Unfortunately short on time again today, so this’ll be brief.

Jimmah (as he’s now known among a certain subset of fans): Another solid night from the guy. His rebound control still needs some serious work, but he was better at even that and held the Wings in a game they had little business being in. An encouraging effort, but not entirely so.

I know this is pissing on the parade, but now I have to wonder when the other shoe will drop. Howard is a streaky goalie and while his up streaks can be very good, his down streaks can be comparatively bad. That may not seem different from Osgood, except that he’s yet to develop the mental toughness necessary to pull out of those down streaks in a town as hard on its goalies as Detroit is. It’s going to be interesting to watch.

I’ve personally already moved on from Jimmy and find myself looking ahead to McCollum, but that’s because of what I’ve seen myself in GR and what my wife has said after watching Jimmy ever since he’s been a Griffin.

Legs: Like I said above, the Wings honestly had little business being in this one for most of the night. It was obvious they’d played the day before, s they were a step or more  slower and had some major problems in their own end with getting the puck back. Unlike in Toronto, it wasn’t a lack of effort, it was an obvious case of energy reserve depletion. They dug deep and managed to hang on, with the work of Howard, and pulled a win out, but the Canucks could have had them on the ropes with a better killer instinct.

Zetterberg: Heck of a shot on his goal, huh? How often does that same play happen up to the point of the shot and ends up taking it around the back of the net or firing it into the crest? Very good to see him put that one in. I hope there are more where that came from.

Officiating: Not sure how this happened, but the Wings and Canucks were treated to a pair of the worst refs I’ve seen. The Stuart high sticking call? A complete joke. The Canuck ran into his own player’s stick, the same stick by the way, that hit Stuart in the face the next split-second. That was just one example of their abject incompetence. Pretty embarrassing.

Right track: Some people are throwing out the Leafs game and pointing to how wide a goal margin the Wings have had in recent games. That’s fine, except the Leafs game did happen and can’t just be tossed out. This team has two identities right now: the one that fights out wins like last night and the one that doesn’t show up. They’re still deciding which identity they’re going to stick with, and it does look like it’s going to be the former.

Next up: Anaheim on Saturday. Always fun games.