Damn it feels good to beat old rivals. Especially when those old rivals think they’re contenders and we all know better.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period wasn’t that impressive. The teams traded power plays with some overlap. The Blues controlled possession for pretty much the entire 20 minutes. To illustrate how poor the Wings were offensively, the period was half over before they got a shot. Tomas Tatar with holding penalty which the Wings killed, and they responded with a strong shift, even getting another shot. The period ended scoreless, with the shots 9-2 in favor of St. Louis.
SECOND PERIOD
The second was more of the first. After being outshot 4-1 to start the period, the Wings took over and got the next 6 shots before earning a power play. The Blues had the better chances, but Petr Mrazek made a couple of strong saves to keep the game scoreless. A strong shift by the 4th line resulted in the Wings taking the lead, as Joakim Andersson scored his first goal of the season. Exactly one minute later, the Wings struck again when Tomas Tatar retook the team scoring lead from Gustav Nyquist as he was left all alone in front and beat Brian Elliott. By the end of the second the Wings had gotten the shots to a respectable 17-15.
THIRD PERIOD
The Wings earned an early power play in the third period, but too many cute drop passes nearly led to an odd-man rush for the Blues. Henrik Zetterberg tripped David Backes, who must have thought watched the football game on Sunday since he leaped for the first down. The NHL’s leading puppy eater lover tipped a Jay Bouwmeester shot through the legs of Mrazek and cut the Wings’ lead to 2-1. The Wings thought they regained their 2-goal lead, but Justin Abdelkader was ruled to have hindered Elliott’s ability to make a save on a Gustav Nyquist shot, which is literally the first time any call has ever gone the Blues’ way in a game involving the Red Wings ever. The Wings settled into their shell, and the inevitable happened when Alex Steen tied the game with less than a minute remaining to send the game to OT.
OVERTIME/SHOOTOUT
Both teams had chances and no one scored. So it went to a shootout. Yadda yadda yadda, you all know the rest…..IS WHAT I WAS GOING TO WRITE BUT THEN PAVEL DATSYUK DID WHAT ONLY PAVEL DATSYUK CAN DO AND WON THE GAME FOR THE WINGS AND ALL WAS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!
I SENTENCE YOU TO OBSERVATIONS:
- Joakim Andersson scored a goal. For the Red Wings. On purpose. /
- Reason number 3567 I’m glad the Red Wings are not in the West: Vladimir Tarasenko is one damn scary Russian.
- You know who’s also Russian? Pavel Datsyuk. You know who’s Russian and better? Pavel Datsyuk.
- That’s not the best no-goal call against the Wings this season, but it’s not the worst either.
- I believe that playing Reeves/Lapierre/Ott requires a stronger prescription for antiobiotics than most STDs.
- It’s becoming a familiar refrain, but Darren Helm was fantastic again tonight.
- Hats off to Petr Mrazek, who was sneakily stellar tonight, especially early when the Wings were on their heels. He made one save in OT where the shot was across his body and he had to reach out his blocker.
- Don’t look now, but the Red Wings are 2-0 against the Blackhawks and Blues this season. It feels like all of the 90s and most of the 00s all over again.
- The Wings finished 4-2 on their 6 game road trip, with only one of those losses one in which the Wings looked bad. They’ll head home for back-to-back games this weekend against the Predators and Sabres, games which yours truly and J.J. will be attending in person. If you’d like to come by, say hello, buy us beer, tell us how great we are, or just generally bask in our presence, let us know. I think we’d be ok with that.
