Update (1:17 AM): I think I’m just going to leave it at the discussion in the comments (so no game recap). See also John’s comment here. - Matt
That was a knife to the back of Wings fans everywhere. What a pathetic effort for an exhibition game, let alone a huge playoff game. I guess it was unreasonable to hope that the Wings would see this the same way mere outsider fans do, but even granted that, they showed a remarkable lack of passion for a team facing the chance of eliminating one of its only real rivals.
I don’t get this team. They’re so two-sided that it just boggles my mind. One night, they’re unbeatable. The next, they look like they’re asleep. Tonight was absolutely the latter case. At no point in this game, with the possible exception of stretches early in the first and third, did I ever feel that they were a threat to Anaheim. Maybe 3 shots out of their 39 seemed to have a legitimate chance of going in. I’ve rarely seen them take a game so casually.
And no one was as casual as Pavel Datsyuk, who seems to have entered a new, previously unknown, level of snakebit, a sort of snakebitten zen. The puck is following his stick and he’s making great plays, but there’s a major lack of intensity, at least to my eyes. The frustration over his scoring drought is obvious, but that’s taken over his game, and not to good effect.
It’s like the Wings went into this one expecting to win, and when it didn’t come on a silver platter, it took them until 18:00 of the third to get over their surprise.
I’m pissed off and disgusted. This series should have ended tonight. It will end Thursday, and right now I’m not feeling like it’ll be a positive outcome. That’s how disheartening this game was. Get it together, guys.
Oh, and a final note on the Ducks and their fans: real fracking classy, jackasses. Jumping Hossa after the game, and dragging the Wings down to your sewer, Getzlaf and Co., punctuated by idiot Californian towel-tossing–you are beneath contempt.
I’ll probably have more during my Wednesday lunch break, but I’m too annoyed to plan that for sure. Maybe I’ll just pull a Game 6 Red Wings and not show up.