A Moment to Recover...

...Okay, we're good. Just had to swallow my heart and get it back in the right place again.

Honestly, how are we Wings fans supposed to make it into the postseason with all this excitement?? We'll all have heart failure before the end of 82 games!! But I digress, for those of you Wingnuts who are still with me, the Red Wings pulled off what they couldn't quite muster last night in Edmonton, downing the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in Overtime, getting another astonishing buzzer-beater, this time from Henrik Zetterberg.

Let's quickly review my three keys in the preview for tonight's game:

1.) Shake it Off! - Well, the Wings certainly had an easy time forgetting about their lack-luster showing in Oil-town, just not in the way you would expect (or hope). The Wings gave up a two goal lead in the first period for the second time in 48 hours, giving the 'Nucks what seemed for a while a good stranglehold on the game. Detroit turned it around though, and made Wings history in the process, by getting two goals - the first by Todd Bertuzzi and the second from Pavel Datsyuk - in the span of five (5) seconds to lock the game 2-2. Detroit did tonight what they should've done much, much sooner against the Oilers, shake off the embarrassment and move on.

2.) Hit 'em Hard! - Well, it wasn't as much as I'd have liked to see, but for most of the game, the Wings kept pace with Vancouver in the hits department. I saw numerous times where Franzen, Stuart, even Bertuzzi were throwing their weight around. Good to see on a team that lets their stars get thrashed far too much for my liking. Guys like Zetterberg and Datsyuk shouldn't need to worry about protecting themselves, all they should have to think about is getting the pucks in the net.

3.) Hit 'em Fast! - You want my example of the Wings meeting this prerequisite? Look back to key number one: Scoring two goals in five seconds is a real good way of taking a team's spirit and stomping it flat. It definitely slowed the Canucks offense for a bit, even though they did retake the lead thereafter, but the fact remains that the Wings' explosion of offense had to be haunting Vancouver's thoughts for the rest of the game.

Well, pretty good showing tonight all in all! That's it for now, feel free to leave comments with your thoughts in the section below. Until next time, Wingnuts! Let's go Red Wings!!!

P.S.: Also, a special congratulations to the wonderful folks overseeing Herm 2 Hockeytown (H2H) for meeting their goal of $2000.00 to bring Brazilian Wingnut Guilherme Calciolari to Detroit to watch the Red Wings live on March 26 when they host the Minnesota Wild!!!

Preview: Wings @ Canucks

Detroit (34-23-13), Vancouver (44-24-3)

Well, after a terrible effort last night, the Red Wings hope to get a fresh start this evening when they invade the home of the 2010 Olympics to faceoff against the Canucks, whose own version of the Eurotwins have helped their team garner a comfortable pile of points in the West.

Pre-Game Three Keys:

1.) Shake it Off! - The Wings cannot dwell on the disappointing loss last night. Detroit needs to come out fresh if they want to give the Canucks, who are a much better team than Edmonton, a run for their money.

2.) Hit 'em Hard - The big boys in D-Town need to throw the body!! It's been the story of too many games that Detroit simply gets muscled off the puck and loses possession before mounting any offense, and that's fatal to a "puck possession team".

3.) Hit 'em Fast - Detroit should look to its opponent last night for one thing: Edmonton took it to the Wings early and it rewarded them with two goals within five minutes. Those five minutes made the game for the Oilers, can could make the game for the Red Wings, should they mount the same kind of early charge.

I'll be at work today, but I'll likely be on Twitter tonight for the game. Till then, Go Red Wings!!