There were hockey pundits who thought the Red Wings would get swept by the No. 1 Blackhawks, arguably the best Blackhawks team ever. After a tough seven-game series against the mighty mighty Ducks, I will admit that a let down against the Blackhawks from a team that had, really, already exceeded expectations didn't seem completely unreasonable.
Well, following a 3-1 win on Monday night, the Red Wings have a 2-1 series lead and us Wings fans are feeling preeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty good. It's fun.
The Red Wings "weathered the storm" in the first period and came on strong in the second period.
Shortly after Justin Abdelkader nearly scored after he made a nifty pass off the boards to himself, the chicken king Gustav Nyquist put on the burners, a jock-removing move on Brent Seabrook, and held back the B button until he had a wide open net to flick the puck into. 1-0 Wings. You watch:
A mere 31 seconds later, just as they were finishing up announcing the first goal with the arena still buzzing and us still horripilating, Drew Miller crashed the net and tapped in a Cory Emmerton rebound to make it 2-0, just like those fluke goals in mid 90s video games. Feelings were good at this point and going into the third.
Less than five minutes into the third, though, Patrick Kane got the Blackhawks on the board. 2-1. Also on the board was Johan Franzen, but that didn't wind up in the books for some reason.
A moment later the Hawks nearly tied the score at 2-2, but the goal was waved off due to interference with Howard, much to the chagrin (Chicago-in?) of the Blackhawks. But according to Rule No. 35.93, you don't interfere with Jimmy Howard after boarding a mule. That's a real rule I just made up. Here's the controversial video:
A moment later, Datsyuk got magical again, putting the game all but out of reach with another wrister gatorade rattler. Now you have a chance, now you don't – the magic man:
Bumps on skin. That's Pav.
Zetterberg on Datsyuk's goal: "That's Pav."
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) May 21, 2013
Yep, that's Pav. And that's the Red Wings winning Game 3. I haven't had this much fun watching the Red Wings since 1997. Seriously. I'm pretty sure that was the last time I didn't absolutely expect them to win each and every playoff game.
Game 4 is on Thursday night at 8pm ET. I expect the Red Wings to win. Duh.
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