Rundown: Bobby Ryan, please stop acting like a 12 year old.

Game Notes:

• The Wings played a pretty solid game tonight considering they played yesterday too. However, it's a bit of a concern seeing Howard playing the second game of a back-to-back. Where's Conklin? Has all faith in him been lost?
• The Wings played the Ducks tonight in an apparently, very rainy Anaheim? The Wings came out strong and scored quickly with a nice shot from Zetterberg. This was Z’s first goal since November 5^th. Which was nice to see especially since Z and his Eurotwin haven’t exactly been on point as of late. 1-0, Wings.
• Then all of a sudden… THE POWER GOES OUT. I guess they don’t pay their electric bill over at the Honda Center. Either that or Anaheim was trying to find a quick way out of another disappointing loss.
• After a long 27 minutes without hockey… the game comes back and Fox Sports provides us viewers with more technical difficulties. The FSD feed went out for a bit then switched over to the Anaheim announcers. Then! Ken and Larry are suddenly calling the game from their cell phones. I’m surprised Murph even knows what a cell phone is. For all we know, he was just holding a hot dog up to his head and speaking into it.
• Did anyone else notice the lack of Bobby Ryan tonight. No talk of the kid what-so-ever… he probably asked coach if he could sit on the bench for the game so he could finish the last few chapters of Twilight: Breaking Dawn.
• … if you don’t know what I’m talking about, Bobby Ryan recently gave a review of the latest installment of the Twilight films. What a hard-ass. That’s the kind of guy I want on my hockey team…
• 2^nd period opened up with a beauty from Mule. Then the Wings got another goal courtesy of Brad Stuart that was screened perfectly by Bertuzzi. Wings up 3-0.
• Our defensemen have been nothing short of awesome when it comes to scoring. The Wings blue liners have been very impressive so far this season, scoring goals left and right. (With the exception of Ericsson, of course.)
• Holy.Shit.Jimmy.Howard. Jimmy had an AMAZING save in the second off of the stick of Ryan Getzlaf. Getzlaf had his hands up and started celebrating. The ref said no goal and the play continued. Hilarious. Anyways, the play was review and the no goal ruling on the ice was confirmed. This moment also made me realize that Getzlaf has more hair on his face than he does on his head. Thank you, Movember.
• So Bobby Ryan had a nice shot on goal, the puck went in but his teammate, Smith-Pelly cross checked Kronwall. The whistle blew before the puck went in so the goal didn’t count. Bobby Ryan got his panties in a twist and started yelling at the refs. Obviously he was yelling about the fact that Bella picked Edward over Jacob. Come on Bobby, grow a pair and play hockey.
  
• In true Ericsson fashion, the moron took a penalty with just over 2 minutes left in the game. Can we just trade him? I can think of so many other ways the Red Wings could spend 3 million dollars... THANKFULLY, Brad Stuart saved Ericssons ass and scored an empty netter, pretty much taking away any chance the Ducks may have had to tie the game. 4-2, Wings.
  
• Oh yeah, at some point during the game, the Ducks managed to score 2 goals on Jimmy.
• I miss Ian White. A little piece of me dies every time I see Ericsson playing opposite Lidstrom. Jonathan Ericsson still sucks. You would think that his contract would help him produce a little more out on the ice. Or you know, actually play hockey?
• Also.. this Brendan Smith kid... he's good.
  

Warm-Up Detroit @ Anaheim

The Warm-Up:

After a 4-1 victory over the Kings yesterday, the Wings will take on the (mighty) Ducks tonight in Anaheim. Pavel Datsyuk finally lit up the lamp with two goals yesterday after going through a scoring dry-spell (12 games) that was extremely uncharacteristic of him.

The Ducks have been a struggling team so far this season, so they'll be playing hard to get the W.

Injuries/Scratches:

Ian White - his face is broke.

Scratches- still unknown...


Predictions:

Final Score:
Stef- 3-2, Wings
Danielle- 4-0, Wings

Player of the Game:
Stef- Darren Helm
Danielle- Nicklas Lidstrom

Warm-Up: Anaheim @ Detroit. Something's Gotta Give

Warm-Up:

Well, We're not used to this.

The Wings have lost their last 6 games. Is it time to hit the panic button? Has the panic button already been hit? Is this just some sort of terrible dream in some alternate universe? Is anyone even listening to me?

Oh the frustration!

I've thought about this way too much lately. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Maybe I need to pull out some of the playoff superstitions? Maybe I need to stop watching hockey for a week, take a step back and actually breathe. Maybe I've just lost my mind.

ANYWAYS -

The Ducks (5-5-3) are coming to the Joe tonight to try to extend the Wing's losing streak. Our boys in the red and white have a lot to prove though and should come out strong. We need a good showing from guys like Zetterberg and Datsyuk to get the rest of the team going. Or maybe we even need an unsung hero like a Helm or Abdelkader to make some good plays and get some pucks in the net. (Because, after all, according to Larry Murphy, "the net is where all the cookies are.")


Or.. maybe Datsyuk can just beat Corey Perry's ass again tonight. That should get the Wings pumped up. It gets me pumped up.

Things just need to go our way tonight. (I'm looking at you, refs)

Injuries/Scratches:

Kindl is the healthy scratch.
Eaves is out with a back injury.
Bertuzzi is out with an illness.

Other notes-

If the Wings somehow come out of this game with a loss, I'm arranging a prayer circle or something for tomorrow. Or at least I'll start going to see a shrink.


Predictions:

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

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


GO WINGS!

Warm-Up: Detroit @ Anaheim

The Warm-Up-

The Wings are off to play a game of Duck Hunt tonight as they face off against Anaheim. With a win tonight, the Wings would go 4-0 against the Ducks, sweeping them for the season. The win would also increase the Wings awesome road game win streak. (I hope to god I did not just jinx them.)

New daddy, Johan Franzen returns tonight. Let's hope he can get back into the groove of things... it's been awhile since he's scored.

Injuries/Scratches-
Rafalski is still out due to back spasms. Eaves is out too with a groin injury.
Draper is the healthy scratch.

Other Notes-
It's also Jonathan Ericsson's birthday today so lets hope the hockey gods are on his side tonight and he doesn't do anything stupid.... like get 324982 penalties called on him.

Jimmy is getting the start in goal tonight against new Duck, Dan Ellis.
The Predictions- Player of the Game-
Stef- Tomas Holmstrom
Danielle- Jimmy Howard


Final Score-
Stef-4-2, Ducks
Danielle- 4-0, Wings