Big Red Machine

As I’m sure most of you were also doing last night, I watched the NHL Network air the ABC/ESPN broadcast of the 2002 Stanley Cup Game 5 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.  Gary Thorne and Bill Clement kept reiterating the star power, and the to-be Hall of Fame players.  That was a stacked team.

But it got me thinking: with the signing of Mike Modano, the Wings have really added some serious depth to the forward lineup through three lines, and the fourth is chock full of potential.  We’ve been reading and speculating about what they’ll do to solve the glut of players in the system who could all feasibly play next season.  Again, that’s an astonishing amount of depth when you can reunite the Eurotwins and then slate Mike Modano on the third line and call it a day.  This immediately reminded me of having Igor Larionov and Luc Robitaille on the third line in 2002–Future Hall of Famers at the time who, while considered to be in the twilight of their careers, still contributed immensely regardless of being lower down the chart.

Similarly, Modano was clearly thought to be done by the Stars, who chose not to bring him back.  Robitaille had 30 goals and 50 points in the 2002 season with the Wings, playing on the third line and the second unit power play, much like what Modano’s role sounds like it will be.  Granted, Modano is a center, not a winger, and I have a feeling he’ll be dishing to Hudler and Cleary a decent amount.  Still, if he can pop in 20 goals, I’ll be thrilled.

Sports Illustrated had an interesting preview for the 2002 playoffs, which is still online.  Darren Eliot took a look at all four lines, plus first unit power play, and top three defensive pairings, and offered his analysis.  As I was going through this, I kept thinking of how these line’s qualities and characteristics were visible in the current Red Wings’ lineup.  And so I present my comparison of the 2002 team versus the potential lineup of the 2010-2011 Detroit Red Wings.

Today is only the forward lines.  Tomorrow I’ll take a look at defensive pairings and the power play unit.  And while Eliot didn’t offer any thoughts on the goalies, I’ll try to draw some comparisons Monday.

Edited to add: which do you think is the “better” team, looking at the depth and potential?

I wanted to post up my three stars of the series for the Red Wings against the Coyotes, and kind of pick up again on this little weekly feature that I had done earlier in the season…

#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)

(I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that the first thing that came to mind when I started writing this wrapup was “Phoenix Down.”  Clearly I’ve been playing too much Final Fantasy in my off time.)

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.

My former roommate, and recent convert to Red Wings nation (and hockey in general) back in New York IM’d me shortly after the game ended and made a comment that caused me to laugh a little:

ok, don’t get me wrong, i’m glad we won
but i wish that the entire game had been like the last 5ish mins

The Wings were flat for the first period and a half.  But guess what?  I couldn’t care less.  They won.  We won.  They cranked it up and played like the 2008 Detroit Red Wings rather than the 2006 Detroit Red Wings.  They get to go back home to the JLA with one win, and we got 7 goals and free curly fries courtesy of Mr. Zetterberg.  I’ll take it.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Henrik Zetterberg (pp; Filppula, Kronwall); Pavel Datsyuk (Franzen, Holmstrom); Valtteri Filppla (Bertuzzi, Ericsson); Justin Abdelkader (unassisted); Henrik Zetterberg (Bertuzzi); Valtteri Filppula (pp; Stuart, Kronwall); Henrik Zetterberg (EN; unassisted)
Phoenix: Keith Yandle (Hanzal, Vrbata); Wojtek Wolski (unassisted); Matthew Lombardi (Doan, Wolski); Shane Doan (Fiddler, Morris)

– I don’t exactly understand why the Wings thought that playing the dump-and-chase for the first period and a half was going to be effective, but they did.  And it made me want to tear my hair out.  It was like watching the 3rd period of Game 1 all over again.

– We can thank Dennis Larue for the even, consistent, and unbiased officiating.  Because when Sami Lepisto drops his stick, we all know that’s actually a slashing penalty.

+ I’m convinced that the Wings turned it around mid-way through the 2nd period because I changed my shirt.  Hey, whatever we think works, right?  Hell, I’d change my underwear every intermission (yeah, I was totally going to say “every period” but, ah, poor choice of words there) if it would mean the Wings played like they did the second half of the game.

+ On a more serious note, hey, wow, look what happens when you start winning faceoffs, possessing the puck, getting secondary and tertiary chances, and hitting people.

– The 2nd period reminded me of a trend from last year’s SCF games against the Penguins when the Wings would score, and then allow Pittsburgh to score immediately after.  Can’t get caught celebrating your goal still after the puck drops again–and they seemed to rectify that in the 3rd.

+ It was nice to see the Wings really wake up after Filppula’s first goal.  Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Flip, Lidstrom were just very ON from that point on, and the pace of the game completely changed.  The three forwards had 6 SOG a piece, and each scored at least a goal.  This is what Detroit needs from their top 6.  Is that the flip of the switch that we’ve been waiting for? (Get it?  Flip?  Filppula?  ’Cause he scored the goal that…oh… nevermind).  Speed can kill a team, and from about the 10 minute mark in the 2nd, it felt like the Wings were just taking it Phoenix, fast and furious.  The turning of the tide was punctuated by the fact that Detroit did not allow a Coyotes’ goal mere seconds after Flip’s.  Keep the pace uptempo and fast, and they’ll continue to “turnstile” the Coyotes, who can’t keep up.  That was the best hockey I’ve seen the Wings play all season, and that’s the team that will rip Phoenix to shreds.

+ Holy Justin Abdelkader, that puck strip and goal was shades of Datsyuk.  I was on the fence about replacing J-Wills with Abby, since quite frankly, there were other players who didn’t play up to par in Game 1, but I can’t deny that having his physicality injected into the lineup helped.  He got the goal, 2 SOG, and 5 hits in 8:27 TOI, and went 6 and 5 in the faceoff circle (54.5 win percentage).  In short, he completely outplayed Kris Draper, statistically.

– Shane Doan is still a massive jerkoff.  Just sayin’.

+ I never thought I’d say this, but I was never more relieved when Versus ended their coverage of the Blackhawks/Predators game in time for the 2nd and 3rd of the Wings/Coyotes game.  Rick Peckham and Daryl Reaugh actually have done a very good job on the broadcasts, and Reaugh also gets bonus points for managing to talk about the long change in the 2nd without sounding like a complete douche, ala Eddie Olczyk.

I am now trying to figure out how I can get my ass down to Phoenix for Game 5… we’ll see how that ends up working out.

Not exactly the way we wanted to see the Wings kick off the playoffs this year.  To top it off, the power blew in my side of the apartment building shortly after the game was over, and I sort of lost several of my thoughts that I wanted to post about.

+ Firstly, the Wings had a pretty strong 1st period.  20 shots on goal, it was a virtual shooting gallery out there.  The downside is that Bryzgalov was doing his best impression of a brick wall, but I felt like the Wings took the play for most of it.  Yes, it was a bit more scrambly than I would have liked to see, but they seemed alive.

Brian made a valid point that Phoenix was a team that has had a lot of off-ice issues with ownership, who absolutely sucked last year, and who is playing in their first playoff game in how many years?  Of course they were inspired by the home crowd, and translated that into their level of play.  I realize that you really just hope to walk away from the road series with one win out of two, but I would have liked to have seen it in Game 1 rather than Game 2.  I don’t believe that you’re “supposed to lose” Game 1 on the road.  These are professional athletes, and this is their job.  Get it done.  Give me visible, tangible proof that the Wings are hungry and bitter to win in the postseason.

- Special teams are what demolished the Wings last night.  I don’t know what happened to the solid penalty kill, which was one of the few highlights this season for a time, but it certainly wasn’t there during the game.  The Wings allowed all 3 of Phoenix’s goals on the power play.  Conversely, Detroit only scored once on the PP, out of 7 opportunities.  That’s not good.  Detroit might live or die by special teams this post-season, so I hope that gets turned around quick.

- Was Henrik Zetterberg playing with anyone?  Who were his linemates?  For all I know, it was a snail and a sea urchin, because I certainly didn’t see anything out of Bertuzzi, other than when he got shoved over standing in front of Bryzgalov (seriously Bert, you’re gigantic; you shouldn’t be falling over like a leaf in the wind), and I occasionally spied the fabulous flowing locks of Valtteri Filppula.

– Shane Doan is a douche.  I never minded him before this season, but now every time I hear someone talk about how great it is that he’s made the playoffs, and how no one deserves it more, and how he got snubbed for the Olympic team, the more I want to roll my eyes and point to a highlight reel of his dirty hits.  Color analyst Darryl Reaugh made the interesting comment early in the game of “there’s a lot of hitting to hurt in this game.”  Yeah, and a lot of it was done by Doan.  He brought the physical play, yes, but not in a clean way.  I’ll be looking to see if the refs crack down more on it, or if they let it go.

– To that point, the Wings need to be more physical.  Kronwall needs to step up and Kronwall someone (I nominate Doan).  Stuart dished out a hit here or there, and Helm was bouncing around like a pinball, but I’d really like to see guys like Bertuzzi, Cleary, and Datsyuk get in on the physical play.  When Datsyuk is hitting guys, it usually means he’s riled up, and that he’ll have a ridiculous game.

+ I don’t think Holmstrom’s ever even had possession of the puck that far away from the net before in his life.  What a bomb.

– Were there any snakes thrown at ALL?  Pathetic, Phoenix fans, pathetic.

– I cannot believe that the high stick on Lidstrom didn’t get whistled for a 4 minute double.  I believe that’s what they call in basketball, a “flagrant” foul.  I saw Nick Lidstrom get whacked in the face by a Phoenix player’s errant stick, him bleeding on the bench, but apparently neither referee did, given no penalty call.  That should have been 4 minutes, no question.  Say what you want about conspiracy theories, or tinfoil hats, that’s clearly bullshit.

= Howard didn’t stand on his head, nor did he have a complete meltdown.  The defense didn’t aid him very much, particularly during the kill.  He looked a little shaky at times, like on the Yandle goal.  But it was his first career playoff game, you can’t expect him to play like a veteran, even if he’s seemed like it during the regular season.  We all know the playoffs are a completely different animal.

And I’m already stressing to the high heavens.

I hate that stupid Fratellis song, “Chelsea Dagger.”  It makes me want to put a dagger through my eardrums, and I had to hear it 4 times this afternoon.

This game made me feel like an untreated manic depressive, almost entirely within the third period alone.  The first was pretty bland, the second was fantastic, and the third was just a mish mash of wild mood swings.  Matt had a great tweet that sums it up awesomely:

1st: ugh. 2nd: sweet. 3rd: ughwowyikesholycrapnoyesawesome.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Brian Rafalski (pp; Lidstrom, Zetterberg); Nicklas Lidstrom (Filppula, Bertuzzi); Jason Williams (Zetterberg, Rafalski); Valtteri Filppula (Bertuzzi, Miller); Pavel Datsyuk (unassisted)
Chicago: Duncan Keith (Seabrook, Kane); Andrew Ladd (unassisted); Andrew Ladd (Johnsson, Madden); Andrew Ladd (Keith, Madden)

- The Wings allowed Andrew Ladd his first career hat trick.  That says enough.  I mean, really?

- Afternoon games are ridiculous.  This game started at 11:30am local time.  No wonder the Wings looked asleep on their skates for the first period.  Quite frankly, I can’t even remember them getting 9 shots on net in that duration.

- Jimmy.  Please work on your rebounds.  Thanks.

+ Lebda actually does look like he’s been playing better with Lilja, interestingly.  He actually looks like an NHL defenseman.

- Almost immediately after I thought that, he overskated the puck, and forced Filppula to try and get it out, which resulted in a bad turnover and a Chicago goal.  As it turns out, going to Notre Dame doesn’t actually mean anything when it comes to hockey smarts.

+ The Wings really woke up in the second period.  I was half paying attention for a bit, working on some H2H stuff and being exasperated with how the game was going, when I realized that goals were going in at a rather alarming rate (in a good way).  Huet had a meltdown, unsurprisingly, and I’m wondering if the Blackhawks are wishing they’d picked someone up at the trade deadline.

+ Five unanswered goals by the Red Wings in the second period.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Just pure dominance by the Wings, and Pavel’s goal was an exclamation mark on the period.  The Wings proved to Chicago that they still have a long way to go in order to challenge Detroit’s position as alpha in the Central division.

+ On that note, Rafalski looked more like his Team USA/Olympian self rather than the pinching, turnover prone Rafalski of the majority of the season.  Good.

= Speaking of, whereas Datsyuk’s been pretty jacked since getting back from the Olympics, Zetterberg has seemed a little… off.  He didn’t have a very good Olympics, and that seems to have spilled into the re-start of the season.  I hope he resolves it soon, be it an injury or just being snakebit.

+ The Wings… we… they had a goal called off against them.  That is to say, in their favor.  I’m pretty certain I thought the Apocalypse, the Rapture, and the End of the World As We Know It was nigh.

– Bertuzzi apparently sustained a charley horse and left the game at some point (I want to say it was towards the end of the second period).  He had maybe one of the worst periods of play I’ve ever seen.  Pierre and Olczyk were just ripping on him.  But Bertuzzi came back with a really strong second, making plays and tallying two assists.  And immediately they start gushing about him like he’s the savior of the game.  Sigh.  Sounds like the injury isn’t very serious, and here’s to hoping he’ll be back in the lineup for Tuesday’s matchup.

– Pierre’s comment that Piet Van Zant was on the bench looking at a hurt Pavel made me almost scream NOOOOOO out loud.  Not even kidding.  Thankfully he was just stung with a blocked shot off the foot and came back after testing it during a TV timeout.

– After that ridiculous offensive output in the second period, the Wings promptly gave up a goal early in the third, and then another about half way through for Ladd to complete his hat trick.  Really, after the five goals in the second, this really never should have come down to a 1-goal game.  Curse of the three- and two-goal lead, I suppose.

+ I can’t remember exactly why, but Marian Hossa was whining to the refs about some call or another that didn’t go his way, and my entire Twitter feed, no joke, went “Shut up Hossa.”

+ Kronwall really had the save of the game.  There was a wide open net for the Blackhawks and he just planted himself in the crease to sweep the puck out, and then blocked the second chance.

+ Another incredibly important win, and 2 points in regulation.  Even better, two fairly strong outings in a row.  Can they keep it up?  Can they make it three in an extremely important game on Tuesday?

The Flames won against the Wild tonight, making them 1 point back of the Red Wings.  Nashville, having lost today, it only 1 point ahead.  It would not be hyperbole to say that Tuesday’s tilt is the most important game of the season so far.  Bring the killer instinct, put the skate down, and don’t let up, boys.

COLORADO 2, RED WINGS 3

I made my first ever trip to the Dive last night, to watch the Red Wings play their first game back from the Olympic break against the Avalanche.  It was an interesting experience–there was a good amount of Wings fans in the building, and my section had a fairly healthy “Let’s Go Red Wings” chant going on towards the end of the game.  There were some jackass Avs fans there, which was to be expected.  In particular was the guy behind me who kept yelling, “Detroit Sucks Shit” and then trying to explain that while their team is admittedly good, you can’t argue against the city being crappy.  And there was the ever present “Red Wings Suck” chant.  Stay classy, Denver.

But there are some classy Avs fans.  Specifically, @voteforgrant, and @shellieshel and @sandyhens who joined in on Grant and my friendly wager to donate to Children’s Hospital for each of our rival’s goals scored.  Three goals scored by the Red Wings is $15, and double that for the Detroit win!  Via Grant’s Twitter:

Thanks to the Red Wings win last night, @sandyhens, @shellieshel and I will be donating $30 each to @H2Hockeytown. (Thanks @inhyung!)

Big, big thanks to Grant, Shellie, and Sandy for participating, and being classy Avs fans!  That’s $90 for Herm to Hockeytown and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and I’ve kept my promise to donate to Denver Children’s Hospital to the tune of $10 for both of Colorado’s goals, which I will do so happily.  It’s awesome to see people willing to help out the children, team loyalties and deep rivalries aside.  So thanks again!  If there are any bloggers or Tweeps from other fan bases who want to play with upcoming games against the Red Wings between now and March 26, shoot me an email and let me know.

Some thoughts from the game (none of them very deep or insightful, as are my recaps when I go to games):

• The Wings looked good–really energetic, motivated in the first period.
• The wheels fell off a little bit in the second period, after the Franzen disallowed goal.  I didn’t really see the replay–the arena screen didn’t show a good angle–but from when the play happened, I certainly didn’t see anything egregious by Homer.  Reputation call by Fraser.
• During a TV timeout they showed each Olympic medal winner playing in the game.  Filppula got a nice cheer, Rafalski and Stastny got huge applause, and Mike Babcock was chorused with a rousing boo.
• Howard should have had that second Avalanche goal, no question.  He looked like he was caught napping a little bit, as Colorado only got 9 shots on goal in the period.
• Pavel was awesome.  He was making those brilliant little plays, and his set up to Lidstrom was a thing of beauty.  He got his bucket knocked off twice and it was kind of fun seeing him buzz around the ice looking old school, with his hair a little long and a little scruffy.
• Bertuzzi was the recipient of very healthy requisite boos every time he touched the puck.
• Lilja looked ok.  He didn’t play very much, 9:28 TOI, 1:18 shorthanded, with 1 blocked shot, 2 hits, and a -1 rating.  But he didn’t have any blatant turnovers or defensive gaffes.
• The Dive was actually very full, probably a mix of it being the first game back from the Olympics, and it being the Wings.

Yes, I’m still alive.  I needed a hiatus for a little while to do some serious job hunting, and the Olympic breakwas kind of a perfect excuse to do that.  I didn’t, and still don’t, really have any plans for what to do here for the next week, anyway.

Yesterday was the men’s hockey Olympic Super Sunday, with three great rivalry games: Russia v Czech Republic, USA v Canada, and Sweden v Finland.  And yes, I watched all three of them.

As with all the Olympic hockey games, I keep an eye out in particular for Red Wings players.  Some of them did not disappoint, yesterday.

In Russia’s game, Pavel Datsyuk was one of the best all-around players for the Russian team.  He played directly against Jaromir Jagr for the most part, out with Kovalchuk on even strength, and Malkin and Ovechkin on the power play (what a friggin power play, holy shit.  A Hart Trophy nomination troika).  Datsyuk did an excellent job of shutting down Jagr for much of the game, who ended up with 0 points and 2 SOG, and -2.  Pavel led the Russians in TOI with 20:18 played.  The next player was Malkin at 18:43, whose PP goal he assisted on.  He topped it off with the empty netter.

For the USA, Rafalski has returned to a form that I thought long lost.  He was outstanding, scoring the first 2 goals in the game (and the last 4 for the USA), and almost had a hat trick (for all intent it’s his, because he took the shot and it ricocheted in off Jamie Langenbrunner’s skate, then Brodeur’s stick, and in).  He opened the scoring early, too, only 41 second into the game.  It was also great to see the USA roar back after Eric Staal scored for Canada, to get Rafalski’s second goal of the night about a minute later.  I sent a text to my friend during the game that said “who knew Rafalski could still play like that?” to which was responded “He and Miller won that game,” a statement that I can’t argue against.  Rafalski ended the night 2-1-3, +2, in 21:27 TOI (tied with Ryan Suter).  He had three shots on net, all three of which went in.  He was no slouch defensively, either, though I’ll admit that Canada didn’t have a very good game at all.  A lot of players on that team were just invisible all game long, and the ones who were noticeable were not because of good reasons.  Back to Rafalski, Discher has some more thoughts on his recent play, all of which are far more insightful and articulate than my own.

Sweden and Finland… well, I have to admit I zoned out on this one.  Petrella made the point that nothing could possibly be exciting after watching the end of the USA/Canada game, and to my defense, I’d been up since 7am.  Trying to actually pay attention to a fairly boring hockey game at 1:30am is not easy.

Here are the brackets for the rest of the Olympic tournament.  I really have hopes that Russia will play Sweden.  I think that would be utterly fascinating to watch what basically amounts to half the Red Wings take on Datsyuk and the insane firepower of the Russian team.  And, of course, that would mean that Canada wouldn’t even make it to the gold medal game.  I do fear for Stevie Y if Canada doesn’t make it, however.

Come back later for some H2H updates and information.

First things, sorry for neglecting the blog for the last few days, though I’m sure not many noticed.  Due to so-called “cost cutting” and saving, my company decided to eliminate my job.  So I’ve joined the not so envious ranks of the unemployed.  It’s been interesting to say the least–vacillating between being pissed off as shit and being really motivated to find something else–better, and infinitely more awesome, where I won’t be bottle-necked.  Ahem.  Anyway, onto the game…

Are we ever going to win another game this season?  Is Chris Osgood ever going to play another game again?  Will we ever win in the shootout?  These are life’s big questions right now.

Goals were as follows:
Detroit: Johan Franzen (pp; Zetterberg, Lidstrom); Jason Williams (Lebda, Holmstrom)
San Jose: Joe Thornton (Wallin, Boyle); Dwight Helminen (Mitchell, Nichol)
Shootout: SJS – Patrick Marleau

= FS Detroit has started doing the digital advertisements on the back glass behind the nets now.  It was funny because there were a ton of people on Twitter who were in an uproar over people “paying good money” for those seats, only to have an ad plastered in front of them.  People, they’re digital.  They’re not actually, physically on the glass, they’re slapped on by FSD for television.  MSG has been doing them for a while, and you really get used to them and start to notice them less.  But, I can see were people are annoyed.  I don’t really care one way or another.

+ The Wings looked like they had more jump than in other games, with some more crashing and banging around than we’ve seen.  I still don’t understand why they can get up for these games against San Jose, which mean nothing in terms of tangible points and standings, but they let teams like Anaheim and Los Angeles walk all over them.  This season seriously makes my brain hurt.

+ Franzen got his first goal since coming back, the first of the game, and on the Power Play.  Shortly before that, he’d sort of whiffed on a shot and it looked like his timing was still a work in progress.  But that PP goal was a beautiful snipe over Nabokov’s glove hand.  Welcome back, Mule.

– Poor Nick, a linesman got dumped over the boards and into Nick’s lap.

= Meech gets a pass for missing on what looked like a stupidly easy shot on an open net, but upon replay it was revealed that his shot was redirected by a Shark player.  Otherwise it really would have gone in.  But he’s right back on my shit-list the minute he screws up again.

– Way to get up a goal about 35 seconds after scoring.  Not exactly the type of shift you’re hoping for after scoring.

+ No shit, Holmstrom beat out Dan Boyle to negate an icing.  Really.  Boyle must have had dead legs, because otherwise there’s no way Homer outskates him.

+ Pavel was really riled up tonight.  He may not have scored, and he did have two giveaways, HOWEVER, he was still everywhere, all over the ice, and playing physical.  He had some chances, played gritty, and was just a beast all around.  Would have been great to see him score–but then again, I want Pavel to score every single game.  Unfortunately the world and the game doesn’t work that way.  He’s still been one of the better Wings forwards, if you ask me, regardless of the lack of goals (so there, Brian).

– Nabokov is usually a sieve.  Why not tonight?  He’s usurped Turco for sole ownership of worst SV% versus the Wings.  Except today he actually had to play fairly well.

+ Williams had a pretty little toe drag on his goal.  I bet you he gets traded tomorrow.  According to Ken Daniels, Holland is definitely making a roster move before the Olympic freeze, and I’ll just bet it’s Williams.  Maybe he just upped his market value?

– I friggin hate the shootout.  We’d have several more wins if it weren’t for finishing the game in such an artificial way.

Here are my picks for the Red Wings’ stars of the week for 1/25-1/31

#3: Nicklas Lidstrom
Nick shifted to a completely different gear this week, going 3-3-6 and +2.  Two of his goals were on the power play.  And he’s continued his rock-solid play on the blueline, as pretty much the only defenseman right now who’s actually playing his position, and doing it well.  By, you know, defending, and not getting skated around like a pylon.

#2: Pavel Datsyuk
Pavel’s stats mirror Nick’s with 3-3-6, except no power play goals. But he pretty much took it upon himself, with Nick, to produce the Wings’ offense this past week.  No question he’s been the best forward for the Wings, and against the Wild he looked like he wanted to drag them to a win on his own.

#1: Jimmy Howard
With poor defensive outings almost every game this week, Jimmy held them in the game.  He faced 47 shots against the Penguins, and even though he didn’t do very well in the shootout, he still only let in 1 goal in actual play.  The game before in Nashville he saw 48 shots and let in 2.  He hasn’t looked as tired, and really gave the offense the opportunity to win.