BlueMonk

Ah, but this is changing, too. The Pistons got good more recently, so they're a little late to the dance, but they're showing up. There are scores of empty seats at The Palace and they're piping in more artificial noise to compensate. The sellout streak is going to end, if not this season, then next. Season ticket holders are deciding they can't/don't want to make that kind of financial commitment during these tough times. It will happen to the Tigers, too, eventually (though not right away, they arrived on the scene as a good team just last year).

Matt Cooke makes Kirk Maltby look like Dave "The Hammer" Schultz.

Yeah, this is correct. For a split second, I thought he said "s***ty," too.

I was at this game, it was pretty much a perfect game, it had everything. The shutout, the hat trick, a fight (and a pretty good one, too), that crazy Hasek-Gaborik hit. Great to see Franzen's game rounding into form and Hudler's, too.

All things considered, I thought the interview was fine.

Agreed. Bettman deserves a share of the blame, but above all else he's a figurehead for the league's ownership. An ownership that fans, including many on this board, cut a lot of slack during the lockout.

I don't believe, and never have, that there was ever a serious chance Niedermayer would retire. I would have bet anyone (and did) that he'll be back this year. If I'm wrong, okay, but that's how it felt to me. And whatever the reason, I don't particularly like it. If it was pre-arranged, it makes the NHL and its CBA look silly. If it wasn't, then it's a stretch for me to believe it was ever really about anything but resting his body. I could be dead wrong and Niedermayer really could have been struggling with this decision. In that scenario, I guess I don't really have any objections. But I just don't believe that was ever what this was about.

Making extra hilarious the ridiculous comparisons to the 1976-77 Habs team.

Yeah, that was surreal. Probably the only arena in the league (besides the Joe) where that will happen.

Absolute crap fight but good for Lilja answering the bell.

Koivu's the captain and all, but WTF was Dandenault thinking? It's not like Sammy's a fighter, he never even took off the gloves.

3rd man in penalty comin.

Wings have the puck almost the entire game, but the Canadiens are getting the power plays. I'm a little dismayed.

I didn't see it, but I know what you mean, there are a lot of bad ones out there. I was listening to XM Home Ice the other day and they interviewed Larry King (yes, that Larry King). I guess he used to do between periods interviews for the Washington Capitals.

#1 PP in the league, and the Wings are without 2/3rds of their top PK unit.

He's the worst I've seen. And I'm a long time Center Ice subscriber.

It was John Keating-esque.

Dats again! Not too pleased with the whistles. Right now, seems like the Wings are working awfully hard and getting mugged without getting a call.

Mr. T is aging pretty well, though.

Funny how when it's gushing about the other team, it's "annoying," but when it's about the Wings, it's "interesting."

Yeah, I missed it, too. The dog was going nuts trying to get my attention to let her out, so against my better judgment, I get the leash and take her outside. I come back in and the score is 1-0.

As a Wings fan, I take no comfort in Anaheim's slide at all. I imagine a team working hard all year to secure the best record in the West, only to take the Ducks on in the first round or something. Nightmare, no matter how bad they're playing now. Especially if Niedermayer comes back.

I caught the last half of the show this morning. Not too bad, from what I heard.

Props to crow eaters. Good to see someone willing to be a man (I mean that in a non-gender specific way) and admit something turned out different than he expected. I'm really impressed by Osgood myself. To me, he looks not so much like a 1997 version of himself, but an entirely new goaltender. He seems to be playing a different style. More butterfly, more aggressive coming out to cut off angles. Very solid, not giving up the backbreaking soft goals that seem to demoralize the team. I have to eat crow, too. In my case, it's because Jiri Hudler seems to be a legit, NHL scoring winger. I had my doubts that a 4'9", 78lb. forward could really thrive in the big leagues, but the kid looks like he's the real deal.

He's playing incredible right now, much more aggressive about scoring. The thing with Datsyuk is, after the Calgary game he said, to everyone's surprise, that he actually didn't have much energy, even though he scored those two beauties. Said something about how he couldn't dance with the puck as much. I think there might be something to that. Sometimes he might be a little too fancy. The fact is that when he just goes straight to the net, he's a huge problem for the defenders. Datsyuk has had a lot to do with Zetterberg's hot start this year. There's a ton of hard work he's doing with the puck, in the corners and along the boards, to get Z those shots. He's just an amazing player with an almost unique skill set.