Thoughts on Game 42:
… First off, this was not the Wings’ best defensive effort, to put it mildly. Primary evidence of that: 49 Dallas shots. 49.
… Offensively, they were better, but 30 shots isn’t that great a showing. Overall, the Wings were average at best tonight, and downright awful at worst.
… Still, a lot of credit goes to the Stars, who played a heck of a game. They showed tonight that the franchise still has pride, even in what has been a pretty bad year to this point.
… I’d give the Wings a pass for going into something of a tough place to play on their first road trip in a while, but this team has been too good for too long for that to be acceptable. Were this a team of younglings just out of junior or the AHL, that’d be one thing, but they’re not.
… Individuals had solid games. Pavel Datsyuk, for one, was flying, and made some spectacular plays on his way to three points. His play leading to the Holmstrom goal was incredible, and his shot on the Wings’ fourth was laser-guided. I’m fully on board with the sentiment that calls Datsyuk the best player in the NHL right now.
… I thought Henrik Zetterberg also looked solid tonight. He put on a good effort, though has little to show for it.
… Marian Hossa was one other guy who had a nice night. He’s definitley warming up again.
… The mysterious absence of Brian Rafalski in the second period was huge. The Wings’ defense looked like its head had been cut off, and with Lidstrom still in action, that’s saying something. Rafalski’s just become that important to the team.
… My initial reaction to some of the goals was “not Osgood’s best game.” Upon further review, I had to ammend that. It wasn’t his best game ever, but he made a number of huge, huge saves and did the best anyone could expect in light of the Stars’ determined onslaught. He was too slow on some goals, but blame for those plays also lies with his teammates.
… Speaking of Osgood’s huge saves, I’m not sure I’m convinced he stopped the puck on that waived off goal. It looked to me on one of those head-on shots that the puck did cross the line, though overhead shots were inconclusive. I think the Wings dodged a bullet there, but unfortunately they weren’t able to take advantage.
… If the tying goal had to be scored, I would have sacrificed a lot for it not to be scored by Steve Ott. I can’t stand the guy.
That it was scored on a power play brought on by that idiotic delay of game rule made it worse.
… Adding to the general unpleasantness of having to watch the Wings put forth such a tepid effort was the awful announcing by the Versus crew. Their (mis)use of English was just horrendous and I’m someone with somewhat flexible views on language.
… As ugly as this was, I’m sure the guys will turn things around for Wednesday’s game in Anaheim. They’ll be the motivated team that night.