Yay, road win, yay. Today does feel much better (despite 6 or fewer hours of sleep) after a Wings win than it would have after another loss, eh?
Turnaround? Already seeing some talk from pundits about how this could be the game we look to as when the Wings turned things around. It’s, uh, a little early to tell on that and since they’ve had a couple other strong games this season that didn’t result in sustained not-sucking, I’m going to withhold judgment. At least until after tomorrow night’s game.
Guard change? Yes, Osgood was terrible last night and, yes, Jimmy Howard did his best NHL-level Goalie impression, but as with the turnaround talk, let’s reserve judgment until he’s played at least one more game (which’ll be tomorrow night, by the way).
Osbad: I, like Triple Deke, use that ironically. But it certainly applies when describing him last night. What the heck happened? Two weak goals on four shots? Osgood’s been solid overall so far this season, but that “performance” had my brain shooting out flashbacks to last year. Not cool. Get your head on straight, Chris, and come back Saturday with some steadyness, please. Still supportive, but it’s tough love time.
The other guy: Jimmy Howard is capable of playing the goaltending position at the National Hockey League level. For roughly two and three quarters periods, that is. He had zero chance on the two he did allow and, contrary to the Vancouver Sun reporter who must have watched the game on a fuzzy black-and-white TV in the Yukon with no sound, made some pretty spectacular saves to keep the Canucks from making things difficult for the Wings.
If he can come in like that on a regular start, he may just have a future with Detroit after all.
Datsyuk: Good to have you back, Pavel. More please.
Top line: Best unit on the ice for the Wings, which is exactly as it should be. Homer was a beast, Zetterberg (weak breakaway effort in the first aside) was stellar and Datsyuk was dominant.
Demolition Man: Holmstrom was personally responsible for three of five goals, though he only got two points. Heck of an outing.
Scary: The Ryan Johnson incident was terrifying. He’s fortunate he was able to get his head ducked and hit the boards with mostly his shoulder or the hockey headlines today could have be as dark as we’ve ever seen them. Totally freak play. Glad to read he’s relatively okay tonight (has a concussion).
The Stuart Board: I saw some blather about the boarding call on Stuart last night. Apparently, it was the same as the Ruutu/Tucker hit. Except that it wasn’t. It was a hockey play on Stuart’s part and a dive on Shirokov’s.
Schneider: Man, that guy still has a cannon. My wife (big Schneider fan) said last night, “You know, I love Rafi, but he can not shoot the puck like that.” No argument from me. No doubt that the Wings’ power play misses that shot. (no offense, Rafi. I think you’re a great passer.)
BertuzziWatch: Someday, he’ll score. It may be in an alumni game or something, but it’ll happen.
Shiny Forehead: Williams scored, but it was only because Luongo was blinded by the light bouncing off that thing. And because of Filppula’s cross-crease feed. And because anyone with a stick could have potted that one.
Abdelkader: Was it really worth sitting Helm for Justin, coach? I barely noticed him. Maybe that’s because he was only on the ice for 7:14.
May: I did notice him. Once. When he fought Tanner Glass (awesome name, Full House). After that, not so much. He only cracked 5:00 in TOI (5:17).
+/-: The list of guys in the minuses is interesting: Cleary (-2), Stuart (-2), Bertuzzi (-2), Filppula (-2). So that second line could obviously use some defensive practice together. (Update: John helpfully points out that these were the guys on the ice for Osgood’s troubles. Never mind.) Who wasn’t on the list? Ericsson (+1) and Lebda (+1). They weren’t so bad, which is encouraging. Still, I’d like to see them split up.
Tighten down: The Osgood Crapfest at the start skewed things a lot, so forget those. The rest of the game, though, wasn’t the Wings’ best defensively. They pulled out the win on offense and goaltending, not offense, defense and goaltending, which is what they’ll need over the long haul. Too much freedom allowed to Vancouver, which resulted in some of those great saves on Jimmy’s part. Next on the list, guys? Tightening down defensively.
Coming up: The Wings fly on to Edmonton for a meeting tomorrow night. Should be fun.