Once again it's Graham filling in for JJ, who apparently can't hack having 2 daughters now. I'm kidding of course; he could barely handle 1 daughter.

Only one game on the schedule today, and it's an early one, so I hope you have the coffee ready.

New York Rangers (1) vs Washington Capitals (7): 12:30 ET - NBC

The last time these two met they nearly played the equivalent of 2 full games before Marion Gaborik decided it was time to actually, you know, show up and score goals like he's paid to. Henrik Lundqvist is on an 83 minute shutout streak on the ice, but with those eyes and that hair you know it's a different story off the ice. The Capitals will be looking to the 2 Alex's, Ovechkin and Semin, to jumpstart an offense that has scored a grand total of 5 goals in 3 games, but despite their lack of productivity, Dale Hunter hasn't seen fit to take them completely out of the lineup. I mean, who would bench their two best goal scorers in an important game? Not a Coach of the Year candidate like Hunter, that's who.

We've got a late substitution as JJ was added to the "Unable to Write" list. He'll be missing today's action as he attends to the birth of his daughter, Baby Girl From Kansas, who was born very early this morning. When he does return and you see a bunch of garbled sentences and misspelled words, you'll know it's due to his lack of sleep and not because he's just not very smart.

Two games on the schedule today in a true doubleheader. Unless you're way too exhausted from staying up last last night watching the Rangers and Capitals go into triple OT, it might be worth it to stay awake tonight, especially if the games go the way we want them to.

Philadelphia Flyers (5) vs New Jersey Devils (6) - 7:30 NBCSN: The Devils earned a split in the City of Brotherly Love after scoring 4 third period goals in Game 2. They head back to Jersey where the only rat they need to worry about wear 48 in orange. Ilya Bryzgalov is going to try to be strong so the Flyers can regain home ice advantage and put a bear hug on this series.

Broad Street Hockey - Flyers Coverage
In Lou We Trust - Devils Coverage

St Louis Blues (2) vs Los Angeles Kings (8) - 10:00 NBCSN: The Kings have won 3 straight playoff games overall, are 5-0 on the road, and head home with a 2-0 lead on the Bloosers after dominating them in the first period of Game 2 before coasting to victory. Alex Pietrangelo will be back in the Blues lineup after missing Game 2 from a lower body injury due to a DJ King hit, meaning that we get to see whether a rookie defenseman really is the difference for a Blues team trying to squeak by the eight seed.

St Louis Game Time - Blues Coverage
Jewels of the Crown - Kings Coverage

The reality that the Red Wings are no longer eligible to win the Stanley Cup this year (despite my many letters of protest) has finally sunk in, and we must now prepare for the longest off-season since 2006.

Unlike previous years, the defeat at the hands of the Nashville Predators was not due to some upstart team finding itself with insanely hot yet unexpected goaltending like Dwayne Roloson or J.S. Giguere and it's not due to some out-of-nowhere scrub scoring a goal that breaks the hearts of Wing fans everywhere (I'm looking at you, Jamie Baker, you jerk).

No, this year was about running into a team that was designed to beat the Wings (or if not Detroit specifically, then at least a team that plays a similar style) and succeeded. Nashville went "all-in" by landing some big pieces at the trade deadline while trying to capitalize on the return of Alex Radulov and the fact that Ryan Suter and Shea Weber are still Predators. There's no shame in losing to Nashville, because that's a good team they've got over there, and the Wings just didn't quite measure up in the end.

So with the season over, we're left with a ton of questions about where this team is headed. There are some who think it's time to fire Mike Babcock, trade every player not named Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, and burn Joe Louis Arena to the ground and start over as the Tulsa Oil Kings in some weird witness protection program move.

While I'm not on the "tear it down" bandwagon, I do believe that change is necessary for this team to reclaim its position as the best team in the Western Conference, and there's one man that I'm looking to to make this happen. Ken Holland, you're on notice.

Continue reading this post »

And that's that.

First and foremost, congratulations to the Nashville Predators on their victory. This was a very hard-fought series, but the Predators were better when it counted. Represent the Central Division well on your quest for the Cup.

The end of a season that doesn't involve a Stanley Cup is always difficult to digest. This year, the first time the Wings haven't advanced past the first round since 2006, it's even harder because of the very long off-season ahead of us. An off-season with a ton of questions and very few answers.

The game was pretty typical of the 2011-12 Red Wings. An uneven start that resulted in being behind early, finding the jump to tie the game, a defensive breakdown that led to the go-ahead goal, and a flurry at the end of the game that couldn't produce a goal.

It was the same old same old, the kind of stuff we saw all season. Whether playing the Nashville Predators or the New York Islanders, the Wings were never able to consistently "bring it". They would play down to their competition at times and not rise up to meet a strong opponent at others.

We all know what's at stake this summer. We might have witnessed the final game of Nicklas Lidstrom's Hall of Fame career. It's something that no one wants to think of, but it's something we may have to face. Personally, I think he comes back, but that's simply a gut feeling so that I don't cry for the next 2 months.

This could be the end of Tomas Holmstrom's career. If so, how fitting would it be that his last entry on an NHL scoresheet was for a goaltender interference penalty?

Tonight saw some good things: Jimmy Howard, facing elimination, was incredible. Henrik Zetterberg was a force every time he touched the puck. Gustav Nyquist showed a lot of poise and confidence with the puck, even if some of his decisions were forced.

If there is a good thing about this series being over, it's that the nastiness between the opposing blogs is finally over. I'm sure that someone somewhere will say something that someone doesn't like, but thankfully no one should care. If they do, I hope they are told to get over it and stop being a baby.

Admit it: 30 seconds in to the game you were thinking "here we go again" with the refs, weren't you?

Ultimately what this series came down to was Nashville taking advantage of every single mistake the Wings made, while the Wings didn't return the favor at any point. This wasn't about bounces, refs, conspiracies or anything else. When the chips were down and when it counted, Nashville converted and the Wings didn't.

Think about tonight. Quincey coughs up the puck after an aggressive forecheck? Goal. Brad Stuart is danced around (again)? Goal. How many times was Pekka Rinne lost behind his net or without a stick? How many times did the Wings get the puck to the front of the net to create a scoring chance?

I don't know who will be back and who will leave. I know that I won't shed a single tear when Stuart signs a contract with a west coast team next year. His play over the last 1-2 months of the season made it very easy to envision life without him, because realizing that there won't be one play a game that will make me want to kick my dog is a nice feeling.

There will be plenty of times for in-depth post-mortems in the coming days and weeks. Once the shock of not watching the Red Wings play meaningful hockey in May has worn off, we'll analyze exactly what went wrong and what needs to change. I have plenty of opinions on that, but to sum it up right now, it's this: the Wings need to do more than just make minor tweaks to this team. The Red Wings need to get faster, and they need to get hungrier.

The biggest issue I had with this team was a lack of urgency when the team needed it. They always looked like a team that thought they could win, never one that looked they had to win.

Bottom line: this team just wasn't good enough. Had they been able to eke out a victory in this series, do you really believe they could have kept it going? Like the Sharks the past 2 years, the Wings ran into a team that was built specifically to beat them, and they carried out their mission with unrelenting determination.

What needs to change for the Wings to reclaim their perch atop the Western Conference? A lot. A whole hell of a lot.

Go nuts here. Vent, swear, break things. Anything goes. Trolls, there will be zero tolerance. You've been warned.

The Red Wings and Predators have finally gotten their 2 day break between games in their first round matchup, and yesterday the team took the day off, hopefully in an effort to regroup mentally and heal some bumps and bruises.

It's been a frustrating series for Wing fans, as the Wings have alternated dominant and poor play, and they find themselves on the brink of elimination heading into Game 5 in Nashville. The Wings' road record is hardly a source of comfort, as the Wings have been bad away from Joe Louis Arena.

The Wings found themselves in a very similar scenario just last year. Down 0-3 to the Sharks, Detroit ripped off 3 wins in a row before ultimately running out of gas in Game 7. There was little confidence that the Wings would win a game, let alone force a Game 7 (something only 3 teams had ever done before), and the sentiments around Hockeytown are eerily similar to last year.

But all is not lost. Despite the doom and gloom prevalent in the fanbase, last I checked the Red Wings were not eliminated and still had a decent chance at winning this series. It's going to take some adjustments, but there's no reason to think that the Wings can't come back from being down 3-1 for the first time since 1992.

After the jump, I've figured out what the keys to victory are.

Continue reading this post »

Unbelievable.

It's hard not to be angry right now. The Red Wings entered Game 4 pretty much in a "must-win" situation, because heading back to Nashville down 3-1 likely meant the Wings will be golfing before the end of the weekend.

We wanted a better start, and we got one. We wanted the Wings to draw penalties and stay out of the box, and they did that. We wanted them to get shots on net and create traffic in front of Pekka Rinne, and they did that.

The Red Wings were the better team tonight, and it wasn't good enough. 2 defensive miscues ended up behind Jimmy Howard, and the Wings will travel to Nashville Friday night facing elimination.

This was easily the best the Wings have played in any game of this series, and they still couldn't get the win. It's tough to be encouraged by anything going into that game. Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

One tenth of a second.

Do you know what can happen in a tenth of a second? Very little. It's that fast. Darren Helm on a shorthanded breakaway fast. Blink of an eye fast. Nashville subtly hooking a Red Wing player fast.

At the end of the second period in today's game between the Predators and Red Wings with the Wings on the power play, Johan Franzen appeared to tie the game, but unfortunately it was a tenth of a second too late. There was some hesitation by Pavel Datsyuk seconds before that that might have altered the course of the play, but we'll never know. The Wings entered the third period down a goal instead of tied, and as much as they tried, they could not get the equalizer.

Despite a gigantic advantage in shots and puck possession in the third period, an odd-man rush by the Preds resulted in an insurance goal that proved to be absolutely huge. Henrik Zetterberg got the Wings within 1 on a late power play, but it wasn't enough and the Wings relinquished home ice advantage by losing to the Nashville Predators 3-2.

There's a lot of anger from this game. Some of it is directed at the team, some to the refs. Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Get the split.

The mantra of any road team entering a best of 7 playoff series is to split the first two games and earn home ice advantage. For the NHL's best home team, a team with a losing road record, this took on an even greater importance.

The Red Wings came out with the fire we hoped to see and built up a 3-1 lead heading into the third period. Goals from Ian White, Cory Emmerton (his first NHL playoff goal) and Johan Franzen got the Wings comfortably in front, and Jimmy Howard shut the door the rest of the way minus one fluky goal from an apparition of a player that seemed out of place, and the Wings evened the series 1-1 heading back to Joe Louis Arena Sunday afternoon.

It wasn't the prettiest game, but it offered some revenge, both on the ice and on the scoreboard. Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one who has seen the farce that is NHL supplemental discipline, Shea Weber was fined $2,500.00 for his WWE-style turnbuckle shot on Henrik Zetterberg last night.

I'm not shocked at the lack of suspension as much as I am confused. The NHL has stated all season that they take hits to the head very seriously, and for anyone to argue that Weber didn't intend to use the glass as a means to open Zetterberg's head like a coconut is obviously a Predators fan or being intentionally obtuse.

It was mentioned that the lack of any injury to Zetterberg played a large part in the decision, which is stupid on its face since it should be about the act itself, not the consequences. If I intend to push someone into oncoming traffic and they somehow manage to catch themselves before getting splattered by a bus, that doesn't mean I didn't do anything wrong. The act of fining Weber means the NHL is saying that he did something that required discipline beyond the minor penalty he received at the end of the game. By refusing to suspend him for a clearly intentional blow to the head (the force of which can be debated), the NHL is once again saying they are only interested in paying lip-service to head shots and concussions and actually don't give a rat's ass about player safety.

Whatever. This just means the Predators and their fans don't have any excuses built-in when the Wings win Game 2 and take home-ice advantage back.

This is going to be a fun series.

Whenever division rivals get together, the intensity of a playoff series ratchets up because that "feeling-out" process in the first period doesn't happen. Unlike a blind date, this is 2 former lovers re-connecting, and they know what the other one likes. Sure, they might have developed a few new tastes and turn-ons, but the groundwork has already been laid.

It's just very unfortunate that the referees had to go and ruin a perfectly entertaining hockey game. A steady parade of players to the penalty box after weak calls on both teams broke up the flow of what should have been a fun game to watch. Infractions that were blatant were missed while slight little picks were called.

When the 2 teams were allowed to actually, you know, play hockey, we were treated to some quality goaltending from both goalies and a tight-checking defensive game that we were expecting. A couple of bad bounces for the Wings found their way into the net and they were unable to overcome some luck and Pekka Rinne at the other end. As a result, despite a solid if unspectacular effort, the Wings find themselves down 1-0 after Game 1.

I'm not surprised at the result, and I am pleased with the Wings' play. Follow the jump for bullets.

Continue reading this post »

It's 1-0 Predators, and the Wings aren't doing themselves any favours by staying out of the box. Detroit killed a 1 minute 5-on-3 late in the first. Can they build any momentum off that?

LGRW!

There are 2 universal truths about the NHL playoffs: beards are mandatory, even if yours is patchy and only covers 2/3 of your face (like mine), and there will be outrage over who the "experts" pick in a series involving your team.

The idea that writers and commentators weigh in with their predictions is not new. We look to these people as the height of intelligence (stop laughing) with regards to our team and our sport, so when they offer an opinion as to who is going to beat who in a particular series, we put more stock in that then when you find some random dude on the street in a Predators' jersey who says "I like Rice Krispies" when you ask him what he thinks of the Shea Weber-Pavel Datsyuk match up.

So, I thought it would be fun to take a trip around the world wide interwebz and see what others were saying about this series. The 4-5 matchup is always a difficult one to predict, typically because it involves 2 teams that are very similar in talent and skill. One would think that people would be evenly split on who is going to win (or in this case, survive) to move on to the second round. One would be wrong.

After the jump, we've got a ton of predictions from around the hockey world that just further prove that the Wings are the underdog in this series.

Continue reading this post »

Waiting for the start of the playoffs is always near-impossible to do. You read every morsel of news you can get your hands on in preparation for your team's quest to claim the greatest trophy in sports. Reading reports from the diggers and seeing bloggers boast about your team's strengths and explaining away their weaknesses gives you a sense of confidence that no one is going to beat your team and why don't they just start engraving the Cup now dammit?

That's when you think "do our opponents realize the doom their team is facing?" and you head on over to their site and read their news, and you see that they are filled with the same confidence because they think their team is pretty good (those idiots), and they actually believe that they have a chance at winning the series (fools).

Once you've taken in all the information you can, you start to break it down in your mind, and that's when the nerves start. For us Wing fans, that means facing the facts that this team is one of the most flawed Red Wing team to begin the playoffs in some time while taking on a very difficult opponent that is looking to take a very large step forward in their development as a franchise.

Me, I've got butterflies in my stomach just reading the news, and tomorrow when the puck drops all those butterflies will vomit up nervous juice and make me a wreck as I hope that just once I can get through a playoff run without losing what little hair I have left.

This is going to be a very fun series, and we've already previewed a lot of what is going to happen. But on a Tuesday afternoon I've got some random thoughts going through my head that I need to share.

• I firmly believe the Red Wings are the underdogs in this series. We're keeping close tabs on what the "experts" are saying, but my gut tells me that when all is said and done, most people are going to be picking the Predators to win this series. Nashville is a team built to win right now, and they're built to beat the Red Wings. Not accomplishing either of those things is going to set this franchise back a peg as they try and show their 2 big defensemen that the Predators are a team on the rise.
• This is not going to be a typical Wings-Preds series. In their previous 2 meetings, the Wings were the high seed while the Preds were the plucky group of guys who worked hard to get their spot and overcame a relative lack of talent. This is not the same thing. The Predators are skilled, talented, fast and big. This may be the best first round opponent the Wings have faced in the last 15 years.
• I plan on experiencing a lot of emotions this spring. Anxiety, nervousness, elation, depression, hunger. One thing I won't be is surprised. Detroit could get swept in the first round and not score a goal, win the Cup, or anything in between, and nothing will shock me. In a way, the lowered expectations may make this more fun than other playoff runs.
• I believe that a strong playoff showing by Jiri Hudler guarantees he gets a new contract. This will not be defined by points, but just by how he looks out there.
• If the Red Wings continue the trend of falling behind early only to try and attempt a comeback in the third period in this series, they're going to be golfing very quickly.
• I think if Barry Trotz is smart, he employs Shea Weber and Ryan Suter against Henrik Zetterberg, not Pavel Datsyuk. I don't say that because I think that frees up Dats to do his thing; I firmly believe that Datsyuk against Weber/Suter will not work as well for Nashville as they think.
• If the Red Wings do end up losing this series, I don't think it will be because of Jimmy Howard. I think he takes a gigantic step forward in his development and puts up fantastic numbers in this series.
• Regardless of what you think of Nashville as a rival of the Wings prior to this series beginning, you're likely going to think something very different once the series is over, regardless of the result.

We are a day away from the start of the 2012 NHL Playoffs, and for the Red Wings, this means their 21st straight attempt to add a Cup Champions banner to the rafters at Joe Louis Arena.

The days leading up to the start of a series are always the most fun and the most nerve-wracking. Without any actual games to dissect and analyze, we're left with no choice but to offer prediction upon prediction as we try to guess what is going to happen.

Travis Hughes, the Godfather of SBNation Hockey and lead guy at Broad Street Hockey, posed 5 questions to our very own Jeff Hancock regarding the Wings' chances heading into their series with the Nashville Predators. You can see the questions and answers here, but he touches on the fact there should be some confidence in Hockeytown heading into the playoffs despite the team's recent poor play and a very tough opponent in the Predators.

Not wanting to feel left out, JJ and I tackled some questions of our own about this team and this series. Follow the jump for more.

Continue reading this post »

I didn't get a chance to see the game last night, so unfortunately I don't have a formal recap. You know what? I do. Here's what happened.

The Red Wings lost.

Whether it was due to fatigue or an emotional letdown from having played the night before against a division rival, the Wings weren't able to beat a Devils team that eclipsed the 100-point mark last night. I'll leave it to those who watched the game to say whether this was a solid effort that just wasn't enough or the same old crap we've seen these last few weeks.

On top of losing to the Devils, the Wings didn't get a ton of help from other teams around the league. Scoreboard-watchers were treated to close games in Nashville and Minnesota, but at the end of the night the Predators leap-frogged the Wings yet again with a 2-0 win over the Stars while the Blackhawks gained a single point after losing to the Wild in another shootout.

So where does that leave Detroit heading into the final day of the regular season? Where can we expect them to finish? I've thrown all the different scenarios into the Frinkiac-7 (don't touch it), and it's given us all the different scenarios facing the Wings and where they can end up after all is said and done tomorrow. Follow the jump for details.

Continue reading this post »

We've talked a lot of crap about tonight's opponent, the St Louis Blues. From the lack of a rivalry earlier this year to some hard-fought games that involved a lot of animosity. Blues fans hate the Wings, and Wing fans have come to realize that they can't ignore the Blues any longer.

The two teams fought neck-and-neck all season, but when the injury sasquatch took a bite out of Detroit, St Louis used that opportunity to take a lead in the Central Division that they will not relinquish. As a result, they will be the Central Division champion entering the playoffs, only their 2nd trip there since the lockout.

There's no secret as to how the Blues are doing it: suffocating defense and excellent goaltending. Both Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak have covered up any mistakes the team has made in front of them, and Hitchcock has got them playing a very disciplined system. Just don't call them "boring" lest the denizens of St Louis come over with pitchforks and torches, declaring you to be unenlightened about the awesomeness that is Blues hockey.

With the Wings trying to decide whether they want to actually do something in the playoffs besides bow out meekly in the first round against whoever they end up playing, tonight's game could go a long way to instilling some confidence in the team and us fans. To call this season "up and down" is like calling David Backes "an average human being"; it doesn't even begin to describe it. One night the Wings are scoring 7 goals in half a game; the next they're losing to the Blue Jackets in a very lackluster effort (seriously: who loses to the Blue Jackets?!?!?).

The Blues are playing for the President's Trophy and potential home ice throughout the playoffs, while the Wings are stuck in the death race for 4th place and a chance to listen to whistles being blown by rednecks. The Wings can make a real statement with a strong effort tonight against a good team on the road.

St Louis Game Time is your Blues' SB Nation blog. Prepare to be offended.

Puck drop is a little after 7:30 PM ET.

Continue reading this post »

The end of the regular season is nearly upon us, and for the 21st straight season the Detroit Red Wings will be embarking on their quest to earn yet another Stanley Cup. However, for the first time in many years, there is a lot of trepidation and concern regarding the team's chances at adding banner #12 to the Joe's rafters in June.

When this season began, the Wings were coming off their second consecutive defeat at the hands of the San Jose Sharks, and a number mainstay players retired, including one of their emotional leaders, Kris Draper. This was the year that several players were expected to take a step forward in their development and take a more prominent place on the team while they incorporated some new faces into the lineup.

The results have been mixed, to say the least. The season of streaks began with 5 straight wins, then 6 straight losses, and it's continued throughout the season. The Wings have been as consistent as my soon-to-be-born-baby's diapers will be, and it's made for a very trying year for us fans.

The playoffs this year represent a very stressful time for Wing fans. No longer is the team the consensus favourite to represent the West in the Stanley Cup Finals, and there are some pundits who will no doubt predict that the Wings won't even get out of the first round. The weaknesses of this team are plentiful, but so are their strengths, and I think it's nearly impossible for anyone to accurately say that the Wings will or won't be successful in scoring Cup #12.

I can think of 3 reasons why the Wings will win the Cup and 3 reasons why they can't. Follow the jump for details.

Continue reading this post »

Kyle Quincey will not be able to experience the Blues-Red Wings rivalry Wednesday night as he was suspended for 1 game for his headshot on Tomas Kopecky on Sunday afternoon. The video from Brendan Shanahan goes into further detail, but it's important to note that he uses the word "leaps" and "significant contact" to describe the hit. However, based on the fact that Kopecky did not miss any time and this is Quincey's first ever offense of any kind (including fines), Shanny decided that one game was enough to suspend the former Avalanche and King player.

I'll admit that I am very shocked at how little he got. I fully expected 2-3 games considering Kopecky did nothing to put himself in the position to be hit (other than being bad at hockey) and this is a textbook example of what the league is trying to get out of the game. I was also hoping that a forced extended vacation might be good for Quincey to settle down and figure out what he needs to do in order to stop sucking. I'm sure allegations of bias on Shanny's part will be thrown around, but I think it's worth noting that you can barely see his Red Wing shirt underneath that sport coat.

Thoughts on the suspension? Too much? Too little? Sound off in the comments.

Under normal circumstances, a hard-fought 2-1 shootout victory over a division leader this late in the season would be cause for celebration. After all, coming out on top against a team that is going to finish near the top of their conference usually means the Red Wings played a good game.

With all due respect to the Florida Panthers, being the Southeast Division leader is like being the tallest Munchkin. And the Wings need to worry less about who their opponent is and more about how they are playing down the stretch as they fight for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

I feel like I could take the recap from any game the Wings have played in the last 2 weeks and paste it here. Both teams were content to sit back and not take too many chances in the first period, but once again the Wings found themselves trailing as Florida got on the board first. The Wings generated momentum throughout the second period and they were able to tie the game up on a Jiri Hudler shot that deflected in off John Madden, but a Kyle Quincey 5 minute major shortly put the Wings' oft-criticized penalty killing unit in the spotlight. In the shootout, Pavel Datsyuk did a thing and then Hudler did another thing and the Panthers' shooters couldn't do their things so the Wings won.

They say there's no such thing as style points, just winning points, and today proved that axiom to be true (yes, it's a new saying I made up. Learn it and embrace it). Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

If that was the way the Red Wings are going to respond to their biggest game of the season, then this could be a short spring.

After putting forth one of their worst performances of the season Wednesday night against the Blue Jackets, the Wings headed back home for a showdown with the Predators, a team that has been chasing them all year in the standings. With a matchup in the first round between these two teams all but set, tonight's game was about putting one team in the driver's seat for fourth place that all-important home ice advantage.

What the Wings did was improve on their play in Columbus, but not by much. And that kind of effort was not nearly good enough against a determined Nashville team. The Predators built up a 3-goal lead and coasted to a 4-1 victory, leapfrogging Detroit into 4th place in the West and putting Detroit in a position where they need help to start the playoffs at home.

There's a lot of anger brewing after this one. Follow the jump for details.

Continue reading this post »

When the regular season ends in just under 2 weeks, the Red Wings are going to be getting ready for their first round matchup against a tough Western Conference opponent. We'll take a day or two to reflect on what transpired since early October, and then we'll get ready for the roller coaster ride that is the NHL playoffs.

However, when we start to analyze the season and pick apart the Wings' performance, two themes will become abundantly obvious: the Wings are terrible on the road, and they gave away a crap ton of points to bad teams.

I feel like I've seen this movie before: start really slow and fall behind early; chip away at the lead and get close, but fall behind again after giving fans hope; play a dominating third to make it interesting but ultimately come up short in a classic case of "too little, too late".

The frustrating part about this is that if we can see this happening again and again, why can't the players do anything about it? This isn't about execution or playing against better teams; this is about plain old effort and "give a shit", which the Wings seem to forget on the plane for each and every home game against bad teams.

Tonight was the same thing. The Blue Jackets, who despite their record and lack of talent are still a team of professional athletes with a lot of pride, were more determined to show that they didn't like being embarrassed by Detroit on Monday night than the Wings were to repeat their performance. Combine that with an uncanny knack for Red Wing players to allow Columbus to get odd-man rushes and this one was over after the first period.

Like most of the Wings' losses this year, it was ugly. Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

On this most holy of days, we are reminded that no matter what the date on the calendar, it's never a bad time to send a message that everything is just fine and dandy, and it's also not too late to generate some momentum heading into the playoffs.

What's that you say? Why am I talking playoffs? Well, in case you live in a rock and don't understand math (or are a Blues fan, which is the same thing), the Wings clinched their 21st straight playoff berth with a resounding 7-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. This one wasn't ever close as the Wings built a commanding 4-0 lead before the first period was half over, and then coasted the rest of the way.

Building off the comeback against the Hurricanes Saturday night, the Wings roared out to a 7-0 lead, and they did so in spectacular fashion. Zetterberg and Datsyuk put on a passing clinic tonight, and every single player and line worked hard and played well. It was just as good of an effort as Saturday, but with an outcome that was never in doubt, allowing all of us to relax and have some fun (including jinxing shutouts).

I've got a few bullets for this one, but I wanted to have some fun. Follow the jump for more.

Continue reading this post »

When you have been unable to watch a game all week for some reason, seeing the highlights and the final scores doesn't really clue you in to how a team is playing.

Case in point: I was on vacation all week and didn't see any of the last 3 games, all Wing losses. Watching the highlights showed me how the goals were scored, but I didn't have any idea on how the Wings were actually playing. All I knew is that they were losing games left and right, falling further down the Western Conference standings.

So tonight I returned to reality, and got to take in a whole game for the first time in over a week. It marked the return of Nicklas Lidstrom, and coupled with Pavel Datsyuk being back in the lineup, the Wings were healthier than they have been in weeks. So of course they got scored on 17 seconds into the game, and with just over 4 minutes left in the second period, the Hurricanes were up 4-1 after two PPG in 17 seconds.

I imagine a lot of people turned the game off at that point, which would have been stupid and careless, because the Wings were playing very good hockey, and the 4th Carolina goal seemed to make them all say that enough was enough. 4 goals later, the Wings' 6 game losing streak was over and the Wings had a dominating performance that resulted in a 5-4 Red Wings win.

I haven't seen a lot of Wings hockey lately, but what I saw tonight made me smile. Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

It's late and I'm pissed off, so we're going to skip the formalities and pretty much just get right to the bullets. Before we do, the one thing that I need to say is that this team should look better than they do right now. Injuries happen, but losing 2 straight games the way the Wings have is unacceptable.

They have a couple of days off before trying to salvage this road trip with a win against the Sharks. It's up to everyone on this team to get their heads out of their asses and figure it out, because if they don't this fanbase is going to rip each other to shreds.

• Tonight's game had a real playoff atmosphere, in that it was 80 degrees outside earlier, I was wearing shorts, it was a late-night game against a West Coast opponent, and I had a sense of impending doom for most of the game.
• No Corey Perry for the Ducks tonight, and I'll admit that when I saw the hit that took him out of the lineup, I smiled, felt bad for smiling, then felt bad for feeling bad because Corey Perry is a terrible human being.
• Nicklas Lidstrom's interview was awesome. Hearing about setback is discouraging. However, him saying he still has the drive and the hunger and then refusing to commit to playing at the Big House next year shows him to be the perfect politician. I could listen to him reporting on paint drying and be completely mesmerized.
• It is time to split up Quincey-White. Victimized on the Ducks' first goal as Quincey chased up the boards and White lost positioning to Teemu Selanne. They have absolutely zero chemistry. If I can see that and more than one person in the game thread can see it, then perhaps Mike Babcock should be able to see it and think about moving Quincey with Brendan Smith to see if they can gel.
• If I told you before the game that the line of Franzen-Bertuzzi-Cleary was going to be the Wings' worst and could provide you with statistical evidence of that, would you call me psychic? No. I didn't actually say they would be the worst line ever conceived by man, but there are about 200 better combinations that don't involve their play requiring commentary from this classic Simpsons episode (skip ahead to about the 1:30 mark). The Corsi numbers are just awful, with every single one of them a double-digit negative on the night. It was so bad that at one point I thought "Franzen should really be playing with Helm and Miller".
• The Wings' first and third lines did create some offense, but I've got to give some credit to Jonas Hiller, who played very well for the Ducks.
• Two more things: Henrik Zetterberg is the Player of the Game for not being terrible, and CSSI is going to be severely delayed so that JJ can fix all of the things that he broke in his house and calms down.

There comes a point in every season when a team has to just play. It doesn't matter what's going on, whether it be bad bounces, injuries, or any number of things. Sometimes a team needs to just man up and do win the games they're supposed to win.

Tonight the Red Wings took on a desperate Kings team that wanted to exact some revenge after last week's collapse in Detroit. They responded by taking control of the game early, notching the first 2 goals as they cruised to a 5-2 victory.

The story was the same as it's been: Detroit gets off to a bad start, then fights back with a few goals to make it close and interesting and we think that it means the team has no quit in them. The problem is that the constant trailing early is a troubling sign. When will it stop?

It's nice that the team responds and tends to not completely give up. But at what point does the lack of a 60 minute effort start to get concerning? Let's not forget that there are still NHL players on this roster that have a good amount of talent. There should not be this significant of a drop-off in play simply because the IR is stacked.

This was just a poor effort from the opening puck drop. Bullets after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

If you're like me, you were ready to turn this game off with about 5 minutes left in the third period. Down 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings, a solid defensive team with a great goalie with less than 6 minutes left in the game, the Wings appeared to be dead and buried. Detroit had around 10 shots on net at that point, and looked very disinterested throughout the entire game.

But despite the injuries, the lack of hustle, the abysmal power play, the Wings could still rely on Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula, currently one of the best 1-2 offensive punches in the NHL. Those two combined for 3 goals and 3 assists, feeding each other like they were newlyweds on their honeymoon. Darren Helm would score the game-winning goal with just over a minute left in the game, and the Wings found a way to win a game they had no business being in 4-3.

There's no question the Wings are going through an extremely rough time right now. The injuries are absolutely ridiculous, although the news is getting better. Tonight the Wings were missing 8 regulars, or a 1/3 of their roster, and yet they were able to come back against a very good defensive team and show the type of heart that we have been waiting to see.

It may be a little presumptuous to call this win "season-defining", but this win definitely gives the Wings some momentum before they depart on their last road trip of the season. How did they do it? Follow the jump for the bullets.

Continue reading this post »