And the Academy Award Goes to...

To be perfectly honest, I had a day that sort of forewarned me to not get too excited about the game today.  It was one of those days where everything just seems......off.  Sure enough, that carried directly into my viewing of this evening's match between the Detroit Red Wings and the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Wings made all the right moves to begin the game, coming out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi.  The game looked like what you would expect: the rested Wings were taking advantage of a weary Phoenix team that went to a shootout the night before.  It was all going swimmingly.

Then: Mike Smith.

I'm still having trouble with this part, so I apologize if I'm forced to get brutally honest and some virgin ears suffer for it, but damned if I can figure out just how the hell things went the way they did.  To summarize, Datsyuk let fly a wrister toward the Coyotes net, which Mike Smith turned away with his arm...and then keeled over like he'd been poached through the chest with a goddamned harpoon (UPDATE: Upon closer examination, it looks like the puck didn't even make contact with Smith's body, it went off his stick, making this whole thing even more ridiculous...).  The refs did NOT blow the whistle, nor did they show any intent to, yet when Brian Lashoff fired the loose puck into a gaping Phoenix net, the ruling was no goal.  In the end, it was ruled that, because the goalie was "injured", the goal did not count......yet, after only a couple minutes, Mike Smith miraculously came back from the dead and kept playing.

HMM...doesn't sound like he was injured, now does it? So if he wasn't INJURED, and the ruling was no goal due to INJURY, the goal should count.  But oh no, that simply cannot be! As such, the game continued, but the atmosphere completely shifted.  The biggest problem with how the Mike Smith incident was handled wasn't so much the goal being disallowed as much as it was the boost of morale it gave the Coyotes, who would have otherwise been deflated by what would've been a crippling goal.

Instead, we got to witness the wheels come right off the big red machine on all 4 corners.  5 unanswered goals lifted the Coyotes over the Wings for a 5-2 victory, the biggest insult coming by way of the great actor Smith himself, who managed to launch the puck down into the empty Detroit net with 0.1 second left in the game.

As a follower on Twitter said: Not bad...for a dead guy.

Wings Post 'Monstrous' Win over Bluejackets

Although the score may not have been imposing, the Monster between the Detroit pipes certainly was.  Jonas Gustafsson played a remarkable game this evening as the Red Wings defeated the Columbus Bluejackets 2-1.  Jonas faced 37 shots on goal and turned away all but one, while Daniel Alfredsson finally found the twine for his first goal as a Detroit Red Wing.  Todd Bertuzzi rounded out the scoring to give the Wings the lead once again after Columbus had tied the game at 1 apiece.

Overall, a pretty good effort from the entire team, though I am still very concerned about our constant parade to the penalty box.  The refs can only be blamed so often before one has to stop and really consider the possibility that Detroit is being lax on discipline with regards to not making infractions.  Thankfully, of the 3 PP chances we gave the BJ's, they only converted one.

Next on the docket is a date with the Avs, and a chance to humiliate Patrick Roy once again now that he is a coach out in Colorado.  I eagerly look forward to the opportunity.

Wings Powerplay Erupts in Blowout Win over Flyers

It was coming.  Everyone knew it, especially the Detroit Red Wings: It was only a matter of time.

Detroit saw its PP units finally get rewarded for some very good work last night as the Red Wings netted their first 3 goals of the game on the man-advantage, snapping a torturous 0-10 drought, to carry them to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.  Todd Bertuzzi got things going with the opening tally and the Wings really never looked back, with the Flyers never able to pull even with Detroit for the rest of the contest.

Niklas Kronwall and Pavel Datsyuk got the next 2 goals for the Red Wings, followed by a pair from captain Henrik Zetterberg.  Hank's first goal was the only even-strength tally for the Wings, while the finishing blow was lobbed lightly into an empty Philly net after goalie Ray Emery had gone off for the extra skater.  Flyers goals from Erik Gustafsson and Tye McGinn kept the score somewhat close, but Detroit would not be denied on the night their powerplay found life.

Overall, Detroit did a much better job of playing a hard, assertive, and FULL 60 minutes of hockey, making it very difficult for Philadelphia to generate any consistent offensive threat.  There was one small gap of time where, after the Flyers scored their second goal, the Wings seemed to devolve down to a stuttering mess, similar to how they looked in the previous two games: started turning pucks over, chasing guys instead of playing their position, and generally looking like they had completely forgotten what to do out on the ice.  Thankfully, Detroit recovered their composure and locked the game down from that point forward.

The lineup changes and line shuffles by coach Mike Babcock seemed to pay some dividends, with his use of rookie Luke Glendenning in the 4th line center position, and switching in Brian Lashoff for the reeling and deservedly scratched Brendan Smith.  Justin Abdelkader saw himself on the 2nd line while Daniel Alfredsson was demoted to the 3rd line, making way for Todd Bertuzzi to play with Datsyuk and Zetterberg on the top line.  All parties seemed to benefit from these changes, except of course for Johan Franzen, who seems to still refuse to fully engage in the play.  I vividly recall a moment in the game where he and Stephen Weiss were coming through the neutral zone. Weiss dumped the puck in on Franzen's side and Mule responds by...peeling off back into the neutral zone.  Perhaps I just missed the memo where Mule is now allowed to opt out of forechecking when he feels like it.

My frustration with Franzen is enough for a novel, let alone it's own article here.  I won't get fully into it now, but this man has become something BEYOND streaky: he's flighty.  Mule only seems interested when he wants to be, and that doesn't seem to happen very damned often nowaday.  The Law of Averages suggests that while the sum of one's attempts at any action should, on average, come out around 50/50 if there are only two possible outcomes; however, it ALSO suggests that each individual attempt still only has that 50/50 chance of success.  So every time Mule gets the puck, the two outcomes are that he either makes a play that results in a goal--be it his own shot or a pass resulting in an assist--or he doesn't.

We're 5 games in, Franzen has 2 assists.  He has 13 shots...only 13, over 5 games.  Henrik Zetterberg has 27 shots, literally more than double, also having buried 4 of those shots in the net.  Yes, Franzen doesn't make Zetterberg money, but with the effort he puts in, he's lucky he makes ANY money.

Alright, enough, time to close this out before it DOES become a Mule article.  Overall, a much improved game from Detroit last night, who rest up today for a rematch against Boston on Monday.  Up here in Canada, this is going to be my Thanksgiving day game, so I'm expecting good things from the Wings.

Until then, stay cool Hockeytown!

The Red Wings So Far

Photo Credit : The Bleacher Report

I thought going into this season that the Red Wings would be assured of being a powerhouse team, with the additions of Alfredsson and Weiss, Datsyuk and Zetterberg playing together and the defence being a year wiser and more experienced, they could do no harm. With four games into the 2013-14 season, I must admit that much like going on weekend long drinking binge, I have to take a step back and reconsider. Let’s take a look at what has gone right and wrong so far, and then what to do with those Stanley Cup aspirations that I had in the pre-season.

What has gone right for the Red Wings?

• The Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abdelkader line has been as expected producing with 7 points in 4 games. They can do no wrong: Datsyuk dangling, Abdelkader pulling the piano and Zetterberg out-working everyone on the boards. I know I should be used to it, but the Datsyuk dangles are a thing of beauty.
• The Kronwall-Ericsson has been a rock-steady pairing, with a +4 and +2 plus-minus, respectively and chipping in offensively too.
• As a whole, the team has only taken 34 PIM and has been stellar on the PK (81.5%).
• And it should be noted that Samuelsson has a 100% shot percentage after recording one goal on one shot. (I had to look that stat up and it was, in fact true )

Now for the things that have gone wrong for the Red Wings.

• The Red Wings’ second line that was touted as one of the best second lines in the NHL has been somewhat cold, with only one goal between them (the Weiss OT winner in Carolina) and 3 assists. They have been slow out of the gate, but I for one am not worried. The timing should get better as times moves along and as Alfie’s hair gets longer, it’s a known fact.
• Keith Yandle owns the Red Wings and this little guy doesn’t like it. Credit goes to SBnation for that one. Yandle has 16 points in 32 career games against the Red Wings.
• The powerplay has been abysmal, with a gross 0% efficiency with the man advantage. But it has been looking better with Alfredsson on the point than it was with Samuelsson (although he has a 100% shooting percentage now…)
• Babcock has been playing Cleary and Bertuzzi on the 3^rd line and it hasn’t been working. The Red Wings should be making some moves soon though, with Gustavsson and Tootoo being activated off the IR and Emmerton andMrazek being sent down to Grand Rapids.
• It also sounds like they will be bringing up someone from Grand Rapids to play the 4^th line C position. Why is this a bad thing? Well, for one, it means that Helm isn’t close to returning and that Emmerton can’t adequately hold down the 4^th C position.
• The Quincey-Smith has been awful to say the least. Their blunders have cost the team alot of goals and they have a shiny -4 (Smith) and -5 (Quincey) to show for it. If they don't pick up, look for either of them to be traded or at the least, to ride the pine in favour of Ouellet or Almqvist.

Now for what to expect from the Red Wings in the coming Canadian long-weekend. They are going to be in tough with Philadelphia in town on Saturday, although the Red Wings, in 124 career regular season games, have only been shut out 3 times by the Broad Street Bullies. The Bruins have already beaten the Red Wings last Saturday by a score of 4 to 1. This time, Mike Babcock’s crew should be better rested and should be able to put up a better fight.

Here’s hoping the Red Wings lay a beat down on the Flyers and Bruins!