Happy Holidays, Screw The Blackhawks

By Adam W Parks

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Blackhawks 0 @ Red Wings 3

It has been nearly a week since the Wings were shutout for the second straight game, both by Chicago, both by the same score. Watching the game was miserable. Knowing that idiot Blackhawks fans were watching the game and laughing at our team's expense was unbearable.

It is still technically the holiday season, and even though I will be outside working on New Year's Eve and not someplace warm (American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida), I am maintaining a positive attitude and a cheery disposition. I will not allow the Blackhawks nor their fans get me down during this time of year. The season is not even halfway through and there is still plenty of hockey to be played. I am not going to talk about injuries or lack of scoring, free agents or the amount of times the Wings have been shutout at home this season. I'm not going to do it, not during the holidays.

After all, it is winter time, my favorite season in Michigan because of skiing, snowmobiling, and playing with my new dog Kaos (pronounced chaos) in the snow. Christmas is my favorite holiday, not for the gifts, not the copious amounts of food, but for family and friends. I hope everyone reading this had as good if not better Christmas in 2009 than I did.

As for the game

Detroit gave a stronger effort than the previous defeat in Chicago but was unable to put the puck in the net once again. There are so many reasons that can explain the Wings' back-to-back shutout defeats to the Blackhawks, but like I said, I am not going to delve into all of that. Not now at least. Reasons become excuses when you lose, and two bad losses in December will not define this season. Let us see how the Wings fair in another month or two.

As usual, Mike Babcock shot it straight after the game, "They were better two nights in a row, it’s that simple." He elaborated:

“I thought lots of guys tried. I think, at this time right now, their roster is better than ours," Babcock said. “It was evident as the game went on and we didn’t score. We had an opportunity on the power play (in the first period) to shoot one in the empty net and we couldn’t do that, and I thought it might have affected our game, for sure."

D Stretched Thin

For sure, scoring that goal might have changed things. Breaking the goal-less seal may have given the Wings the confidence and momentum to overcome the (currently) more talented Blackhawks. That goal could have relieved some added tension from the Detroit defense that was missing another important piece in Brian Rafalski (flu). Jakub Kindl was re-recalled from Grand Rapids but only logged 6:31 of ice time. He joined fellow Griffin Doug Janik who skated for a modest 15:26, though the rest of the defense was pushed much harder. For comparisons sake, Nicklas Lidstrom was on the ice for 26:14, and Brad Stuart spent nearly half the game on his skates at 29:09. Stuart admitted that the inability to score disrupted the Wings' game plan:

“When we got down 1-0, I thought we started to turn the puck over a little bit in the second half of the second period," Stuart said. “That might be from trying to make something happen from nothing because we haven’t scored in a while. But that’s not the way we have to do it. We have to keep sticking with the simple plays."

Griffin Eggs

Meet the New Swede-Wings fans unfamiliar with what is going on in Grand Rapids have seen a lot of fresh faces this season. Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Derek Meech, Brett Lebda, Ville Leino and Jonathan Ericsson are all part-timers turned regular Wings this season, while Doug Janik, Jakub Kindl, and Kris Newbury have stepped up and filled in admirably when called upon.

Mattias Ritola is the most recent Griffin to play for Detroit this season as Babcock swapped him for Newbury in hopes of creating more offensive opportunities against Chicago. The 22-year-old Swedish forward has eight goals (four on the power play) and 15 points in Grand Rapids, but could not provide a spark for the Wings in just his third NHL game of his young career. Ritola was on the ice for just 7:48 and failed to register a shot on goal.

Nugs and Notes

Back to Christmas-Mom gave me a pair of tickets for her and I to go see the Wings at Joe Louis Arena on my birthday in mid-January. Detroit will host Chicago for that game and guys like Niklas Kronwall and Henrik Zetterberg are expected to be back for that game.

So, go on Blackhawks, take your shutouts. Have your laughs. Enjoy your regular season successes. We will see you again soon, and I will be wearing my #5 jersey in seat 15, row 23, section 217A. Thanks Mom!

Happy Holidays.

Peace.