A Couple Of Rants, A Couple Of Hats

By Adam W Parks

Saturday, November 14, 2009 Ducks 4 @ Red Wings 7

It's a November Monday morning in Michigan...and I feel pretty good...thanks in part to an incredible Wings win against Anaheim on Saturday. For me, the game was reminiscent of a playoff matchup. Perhaps that has something to do with the Wings playing against a Ducks team that they have formed a legitimate rivalry with after several intense playoff battles. Most recently, Detroit was triumphant in a seven-game second-round series last season that propelled the Wings on through the Blackhawks and onto the Finals. Two seasons prior, Anaheim took a six-game Western Conference Finals series against Detroit and went on to win the Stanley Cup. And of course we all remember (know matter how hard we've tried to forget) Jean-Sebastien Giguere and the eighth-seeded Ducks' sweep of the top-seeded Wings in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. Detroit might be missing some important pieces from last season, but the Ducks are an entirely different-looking team this season and are currently at the bottom of the Western Conference. Alas, it was still a sweet victory.

The Difference Between Expectations and Expecting

I'll admit, this hockey season has had me feeling a little anxious. I mean, things got a little scary there for a while, right? Injuries, turnovers, goaltending, scoring...the sky was falling on what is left of the city of Detroit, and I was spinning the same broken record about the Wings' struggles that everyone else was already listening to. My confidence in the Wings was wavering more in the past month and a half than it has in some 15 years, even though my honest expectations for Detroit this season had nothing to do with getting back to the Stanley Cup Finals. Anyone who was expecting to see a third-straight trip to the top before the season started had to be a little delusional about how much of an effect the free agent departures and the improvement of the rest of the teams in the Western Conference would have.

I hate to use the nasty word entitled because it means you sit around expecting good things to happen to your team...so I won't use that term. But we as Wings fans have become spoiled by the spoils of our team's success. We create high expectations for our team because that is what we have grown accustomed to doing. This is not a bad thing because we are an intelligent fanbase that understands how much more difficult it is to get to the championships in the NHL than any other sport. And we do not take trips to the finals for granted after several early and humbling playoff oustings over the years. As I stated earlier, the Stanley Cup was not one of my expectations for the Wings this season, but I still have several not-quite-so high expectations. A ninth-straight Central Division title is one of them, a reasonable task that most reasonable fans could expect. Though, at certain points thus far, it has appeared that the Wings would not be able to actually compete with Chicago, or possibly even Columbus, a pill that was tough to swallow. But what I am learning more and more in life, and in Red Wings, is you win some, you lose some, and no matter what you will always have lofty expectations to adhere to and reasons to Push the Pig:

If you look I'm sure you'd see that nothing's really as it seems.
Soon enough you'd realize you promise more than you'll provide.
The substance that we're hoping for will always leave us needing more.
We're calloused 'til we cannot feel the only moments that were real.
~Brendan Bayliss

But oh how things have balanced out; equilibrium is almost attained. Halfway through November the Wings are now in a pretty good situation. At 10-5-3, Detroit trails Chicago by just three points in the division, and has moved into fifth place in the conference. The Blackhawks will get Marion Hossa soon, but we will get Valtteri Filppula and Jason Williams back, and we can look forward to the return of Johan Franzen. Take a look at the top teams in the West: San Jose (32), Colorado (27), Chicago, Calgary, and Los Angeles (all with 26). The Wings lost two to Colorado, one in a shootout, the other in a Craig Anderson MVP performance. Forget those and they are undefeated against the rest, 1-0 against all those other teams. 18 games in and the Wings have 23 points, just six less than last season when they went 13-2-3, a record that would put Detroit second in the entire league this season. I surely was not expecting that, so how could I be upset with where they are now?

What appeared to be struggling early may have just been a case of hiccupping, losing bad games at vulnerable times. In the last eight games, Detroit has been dominating with a 7-1-1 record and two three-game winning streaks. The goaltending has been excellent, only allowing more than one goal in a game twice. It took a little longer, but the goal-scoring has also greatly improved with 19 goals in the last three games. Sure, those number are a little inflated and impossible to sustain, but it is amazing how this team has responded to adversity. The younger players are settling in nicely, the defense is tightening up in front of Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard, and the guys who need to score are doing it.

He's Keeping This. It's Totally Hank's Hat Now

Henrik Zetterberg had been on the verge of busting out a monstrous game offensively. Despite leading the Wings in scoring all season long, he had only scored two goals in the first twelve games of the season. Though it was not for a lack of trying. He has taken the sixth most shots (72) in the entire league and leads all other Wings by 20 (Todd Bertuzzi has 52). After Saturday's hat-trick against the Ducks, Hank now has eight goals on the season,four in his last two games, and six in his last six. Zetterberg's nine points in the past three contests gives him 22 on the season, ranking him 13th in the NHL.

Hank missed a good portion of the preseason, so a slow start was to be expected. The Wings needed someone to step up and score goals this season and in the third period against Anaheim, Zetterberg took ahold of those reigns. It was his fourth hat-trick of his career and it was the second time he scored three goals in the third period. The first such occasion came against Columbus on March 19, 2008. This rare feat of three in the third puts him in rare company, as Daniel Alfredsson, Ryan Smyth, and Eric Staal are the only other active players that have accomplished the same thing. Granted, Zetterberg's third goal was an empty-netter with less than a second left in the game, but his second goal was the game-winner. Hank leads his team, and the league, with four deciding tallies.

Griffin Eggs

Helm Insurance-Zetterberg may have gotten the gamewinner, but Darren Helm picked up his second goal of the season to offset a scoring trend and add some essential cushion to Detroit's lead. The third period was a back and forth affair that saw eight pucks find nets. It all began when Bobby Ryan scored for the Ducks to tie the game at 2-2. The scoring would see-saw as Pavel Datsyuk gave the Wings the lead again, followed by an Anaheim goal from Joffrey Lupol, which preceded Zetterberg's first goal of the game, that Ryan Getzlaf matched shortly thereafter to tie it again at 4-4. Zetterberg ripped a slap-shot for the clincher, but Helm's goal broke the scoring cycle and the necks of the Ducks, finally putting them down for good.

3-Straight-For the first time in his career Jimmy Howard started back-to-back games...and then he got another one...and he won them all! Howard was brilliant against Vancouver and Columbus, but allowed four goals on 23 shots to the Ducks. Though, three of those goals went to Getzlaf, Ryan, and Corey Perry, and not too many goalies have been able to shut that line down as of late. Chris Osgood (flu) should be set to return on Wednesday against Dallas, but it sure is nice to have a backup that can be counted on.

Nuges and Notes

I Can See Cleary Now The Slump Is Gone-Dan Cleary scored his first goal of the season in the second game of the season. It was the 99th of his career. He screwed around for a while and finally got his 100th 13 games later against Toronot, the only Detroit goal in the 5-1 loss. It's hard to celebrate a personal milestone amidst such a terrible team moment, but at least it got him going again. Cleary scored the first goal of the game against Anaheim, a power play goal, and now has three goals and six points in his last four games.

What's Up With Nick?-Nicklas Lidstrom registered an assist on Saturday and has four in the last five games, though he only has one goal and seven points on the season. He is third amongst defensemen on the team in scoring behind Niklas Kronwall (13), Brian Rafalski (10), and Jonathan Ericsson (9). From the 19 goals the Wings have scored in the last three games, Nick only got two assists. He had a seven-game pointless streak prior to the San Jose game. Should anybody be worried about the Captain? No. Not in the slightest.

Here is why. Lidstrom has the highest +/- rating on the team with +11 (Patrick Eaves is next best at +7). He is tied with Pittsburgh's Alex Goligoski for fifth-best in the NHL. There has only been one game this entire season that he has had a minus rating in, a -1 in the 6-2 loss to Buffalo. Lidstrom is not shooting nearly as much as he has in previous seasons, tendonitis the most likely culprit. In interviews, he seemed to be absorbing much of the team's poor defensive play early on, placing it on his own shoulders. So now he is concentrating harder on the defensive end of the ice (if that could even be possible). Fine with me! A very Yzermanesque thing to do!

Peace.