also indirectly led to another goal after he stepped on the puck and fell in the Canucks’ zone.  The defense as a whole looked sloppy and disorganized, but Kronwall looked particularly out of sorts all game long.

+ Congratulations to Mr. Zetterberg for his 200th career goal!  It was a beauty, too.  He froze Luongo, and patiently waited to shoot in a pretty much open net from the side.  Lovely.  He also tied the game at 2-2, with the last Wings’ goal before Vancouver started running away with the game.

- I felt like there was a plethora of missed passes and pucks bouncing off sticks tonight.  It didn’t help the Wings get any sustained pressure, and towards the second half of the game, it felt like they had a lot of one and done chances.

+ Lilja got his first point back as a Red Wing.

- I was honestly kind of surprised that Howard got pulled.  With the reluctance Babcock has shown to play Osgood, I expected him to stick it out.  But I guess that’s what gut-check time does, and desperate times call for desperate measures.  In this case, it came in the form of Chris Osgood.

- Who didn’t really play fantastic.  He’s an old man coming in cold which doesn’t help, but getting beat by a Mikael Samuelsson no look shot?  Yikes.  Ozzie probably figured Sammy was going to go wide by a country mile, except he actually hit the net.  Do I think he played better than Howard?  He made 10 saves on 12 shots.  Howard had 17 on 21.

- What was with all the Vancouver fans in the Joe?  I heard a lot of “Looooooooo”s through my TV.  It was annoying.

+ I love having the Mule back.  Goals in the past 4 games for Franzen.

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