And wait, do I see what I think I see?  Do mine eyes deceive me?

Ladies and Gentlemen, let it be known that Nicklas Lidstrom, The Perfect Human, has scored a goal.  On the Power Play.

The the goals were as follows:
Detroit:  Nicklas Lidstrom (pp; Filppula, Miller); Drew Miller (pp; Filppula, Cleary); Henrik Zetterberg (Bertuzzi)
Carolina: Tom Koustopoulos (Sutter, Tlusty)

+ Nick’s first goal in 42 games was exactly the type that we needed–it kicked off the goal scoring, after being shutout last game, and it was a classic bomb from the blueline on the PP.  Vintage Lidstrom.

+ Two power play goals!  We’re going to get spoiled at this rate.  Miller was awesome on the PP, assisting then perfect in screening Ward on Nick’s goal, and scoring the second himself.  Miller hadn’t played on the PP until this point, so maybe he’s the spark it needed.

+ Staying on the special teams theme, what a kill by Eaves.  He’s a beast.  He got hit up high with a puck and just popped right back up to block another shot and later clear the zone.  I want this kid resigned as soon as possible.

+ Defense was much improved.  Drastic difference in the speed, the willingness to go after pucks.

- With that said, they still let up 38 SOG.  Wings need to cut down on the amount of shots allowed–it’s been extremely high as of late, and they can’t keep relying solely on Howard to save all of them.  The weird part is that I honestly don’t even remember that many shots by the Hurricanes.

- Oh, Jimmy.  That goal was not a good one.  The minute I saw him fumble the puck I knew it was going in.  He still needs to work on not coughing up big rebounds like that.

+ Datsyuk didn’t hit the score sheet, and ended the night with 0 shots, but he made several great passes and moves, along with his usual backchecking and defensive awesomeness.  Which brings me to my next point…

- Ken Daniels commented that Bertuzzi’s become more of a pass-first guy these days, looking to defer the shot to Datsyuk or Zetterberg.  Well, that’s problematic because we all know that Datsyuk loves to pass, and looks to do that before shooting.  And while Z should be the sniper on that line, he’s not doing it.  He hasn’t really looked like himself yet, after returning from that shoulder injury, so it’s possible he’s still being plagued by it.  So with the three of them just passing until the chance is gone, they’re turning into a glorified checking line–great defensive play (yes, even by Bertuzzi), but no finish and not enough points for a top line.

Lastly, it appears that Howard will be starting on Saturday against Dallas.  Does this mean he’ll be playing back to back in Dallas and then against Chicago?  It’s an interesting can of worms.

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I was at the Prudential Center for the game. It’s funny, because I haven’t really been a fan in “enemy territory” so to speak, very often. Because the Red Wings really never come through this way, I usually just end up going to Rangers games and cheering them on. So that was an interesting experience.

A random comment that popped into my mind as I watched warmups… watching Nick Lidstrom skate backwards is kind of jaw-dropping. I know George recently talked on Snapshots about Nick never really having that quick first step going forward, but that he does skate faster backward. I’m always impressed with the skating ability of most hockey players, but Nick’s underrated in that regard, and watching him up close was a small, but incredible thing.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Kris Draper (Helm, Eaves); Tomas Holmstrom (pp; Stuart, Zetterberg); Patrick Eaves (Abdelkader)
New Jersey: Jamie Langenbrunner (Parise, Zajac); Johnny Oduya (unassisted); Rob Niedermayer (Zharkov, Pandolfo);
Shootout: DET: Datsyuk; NJD: Parise, Elias

Pluses
+ Loved to see how Eaves came out after being run face-first behind the net in the first period. He returned to the ice with a full cage on his helmet, so I wonder if he broke his nose or something. But he was one of the best players, tipping in the 3rd goal, and also being named the first star of the game, which was a pleasant surprise.
+ For the first half of the first period, Oz was awesome. My friend jokingly wondered if Oz thought it was the playoffs, because he was playing so well.
+ Brad Stuart had the save of the game. Ozzie got extremely lucky on several chances in the 2nd and 3rd, as Stuart swept the puck out of the goal on one, and the Devils either hit the post or just missed on others.
+ Always good to see the Circus line back together, and though they only converted on the power play, I thought Pavel looked better than he has recently. Khan claims that Datsyuk is frustrated, and I wouldn’t disagree. I don’t know if my heart would totally be in it if I knew I had to play with Bertuzzi every night, either.
+ Holmstrom got his 200th career goal, and it was typical Homer fashion, standing right on the crease and tipping it in. I’ve now been privy to Cleary’s 100th, and Homer’s 200th.

Minuses
- To Devils fans, for the sheer number of Jersey Fouls. I saw this one first, in the beer line:
But there were several more. Among those, a girl with 50 and “Ray Ray,” another with “Rangers Suck,” and a guy with 666 “Iron Maiden.”
– Also the Devils fan who sat near by and yelled “Datsyuk Sucks.” You know you’re jealous.
– The first period. Following the trend, no one except Osgood showed up in the first period. And I thought the second goal was a little on the soft side, as Oduya was able to come down the wing from end to end and score. Shots after 1 were 10-5, in favor of NJ.
– Way too many heart-attack inducing moments, including the Stuart save, there was a shot off the side post in OT, and a couple of gaping wide open nets.
– The converted power play went swimmingly, as Holmstrom netted the goal. But the last one, with the game tied and Bryce Salvador in the box, the Red Wings went right back to their old ways of too much pretty passing around the perimeter, looking for the perfect shot. They have got to stop doing that if they want to actually improve their PP%.
– Osgood is not good in the shootout, and it makes me nervous. Not for the first time I’ve wondered if Babcock would ever consider putting Howard in cold for a shootout. We’ve seen Ron Wilson do it by swapping out Vesa Toskala for Curtis Joseph. It didn’t have the expected effect. I’m not advocating it, really, because he actually did quite fine overall.
– I don’t even want to know what Bertuzzi was thinking in the shootout. I also saw him “Bertuzzi” (read: to fumble or miss completely) the puck at least twice during warmups, which made me want to simultaneously laugh and cry.
– And why send Leino out in the shootout? Trying to get him off his schneid? Nice thought, but a win would have been better. I’d have rather seen Eaves, or even Abdelkader.
- As a Red Wings fan, it was a little irritating to have the Devils celebrating their 1995 Stanley Cup sweep over Detroit tonight. They handed out posters when we were leaving. I gave mine to a friend to line the litter box with it.

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Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Tomas Holmstrom (pp; Zetterberg, Datsyuk); Henrik Zetterberg (Stuart, Kronwall); Niklas Kronwall (EN; Howard, Stuart)
Vancouver: Mason Raymond (pp; Bieksa, Kesler)

Pluses
+ Jimmy Howard.  He had a good game.  I didn’t feel confident, per se, but I also didn’t have a miniature heart attack everytime he went to make a save.  He played back to back for the first time… ever? and managed to come out with a win both times.  Granted, he could have fallen asleep in the crease against Columbus and it wouldn’t have mattered.  More importantly, he kept the Red Wings in the game in this one.  He was easily the only player awake in the first period, at any rate.  Jim’s looking like an NHL goaltender.  Sort of.
+ Brad May had a much better fight tonight against Rick Rypien, until he got his sweater yanked up over his head.
+ Very glad that Eaves was able to come back after crashing into the boards awkwardly.  Last thing we need is yet another forward out.
+ This doesn’t really fall under plus or minus, but it’s more of a plus because he didn’t suck–Drew Miller wore #20 (also worn by Luc Robitaille, Aaron Downey, and Brad May, briefly) and played fine.  I didn’t notice him a ton, which is really neither here nor there.
+ What a shot by Zetterberg.  According to Kevin Allen of USA Today, Luongo said of the goal: “Not many guys can do that, only a handful of guys in the whole league.”

Minuses
– The guys had no legs for most of the game.  It took until the 3rd to get cranking, but prior to that they looked like they were skating through mud.
– Shots on goal were pathetic.  At one point in the 1st period they were 12-4, Vancouver.  They ended the period 15-5.  The game totals were somehow 32-29, advantage Canucks.  I was afraid that the Wings had used up all their offense on Wednesday.  Through at least 2 periods both Datsyuk and Zetterberg had zero shots.  Total.  No shots on net, no missed shots, no blocked shots.
– I had to watch the CanucksTV PPV feed, and they had a 2-part feature on Mikael Samuelsson.  I get that they’re a little infatuated with the guy since he’s been putting up decent numbers, but sheesh.  Man crush, much?
– The refs sucked.  Gord Dwyer and Dave Jackson had a  field day calling weak penalties against Detroit in the 2nd.  Conversely, Vancouver only got tagged for 3 minors, even though I saw several plays for which Detroit was called.  Totally weak.

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Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Darren Helm (Filppula, Stuart); Henrik Zetterberg (Kronwall, Datsyuk); Jonathan Ericsson (Draper, Eaves); Todd Bertuzzi (Datsyuk); Patrick Eaves (Helm, Ericsson)
Edmonton: Jean-Francois Jacques (Brule, O’Sullivan); Dustin Penner (Horcoff, Hemsky); Hemsky (pp; Penner, Horcoff); Hemsky (Penner); Horcoff (pp; Grebeshkov, Penner)
Shootout: EDM: Patrick O’Sullivan

• Ken Daniels commented on an interesting tradition that I was unaware of.  If the Red Wings win, their jerseys will be hanging in their lockers with front facing.  If they lose, they’ll be turned around so the names and numbers face out.  It’s part of the “win as a team, lose as an individual” mentality.
• We knew this was going to be a stressful game when Edmonton scored on Jimmy 0:42 seconds into the first period.  Gee, where have we seen this before?
• There were not a ton of penalties in this game.  Detroit only had 3 power plays total, two of them back to back, and utterly failed to convert any of them.  The PP is clicking along at 24%, which is somehow good for 9th in the league right now.  (Oddly, it’s Toronto of all teams who are leading the league in converting, at 30.8%)
• Motown Wings, A2Y, and Bingo Bango all commented before the game that this is the exact type of scenario that would lead to a Red Wings loss.  Edmonton got shutout their previous two games (v. Colorado and Vancouver), are ravaged by the flu (both swine and garden variety), and yet come out with guns blazing to pop 5 goals in 2 periods.  Of course.  Sadly, we all saw this coming a mile away.
• I pretty much stopped watching at the middle of the first, and mostly through the second, and opted to talk to my mother on the phone, instead.
• It was nice to see Darren Helm finally get his first regular season goal, though.  He also posted an assist and ended the game +3 (and the game’s second star).  He sort of pulled a Maltby, in that he came back on fire after being a healthy scratch.  I still question the move because Helm hasn’t gotten lazy like Malts does occasionally, but if this is the result, I’m not going to argue.  Helm was one of the best players on the ice.
• As was Patrick Eaves.  He also potted his first goal as a Red Wing, got an assist, and was also +3.  He and Helm have some serious wheels on them, and make for a very energetic line.
• Jimmy scrambles too much, and needs to stop wandering from the crease.  It reminds me of Hasek, only without the innate, raw, ridiculous ability to make the save no matter what.  I am utterly unsold on him to be a solid backup for Osgood.  I don’t know how long they’ll allow him before giving Larsson a look, but I hope it’s not long.
• One good thing that happened was that as soon as I asked when Bertuzzi was going to get his due and score, he scored.
• Dan Cleary’s been stuck on 99 goals, and am not surprised that he’s a little snakebit in terms of getting his 100th.  I just hope he does it soon, because once he gets over it, he should be producing a bit more.
• I can’t even begin to start counting how many posts we’ve hit this season so far.  It’s absurd.
• I get that Pavel and Z were thinking that Khabibulin was going to read their dekes in the shootout, but I’m not sure if that warrants just shooting it straight at him… sure, goalies know that Pav’s going to deke, but he’s so good at it he can usually manage to fool them anyway.
• Overall, this game was ridiculous.  Yet another early deficit, only to come roaring back in the third.  I will say I prefer the trend of having a dominant third period as opposed to falling asleep, but I dislike getting to that point in the first place.  I’m tired of watching them get blown out early because they’re not awake yet.
• Lastly, when it rains, it friggin’ pours.  Filppula got hit by Gilbert Brule in the second period and wound up with a broken wrist, meaning he’ll be out for 6-8 weeks.  Just what we need, another major injury.

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I actually really like the Eaves signing. I was unsure what to think until I heard the terms of the deal: 1 year, $500,000. He’s a right-hand shot, which makes up for Samuelsson’s departure. A former first-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, I think most Red Wings fans are hoping that he turns out to be a Dan Cleary type success story. He had 20 goals in 58 games his rookie season, and has seriously tapered off since. He’s had to deal with injuries the past few seasons, and hopefully he get himself back on track in Detroit and rediscover his scoring touch.

Here are his 2008-2009 stats with the Carolina Hurricanes:

Regular					Playoffs
GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
74	6	8	14	31	18	1	2	3	13

Jason Williams on the other hand… well let’s just say he has skeptics in Detroit. He’s a defensive liability, and tends to show up only occasionally. From earlier reports that the Red Wings had offered him a 1 year deal, he didn’t sound overly enthusiastic, which worries me. If he’s not motivated, how often will he bother to show up? I have to wait until I hear the price tag on this before deciding how I feel about this.

Here are his 2008-2009 stats, spent with Atlanta and Columbus:

	Regular					Playoffs
	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Atlanta	41	7	11	18	8
Columbus	39	12	17	29	16	4	0	1	1	2

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