The Wings won the big Central Division showdown (so-called) last night, 4-3 in a shootout. The Wings looked pretty good for a team without five regulars, as did the Predators without their three. The game probably didn’t fully live up to its billing, but it was an entertaining one and had its tense moments.

Chris Osgood was in net for the Wings and allowed a couple goals that certainly felt weak, though he more than made up for them in the shootout. He was strong overall, making some key saves when the Preds put the screws on, though the game would have been decided in regulation had he not let a couple pucks trickle through. Of course, the two goals I’m speaking of were the results of shots that came at him through crowds, so I guess it’s not really fair to hold them against him. He was definitely hung out to dry by his defense on the other goal, which would have been difficult for any goalie to stop.

Tomas Vokoun was in net for the Preds and had a very good game, though he looked a little foolish on the Wings’ first goal.

Mike Babcock went with some slightly mixed up units to start the game, with Kris Draper skating between Kyle Calder and Kirk Maltby, with Niklas Kronwall and Mathieu Schneider patrolling the blueline. After a quick icing, the top line came out, and Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula went to work. They had a good shift cycling the puck in the Nashville zone, generating a decent scoring chance, before the Preds took it the other way. Martin Erat made a nice breakout pass to Paul Kariya, who streaked up ice with Nicklas Lidstrom chasing. Kariya deked left-to-right across the goal and tried a backhand shot, which Osgood stopped about a 1:30 into the game.

Jordin Tootoo took a run at Kyle Calder about a minute later, but Calder dodged him or else he might have been hurt. During this stretch of play, the Wings looked pretty unsure of themselves and the Predators were controlling the puck in the Detroit end without too much trouble. It didn’t take long, however, for the Wings to reassert themselves. After the third line, Josh Langfeld, Kris Draper, and Kirk Maltby, took a shift, Pavel Datsyuk and Company came over the boards.

Valtteri Filppula got the puck up to Johan Franzen on a break around the 4:00 mark, but Johan sent it wide on the shot. After the Predators cleared the zone, Pavel Datsyuk took a pass from Franzen at the far side boards. He knocked the puck up ice, stepped around David Legwand, picked it up and headed to the net. He faked a wrap-around goal just long enough to get Vokoun to move off the post and then he banked it in off his shoulder to make it 1-0 Wings at 4:23. A great goal, and one of Pavel’s more deceptive.

Not long after the goal, Ryan Suter took a hooking penalty and the Wings went on the power play for the first time. They’d hardly gotten set up before Dan Hamhuis was called for hooking himself, and Detroit was given a two-man advantage. Babcock went with Calder, Lang, Datsyuk, Lidstrom and Schneider, and they got a great set-up on their second try. Calder just missed scoring from the side of the net after a good Lang pass and Datsyuk had a couple of hard shots go just wide. The Preds killed off the whole thing, however, including the short 5-on-4 power play. I was afraid momentum would swing their way after that, but there wasn’t much of a difference.

At 7:30, Kris Draper had a chance to put the Wings up 2-0 on the rebound of a Kirk Maltby blast, but he sent the puck off the left post from about 10 feet out.

Kyle Calder showed a great effort not long after that, breaking into the Nashville zone by himself and coming close to out-muscling two Predator defensemen. He then fought for the puck down low by himself to finish up an impressive shift.

Jordin Tootoo made a fool of himself around the 9:00 mark as he tried to knock Matt Hussey into the Detroit bench. Hussey stepped out of the way, however, and it was Tootoo who went head-first over the boards, right in front of Filppula. He had to fish his stick out and nearly took Datsyuk’s head off when he pulled it out, but he had business in the Detroit end. He felt Ellis’ stick on his ankle and fell like he’d been shot, thereby drawing a tripping penalty. I guess that’s about the only thing he’s good for, unless you count dangerous hits on unsuspecting members of the opposition.

Fortunately for Ellis, the Predators didn’t make very good use of their power play. They had trouble getting set up and the Wings had a pretty easy kill.

At 12:39, Pavel Datsyuk knocked the puck down with a high stick, and then refused to touch it because it meant a faceoff in the neutral zone. The Predator players also refused to touch the puck, so the whistle finally went and the puck was dropped in the Nashville end.

On the next shift, Kyle Calder had a couple glorious chances, but he sent the puck off the post, with Vokoun down and out.

Jiri Hudler nailed Dan Hamhuis at the 13:55 mark, but I only caught a glimpse of it because it was at the edge of the frame.

The Predators tied things up on the power play at 15:08. Paul Kariya took the initial shot through a crowd from the top of the right circle and Chris Osgood snapped his legs shut, but not fast enough. The puck trickled out and Martin Erat was able to knock it in before anyone got to him.

Soon after the Predator goal, Mathieu Schneider was called for a weak hooking penalty on JP Dumont, who just fell down. Highlight of the Nashville power play: Paul Kariya hitting the post on Ozzie’s gloveside.

The game got a little more physical toward the end of the period, and the officials decided to just let them play. Shea Weber decked Calder at the 18:00 mark and Jordin Tootoo hit Kronwall from behind into the boards 50-some seconds later, but neither play earned a penalty.

The first minute or so of the second period was pretty uneventful. Erat and Kariya had a chance around the 1:15 mark, but it didn’t pan out. Erat ended up falling on top of Osgood into the net, but there was no call on the play. The Wings took it the other way for a good scoring chance.

Jiri Hudler made a nice play to Robert Lang in the slot early on, but Robert just stood there like a statue and the puck went by him. Not sure what was going on there. Not long after that, the Wings hit the post again, this time coming off a Kronwall shot that was deflected.

Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula had a good 2-on-1 chance in the first five minutes, but Filppula’s shot was blocked by a sprawling Nashville defenseman.

The Preds took a 2-1 lead at 5:11 when a defensive breakdown allowed Jason Arnott to take a pass from Jerred Smithson unopposed in the right circle. He one-timed the puck past Osgood, who had no chance on the play whatsoever. Four Wings were caught deep by a dump-in and this left Arnott free to take the shot. Not very good coverage.

After the goal, the Wings tried to get things going, but the Preds were very good at pressuring the puck. That made things difficult. A variation on the third line, with Darryl Bootland taking the place of Josh Langfeld, had a great shift soon after the goal, but nothing much came of it.

The Wings came very close to tying it up at 12:20, when Pavel Datsyuk made a great play to Nick Lidstrom to Vokoun’s left. It should have been an easy one-timer goal, but Vokoun somehow got across and stoned him.

They did finally tie it at 12:30, while on the power play. Mathieu Schneider got off two successive shots before Robert Lang picked up the rebound on the second one and got the puck past Vokoun to make it 2-2.

Mathieu Schneider put the Wings ahead by one 25 seconds later after taking a nice outlet pass from Lang. He broke up ice and beat Vokoun with a rocket snap shot, to score his 200th career goal. He showed some great speed on that play, which ought to go on the season’s highlight reel.

Kyle Calder nearly put the Wings up by two a couple minutes later on a flurry around the net. He just needed to get the puck a little higher, as it was stopped by Vokoun, who was down and out, but able to get his blocker high enough to make the save. At this point, the Wings were looking pretty good, though the Preds nearly scored on a couple chances. Fortunately, Osgood was steady and made the necessary saves.

The Wings went back on the power play when Jason Arnott saw fit to clothesline Brett Lebda in the Detroit end. On the subsequent power play, they came close to scoring when a Valtteri Filppula shot ended up right on the goalline between Vokoun’s legs. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful power play. The period wound down without much to report.

Johan Franzen deked Dan Hamhuis a minute into the third and was fortunate he wasn’t called for interference. He took the puck in on a rush after that and forced Vokoun to make a good save. Paul Kariya had a good scoring chance a minute later, but Lebda and Chris Chelios did a good job of covering him. Lebda demonstrated his speed not long after that as he backchecked on Tootoo, who was taking the puck into the Detroit end.

Weber had a great scoring chance in the slot at around 2:45 but he sent it high and wide. At the other end, Calder just missed capitalizing on a Hudler rebound.

Kronwall and Hamhuis had an awkward collision around 4:13 that looked almost head-to-head. Fortunately, neither player was hurt.

At 4:45, JP Dumont was called for high-sticking Kyle Calder. The replay showed Dumont’s stick riding up Calder’s and whacking the latter on the face, but Calder didn’t even flinch. He’s a pretty tough guy, I guess. The power play was pretty uneventful, except for the humorous sight of a stickless Franzen soccer-kicking the puck back to a teammate behind the net. After they killed off the penalty, the Preds put up some solid pressure in the Detroit end, but it was finally cleared.

At this point, the Wings assumed a defensive posture, with only one forechecker. The Preds got their first shot of the period at 10:29, but scored on their second, a little over a minute later. Martin Erat took the puck around the back of the net and along the left wing, dumping it off to Greg Zanon. Zanon took a shot from the blueline and it somehow snuck through the crowd and ended up crawling up and over Osgood’s arm before tumbling into the net. Unfortunate goal. 3-3 at 11:42.

After that, the Wings had some trouble getting much going. Kariya had a good chance around the 13:00 mark, but Osgood made the save. Before long, it seemed that both teams were playing for OT, as the game slowed down. Osgood made a great save on Smithson at 14:10 or so, and, at the other end, the Wings forced the Preds to ice the puck after a good shift.

Around 16:00, the Preds turned on the pressure, forcing the Wings deep into their own zone and getting a few good scoring chances. Osgood was sharp, however, even as his teammates had trouble clearing the puck.

The Wings did breakout at 17:30 or so, with Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula taking the puck in on a rush. Ryan Suter made a great defensive play, however, and poked the puck away from Datsyuk to negate the scoring chance. The Preds took the puck back into the Detroit end and cycled it well. Kyle Calder threw his body around and showed great energy as Nashville really made a push for the win. By the end of regulation, the action was end to end and I couldn’t get it all down.

Overtime was tense, with both teams coming close to winning it. I would say the Preds controlled play more than the Wings did, but both teams had their chances, with neither capitalizing. So, we headed to a shootout.

First to go was Pavel Datsyuk. He went forehand to backhand and beat Vokoun on his blocker side as he tried to poke-check the puck away.

Alexander Radulov went next. He tried a forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand deke and ended up sending the puck wide.

Jiri Hudler was the next shooter for the Wings. He tried out-waiting Vokoun and attempted to beat him with a straight-up shot. Had he gotten it a little higher, he might have been successful, but he didn’t.

Paul Kariya went next for Nashville. His snap shot beat Osgood gloveside and tied things up.

Valtteri Filppula went after Kariya and tried a backhand-to-forehand deke. His shot fizzled out, however, and ended up just in front of the goalline as Vokoun had fallen back into the net.

JP Dumont had a chance to win it for Nashville, but his shot was stopped by Osgood, who snapped it up with his glove.

Johan Franzen went next for the Wings, to begin the sudden-death round. He deked right to left across the net and beat Vokoun over his right pad with a forehand shot.

Marin Erat had to score to keep things going, but he was stoned by Osgood and the Wings won the game, 4-3.

Since the game ended in a shootout, the Wings only gained one point on Nashville, putting them a point behind them for the Central Division lead. The team gets a couple days off now before facing LA on Friday.

See also: the reactions from Dave of Gorilla Crouch and Steph of No Pun Intended.