Briefly:
Frontloaded Awesome, Backloaded Meh: So the Wings got off to an incredibly fast start, with two goals in the first 2:09 and then a pair of goals in less than a minute later in the period. Rounding things out was a late fifth goal. They chased Mike Smith with the first four and then got one past Jason LaBarbara before apparently deciding that was enough. By the second and third periods, they were mostly coasting. The Coyotes had ample opportunity to recover from their early discombobulation and make the game a little closer to close than it ever should have been.
Jimmy: Fortunately for Detroit, Jimmy Howard was in Crutch Mode late in the game. So another trailing-off effort rewarded because they’ve got a stellar goalie. And lesson not learned, I’m sure.
Cleary: Two dumb penalties. Not his best night.
Datsyuk: Looked good when he was in the game, but they opted to pull him out with a supposedly minor lower body injury when the Wings blew up the scoreboard. Not sure if the mindset that said “well, we’re up a lot, don’t really need to ask Pavel to keep playing,” became “well, we’re up a lot, Pavel’s out, let’s get casual.”
Pretty Plays: Were the order of the day. Z’s slick pass out to Fil, the set up to White that led to Homer’s clean-up job, Conner’s nifty drop pass to Helm and Z’s pass across to Hudler were all a lot of fun to watch. And Bert’s play to himself as the puck pinballed was cool too. I would like to see more of all that, please!
Filppula: Didn’t miss a step. He’s having a great season.
Next: Saturday, they play host to Winnepeg for the first time this season. I wonder if any tones for future Conference clashes will be set.