Gamethread: Red Wings vs. Devils

7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

TV: Fox Sports Detroit, RDS2

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Devils Blog: In Lou We Trust

This is ordinarily where I'd put the pre-built widget in here for a gamethread, but I haven't been around to comment or read many comments for the last few days and I just want to free-form a little bit wrapping up the state of things.

First off, every time I've ever gone to Detroit to meet up with people from the internet, I've never once had my organs harvested nor have I been kidnapped and brainwashed into a cult. In fact, what I've experienced has been incredible. Putting faces to names and hanging out with previously imaginary people has been a great experience. It's great meeting somebody in person like Josh, Michelle, Kyle, or our own Silent Verbal for the first time and having them be so familiar already.

I want to reiterate something Graham said in the recap last night:

When Lidstrom's jersey went to the rafters, a small part of me died. Not in a bad way. More in a "he was the last of the old guard to be honored" and it makes me realize that we're officially in a new era of Red Wing hockey. Change always causes anxiety, and not knowing what the future holds is both exciting and scary.

Lidstrom was the last of the players on the Red Wings team with which I originally fell in love way back when. Watching The Perfect Human's number go up closed the lid on an era of Red Wings hockey which deeply impacted my life, leading me to where I am today and to all of the great people I've gotten to know along the way.

It's a new era and it will lead us all to new places. The next step on that journey is tonight when a struggling Wings team looks to avenge an early-week loss to a team they very much need to beat. It's not an easy road, but the travel is the adventure.

Oh, and David Legwand rules.