Oilers 6 Wings 5 (SO)

Hmmmm that game was a bit of déjà vu without the positive outcome.  Does that even make sense?  Oh well.  The Wings lost in a shootout tonight.  Normally my next line would refer to the Wings blowing a lead late in the third period.  But no, instead they came back from being down 4-0 at one point to tie the game at 5-5.  It was unfortunately typical Red Wings hockey.  They came to play for a period and a half. Pathetic.  I guess we will all have to be happy they came out of this decacle with a point. Sigh.

I did however learn something about myself.  I am a masochist.  The first two periods were painful. Awful.  And yet I continued to watch.  Like a car crash I couldn’t look away.  There has to be some sort of program or support group for this disorder.  Something.

Alright so here are my random thoughts from the game:

• During a pregame interview, Babcock said they need to start fast.  Well I guess the Oilers got the message because the Wings started painfully slow.
• Last game the Wings were scored on 30 seconds into the first.  This game they held them off for a full 42 seconds. No really they did, golf claps and finger snaps are in order.  I suppose they would like us to be happy with the improvement than….right?
• After the first goal cluster, Stuart had a good, clean hit.  For some reason only known to Peca, he took exception and attempted to fight Stuart.  Ok first of all, you know that Mickey Redmond was having a babbling fit at home, screaming at the tv about old time hockey, Gordie Howe, and pre lockout play.  Secondly, players need to remember this isn’t the damn ice capades. IT’S HOCKEY.  Chances are you will be hit, you won’t like it, but Jesus get over it.  Sometimes I feel like they are a bunch of whinny middle school girls out there worried about who gave them the side eye….
• Well thanks to Peca’s needless bitchfit, the Wings were on the powerplay.  Lucky for the Oilers they decided to ignore everything they learned last game and keep the puck on the perimeter.  Apparently the fact that Homer’s ass contributed to 3 goals in Vancouver was meaningless.
• Stuart and Rafalski were both a -3 a minute early in the Second.  How many times does Babcock have to be kicked in the balls with their shitty play for him to realize they have no chemistry. 
• Howard seemed to be over committing and too far out of the net most of the night.  If you add up the distance jimmy was out of net on the first 3 goals it would come close to the size of Ovechkin’s ego. Interesting side note, when Ozzie is feeling less than confident and playing poorly, he seems to back up into the goal. Howard is the exact opposite.  Personally I’m not thrilled with either at this point.
• Saw something I’ve never seen before, Babcock leaving the ice after the first looking confused and bewildered.  Perfect. Just perfect.  At least he knows how fans have felt since, well Sweden.
• During the beginning of the second, the Oilers scored again, yes again, during the first minute.  On a breakaway none the less.  Oh it was just delightful. Icing on the shit cake that’s for sure.
• At some point during the second Helm seemed to have had enough.  That spanking from Babcock paid off and he scored his first regular season NHL goal. The best part, he created the opportunity for himself by causing an Oiler’s turnover in the neutral zone. It seemed to spark something in the slumping Wing’s team.
• But just as Helm did something positive, Lebda, was Brett Lebda, and he took a stupid penalty causing the Oilers to go up 5-1.  Yeah wonderful.
• While the score was 5-1 the seemingly endless Christmas morning from hell continued.  Filppula left the game with at that point an undisclosed injury.  Now we all know he’s out 6-8 weeks with a broken wrist.   Yeah the gifts keep coming.
• Apparently since they were down 5-1 the Wings decided it was time to play. I just wish they would make that decision before they were down multiple goals.  At this point Kronwall makes a great play to get the puck deep, and then wait for it, Zetterberg shows up to the party and scores.  Someone tell him he was beyond fashionably late.
• During this time, the Wings bring back the aggressive forecheck and less skeptical defense to bring the score to 5-4. Ericsson and Bertuzzi scored within a minute and a half of each other. Nice to have that happen to someone else.
• Kronwall had a great game except the one turnover deep in the Wings zone which lead to an excellent Jimmy Howard save and him getting bowled over for his troubles.  Ignoring that entirely too large mental fart, Kronwall has been quite impressive the last few games. 
• Personally I hadn’t noticed Eaves much this season.  However once Babcock, put him on a line with Draper and Helm, he suddenly turned into a forechecking terror.  He also apparently decided it was time to score the game tying goal. That line looked good, fast and not the defensively liable grouping I had feared. 
• During the third period shots were 21-6 Wings.  And their play warranted it. They controlled the tempo of the game and started putting traffic up front.  It was impressive…which begs the question, why the hell don’t they do that all the time?  I think it’s time to bring in a sports psychologist.
• Thanks to the fire lit under the Wings ass in the third period the play went into over time.  With about 45 second left,(warning, you may need to hold your breath for this) Jimmy Howard was out of position, AGAIN, and Lidstrom came to the far side post and made a great save.  At this point, if the Wings defense wasn’t so shitty, I would say dress Lidstrom as the goalie.  You know his positioning and mental stability will be far greater than Howards….and Ozzie, sorry.
• Thanks to that play the game went to a shootout.  Which as most die hard Wings fans know does not bode well for the team.  Neither the shooters or the goalies seem to excel.  Right before it began it appeared as though Ozzie was giving young Jimmy some advice….I hope it consisted of the following “Dude, don’t look at me. I never have any idea what the hell I’m doing in a shootout.”Anything else would be misleading.
• Before the first shooter, I had a bad feeling about Howard’s potential performance.  It scared me as much as the thought of seeing your grandparent naked.  Gross.  But he wasn’t as terrible as I imagined. He made one save, one shot went wide, and the other was a freak missle seeking shot that I will refrain from blaming Howard.
• The Wing’s shooters however, they can suck it. Suck a big Richard. Who the hell told BOTH Datsyuk and Zetterberg to take a wrist shot.  Pathetic attempts.
• I will say however, my favorite part of the game was watching the Oilers celebrate as if they just won a decisive playoff game.  Ummmm you should hang your heads in shame as well. You do remember you gave up a 4 goal lead right??

As I impulsively alluded to late last night, the only important thing to focus on after this game is Filppula breaking his wrist causing the Wings to lose him for 6-8 weeks.  All I know for sure is the Eurotwins will once again be split up.  People keep mentioning the Wings are struggling due to league parity.  Perhaps partially.  But melding all of the new faces, the Franzen ACL, and now the Filppula wrist injury seem to be more likely culprits.

Holland, Lidstrom, Babcock, yeah I’m looking at you to figure this shit storm out.