Heroes of Hockeytown

They went .500 for a while, which means it's a normal hockey season, so I wasn't too phased by that. Plus, it's the Wings, so they're obviously going to cruise into the playoffs like they have every other year of my life, making it doubly pointless for me to worry about it. All of the injuries bother me a bit though, but just as Pav and Dano go down (and Eaves for having the audacity to play well in their absence) they start to go on a winning streak, so I can't even gripe about that.

Excitement? Adventure? Mindfly craves not these things.

That's a good point about one-timers, guys. Probably the best play I've seen Zetterberg make in a week was his one-timer against Vancouver that Lidstrom scored on the rebound of. It was kind of out of nowhere -- how often do we see Hank take one-timers? -- and the shot wasn't a bomb by any means; but the act of having to move across and immediately make a save instead of getting square caused Luongo to pop out the rebound.

Both the Wings and Stars were playing their third game in four nights, but the Wings got the previous night off. Much like earlier in the year when the Wings played Vancouver and skated to a tie going into the second intermission but got blasted in the third, I think the Wings took advantage of a tired team last night. In either case if the losing team had had its legs going into the third the outcome may have been different, but also could have ended up the same. It's pointless to speculate; back-to-backs, 3-in-4, these are the breaks in the NHL. The point is to win, which the Wings did emphatically yesteday.

Pffft, lemme know when Eaves can do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFo48SrtfsA

Not to necessarily compare players, but Eaves had a very Hull-esque game tonight (he even inherited Brett's old number!), drifting away from coverage into those quiet zones. His first goal could be placed among a Hull highlight package and you wouldn't notice the difference. Basically what I'm saying is, he's going to score 70 goals.

If Eaves continues to emerge as a breakout player for the Wings it will be interesting to see what happens when the team gets healthy, including Modano. They'll be running out of spots for top-9, scoring-line-type forwards in a hurry.

I agree. He had a strong game defensively, breaking up passes and checking hard. And then helped start the Wings' rally setting up Nick's goal.

Murph doesn't discriminate, he will accept all food objects into his sustenance receptacle.

Awww, I love the Red Wings.

Uh oh, Eaves hatty incoming!

Man, I think you got this one right, Franzen 2.0 on our hands here. :w00t2:

OH MY GOD EAVES

Haha! Draper! Beauty! Love Eaves!

Eaves is having a monster game.

Holy turnover Bert.

Great puck control! Another point for Jiri!

Can't argue with the play coming out of the dressing room.

Entertaining game so far. If we could take away that one minute there where Dallas couldn't stop scoring, the Wings would be doing pretty great. Because he's not the worst poster on this site.

Oh wow what a play by Franzen. That's a beauty.

I was watching the game and they didn't seem all that interested in getting him the point he need in OT either. Malkin had the puck the entire time and never passed it Crosby. In any event they were obviously just trying to win a game. Credit to the Islanders for ending the streak.

All of his points have been on the PP. Tonight he's got an even strength goal but he was also on the ice for Richards' goal, although the play was nowhere near him.

At least Nick is still in beastmode.

Well this is incredibly terrible.