The Red Wings are showing that their 20th straight playoff appearance is no fluke, and that a mediocre regular season means nothing in the face of postseason performance.
Detroit took both games in the Joe Louis Arena to go up 2-0 in their opening round series against the Phoenix Coyotes, and now travel west to enter enemy territory.
The Wings have done well at fixing most of their regular season hiccups, the PP units are scoring goals, the defense has tightened up considerably, and we have a couple of guys who are stepping up and shooting the puck. Pavel Datsyuk has led by example, easily making himself the star of this series, with only 2 games in the books!
One thing glares, however: the penalties. Tinfoil hat or not, the Red Wings need to stay disciplined. We complain that the zebras take liberties when it comes to Detroit players, so don't give them any more reasons to send us to the sin bin!!
I have the expectation that Phoenix is going to get very nasty in these next 2 games. The hitting is going to get worse, and we need guys like Bertuzzi, Abdelkader and Kronwall stepping into guys and showing that the Red Wings aren't going to be beaten around, no matter what they want to throw at us. Per the above paragraph though, do it cleanly, please!!
14 to go, Wingnuts! Let's Go Red Wings!!
