Dirty Deeds: Wings Lose, Ottawa Commits to Win at All Costs

Well I've found a new team to hate.

After a disgraceful display by the Ottawa Senators last night, which was highlighted by an elbow delivered directly to Pavel Datsyuk's jaw, the Red Wings lost 4-2 in what was easily the ugliest game of the season so far.  Datsyuk is being evaluated with concussion-like symptoms and will not be in the lineup later today when Detroit plays in Buffalo.

DIVE! DIVE! ...Oh, see I thought that's what
you say when ANYONE falls down, as
Sens fans were quick to demonstrate.

George Malik of Kukla's Corner said it best on Twitter last night, when he mentioned that the refs had lost total control of the game.  It was true, and what little control the refs did have was inconsistent at best.  There's no way anyone out there last night could know for sure what would get called and what wouldn't.

And for the record, for any Sens fans reading this: Take a slash to the back of your knee on your lead foot, let's see if you 'dive' or not.  Stop deluding yourselves to think that what your pathetic excuse for hockey players did on the ice last night was anything close to legal or clean.  And people talk shit about US wearing tinfoil hats and being homers...right.  At least the Sens can get jobs as lumberjacks in a few years if there's another lockout.

I suppose if there was a team to play without Datsyuk, it would be Buffalo.  I expect to see better work ethic for the Wings defensively though, because as suspect as they've been this year, Datsyuk's defensive capabilities will be sorely missed.

And by the way, make sure not to tell any Sens fans about our faking Datsyuk's injury, because we obviously do that all the time and don't want to be found out. Definitely.

Nyquist Earns His Spot After Leading Wings to Win

Right now, the happiest guy in Hockeytown must be Gustav Nyquist because Hockeytown is now his home--for good.  After scoring a pair of goals in the Wings' 4-3 win over Carolina yesterday, it was announced by the Red Wings today that Nyquist will be in the lineup tomorrow against Ottawa.

Effectively what this means, for those who don't know, is that Nyquist will be playing his final waiver-exempt game on Saturday.  Detroit will no longer be able to send Gustav back to Grand Rapids without sending him through waivers, where he would immediately get poached by another team.

And if Nyquist is the happiest guy in Hockeytown because of this, the most frustrated would likely be
Wings GM Ken Holland.  As much as Ken assuredly enjoyed the outcome of the match last night, the fact that Nyquist played such a huge role in the victory eliminated pretty much any chance of him sending Nyquist back down with that final waiver-exempt game in hand and not having the fanbase outright lynch him.  After all the excuses and poor mis-managing that kept Gus off the roster, there was no way Holland could deny him after such a flashy season debut.

This of course leads to the next inevitable question: If Nyquist stays, who goes?  Jordin Tootoo and Patrick Eaves have both already been sent to Grand Rapids, but there's still too much cap tied up in contracts when our injuries heal to keep everyone in the big league.  The two that stick out to me are Kyle Quincey on Defense, and Mikael Samuelsson in the Forwards department.  Quincey won't be going anywhere due to Danny DeKeyser's shoulder injury, and Holland won't want to let go of Sammy completely, as that would be an admittance that he made a bone-headed signing when he picked him up to begin with.

Regardless of the name, however, I do feel that the cut HAS to be one of the older role-player type guys (many of you have been screaming Cleary for the last minute, I know) and not our youth.  There isn't a single young forward on this team that doesn't bring something to the table, and to throw that away now would be ridiculous.  Their potential hasn't fully been shown yet, but a guy like Cleary or Samuelsson who has played for years and is still mediocre at best isn't going to surprise you much anymore.

I'm not calling for an Edmonton-esque youth movement, but we have the pieces of a great team, and it's time to cut the dead weight and move on.  If it were you and you could erase one player from the lineup completely, who would you pick? Please feel free to click the comments link at the bottom of the post and tell us who your Wings whipping boy is.

Wings Fall Prey to Themselves, Hand Nashville the Win

Well, we sort of got what we wanted: The OT/Shootout streak is over.

Best part of last night. Bet Cheli was glad he got
off the ice for the rest of it...

What is there to say, really? Detroit played a very mentally weak game last night against a Nashville team riding a young goalie and turned what should have at least been a close game into a write-off.  Shea Weber's knuckle-puck was the game-winner, but the Red Wings didn't make winning all that difficult, showing all the same problems they've had over the course of this season: bad or errant passing, terrible reading of the play in all 3 zones, and still not enough quality shots on net to test netminders.

On top of losing in regulation, Detroit also lost young defenseman Danny DeKeyser to a separated shoulder, which will likely have him sidelined for the next couple weeks.  It couldn't have been Quincey, could it? The hockey gods are fickle.  On the upside, Brendan Smith returned and...wasn't terrible! He admitted to keying in on watching Nik Kronwall during his stint in the press box, and it seems like he's starting to finally identify and correct some of the flaws he was harboring in his game.  He picked a good time to do so, because we need him playing well while Kaiser is in the shelf.

I do feel the question needs to seriously be asked, though: At what point does this become an issue not of the roster, but of the people in charge of that roster?  I'm starting to feel more and more each game like Mike Babcock is just preaching the same crap he always does just because he likes to hear it, and not because it's actually making a difference in the locker room between periods.  We've watched the Wings do everything exactly the same over this winless skid like they're expecting something to change. Nothing will change unless they do, the mindset, the game plans, SOMETHING internally needs to change.  We've never taken it easy on weak teams in the past so, with the tables turned, Detroit cannot expect any better treatment during their struggles.

The Red Wings return to action on Thursday against a similarly struggling Carolina team whom we have already beaten once this year.  If we can't get our shit together for this game, it may just be time to dig out that panic button.

Maybe don't press it just yet, but certainly keep it close.

Winged Wheels Fall Off Again, Washington Edges Detroit in SO

Life was good in Hockeytown last night in the Red Wings' match against the Washington Capitals.

Then the 3rd period happened, and proved that shit really does roll downhill.

Detroit came into what should have been the final frame of a 3-1 hockey game on the right side of the scoreboard.  They had found a way to silence the mighty Alexander Ovechkin and just had to keep things under wraps and cruise to the W.  Instead, an admittedly skillful goal by Ovechkin began the counter-attack, and Washington never slowed down, forcing us later into a 3-3 tie and into Overtime.  As if in response to the Wings' struggles, they found themselves scrambling in an Overtime PK situation which they somehow managed to survive until the Caps took a call of their own. After a short demo of Ken Holland's vision of 3 on 3 OT, the Wings got their greatest chance to close out the game with their own powerplay in extra time.

Once again, the Red Wings found a way to squander their opportunity when it mattered most.  OT would solve nothing, and back to the dreaded shootout we went.  The first two rounds were stalemates, Jimmah standing firm for his 2 saves, but Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen both looked uninspired in their attempts and Capitals goalie Braden Holtby made short work of both forwards.  Todd Bertuzzi went next and obviously learned nothing from watching Holtby, as he tried to pull a spin-o-rama way too close to the net of a guy who had a really active stick, and a quick poke-check had us on the brink.  Nicklas Backstrom was the 3rd shooter for Washington, and he won the battle of wills with Howard, slipping the puck by and in.  For a closer look at the game, check out the boxscore here.

Now Jimmah has had some rough times over the last few games, and I won't defend him for everything that's happened, but I'll tell you one thing: for all the bitching I'm hearing on Twitter and elsewhere about Howard in the shootouts, chew on this--we shouldn't even be GOING to OT or a shootout.  Many of the last few games could have and SHOULD HAVE been won in regulation.  The Red Wings as a whole are not committing to 60 minutes of serious, balls-to-the-wall hockey.  Why did we really lose last night against the Caps? Simple, they played for 60+ minutes, not mailing the rest of the game in when they came into the 3rd down 2 goals, but we were content to believe that they would.  The Wings got lazy, and the Capitals...well, capitalized.  Hockey is a game like any other: if you stop playing the game, you can't expect to win.

Yes, there were positives, I'm not saying that there weren't, but does that not warrant playing a full game and not slacking off so that you can better savour and appreciate those accomplishments with a win rather than scrambling to right a suddenly sinking ship!?  Points are great and all, but OT and SO games are going to hurt us like hell come season's end when tiebreakers start getting tabulated. Regulation points take precedence, and even if we win some of these games going into extra time, it may end up being meaningless.  The real objective is to beat your opponent within 60 minutes, and the Red Wings need to get their act together and start playing to do just that.  The coaching staff need to lead by example and prepare these guys to do just that.  Ken Holland needs to fix his own mistakes with the cap and roster issues we're now suffering under so that we can put forth the best possible team to do JUST THAT.  Hockeytown is starting to take on a very 'Ce la vie' attitude, and I'm not buying into it.  The Red Wings are a better team than the product we are seeing on the ice, and they need to start proving it.