Red Wings @ Avalanche

VICTORY (OT)

4 : Detroit Red Wings @ Colorado Avalanche : 3

Career Win #400

Some Notes From The Game:

With Danny Cleary broken and out for a month, we've called up Jan Mursak from Grand Rapids, who will be making his NHL debut tonight. He's wearing 39, which was notable for being Dom Hasek's number, and was briefly worn by Franzen before he got cute and reversed the numbers for his current 93.

Don't fuck up, kid. You're in the big league now.

The First Period:

The fans boo every time Bertuzzi touches a puck. I hope he scores. A lot.

An Avs hits a goal post. I hate that sound. There's some scrumming to be had after Ozzie gloves a puck.

Aaaand then the Avs score first. Of course they do.

An Av goes off for tripping.

Bertuzzi takes the first faceoff. More booing.

Ken makes sure we remember that Hudler scored his only goal against Budaj. Here's to hoping...

Hudler's goal:

Sweet justice. Lidstrom has the puck at the left point. He passes it to Filppula at the top of the left faceoff, and Filp passes it to Huds in the right faceoff dot. Hudler shoots it on goal - it hits an Av and comes right back to him. Huds gets the second shot off - and GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Hudler has moved from Completely Useless to Almost Completely Useless. A step in the right direction.

And then the Avs score less than a minute later.

Lovely. I think Osgood would want that one back.

A Kronwall shot from the blue line is blocked, and there's a race for the rebound as it heads towards our goal. New guy Mursak gets there first and saves us from the breakaway. Lookin' good so far, kid.

Helm goes to the box for tripping. Amazingly, this is Helm's second penalty of the season.

The replay shows us this is a dive. When you trip, you don't go up before going down unless you're jumping. You just fall down.

Fucking Avalanche...

And then a minute into the penalty Abdelkader joins Helm in the box for hooking.

Did we just become best friends?

Sigh...

This gives us a solid minute of a 5-on-3 kill.

We beat the living shit out of this penalty kill. Zetterberg makes a nice showing. Ozzie makes some reassuring saves.

We get Helm back from the box, and then Abby with no further action.

There's a brief chant from the crowd that can only be our favorite rendition of 'Red Wings Suck'.

Then an Av goes to the box for crosschecking Holmstrom.

Refs are really calling a tight one today.

Whatever. We load up the power play.

And score 8 seconds into it.

Franzen's goal:

Kronwall with the puck at the right point following the faceoff. He dishes over to Lidstrom on the left point, who goes in deep and passes it to Franzen, who wrists a sick one in past Budaj. Holmstrom provides the screen.

Feed the Mule

That ties Franzen with Cleary for team lead in goals. Sadness. Keep your chin up, Cleary. You'll get your justice when you get back.

There's more booing for Bertuzzi. Ken and Murph banter about it for a bit.

Ozzie makes a quick save off a rebound from the back boards. Following the whistle there's a random scrum to be had as Stuart and McLeod get into a shoving match. They exchange a few choice words as the refs hold them apart.

What'd you say to me?!

 Does anyone else want to see Stuart beat the living shit out of someone? I know I do. There's nothing in this world I want more than to see either Stuart or Bertuzzi get into a serious center-ice fight.

Commercial break. We return to a shot of Lidstrom taping a new stick. I've included it because... uhh...

Hi, Nick

Yeah. Ken makes sure we know that Lidstrom now has 20 power play points, which is 3rd in the NHL behind Stamkos and St. Louis.

We're also 1st in the NHL in defense points with 98.

An Av goes to the box for hooking. AWESOME. Considering we're 2 for 2 on the power play, things are looking good. I hope we leave the period up a goal.

Stuart manages to get a shot. Bertuzzi manages to get booed. A lot.

Power play ends. Damn.

The Avs follow up the kill with a pretty decent shift in our end. There's a lot of madness around the crease. It was worrisome. Abby and Foote get a few shoves at each other.

Holmstrom gets nailed in the face with a puck off the glass. It didn't look enjoyable. He skates uncertainly back to the bench.

Not good

The Second Period:

Well, Holmstrom isn't on the bench as the period opens. The hockey gods are clearly displeased with the Wings for some reason.

Nick Lidstrom is all over the ice on the first shift. Holy crap.

We finally move the play out of our zone. There's a brief emergence of 'Red Wings Suck' from the crowd. It's short lived.

McLeod and Salei get in a traffic jam behind our net.

New guy Mursak goes to the box for tripping. Whoops.

Replay shows the Incredible Diving Ability of the Avs. God damn...

Lidstrom immediately clears, and the camera shows us Holmstrom returning to the bench.

Thank baby Jesus...

Pretty clinical kill and then an Av heads to the box for interference.

This gives us a 4-on-4 for thirty seconds.

Ozzie stones an Av on a breakaway.

There's some chaotic falling to the ice in the offensive zone as Mursak gets tangled up with an Av, and a few more Wings lose their footing. We get a nice deflection off, but Budaj gets in front of that.

Then we move on to thirty seconds of a Detroit power play. Nothing to be had there.

Budaj robs Kronwall.

There's a 2-on-1 break against Ozzie. Lidstrom is the man back. He breaks that shit up like he's recording an instructional video.

This game is driving me nuts. We have flashes of sheer brilliance, broken up by stretches of completely atrocious hockey. If we win this, it'll be a miracle.

IT'S MICKEY REDMOND'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!!

Happy birthday, Mick.

Big E goes to the box for interference. We're certainly exercising the special teams this evening...

Lidstrom immediately clears. He's having a good night.

Ozzie makes some good saves.

The Wings double ice the puck. Helm mutters 'are you fucking kidding me?' as he skates back to the faceoff circle.

Uncle Mike uses his time out. Helm is relieved.

Mursak nets our player profile while we wait.

Back to hockey. We conduct the faceoff, only to lose the puck in Duchene's pants.

So many jokes to be had here that I literally can't settle on which one to put...

Duchene and Helm share a few chuckles over it.

Kronwall loses his stick. Hudler gives him his.

Ozzie utterly stones some Av. Holy crap. Diving save followed by a glove save.

DENIED

Ozzie makes a sick pad save.

The Red Wing fans in the arena make themselves known with a solid OZ-ZIE OZ-ZIE!!!

Ozzie makes another save. Bertuzzi helps him out. Can we dump the puck, please?

We finally get a stop in play as Salei goes off for slashing.

Holy shit...

We load up the penalty kill. The Avs hit a goal post. Miller throws a one-man party in the offensive zone. Eaves high-sticks someone in the face but no one notices.

Ozzie makes a save. The Ozzie chant picks up. The Av fans attempt to boo it into oblivion.

There's a dude in the crowd wearing a Hasek jersey. That's what I like to see.

We get Salei back from the box.

The Avs continue to pound us in our zone. We really need to do something about that.

As the shift lengthens to ridiculous levels, our net magically becomes dislodged and play comes to a halt. Imagine that. Ozzie manages to look innocent.

Bertuzzi gets his hand on the puck. There's some booing. Ken tells him to keep his chin up.

Franzen shatters his stick on the next faceoff.

Uncle Mike doesn't look too pleased. Well, he never looks pleased, but I think he has some honest displeasure with our play so far.

Drapes absolutely NAILS the Av rookie Shattenkirk in the face with the puck. Holy crap. He's immediately attended to by the Av trainer and helped off the ice. It didn't look fun.

Oh god. There's blood.

Shattenkirk is leading rookie defensemen. Hopefully he just needs some stitches.

The Third Period:

Zetterberg gets the period started by going to the box for tripping none other than King Dive himself, Mr. Liles.

Lidstrom clears. Of course he does.

Abby blocks a shot. He didn't look to enjoy it.

Helm throws his one-man party.

Successful kill.

Bertuzzi goes to glove a puck and it ends up hitting him in the face. 'Well, the crowd will like that,' Ken says. I guffawed.

Wings miss an icing, there's some frantic hockey up and down the ice, and eventually Budaj gloves a Helm shot on goal and we get to calm things down.

Quick shot to Bertuzzi on the bench, who's sitting next to Holmstrom. Bertuzzi's got a mark on his face from the puck, and Holmstrom sports some stitches on his nose.

Not the face!

Stay healthy, boys. Please...

Zetterberg loses his stick. So does Salei. Ummm, oh my god?

Luckily the Avs fail to capitalize on this.

Bertuzzi gets the puck. The crowd remembers to boo.

The fourth line throws a party. Very good shift.

Stuart commandeers a puck. That's the only word to describe it.

Nothing until New Guy draws a holding penalty.

This would be a pretty opportune time for a power play goal.

Budaj gloves a puck and Holmstrom is in the middle of a shoving match. Just drop the gloves already, Homer. Beat the living snot out of some puny defenseman. For my peace of mind, at least.

Lidstrom gloves a puck mid-air for a keep in. Always good to see that.

Bertuzzi has the puck. Boooooooo.

Lidstrom's goal:

Making a statement this year, are we? Nick slides into the double digits for goals this season. Lidstrom shoots a puck wide, hoping for a tip. Nada, and Stuart grabs the rebound off the back boards. He passes it behind the net to Bertuzzi, who taps it to Hudler, who passes it to Filppula between the faceoff dots. Filppula hands the puck to Nick, who snaps off a solid wrister.

Nicklas Lidstrom (age 40)

Random fun note - at this point in the game, there have been five goals. All wrist shots.

With 2:46 left in the period, Kronwall goes to the box for tripping.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Nine seconds into the power play, the Avalanche score.

Of course they do.

Overtime:

Helm negates an icing. At the end of that shift, Helm draws a tripping penalty from Budaj of all people.

We throw a bunch of Swedes on the ice. Zetterberg, Franzen, Kronner, and Lidstrom.

Kronwall's goal:

Lids and Kronner play catch at the blue line and shrink the power play. Lidstrom passes it to Zetterberg on the left, and then gets it back. No joy on the one timer, so he passes back to Zetterberg and then goes deep, drawing the attention of the 3 Avs on the ice long enough for Zetterberg to pass to a wide open Kronwall. Kronner slaps it home. 

How Swede it is...

Finally.

Sweet Victory

Congratulations on career win #400, Osgood. It's been a long time coming...

Don't Think We Didn't Notice:

Other than the fact that Ozzie made a bazillion good saves and Lidstrom was making a case for a Defenseman of the Decade award, Zetterberg had a fun moment where, without a stick, he decides to go all in and dives to the ice- gloving a loose puck out of the zone.

Don't worry guys, I got it!

 No one Served with Pride. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever see this penalty again...