Oh What a Difference a Datsyuk Makes

Not that anybody noticed, but I sort of took a sabbatical over the last few weeks.  Why?  Because I'm working on a new and improved positive outlook for life, and frankly, the Wings had me dumpster-diving for expired Prozac pills ever since Pavel Datsyuk had his surgery. 

Wow!  What a tough tumble that was from the top of the Western Conference!  That home-winning streak seems so distant and inconsequential now, doesn't it?  That was fun for a bit, wasn't it?  Now it's just a reminder that a regular season achievement in the NHL is like buying a Ford Festiva--sure, it's a cheap thrill and and the spoiler is super sweet--but is it really something you're going to brag about all summer long?

Seriously, prior to the infectious rash of injuries (Howard, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Ericsson, Kindl, Bertuzzi, Franzen, Helm, MacDonald...missing anyone?) the Wings perched atop the West peering down at a juicy home-ice matchup with an eighth seed.  That painful tailspin left them watching the Blues soar by, glancing over their shoulders at the Blackhawks, and engaged in a vicious cock-fight with the Predators.  It wasn't until Monday's 7-2 blowout against the Blue Jackets that I saw a glimmer of hope that they could hold onto the fourth seed and secure that sought after first round home ice advantage.

That glimmer was Pavel Datsyuk.  The Dangler looked as if he was back to mid-season form, worth all the MVP chatter of just a month or so ago.  Of all the injuries, even Howard and Lidstrom, it was the lack of Datsyuk that made this team look horribly average, and the slide in the standings shows that.

What made the slide more salty was the return of Cindy Crosby, not so much because I hate the guy, but because I hate the media black hole he creates when he's on the ice.  A few days ago I watched an ESPN top play of Cindy Crosby making a behind-the-back no-look pass to an open winger for a goal.  A great play, yes, but relatively routine for any star in the NHL.  The no-knowledge commentators playfully talked up the play:

ESPN Moron #1: "How many people can do that?"
ESPN Moron #2: "Just one."
ESPN Moron #1 and #2: "Crosby!"

Apologies for the anti-Crosby/ tangent, but for real, Pavel pulls those passes every game--did you see his assist on Gustav Nyquist's first career goal?--and now that the Princess's headaches are better it's back to the same-ol' Penguins-or-bust Sportscenter highlights.  AAHHHH digression!

Anyway, with Datsyuk back the team's confidence seems to have rebounded along with my confidence in them still being the best in the West.  However, that was the Bluejackets they played on Monday night.  Not exactly the best ruler to measure by.

Friday night against Nashville will be good cheese.  A preview to a potential first-round bout at Joe Louis Arena.  A sort of play-in game that could decide home-ice advantage.  Both teams will be looking to make a statement and gain some leverage.  Nashville improved via the trade deadline and by weasling Alexander Radulov out of Russia, but the Wings are getting healthy and finding their championship chemistry.

Expect to see a March playoff game on Friday!

Peace. AWP

Power Play Needs to be Kronwalled

Saw this, made me puke a little.  All that talent.

Red Wings Power Play

Even when the Wings were fully healthy, Detroit's power play was...well...a turd out there. 
Babcock knows this.  He's aware.  What's frustrating is nothing has changed for him all season long, even when his Wings were flying high with the home-winning streak.

They skate through their own zone and central ice with no sense of urgency.  Players stand on the blue line, waiting, looking at the puck as if there is no plan to enter the zone--as if the defense is going to open up and let Zetterberg skate right in.  Stood up and shut down.  It reminds me of watching the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals against New Jersey.  All that talent.  All that talent and no way to utilize it.  Hell, why not just fire the puck in from their own net and send four skaters in chasing after it?  Icing maybe, but at least they wouldn't turn it over between the blue lines!

Detroit lost to Philly on Tuesday 3-2.  They were 0-4 on the power play and gave up a short-handed goal.  Games should not be lost that way,   not in the midst of a close division and conference race.  The Blues are too good.  The Canucks are too good.  The Predators could be better than everybody. 

The Wings need to fire on all cylinders in order to keep pace for the top spot in the Central and the West.  Players will get healthy, the team will stabilize, but unless something changes with the special teams play, all that talent will merely glaze over any malfunctioning component...until the playoffs.

The power play needs a jump, a jolt, a Datsyuk, or perhaps a bone boiling blast from Kronwall.

Voracek got knocked back to the Czech Republic with that latest edition of Kronwalled!.  Good news with this hit: Kronner did not receive a suspension.  Bad news with this hit: the NHL has pooped in its own hat again.

Not from TSN

TSN's Bob McKenzie tweeted, to the dismay of Flyers fans, that the principal point of contact on the hit was to Voracek's stupid head, but it was a body-to-body check.  Huh?  I mean, that's true, but why state it like that?

Brendan Shannahan is doing the best he can to break down legal and illegal hits and deal out punishements when warranted, but the NHL is bungling the verbage of its own rules, and patience is thinning and tempers are flaring around the leage.  It was a clean hit.  The league deemed it a clean hit.  It's obvious that Kronwall didn't aim for Voracek's stupid head.  Voracek aimed his stupid head for Kronwall.

Any hockey player, and fan, knows: Hold your head up, boy! Hold your head up, boy! Hold your head up, boy! Hold your head high!



One of the Morons

 It concerns me that the league cannot come to a consensus on the rules--there is a lot at stake here.  The fans get in an uproar everytime a hit is declared dirty or clean.  Moronic anti-physicality morons feast on this controversy and use it in their war to "clean up the sport".  With concussions running rampant and NHL poster-dork Cindy Crosby continuously wearing wobble pants, the lines between fighting and hitting are succesfully being blurred by boobies who have no invested interest in the sport other than investing interest in themselves.

Clean hitting is part of hockey.  It's as much a fiber of the game as the ice that its played on, but if the NHL cannot draw a fine line with how they word its rules, the morons will win and the sport will pay the consequences.

Peace. AWP