The Rundown: Wings Burn Out the Flames

Although I went to the game last night, I decided I would still do a rundown.

On a couple of personal notes: I have noticed that there has been an increase in Hudler fans as I saw 3 people wearing Hudler jerseys. I also found what to appears to be the male versions of Danielle and I or they are our Red Wing soul mates.

The Rundown:

Before the puck drop, the Red Wings honored Mark Howe for his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Howe was also the Red Wing alumni of the game.

The first period started with a quiet few minutes before the Flames ended up with Smith in the box for cross checking. It didn’t take long for the Wings to make that horn sound as Holmstrom picked up a power play goal assisted by Lidstrom and Hudler. Helm and Smith had a check against the boards that crushed one of the referees, but he was not seriously injured. The period ended with shots on goal even at 8 and Wings up 1 – 0. 

 44 seconds into the second period Iginla scores the first goal for the Flames, assisted by Tanguay and Butler. Moments later Morrison is one on one with Kindl racing towards the net and scores, the assist went to Jackman. Calgary’s first two shots of the period resulted in goals, an indication the Wings needed to turn up the heat. The Wings put some pressure on the Flames until Hudler went to the box for hooking, putting Calgary at an unfortunate advantage. On the penalty kill, Giordano shot the puck and nailed Miller in the face. He was immediately rushed off the ice, but he later returned to the game.
The Wings escaped the power kill with no additional damage. 

Wings back on the offense and White takes a shot from the top of the circle for a goal. Datsyuk and Franzen pick up the assists on this one and the game is tied up at 2 apiece. The Wings start stepping up their game as they dominate the rest of the period. Many Wings with many great chances but Kiprusoff is definitely on his toes. As the clock struck 3:00, Emmerton gets a penalty for delay of game. Wings were again successful at killing of the penalty kill. The period ended with shots on goal Wings 24 – Flames 15, and the game tied at 2.

Not a dull moment in the third period. The action starts with a power play for the Wings as Butler gets a penalty for hooking. A great pass from Datsyuk put the puck in front of the net for Holmstrom to swat in behind Kiprusoff. This goal was also assisted by White. Not even a minute later, the Wings find themselves down a man as Abdlekader is sent to the box for holding. With 4 seconds left of the power kill,  Jokinen scores their first power play goal for Calgary.  This goal was assisted by Brodie and Bouwmeester and tied the game up at 3.

A double penalty is called, Kindl for hooking and Morrison for diving putting the teams on 4 on 4. The game turns into a 4 on 3 for 22 seconds as Cleary is called for hooking. Then with 43 seconds left in Cleary’s penalty, Giordano is sent to the box for tripping Helm. The whistle blows again and there is a slashing penalty on Glencross, there is still 10 seconds left on the Cleary penalty and 1:27 left on Giordano’s. Wings go on a 5 on 3 for about a minute until Datysuk scores a goal assisted by Lidstrom and Zetterberg, giving them a much needed lead as the clock counts down. After all the penalties are said and done, Filppula flips the puck up and over Kiprusoff and into the net for Wings goal number 5. Hudler and White with the assists on this one. The game ends with a 5-3 win for the Wings!

The next game is the Thanksgiving Showdown against the Bruins. The game will take place Friday, November 25 at 1 pm.

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