Briefly:

… It was a hard-fought game for both teams. Each side had its moments of dominance and down to the final seconds it wasn’t clear which team would win. I recall the Canucks controlling play more often, so this game had the feeling of a bit of a steal. The Wings played well, though, and hopefully will be able to carry this strong start through the rest of this road trip.

… Chris Osgood was strong and continued his regulation winning streak, which puts him at 12-0-5 since his last loss in 60 minutes. His counterpart, Roberto Luongo, had a strong game as well and did a good job of keeping the Wings from pulling away.

… Jiri Hudler’s game winner was a great individual effort and definitely belongs on a highlight reel of the team’s best goals of the season.

… Tomas Holmstrom’s goal felt pretty good, coming as it did 12 seconds after the Canucks scored. Henrik Zetterberg got a secondary assist on the play, so the streak is still alive. The top line was skating circles around the Canucks all night and it’s only because they got too cute at times, and because of Luongo’s strong play, that they did not get another goal or two.

… Nick Lidstrom had one of his best games of the season, I thought. His stick was everywhere, ending rush after rush with a perfect poke-check. He was a wall.

… Derek Meech looked strong in his debut. He was a little more adventurous offensively than I prefer to see in a young defenseman, but he didn’t get burned, so it turned out alright. He made more than a few veteran plays and generally looked like he belonged out there.

… With the net empty in the final seconds of the game, Chris Osgood teed up the puck, maybe in an effort to go for a goal. It was a momentary lapse in judgment and one he immediately regretted when the puck went off a Canuck forward and created a good scoring chance. Fortunately for Ozzie, he was able to keep the puck out of the net long enough to get a whistle from the ref, though the Canucks knocked it in at about the same time. It was immediately waived off, however, because the ref had thought about blowing the play dead before the puck went in. Even if he hadn’t blown the whistle, the goal wouldn’t have counted because the Canucks pushed Osgood into the net.

… I was a little surprised at the silence of the Vancouver crowd. The place was packed, but it seemed dead. That may have been the feed, though. Things did get loud on a shift in the third period when the Canucks hit just about every Red Wing on the ice. The crowd also got vocal when the goal was waived off.

… Be sure to check out the liveblog over at Abel to Yzerman, George Malik’s roundup at Snapshots, Dave’s recap at Gorilla Crouch, and the highlight reel.