The Rundown: Pride.

Well, that's the season.

Disappointed? A little. But only because the season is over.
Disappointed in the Wings? No, not at all.

The Wings showed us their passion for the game, their determination, and their pride. When they were down 3 games to none in this last series, Jimmy Howard stepped up and said "Why not us?" Those three simple words were just what we needed to hear. Three simple words that made all of us believe in the magic and passion of this team. Three simple words that made the Wings believe and come back to win 3 straight games. There is nothing to be disappointed about. The Wings fought hard. They played hard. To the very last second last night, they did all they could to keep the season alive not only for themselves, but for us as well.

Though things didn't end in our favor, there is still a lot to be happy about. This team gave us one hell of a season full of milestones and memories. Let's reflect a little. Instead of focusing on last night's loss, let's focus on the season as a whole. Let's put things in perspective. Here's some of the best moments this season...

Mike Modano Comes Home- Last summer there was a lot of speculation and rumors about Ken Holland bringing Mike Modano to Detroit. Many were weary at first, but Mikey-Mo signed a 1 year contract with the Wings. Even though Modano's season was cut in half due to that horrific wrist injury, It was still nice to see the hometown hero sporting the winged wheel. Not to mention, he'll probably end up retiring. Modano has come full circle. Starting his hockey playing here in Detroit and coming back to end it. (someone give me a tissue)

Pavel fights- Our Mr. Lady Bing found himself in a fight this season against Corey Perry of the Ducks. Something that we all talked about for days. And let's not forget, in that same game Datsyuk scored a goal and got an assist. (Better known in Hockeytown as the Gordie Howe Hat Trick) Datsyuk joked after the game about being able to open his mind a little more and not having to worry about trying to win the Lady Bing this season.

Chris Osgood's 400th Win- Yeah, we all waited a L O N G time for it to happen. But when that moment came, goosebumps were sent all over my body. Chris Osgood won his 400th career game, an accomplishment that only 9 other goaltenders in the history of the game were able to do. Osgood, who hasn't always had the respect of media and fans, showed everyone that he is hall of fame worthy. Numbers don't lie.

Lidstrom's Hat Trick- Nick Lidstrom is arguably they best defenseman the NHL has ever seen. We're lucky to be able to call him our own. With 4 Stanley Cups, 6 Norris Trophies, and a number of other career achievements (heck, the guy even has a street named after him!) , it's crazy to think that in 18 1/2 seasons, Lidstrom never had a hat trick. That all ended on December 15th. Perfect human, perfect curly fries.

Franzen's Five Goal Game- When he shoots, he scores... and he does it often. On February 2nd, Johan Franzen beat the Ottawa Senators all by himself, scoring 5 goals. Mule gave Hockeytown free curly fries... he even enjoyed some himself.

Bertuzzi's 1000th Career Game- Todd Bertuzzi made it to 1,000 games this year. Through out his career, Bert has experienced a lot of ups and downs and has been one of the most controversial players in the league. Bertuzzi's 1,000 game was well deserved and earned. He even scored the game winning goal in game 1,000. As my Bertuzzi Kuzzi says, Bertuzzi is "#44 in your program, #1 in your heart"

20 Straight Playoff Appearances- We're spoiled. Year in and year out the Wings spoil us with playoff hockey. 20 years in a row, the Wings have found themselves in the playoffs. 4 of those years they went all the way to win the Cup. No other current team in any pro sport has been able to accomplish such a thing. I have a feeling that this streak will continue to grow for years to come.

Other Things That Made Me Smile This Season-

Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader -
These two are really starting to come into their prime. Abby has been able to step up, get in fights, score a few goals, and really make great plays happen. Helm has been able to use his speed to make plays happen, he's been great on the PK, and he's also been able to provide great entertainment every time I see a quote from him in the paper. Example: "With that comes responsibility. I was quoting Spider-Man to you there -- with great power comes great responsibility. I'm excited about it."

Jimmy Howard-
Today, while listening to the radio, one of the DJ's was talking about how for once in Detroit, fans are actually standing behind their goalie with pride. Jimmy's earned it. He's OUR GOALIE. He's our man. He knows that in this town, his job is not so easy. But night in and night out, Jimmy provided us with great saves, great wins, and great chances to win. He was pretty solid through out the entire season and earns all the praise in the world for his efforts.

The Fans-
There is nothing like being a Detroit Red Wing Fan. And I've come to learn that you don't quite understand it from the outside looking in. But once you're in, once you're a fan, you quickly become attached to this team and become proud of what they do every night out on that ice.
There is no better feeling than walking into Joe Louis Arena and realizing that you aren't the only obsessed fan... There is nothing cooler than the Wings having the lead in the 3rd period and hearing everyone in the building sing Don't Stop Believing. There are so many great traditions here in Detroit and we make sure every single one of those traditions live on. There's a reason why Detroit is called Hockeytown, and the fans have a lot to do with it.

_______________________

The Future- It's going to be an interesting summer. I want to see what will happen next for the wings, I wish I knew the roster for next season already. I'm hoping and praying that last night wasn't the last time that we all get to see Lidstrom and Draper in the Red Wings jersey.

_______________________

On a personal note, I would like to thank all of you guys for reading. Stef and I wanted to do this for fun and for our love of the Wings and we appreciate you're support more than we could probably say. We'll be updating through out the summer to let you all know about trades, signings, and all the other fun stuff Red Wings related.

Until next time, Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Round 2, Game 1 Detroit @ San Jose

The Warm-Up:

After what seemed like months without Red Wings hockey, our boys in red and white will hit the ice and take on the San Jose Sharks tonight. As we all know, the Sharks were responsible for knocking the Wings out of the playoffs last season and the Wings will be sure to fight as hard as they can to make sure history doesn't repeat itself this time around.

The Sharks won 3 of the 4 regular season match-ups between these two teams. It will be interesting to see how they match up tonight, both teams have strong lines, lots of goal scorers. Special teams will also be important through out the series.


Injuries/Scratches:

Kris Draper, Mike Modano, and Jakub Kindl should be the healthy scratches this evening.

What To Look For:


Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm. These two guys made themselves known in the first round, I can only see them getting better from here.


Other Notes:

Happy Birthday to the one and only, Mike Babcock!

Predictions-

Series Prediction:
Stef- Wings in 5
Danielle - Wings in 6

Player of the Series:
Stef- Pavel Datsyuk
Danielle- Darren Helm

Final Score:
Stef- 4-2, Wings
Danielle- 4-3, Wings

Player of the Game:
Stef- Pavel Datsyuk
Danielle- Danny Cleary


Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Round 1, Game 4

Warm-Up:

Well, here it is. Game 4. What some call the toughest game to win. The Wings have everything lined up perfectly for them to sweep the series tonight against the Coyotes and send them back home to Winnipeg. Tonight's game is sure to be physical right from the start.

Reckless Shane Doan showed us in game 3 that he's more than willing to try and take out our Captain... The Wings better not put up with that tonight... unleash the power of the Tuzzi and Abby.

And hopefully the Wings will continue to take advantage of the poor play of Ilya Bryzgalov... Bryzgalov looked like he was on a different planet Monday night, not even moving or attempting to block shots that came his way.


Injuries/Scratches:

Henrik Zetterberg - Lower Body Injury
Chris Osgood- groin

Jakub Kindl and "32 year old" Mike Modano are the healthy scratches tonight.



Other Notes:

Hopefully our Wings learned a few lessons from the Canucks last night on what NOT to do in game 4.

Predictions:

Final Score-
Stef- 5-3, Wings
Danielle- 4-1, Wings

Player of the Game-
Stef- Danny Cleary
Danielle- Pavel Datsyuk


Here's to hoping we get to bring out the brooms tonight. Go Wings!

The Rundown: Two Down!

Well, that was a wild one! The Wings started early (what?!) today and ended up beating the Dogs 4-3 this afternoon at the Joe. Onto the Rundown!

• A dangle over here, a dangle over there, a deke on this side, a shot through the legs on that side. This was Pavel's game. Datsyuk was all over the ice today skating circles around the Coyotes. He ended the game with a playoff career high of 4 points with 1 goal and 3 assists.
  
• Johan Franzen. WHAT. A. BEAST. Franzen had a nasty visit with the boards in the first period after being hit by Doan. Mule ended up with a bloody nose and a few...and by a few I mean 21 stitches. But, being the beast that he is, Franzen came back in the second ready to go. Probably the most entertaining part of the game was Babcock asking Mule why he wasn't wearing a visor after he had returned to the bench. Franzen's face clearly read "hell no, I am not wearing one of those."
• A note on the NBC announcers: Phoenix has a 5-3. They didn't score until there was 2 seconds left on the 5-3. NBC announcers praise Phoenix coach Dave Tippet for his brilliance on calling the play that took almost 2 whole minutes for Phoenix to properly carry out. ..Now.. I don't quite understand this... Phoenix almost didn't score on a 5-3 and NBC is giving all the praise in the world for Tippet? Yep, coach of the year material right there. I'm pretty sure by that point in the power play for Phoenix, they were just kind of trying to get a shot in however they could.
  
• Since when is choking allowed in the NHL? After Helm "boarded" Ed Jovanovski, Jovanovski went after Helm in what seemed to look like an attempt to choke Helm. I mean, what's the point? First of all Helm obviously isn't going to fight back. Jovanovski is twice his size, he's wearing a cage, and Helm just isn't much of a fighter. Just grow a pair Jovanovski and deal with it. You're going to get hit. It's the playoffs.
• The Wings also sent down 5 of the Black Aces after the game today... which means my hopes and dreams of seeing two Filppula's on the ice this season are over.
  
• Off to the desert we go. Game 3 Monday. Go Wings.
  

Warm-Up: Round 1, Game 2. Phoenix @ Detroit

Warm-Up:

After going up 1-o in the series, the Wings host the Dogs from Phoenix one more time at the Joe this afternoon. After Game 1, there are a few things that we learned:
1. Special teams, special teams, special teams. Our special teams need to continue to dominate, especially in power play situations. Wings should take full advantage of Phoenix's not so great play when they're faced with a penalty.
2. Start on time. No more of this waiting til the 2nd period to start playing.
3. Keeping the penalties to a minimum. This will be tough to do considering the ref's will call just about anything and everything possible on the Wings.


Injuries/Scratches:
Henrik Zetterberg- Lower Body Injury
It would seem that Kindl is a for sure scratch... not sure if Babs plans on rotating forwards. If not, Modano will be sitting.

What To Look For:
Octopi. Boy do I hope I see lots of them.
Apparently, the NHL is doing all they can to stop the octopus throwing traditon for Red Wings fans. LAME. Completely LAME. The NHL now plans on making fans who throw "objects" on the ice pay a fine. First they take away Al's privilege of twirling the octopus on the ice and force him to twirl it in the zamboni entrance...okay,fine, we'll deal with it. But now this? If fans can't throw octopi on the ice, then they shouldn't be able to throw hats for hat tricks. Taking away our octopus tradition is completely ridiculous.

Octopus Count: 6


Predictions:

Final Score:
Stef- 5-2, Wings
Danielle- 4-2, Wings

Player of the Game:
Stef- Johan Franzen
Danielle- Pavel Datsyuk


Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Round 1, Game 1: Phoenix @ Detroit

Warm Up:

I woke up this morning feeling like it was Christmas Day! Playoff hockey is here folks, it's a brand new season and a brand new game. As we all know by now our beloved Red Wings will be playing their first round against the Phoenix Coyotes. The Wings had the same match up last year and beat the Coyotes in 7 games.

The Wings and Coyotes met 4 times during the regular season. They split the series, each winning 2 games.

This is a pretty tight match up. The final season records for each team looked like this:

Red Wings : 47-25-10
Coyotes : 43-26-13

Injuries/Scratches:
Henrik Zetterberg out with a lower body injury. Day-to-day. (SURPRISE!!!!!)

Mike Modano and Jakub Kindl are the healthy scratches tonight... which means Kronwall is back! He will be ready to scare every Phoenix player who dares to cross his path.


Who To Look For:
Shane Doan - Doan was on top of the Coyotes stats for the season. He ended with 20 goals and 60 points. Doan has been talking some trash too. He's not going to be afraid to play a little dirty either.

Ilya Bryzgalov - One of the biggest goalies in the league. Bryzgalov is going to be tough for the Wings to get the puck past. He went 36-20-10 this season.

The Entire Detroit Red Wing Team... if they show up - If the Wings can get out of this slump that they've been lately (which I think they very well will do) They have to be the team to beat. Examples:

Franzen has always been HUGE for us in the playoffs. He's a playoff player. As long as he can forget about his second half of the season, Mule should be force to be reckoned with.

If you look at our depth, its unbelievable. Valtteri Filppula is great on the ice whether he's setting up goals or scoring them. Then we have the speed of Darren Helm. Helm can skate circles around the Coyote team, and I fully expect him to do so... hopefully he'll get that scoring touch that he's been waiting for for so long. Let's not forget Drew Miller and Patrick Eaves as well, those two have been great on the ice and can really step up when they need too.

Then there is the magic of Pavel. Dangle, Dangle, Score. Need I say more about that man?

If all the pieces of the puzzle come together, there is no doubt that the Wings will be the team to beat. The Wings need to step it up. After all, they choose their own destiny.

Octopus Count:
A new addition to THR. Look for The Octopus Count before and after every game where we will keep track of just how many Octopi we see thrown onto the ice during every playoff game...

Hockeytown Rundown Hockey Challenge:
The Challenge kicks off tonight. We'll be giving updates on standings through out the playoffs.


Predictions:

Series Predictions:
Stef- Wings in 6
Danielle- Wings in 5

Player of the Series:
Stef- Tomas Holmstrom
Danielle- Johan Franzen

Final Score, Game One:
Stef- 5-3, Wings
Danielle- 3-1, Wings

Player of the Game:
Stef- Pavel Datsyuk
Danielle- Justin Abdelkader


Go Wings!


Keep checking in with us at The Hockeytown Rundown. Each Warm-Up for the series will offer new and interesting insight into the series.

Warm-Up: Chicago @ Detroit

Warm Up:

The Wings will play their last regular season home game tonight against Chicago. It's going to be a tough game tonight for both teams as they look to secure their spots in the play-offs. The Wings, who already have a play-off spot locked, are still looking to finish in 2nd place in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, Chicago is going to do whatever it takes to keep 8th place.

Maybe we should ask Marty Turco what the outcome will be tonight... I'm sure he's taking bets.


Injuries/Scratches:

Henrik Zetterberg - Lower Body Injury. Out for the weekend, day to day once the play-offs begin.
Niklas Kronwall- Upper Body Injury. Out for the weekend, will be ready to start for the play-offs.

Chris Osgood- ...

Draper should be the healthy scratch tonight

Other Notes-

Congratulations to the Farmington Hills Firefighters for winning their division in the Metro Detroit Fire/Police Ice Hockey Championships! The team went 3-1 and brought back, my friend and Hockeytown Rundown Reader, Michael Haase out of his hockey retirement. It's Haase's 4th championship. He says he would like to thank Kevin Hodson and Dominic Hasek for the old school tutoring.


Predictions:

Final Score-
Stef- 3-2, Wings
Danielle- 3-1, Blackhawks

Player of the Game-
Stef- Pavel Datsyuk
Danielle- Brian Rafalski


Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Detroit @ Carolina

Warm Up:

Well folks, we're one week away from playoff hockey!
Tonight the Wings face off against the Carolina Hurricanes. These two teams haven't faced off against each other since January of last year where the Wings won 3-1. The Hurricanes are currently sitting in 9th place in the East and are looking for a win if they want to continue their season into the playoffs. The Wings on the other hand need the win if they want to fight for 2nd place in the West.

Injuries/Scratches:

Niklas Kronwall- not a shoulder problem...but an upper-body injury... which means he probably has a boo-boo on his knee from falling off a bike...or he has a cut on his chin from shaving... or his tummy hurts. (yes, a bit dramatic here, but what else am I supposed to think if we can't know the truth?)

Chris Osgood- ... yep... I really have nothing to say about this 'injury' of his anymore. And for someone who is and always has been a HUGE Osgood fan... I'm thinking Ozzie is at the end of the road. (I hope you all realize how much it took for me to come to terms with that.)

Drew Miller and Jiri Hudler are the scratches as of yesterday... but we all know these things can change.

Other Notes:

ESPN has a pretty cool thing for the playoffs. It's a sort of fantasy hockey where you pick a line-up for the first round of the playoffs... then each round you can change your team around. I literally spent 2 hours the other night trying to put together what I think is "the perfect team." Check it out, its under the "Fantasy" tab on the ESPN website.

Stay tuned for a post about my feelings on Osgood, the upcoming playoffs, and more...

Predictions:

Final Score-
Stef- 4-1, Wings
Danielle- 5-2, Wings

Player of the Game-
Stef- Darren Helm
Danielle- Pavel Datsyuk

The Rundown - "It's Like Shooting Ducks at a Circus"

Yes, Mickey Redmond said that. I think he was going for "Like shooting ducks at a carnival." Either way, you can always count on Mickey to bring some afternoon entertainment.... and for the sports announcer quote of the game.

The Wings won their second straight tonight by defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-2.... ALSO... with the win comes another Central Division Title. The Wings won their 9th Division Title in 10 years, way to go boys.

Onto the Rundown...

It was nice to see Pavel Datsyuk back in the line up tonight after missing 8 games. It was also quite obvious that Pav was happy to be back in too. Pav had one assist tonight and his presence on the ice was a great addition to the team.

Darren Helm started the scoring for the Wings with helpers from Eaves and Rafalski. Helm now has 12 goals this season... building off of his career best.

Lidstrom added another one towards the end of the first, which looked like it was tipped in by Datsyuk... but wasn't.

In the second Tomas Holmstrom scored what he would consider a long shot. Homer's goal was outside of the crease, facing the goalie. I couldn't believe my eyes. Homer scored a big boy goal. (Don't get me wrong. I LOVE that Homer gets goal after goal after goal right in front of the net... it's just odd to see him get a goal the way he did tonight. Way to go Homer.)

FINALLY Franzen scored a goal in the third. Franzen hasn't been too hot on the goals lately, so its nice to see the Mule net one.

Also, in the third, big boy Johnathan Ericsson took a puck to the face. Goodbye pretty boy looks.


Let's keep the W's coming our way. Up next - The Hurricanes, Wednesday. (Where I hope my favorite Swede, Nik Kronwall will make his return... pleasepleaseplease!)

Side Note- I WANT THE PLAYOFFS TO START! Getting that itch for some play off hockey... so close!

Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Minnesota @ Detroit

The Warm Up:

The rumor is... Detroit will have some Dangle Dangle back in the line-up tonight when they face off against the Minnesota Wild. This is the 4th game between these two teams this season, the Wings have won 2 of the 3 previous games... both in Minnesota. It's no secret that the Wings haven't had the greatest record at home so let's hope they bring the same momentum and force that they had against Nashville last night.


Injuries/Scratches:

Niklas Kronwall - shoulder
Chris Osgood - ...
(maybe) Pavel Datsyuk - Lower Body Injury

Kris Draper should be the healthy scratch tonight.
Mike Modano is also a healthy scratch.

Other Notes:

Don't mess with the Tuzzi.

Predictions:

Final Score-
Stef - 4-1, Wings
Danielle - 3-1, Wings

Player of the Game-
Stef- Valterri Filppula
Danielle- Darren Helm

Warm-Up: Detroit @ Nashville

Warm-Up:

After that horrendous game on Wednesday night, the Wings look to find their dignity and win today against Nashville. Nashville has been a tough competitor all season long so it should be interesting how things play out.

Tonight is the 6th and final regular season match-up for these two teams. Nashville has won 4 of the 5 games in the series.


Injuries/Scratches:

Pavel Datsyuk - Lower Body Injury
Chris Osgood - ...
Niklas Kronwall- Sore Shoulder

Drew Miller is the scratch

Other Notes:

If the Wings win today or get the game to over time, they will clinch a playoff spot.

Jimmy Howard is back between the pipes.

Predictions:

Final Score:
Stef: 5-2, Nashville
Danielle: 3-2, Wings (please win, please win, please win!!)

Player of the Game:
Stef- Danny Cleary
Danielle- Johan Franzen


Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Detroit @ Nashville

Warm Up:

The Wings are in Nashville tonight for the 5th meeting of the season. The Wings are coming off of a win against the Blue Jackets on Thursday night where Joey MacDonald was AMAZING in net. They have also won their last 4 games. The Predators will be fighting hard for a win tonight seeing as they are one of the MANY teams in a fight for a play-off spot.

Injuries/Scratches:

Jiri Hudler is out with the flu.

Pavel Datsyuk is out with the classic "lower body injury"... which means that pretty much ANYTHING could be wrong with him. For all we know, he had a paper cut on his pinky finger and can't play. Just kidding, Pav left the ice during the game the other night and never returned.

Johan Franzen is out after getting "bumped" the other night against Columbus.

Ruslan Salei is out... still with his family.

Other Notes:

Rundown Roomie #1, just admit you're a Wings fan.

Predictions:

Final Score:
Stef- 3-0, Wings
Danielle- 3-1, Predators

Player of the Game:
Stef- Valtteri Filppula
Danielle- Darren Helm

The Rundown: Old MacDonald

Let's pretend that it isn't St. Patricks Day and I miraculously spell every word in this post correctly.

First Period-

Drew Miller!!!! Drew decided to show Babcock that he DESERVES to play every game. Miller had a nice goal only 33 seconds into the game. This has just got to be the sign of the beginning of a good night. Its St. Patricks Day, Miller scores, time for a Miller Lite.

Miller had another great shot on goal, however, Mason saved. But then, soon after, Miller decided to make the period all his and get into a fight. Someone is going for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick... why not?

Filppula scored his second goal in two nights as well. Keep it up, Fil.

And Joey MacDonald, I talked sh-- about you in the Warm-Up. YOU OWNED THE ICE during the first period. I can only hope that you will play like this the ENTIRE game.


First Intermish-
Mickey York said that Larry Murphy was "a little lucky charm" then Murph laughed uncontrollably. Then I laughed uncontrollably. The York said Murph would do an Irish Jig during the Second Intermission. I'll let you know if that really happened.


Second Period-

Too many men on the ice penalty. DUMB. DUMB. DUMB. Let's get these outrageous penalties out of our systems now though...

Pretty boring second period though.

Second Intermish-
Murphy did not do an Irish jig. Total disappointment.

Third Period-

SHIT! Datsyuk went into the locker room with the trainer. BAD NEWS BEARS. While we're at it, Rafalski went down again too...

Johnathan Ericsson-- you're not the brightest, buddy.

P.S. Modano's face after the ref brought the octopus off the ice... PRICELESS.





Time to pretend to be Irish... In Mickey Redmond's words, Time for a few ginger ales! Happy St. Patricks Day!

Warm-Up: Washington @ Detroit

Warm-Up:

Detroit welcomes Mr. Ovechkin and the Capitols tonight at the Joe. The Caps have been on fire lately winning their past nine games. The Wings have won the past two. I for one, am very excited about tonight's game. Well I was.. until about 5 minutes ago when I got word that the Wings were calling up JoeyMac...again... Where does that put Ozzie? Needless to say.. I just had a major freak-out moment. (yes I know Ozzie wasn't going to play tonight anyway, but still.)

On a happier note- it should be fun to see Ovi play against Pavel. Plus there seems to be a lot of fuss about the last time Jimmy Howard faced Ovechkin and how Howard is looking for "revenge." I'm pretty sure Jimmy isn't looking for any revenge, he's probably just looking for a win.


Injuries/Scratches-

Eaves is scratched tonight. He's good to go though whenever he comes back though.
Salei is also out, hes with his wife who's ready to have their third child any time now.

Miller is also a scratch.

Osgood is out tonight too. He reported that he is not ready to play yet after coming off of sports hernia surgery.

Other Notes-
If Ovechkin gets an Ovechtrick I might have to look into getting his jersey...

Predictions-

Final Score:
Stef: 3-2, Wings
Danielle: 4-3, Wings

Player of the Game-
Stef: Nicklas Lidstrom
Danielle: Valterri Filppula (its a Finnish holiday, let's have the Finn have some fun)

The Rundown: Someone buy the refs new whistles please...

Thank you, Nicklas Lidstrom for keeping us alive!!

The Rundown-

Need I say more? I'm pretty sure this explains most of the game:

• There were wayyy to many instances tonight where the refs should have blown the whistles but didn't. I don't know what was going on, but it was just ridiculous.
  

• Wings were down by one for pretty much the entire game. Jimmy made some AMAZING SAVES. The guy was on top of his game all night long. I was surprised he wasn't one of the top 3 stars of the night.

• Tonight was also another night to add to the list of games where the Wings can't score on a 5 on 3. Someone needs to put an end to this soon. The power play needs to get their act together. I'm not expecting a goal on every power play, but there is no reason why a team like the Detroit Red Wings shouldn't score on every 5 on 3 opportunity they get.

• I'm not going to even touch that disallowed goal by Lidstrom that went off Bertuzzi's hand...

• I love though, that Lidstrom was the one to score the goal late in the third to keep the Wings in the game. He is perfection. Everything he does, he does well.

• OT- DATSYUKIAN GOAAAAAAL! WOOT!

Up next- Wings @ Blues, Tomorrow.

Go Wings!

Warm-Up: Detroit @ L.A.

The Wings are on the West Coast this week and kick off a series of late night games tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. The last 2 times these teams met, the Kings ended up with the W. I particularly remember the last meeting between the two, I was at the game. It ended 5-0, LA. The Wings had something ridiculous like 45 shots on goal... not a single one went in thanks to one Johnathan Quick. If he's in net tonight (haven't had a chance to read anything about tonight's game) then I might worry.

Johan Franzen and Brian Rafalski are out of the line up tonight. Mule's wife had their first baby on Sunday... it reportedly came out kicking. (woohoo lame joke!) Rafalski's back is still giving him trouble. Drew Miller and Jakub Kindl will be taking their spots in the line-up.

Also, today was the trade deadline. No transactions made in Detroit.

As posted earlier, Jimmy was signed to a two-year deal. Jimmah!!!

The Predictions-

Player of the Game-
Stef- Pavel Datsyuk
Danielle- Henrik Zetterberg
(Oooo... a battle of the euro-twins!)

Final Score-
Stef- 4-2, Wings
Danielle- 3-1, Wings

Warm-Up: San Jose @ Detroit

The Red Wings and the Sharks face-off tonight at the Joe. The Wings are on a nice 5 game win streak and tonight might be a bit of a challenge since the Sharks have won 8 of their last 10 games. (Wings have won 7 of their last 10) These two teams are pretty evenly matched so it should be a good game from start to finish. Also, the last 2 times these teams met, the winning team scored 5 goals... so maybe we have another high scoring game ahead of us tonight

Here's the Predictions...


Player of the Game-
Stef- Danny Cleary
Danielle- Pavel Datsyuk

Final Score-
Stef- 4-3, Sharks
Danielle- 3-2, Wings

The Rundown: Get him some SPF 40, he is glowing!

Well the Wings were in good ol’ Tampa Bay tonight with the Tigers (minus one drunk Miguel Cabrera) and what seemed to be the rest of Hockeytown. I knew right from the start that we would be seeing a lot of Stevie Y tonight, so much so that I said something about a Stevie Y drinking game. Thankfully that didn’t happen because I would have been passed out by the end of the first period. Seeing as he was shown or talked about 42509325824392013 times within the first 10 mintues of the broadcast. The Wings wound up with the win tonight, 6-2.

Anyways, on to The Rundown…

First Period-

So I started the game listening to my roommate provide excellent commentary. It really caught on when Darren Helm Kronwalled a guy. Awesome. The first period was pretty boring for the first 6 minutes, so I spent the time thinking about when I witnessed a wings game in Tampa. I had gone into the St. Pete Times Forum with a sign that said “Fire Millen!” Needless to say, I had the entire building chanting “FIRE MILLEN!” by the time the game was over.

The Wings went on a power play and Danny Cleary had a nice tap in off of a shot by Nick Lidstrom. Wings up 1-0. The Wings were looking very good and didn’t show any signs of shopping. These are the Wings that make me excited for the playoffs.

The Red Wings then took a high sticking penalty. Kindl was called for the high stick, though I’m 99% sure Franzen was the culprit. Oh well, just goes to show that the refs really are blind.

Datsyuk got the good guys another goal. 2-0, Wings. Right before this goal, the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Red Wings!” I love hearing that sound, especially when its not at the Joe. Red Wings Fans 1, Tampa Bay Fans 0.

Second Period-

Let’s be honest. Those of you who know me, know that I was way to excited when I saw Ozzie in the broadcast booth with Mick and Ken. No joke, I couldn’t even pay attention to what was going on, on the ice.

It was also pointed out that the head coaches of both teams were wearing matching ties. How cute.

Tampa tied wit up pretty fast with 2 quick goals. The first one off of Jonathan Ericsson’s stick, the second was a quick shot into a pretty wide open net. 2-2

No worries though. Kronwall scored with Abdelkader following suit. 4-2. Abdelkader’s goal was pretty nice, a pass across the ice and between some legs to Abby’s stick. He had a nice clear shot right into the net. He was all smiles after that.

2^nd period ending with Ericsson in the Penalty Box, the big guy isn’t having the best game.

Third Period-

Lots of wings are having multi-point nights through 2 periods, Kronwall, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, and Cleary all have 2 points.

Okay, Pavel had a BEA-TI-FUL goal. The Hudler, Datsyuk, Cleary line has been so fun to watch. They’re clicking, they’re having fun, they’re playing hard. Not to mention, they’re producing goals. 5-2

Darren Helm! FINALLY, your hands caught up with your legs. Nice breakaway by Helm to end the game.

Mikey York just called this game the “Yzerman Bowl.” I said it in the warm-up, I’ll say it again. We all know about Steve Yzerman. All the hype leading up to this game was ridiculous, lets save it for the playoffs.

I guess Stef wins tonight’s Player of the Game Prediction with Dangles. He had two goals and he was “pick-pocketing” (thanks, Mickey) all night long.10 more points? I think so.

Broadcaster Quote of the Game:

“Oh yeah, you can only grab that baby for so long.” – Mickey Redmond

and for good measure, “Good job Ron Howard, not only can you make movies but you can stop pucks too.” -Chet Pflugrad.

Go Wings!

Datsyuk Withdrawals are Officially Over

The long awaited return for Pavel Datsyuk is finally over.

Dan Cleary, who returned on February 2^nd, welcomed his line mate back for the Red Wings game against the New York Rangers on February 7^th. Datsyuk who was out with a broken hand, showed no signs of weakness as he “dangle-dangled” his way to a goal and assist.

Pavel Datsyuk

His return has caused for a change of energy that is noticeable both on the ice with his teammates and off the ice with the fans. Players stuck in a ruck, like Jiri Hudler, had almost an immediate change in vitality. Even the atmosphere in Joe Louis Arena was filled with more liveliness than usual, similar to the energy during the playoffs.

The Red Wings and Hockeytown are certainly not the same without Pavel Datsyuk.

Lidstrom: The One and Only Wings All-Star

Captain Nick Lidstrom

Red Wings Captain Nick Lidstrom has been named one of the captains for the 2011 NHL All-Star Game.

This will be Lidstrom’s 12^th appearance in the All-Star Game and his first time as captain. Unfortunately  for Wings fans, Lidstrom will be the only Red Wing to play in the NHL All-Star Game.

On a positive note, this should assure that the Wings will be rested during the All-Star break. In addition, injured Wings Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk, and possibly Tomas Holmstrom are expected to return in the first game back from the All-Star break.

The NHL All-Star Weekend will take place January 28-30^th.

2011 NHL All-Star Schedule:

Friday January 28^th: Fantasy Draft at 8 pm (ET)
Saturday January 29^th: Skills Competition at 7 pm (ET)
Sunday January 30^th: NHL All-Star Game at 4 pm (ET)