Pavel Datsyuk didn’t play. He didn’t play because he was injured. He has a lower body injury. Which probably means a groin injury. This is stupid.
A whole slew of posts needs to be devoted to this injury epidemic. The Wings don’t lead the league in man-games lost quite yet, but they’re the team I follow so I tend to think the problems they deal with are the worst. Many of these injuries that keep popping up are mysterious in nature and can’t be traced back to a specific instance where they occurred. Would be cool if somebody asked some questions about it.
- Datsyuk being out obviously put more pressure on everyone, starting with Henrik Zetterberg. After Jimmy Howard shut down the Stars early onslaught in the 1st period, Hank responded by putting the Wings up 1-0 on Detroit’s first shot …. 7:04 into the game. Given the state of the season, the Wings getting on the board first was the most important thing that has ever happened.
- The Stars had the first 12 shots of the game. Not the most encouraging thing when you sort of needed to win this game and set the tone with a month of terror coming up on the schedule. But hey, that’s where Jimmy (http://tinyurl.com/l6bj7z2) Howard comes in handy. It’s no surprise he was awesome at AMERICAN Airlines Arena. #usa
- A big turning point in the game occurred about halfway through the 2nd period. With the Wings leading 3-1, Detroit was on the favorable end of an Intent to Blow call. Honestly trying to be objective here, that seemed like the right call given the rules. It’s a tough situation to have to make a call going at full speed. With the puck somewhere between Howard’s arm and side, you can’t wait longer than a second or two without blowing the whistle (or intending to) or else mayhem will ensue. Whatever though, I’m still mad about this because I can’t let go of things.
- Shortly after that, Tomas Tatar happened. (Courtesy of our friend @whoabot)
- did you see the Tatar goal
- did you watch it
- Dan Ellis allowed 3 goals on 10 shots in the 1st and started the following period on the bench. I forgot he was still in the league. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
- Howard was the star of the game, stopping 44 of 45 shots. Dallas applied a ton of pressure during the first half of the game and a poor goaltending performance could’ve sunk Detroit early. It didn’t, mainly because he does suck.
- Since the 6-3 debacle versus Philly on December 4th where the Wings went 0-3 on the PK, they’ve killed 87% of their penalties, including all seven tonight.
- Alexei Marchenko’s first game came and went without incident, which I’m told is good for defensemen. Should be noted that he played an entire game with this haircut:
Now we wait for Datsyuk to be cut.
Go Wings.
