… This was one of the Wings more dominant offensive performances this season, I thought. Although they didn’t crack 40 shots, they seemed to be toying with the Thrashers all night. They were moving the puck like they do at the peak of their skill, and drove the Thrashers crazy with their ability to keep the play alive.
… Unfortunately, the defense wasn’t quite as good, allowing 34 shots against the 28th-place Thrashers. Atlanta played with pride and have some strong offensive ability, but something more in the range of a mid-20s shot total would have been preferrable. The Wings definitely lost some focus in the third period, when the Thrashers broke the shutout and got 15 shots.
… Henrik Zetterberg had a heck of a game, I thought. His individual effort on the Franzen goal had me thinking how glad I am he’ll be around 12 more years. You can see the tailend of that effort in the NHL.com replay.
… Speaking of Franzen, he had that “I shoot, I score” air about him again last night. I hope it stays there.
… Marian Hossa also had a good night. I’m amazed that the Thrashers fans were booing him, like he had any choice in the trade to Pittsburgh. Ridiculous.
… Datsyuk has the hot stick now, with two laser goals in two games.
… Chris Osgood had great game, despite the third period goals (he had little chance on any of them). He made some huge saves, including this one on Rich Peverley in the first. He’s not showing signs of slowing down.
… It was good to see Hudler break his scoring drought with a nice breakaway goal. A good pass from Lebda set it off.
… Jonathan Ericsson continues to impress. He’s making great decisions with the puck and looking good defensively.
… Tomas Kopecky seems to be the object of a lot of hard hits lately. I don’t know if that’s because he hasn’t picked up on how to avoid them at the NHL level, or if he’s a specific target, or what, but he got hammered twice in just a few minutes last night (video of one here). With his injury record, it’s amazing he hasn’t gotten hurt again on one of those.
… Derek Meech also took a big hit, but his was a bit nastier. He got a mouthful of Joseph Crabb’s elbow in the first period when the two players were going for the puck along the boards. The referee’s blindness in that case was pretty severe, as it was a blatant penalty.
… Here’s hoping Don Cherry is too busy tearing Alexander Ovechkin a new one for his over-the-top 50th goal celebration (see also) to say anything about Mikael Samuelsson’s aggressive hug with Nathan Oystrick. George Malik has Sammy’s explanation for his fighting tactics at the end of his game wrap-up.
… Did anyone else find Larry Murphy to be a little off during the broadcast? He was interrupting Ken Daniels, talking too loudly, and generally acting like a bad copy of a color guy. I don’t know if it’s due to the time between color stints or what, but I kept getting distracted by it.
… The Wings always seem to have a large fan contingent at their home games, but Phillips was like the Joe last night. The Wings fans dominted the cheers and the seats, it seemed. It’s a pretty powerful testimony to the strength of the Wings’ brand.
… The defensive effort wasn’t terrible, so I don’t want to give that impression. They just got a little bit too loose and allowed the Thrashers too much. They’ll want to tighten down for Monday’s game in Calgary, as well as Tuesday’s in Edmonton.