Game 62 Recap: Wings Special Teams Key In Beating The Avalanche 3-2

That was quick!

Had to be quick, 24 is on in 3 minutes. :-)

Or did Versus not shut up about Detroit. It’s like they were the greatest franchise in NHL history.

even though I taunted Red Wings fans with “HAVE FUN GOLF-ING” quite often tonight, so it wasn’t a total loss.

I mentioned during the game day thread, but has there ever been two rookies on the same team to score 20 goals in the same season?

Stewie isn’t a rookie, is he? That said, Kovalchuk and Heatley, Toews and Kane, Stastny and Wolski, Malkin and Staal, and Carter and Umberger have all managed the feat recently. Probably loads more pre-dead puck era too, but too lazy to check.

 official attendance was 18,007.
i got the feeling that nobody really wanted it tonight besides foote. it seemed pretty obvious with so many slow line changes in the beginning. then i thought we could come back for the upteenth time this year aaannnd then the effort was gone again.
god i really hope yip isnt injured very long.

they sold out the game right after christmas as well, but that is still 27 too few.

I actually thought they had a lot more intensity on the power play than we usually see. They were shooting a TON compared to usual and were making smart plays on the PP as well, they just couldn’t get the puck past howard on some great opportunities.

Holmstrom skated around and was “tripped” by Craig Anderson

I agree with this. Even my wife commented when they showed the replay, that he tripped over the front corner of the net. Ridiculous call.

The Avs just looked out of sorts so me. I asked gl this morning if it looked that bad in person, so anyone else at the shindig last night can let me know.

And seriously…it was a sellout, but dumb Wing fans were about 1-thousand times louder (or at least it seemed that was on TV)

first off get rid of the Blueberry third Jerseys they are a curse, a curse i tell you.

second as for the VS people ughhhh the comment I hated the most was “we have a packed house here tonight in part due to the Red Wing faithful coming to the game” come on I remember when a Red Wing fan couldn’t even get a ticket to see the dead wings when they came to town….

Third first period sucked. We came out flat and it showed big time. Was nice to see us turn it on in the second but come on guys.

Also why was Wilson the healthy scratch?? We needed his physical pressance to help Footer in not being the only defenseman on the ice hitting those Dead Wings players!!!

I was in bed with a serious headache for the game- I had all the lights turned off and it was playing on my little TV so I didn’t get the best view of what was going on. I missed much of the first period (although I was convinced Detoilet had been paying off the refs) because I was laying on the bathroom floor but I made it onto the bed for all of the second and third.

I saw a lot of intensity from both teams, the speed really surprised me, especially from those old guy wingers. Their powerplays were absolutely brutal, I think we could have won if we had taken no penalties at all, haha.

We didn’t look very cohesive though, hopefully we just needed one game to get back into the groove of things (sucks it had to be against the Evil Empire) but it definitely wasn’t an all hope is lost game.

Random things:

- I LOVE Galliardi. That kid may not be the most talented guy on the team but by god he shows up every night and whenever he gets a puck in it is well deserved. He consistently plays like he gives a shit and I love him for that.

- There better have been a good ass reason for scratching Wilson. We needed some huge hits last night (hello, who wouldn’t LOVE to see Wilson just wreck Bertuzzi like nothing else) and nobody else can deliver those as well as Wilson. I was so pissed about this, wanting to give Salei or Lilies one more game or not this better not happen again.

- My fiance turned to me and said “You know who sucks? Chris Stewart. I hate Chris Stewart” (he is bitter about his streakiness) and literally one second after he said that Stewie scored. I laughed so hard I almost threw up. It was great.

It looked to me like the Avs went into hibernation during the 2 week Olympic break and forgot to wake up for the game. They were slow and sloppy. During one power play my husband was complaining that they only got one shot on goal, and I told him it’s pretty hard to get a shot on goal when you can’t even keep the freaking puck in the zone.

We were sitting on the side where Anderson allegedly tripped Holmstrom, unlike the referee who called it who was on the OTHER side of the net who couldn’t even see what happened because his view was blocked. Holmstrom clearly tripped over the net.

To tell you how bad we thought the Avs were playing, we left the game with 3 minutes left to play, in a 3-2 game. We had our 9 year old with us and wanted to beat the traffic. It was so evident the Avs weren’t going to be able to tie it up, and I was more concerned that the Wings would score another goal against than the Avs being able to score a goal.

Hopefully, they play better against Anaheim.

And I do believe it is the last game we will see Svatos in a unipron, because even if he isn’t traded, I don’t think Sacco will play him the rest of the season.

I don’t have the game recorded but it looked like Andy’s stick was caught against the net and did trip up Holmstrum during the broadcast replay. No one complained about the call and even if unintentional it was a good call.

well, on the bright side of things, this loss will surely motivate them to beat the ducks in a most embarrassing way on wednesday…and since i will be there, it will be oh so fun!

oh, and on the other bright side, the MHH gathering was a rousing success! much fun and debauchery was had by all. a few wings fans almost inexplicably went tumbling down to the lower sections but we wouldn’t know anything about that…

bad:

Wolski + Duchene pairing must get better or begone. It’s been given 3-4 games now, and it’s terrible. I still believe in giving new combos ~5 games or so, but I think this one was doomed from the start. Both players need the puck on their stick too much.

Why are Hannan and Quincey not playing together? They’re both worse outside that pairing.

Andy played pretty well last night, but good lord that last goal was awful.

The Avs PKing. Ouch, not used to that from this team.

And as bad as the game was in many ways, we’d have pulled out a point if Duchene doesn’t miss that open net. Bad, bad game for Dutchie in general.

good:

Where the hell has that been Liles?! Do that more. Whether you’re on the trade Liles bandwagon or not, he finally played to his offensive potential last night. We need more of that.

Salei looked pretty good. I missed that first pass he has, yikes. Even if he’s traded, he really helped his value last night.

Stastny’s line was the only line that came to play, and boy did they.

Verdict:

This team needs Hejduk back in a huge, huge way. And back on Duchene’s wing as well.

thank god i finally get to hear haynes voice on wednesday.

Thrashers have just signed Chris Chelios. To answer your question – he turned 48 in Jan.

I had forgotten, and apparently so did the Avalanche, that they were 8-0 on Mondays until last night..

There was a Red Wings fan sitting next to me. He was the most foul smelling human being I have ever encountered. I think he literally crapped his pants during the game. Every time he got up to get another beer, our entire section buckled over from his smell. I tirelessly searched for 2 empty seats around us but did not see anything open. The people in front of us complained to the usher, but he said there’s nothing he could do.

If you shit your pants at a hockey game, you should be thrown out. I would like to see this rule implemented at the Pepsi Center.

Terry Frei is reporting that Yip suffered a shoulder injury and will not fly out with the team today. Also Hedjuk has not completely recovered from the surgery and the back issue but he will fly with the team. And Cumiskey has not recovered from the concussion but he will go on the trip with the team.

After the 1st period, I thought the intensity was there. They were really sloppy though. Flubbed passes, weak puck handling allowing the wings to poke check anything away, not being in the right positions. Avs need to tighten the details down. If I see won more battle along the boards actually won in the offensive zone, only to send the puck around the net to……nobody, I am going to set my self on fire Dater style.