DEFEAT
1 : Detroit Red Wings @ Atlanta Thrashers : 5
GCL allows you to watch games live (albeit with a 30 second delay to the action, making my attempts to liveblog it somewhat iffy. I'm usually torn between looking and not looking in the comments until something cool happens, as it's somewhat of a killjoy so see ten or so people suddenly comment OMFG JIMMAH!!! and know that our goaltender must be 30 seconds away from doing something awesome...) GCL also allows you to choose between the home and away feed, which is really the only reason I shelled out the cash.
However, what they don't tell is that this option only exists for the live streaming. Once the game has finished, GCL only keeps the home feed in the archives. So every away game, unless I use the intermissions to take my screen captures and take notes on all things Ken and Mick or things particular to a FS Detroit broadcast, I lose them as soon as the game is finished. FSD is really good on the replays, which is awesome because you can't really take a screen cap during normal play. Everyone is moving so fast all you get are red-white blurs in vaguely human shapes. I'm stuck with Thrasher's feed for the recap, so bear with me...
Yup. Onward, then.
Some Notes From The Game:
It's pronounced Buff-lin?!
It's spelled Byfuglin! Where the hell do you get 'Buff-lin' from?! That's more annoying than Favre!
I hope that guy crashes and burns by season's end, if only for having a ridiculous name.
No Mick, as we're on the road. Larry instead... joy.
The First Period:
Thrashers open up the scoring.
The reaction of Big E is priceless. He was focused on the battle for the puck behind the net and missed the Thrasher standing right behind him. A pass from behind the net to the Thrasher right in front, who shoots it in. Big E mopes in abject shame.
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| This is what failure looks like |
Some crap hockey is played for the next several minutes. The Red Wings are trying, but the Thrashers definitely seem to have the upper hand.
Raffi plays goaltender when Jimmah goes diving outside the crease and makes a sick save.
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| Rafaaaaalskiiiiii |
The fourth line draws a penalty when a Thrasher goes to the box for tripping Eaves.
We get about 20 seconds into the power play when Datsyuk loses the drop-pass from Lidstrom in the neutral zone, which is scooped up by a Thrasher.
Who then proceeds to score.
Short-handed goals. Gotta love um.
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| They can't believe it either |
The Thrashers clearly did their research. The Lidstrom-to-Datsyuk drop pass has been our favorite power play entry this season, and they tore it apart with clinical ease. How embarrassing.
The first line skates around in shame. Ole Ole Ole plays over the loudspeaker, and I have flashbacks to one of my favorite movies of all time, The Replacements.
Thankfully the Red Wings employ Toddzilla, who takes the role of kill-joy 19 seconds later.
Bertuzzi's goal:
Kronner has it on the blue line. Dishes to Modano on the left, who dishes it to Toddzilla on the right, who wrists it in.
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| Don't worry. I got this. |
I tried to take a shot of the self-satisfied smirk on Toddzilla's face afterward, but couldn't manage. You'll just have to take my word for it. It was priceless.
Nothing much for the rest of the period. Wings play some sloppy hockey. The fourth line gets some good chances. Homer goes off for tripping in the last few seconds. Babs isn't pleased.
Managed to listen to some commentary from the Thrasher announcers who were, following Bertuzzi's goal, discussing Detroit's penchant for picking up players on the tail end of their careers and employing them as role players (citing Hull, Robitaille, etc), as it seems Detroit is the place to be for that one last shot at getting your name on the Cup.
"Just when you think a guy's got nothing left in the tank, he shows up in Detroit, ends up producing, you know, 12-15 goals, and it makes you wonder."
The Second Period:
The beginning of this period saw some technical difficulties on behalf of FS Detroit, wherein they lost the video feed and had to switch to radio announcing. Then about 3 minutes into the period they hijack the Thrasher video, before finally restoring our feed around the 1630 mark. It was interesting, to say the least.
Thrashers score score during this crisis. Of course they do. Missed it on the original viewing, obviously, but had the pleasure of seeing it on the re-watch. Stuart crashes into Lidstrom on the boards. Funny stuff.
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| Traffic jam |
Some hockey for a few minutes. Am I the only one that likes watching the fourth line party in the offensive zone? Especially with Raffi on the point. It's like watching dad play hockey with his kids.
There's a stick yard sale in our end. Jimmah loses his stick behind the goal, but Raffi is on top of shit this game and kindly returns it.
Duran Duran makes an appearance over the loudspeakers. Really? It's 2010.
They keep throwing the FOX DETROIT fenders randomly on the sides of the screen. Guys in the truck need to step up their game.
The first line tries really hard to score.
Jimmah makes me incredibly nervous.
Modano takes yet another open ice hit.
Bertuzzi tries to single-handedly win this game. Modano helps with the effort, as does Cleary, who goes digging for gold but fails.
Helm loses his helmet.
... eheh...
... eheh...
There's a mad scramble in front of the net. Chaos reigns for about 10 seconds. Sticks are broken. Bodies are shoved. Shots are taken. Jimmah scrambles. Thankfully, the puck is eventually cleared.
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| Sweet heart-stopping chaos |
I fucking love Dos Equis commercials.
Jim Slater? Shave the mustache off. I know it's important to you. But shave it off.
So far, 109,901 tickets have been sold for the Big Freeze. If I was in Mich, I'd so be there. Go Spartans!!
Toddzilla brought his A game to this match. Cleary wants to pick a fight. I can tell.
We get some remarks on Lidstrom's ability to slow shit down when he gets the puck.
The Red Wings try to set an NHL record for turnovers in a single game.
Kronwall breaks his stick. Thank god Mick's not here, or I'm sure this would be the final straw and we'd be forced to endure a very long conversation about hockey sticks.
Thrashers score again. Jimmah looks about done.
Lidstrom checks someone. I'm not kidding. Knocks him to the ice and steals the puck. I don't think TPH is having a good game.
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| You all saw it |
The Third Period:
Babs has decided to pull Jimmah and put Joe-Mac in.
Another damn turnover in neutral.
Miller draws a penalty for interference.
We squander it. The Thrashers almost score short-handed again, but Datsyuk tries to make up for his earlier snafu by blocking the shot. It was a near thing.
I begin to have my suspicions that someone put a random north or south magnet in the Wing's skates, drawing them randomly together on the ice. It's the only explanation. Everyone forgot how to skate tonight.
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| DENIED |
We get a funny ass look at the crowd, which is about 73% Wings fans.
We reach the mark of our great 2005 comeback against the Thrashers around 12 mins. Ken hopes for a repeat. I remain skeptic.
Cleary and a Thrasher joust for a good minute, before both of them get called for crosschecking when they try to pick a fight.
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| Wanna go? |
Next, Datsyuk goes off for interference. Some reference by Ken that there wont be a Lady Byng this year.
Buff-lin scores. Of course he does. Gives his stick a little twirl and taps it on the glass at some Thrasher fans for good measure. Classy.
Modano gets the jersey flapping. He really likes the 'speed up the left and wrist' play. He is denied.
Nothing much for the rest of the game. Oh well.
Don't Think We Didn't Notice:
This is probably lost forever, as the Wings feed is not kept in the NHL archive for this game, but during one of the intermissions we're granted a look at the Eurotwins. At one point they ask the players what kind of music Pavel listens to, and no one can really say, but Stuart says it's some sort of Russian techno.
The studio grants us this classic photoshop. I think it speaks for itself.
No one served with pride.
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