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: 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: 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

Warm-Up: Detroit @ Florida

After winning the Yzerman Bowl last night, the Wings and their Dads travel further south to face off against the Florida Panthers tonight. The Wings always make me nervous with these back to back games, but with the recent return of Stuart, Datsyuk, and Cleary, I think the Wings will come out fighting. Here's to hoping they keep the momentum going from last night.

By the way, does anyone remember when Florida Panther fans threw rubber rats on the ice? Do they still do that?



Game Predictions-

Player of the Game-
Stef- Henrik Zetterberg
Danielle- Danny Cleary (yep, for a second game in a row)

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


Go 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!