Nothing anyone can say right in this moment will make me upset. The Red Wings are going to the playoffs for the 24th straight season.
The Wings controlled the shots early, taking a 8-3 lead in shots at the midway point of the first period. The persistence paid off when Pavel Datsyuk stole a puck from Brendan Gallagher in the Habs’ zone and fed a perfect pass to Tomas Tatar, who scored only the 3rd goal of the year and 2nd at even strength by the Wings against Carey Price. That seemed to wake the Habs up a little, as they spent a lot more time in the Wings’ zone. A won faceoff resulted in a tie game, as Andrei Markov blasted a slap shot past a screened Jimmy Howard. The period ended tied in goals and shots, but the Canadiens had the majority of the quality chances.
The momentum seemed to carry over to the second period, with the Habs spending a lot of time in the Wings’ zone, ultimately leading to their first power play of the game. A strong kill by the Wings nearly led to a goal when Drew Miller hit the post on a wide open net, and the Habs came right down the other way and scored when no one picked up Jeff Petry, who beat Howard five-hole on a goal Howard wanted back. The Wings got it right back when Datsyuk picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat Price to match the Wings’ season output against Montreal.
To call the start of the third butt-clenching is not to do enough justice to many diamonds Wing fans produced. The Habs got an early power play on a soft call, but it was Darren Helm who scored on a breakaway to give the Wings a 3-2 lead. The Wings had life after that, but then an absolutely dumbfuck move by Brendan Smith while the Wings were already shorthanded gave the Habs an extended 5-on-3, and Tomas Plekanec scored a soft goal on Howard from a bad angle to tie the game at 3. The Wings were able to hold on for regulation and the game went to OT while we all awaited news from Florida, who were playing the Bruins.
Howard let in soft goals, Smith sucked, Datsyuk is amazing, and the Wings are going to the playoffs. At the end of the day, that’s the goal, and there are tons of things to work on, but the Wings are in for the 24th straight season.
Enjoy a run like this folks. In fact, why don’t you all make me feel really old by telling me whether the Wings have ever missed the playoffs in your lifetime.
