Game 1? Oh, you know, the usual.

The Red Wings and Predators spent all night in the penalty box, despite being the two least penalized teams in the league this season… Mike Babcock called out the refs on live television… gravity ceased to exist around Pekka Rinne… random bounces got by Jimmy Howard… Darren Helm had his wrist sliced open by Alexander Radulov’s blade… the Wings actually scored — TWICE! — on the power play… and Shea Weber took Henrik Zetterberg’s head and slammed it into the glass after the final horn sounded.

The big stories a day later: Darren Helm underwent successful surgery to repair “lacerated tendons” in his right forearm as a result of the freak accident. He will not return to action this post-season, but the team expects him to be ready for training camp in September. Tough break for one of the hearts of the team, especially after only playing 3:08 in his first game back after missing ten with a knee injury.

Shea Weber was not suspended for his hellacious act, but was fined $2,500 (the maximum the league allows). There’s just… nothing else to say. Unbelievable. There will be no response on the ice from the Red Wings, either. Believe that.

With Helm out of the lineup, Gustav Nyquist slots back in. And good thing he was benched for the first game so that Cory Emmerton could play two minutes — DESPITE THE TEAM LOSING A CENTER IN THE FIRST PERIOD. I just don’t understand the rationale behind that. The Red Wings have always had this way of grooming players and making them pay their dues, and that’s fine in general. But sometimes there are circumstances that outweigh that, like — say — icing the best goddamn team we can. But instead of Goose being able to CONTINUE to prove he belongs on a scoring line, we had Cory Emmerton stapled to the bench all night.

Nyquist was practicing on a line with Cleary and Abdelkader — the defacto third line. I guess that’s better than eating popcorn.

Chalk another one up for The Red Wings Way that hasn’t proven to work yet this season.