On the Wings

I didn’t take notes on the game last night, so this will be more brief and less detailed than usual.

… Chris Osgood got the start for the Wings and I thought he looked good - until the Flames two goals, the second especially. On the first goal, he at least had the excuse of being on the business end of a beautiful play by Huselius, but even then he committed just a bit too early. Some may say Brett Lebda overplayed the pass there, but I felt he played it well. Huselius was Ozzie’s responsibility and his early commitment put him just enough out of position for the Flame to pot one.

On the second goal, Osgood just looked bad. My guess is that he was watching for a centering pass from Huselius to the slot, but in the process, he forgot to hold the post. I don’t know if Huselius was surprised or what, but he only just managed to bank it in.

Ozzie’s had far worse games in his career, but he’s also had far better. No big deal, though. The Wings won, after all.

… The top line walked all over the Flames. They had their way with them. They owned the Flames. Any way you want to say it, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom were great last night.

The fun began in the first period with the Wings’ first goal. Miikka Kiprusoff made the gaffe of the night when he sent a long pass up ice - right to Pavel Datsyuk. Pavel broke to the net while the Flame defense scrambled to recover. Just before he reached Kiprusoff, Datsyuk dropped the puck to Zetterberg, who had an easy one-timer of a goal. It was another of Pavel’s maddening passes to someone off screen, but he knew best.

Following a nice turnover by the Flames at the Red Wing blueline, the puck ended up on Datsyuk’s stick with Holmstrom accompanying him on a fast break the other way. One pinpoint pass later, Holmstrom golfed the puck through Kiprusoff to put the Wings up 2-1. A nifty play.

The Eurotwins+Homer had other great plays that didn’t make the scoresheet. If they keep playing like that, it’s going to be hard to justify breaking them up.

… Andreas Lilja had another bad game. I was going to say sub-par, but that wouldn’t be true, because he generally has bad games. One of his ill-fated pinchups resulted in a major collision that took him completely out of the and allowed Huselius to take the puck the other way, with only Lebda back. I already went over what happened there. As far as I’m concerned, Lilja should never, ever venture behind 10 feet into the offensive zone. We have other guys who can pinch up and can do it a thousand times better. Lilja’s job, which is in jeopardy more every game, is to be a defensive defenseman.

… Kris Draper’s hand-eye coordination on his tip-in goal was something to see.

… I hate to whine about officiating, but the inconsistency was staggering last night. The Wings got called at least a couple times on chintzy plays, while the Flames were interfering, tripping, and hooking like mad, especially when the Eurotwins were out there. I’d be more upset if it had actually played a role in deciding the outcome of the game, but it didn’t. That doesn’t make it right, though.

… I thought the crowd at the Joe was pretty solid last night. Still a lot of empty seats, but the people who were there were fairly vocal. That’s good to see. One thing that’s been bugging me in this whole debate over whether or not Detroit is still Hockeytown (or a hockey town) is that no one ever talks about TV ratings. Sure, the Joe isn’t packed out, but what kind of ratings do the Wings’ broadcasts get? I’m going to try to look into that.

… Next up, we’ll see the Blackhawks on Friday at home. It looks like Hasek will be back in net for that one, while Osgood will start Sunday in LA.

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