Wings climb back into playoffs (and raise $140 for H2H)
FINAL SCORE (Hi Dad!)
Wings 3-2
H2H DONATIONS TALLY
Mike Serven :: $34 [$15 for the goals, $19 for the win]
Vicky Bash, Victory :: $26
Nurse Nitz :: $10 [$5 for the victory, $5 for Nick’s goal]
Andy, Fight Night :: $9
Drew, Helm Street :: $6
Jennbikegirl :: $6
Rob, Etched in Cold :: $6
Brad Boswell :: $6
sigsegfalt :: $6
Sara :: $6
Ellen, Big Red Machine :: $6
Natalie, Scrappy Octopus :: $6
Beanie, Victory :: $5
AllisonRW96 :: $2
The Production Line :: $6
TOTAL PLEDGED VS. COLORADO :: $140
If you’re interested in joining the fight and have a fun pledge you want to share with The Production Line, Herm 2 Hockeytown, and Children’s Hospital, please let me know in the comments or via e-mail. Check out the TPL post introducing the fun times and check out everyone’s pledges!
TPL’S TAKE
The first period was all Detroit. Pavel Datsyuk’s dish to Tomas Holmstrom was magical. Welcome back, Dangle. It only took a few minutes to feel like the Red Wings we all know and love were back.
I missed the Johan Franzen goal because Monday is the best night on television. Let me explain: my DVR can record two things at once, but I can’t watch a third. As soon as The Big Bang Theory began (and was being recorded alongside Intervention), the channel was automatically changed. I ran into another room, and it was 2-0 Wings. I have nothing more to add except that you can buy Sheldon’s shirts here.
The Tweet of the Night? I have that for you… it’s from @Mariia19:
I can’t beleive my team is winning and the people that scored aren’t douchebags! i missed my red wings 🙂
What could possibly go wrong?
Oh, wait… Johan Franzen seemed to score his second goal in a row. But, probably because he’s really pissed he can’t show off his awesome hair anymore, Kerry Fraser ruled no-goal. He then proceeded to scream at the crowd and call Tomas Holmstrom out by name, as if to give him a verbal parent-spank. The runner up for Tweet of the Night goes to @sigsegfalt:
B.S. no-goal call robs $17 worth of @H2Hockeytown donations. Kerry Fraser hates children.
To make matters worse, the Avs score almost immediately after the stanky call, on an eerily similar play. Paul Stastny (Silver Medalist) made incidental contact with Howard, just like Holmstrom made with Anderson, but the Avs goal stood up. Why not?
A few minutes later, Chris Stewart ties it at two. It was a shot that Jimmy Howard absolutely needs to stop. I call out Chris Osgood when he makes a dumbass play, and to be fair, I’ll do the same for Tiberius. It was epic – he’ll never have that long to watch a windup again. No excuse.
Hey guys, do you remember how awesome Jonathan Ericsson and Jason Williams were before the Olympics? Neither do I. And neither did they.
Six days ahead of the Oscars, Craig Anderson thought maybe he’d toss his name into the hat as a late entrant to the Best Actor category (good luck overtaking Jeff Bridges this close to the ceremony, Craig) with an unbelievable flop after bumping into Holmstrom. And — wouldn’t ya know it — the Wings are on the kill again.
The game winner from Nicklas Lidstrom was another classic Datsyuk play. He probably could have scored himself after faking out every Colorado Avalanche – Anderson included – and most of the lower bowl before dishing to a wide open Shiny Nickel.
Late in the game, Holmstrom and Adam Foote got matching minors after jousting much of the game. Earlier in the evening, the Versus crew almost orgasmed all over themselves talking about how maybe these two warriors would fight. They obviously reside in MaybeFifteenYearsAgoButStillProbablyNotLand.
REVISITING THE PRE-GAME QUICK THOUGHTS
1. Intensity was good. A lot of the Red Wings looked pissed off. Good. Get in the playoffs and stay there.
2. The obvious catalyst appears to be Pavel Datsyuk. He was fantastic.
3. Howard played okay. He made saves – particularly in the final minute – that kept the Wings ahead. But, like mentioned above, the second goal against left plenty to be desired.
4. Lilja did look a bit rusty, but that’s to be expected after a year away from the speed of an NHL game. He only logged nine and a half minutes, so they’re obvious weening him back onto regular duty.
WHAT’S NEXT
Canucks on Wednesday. If you’d like to join the crew and pledge some dough for every Red Wings goal or other random phenomenon (details here), shoot me an e-mail.
Definitely rust on Lilja, but he didn't blow any coverages leading to goals.
Datsyuk was so amazingly dominant last night. Watching the games where you know he won't be denied is the most fun I've had all year.
Um, here in Michigan, Intervention replays at 1 am, which is when I DVR it. 🙂 Problem solved.
Being a DirecTV customer, I don't get Versus anymore so was watching online. During the second intermission, the feed I was watching had the same problem – it switched channels to record an episode of House! So I had to find another feed for the rest of the game. I sure hope DirecTV and Versus get that worked out soon.
JJ, Datsyuk was awesome. He looks angry he didn't get a medal, thanks to those useless KHL players, and he's going to take it out on everyone.
Dena, that's a damn good idea. I have DVR record the "NEW" ones so I don't miss any, but if the 1am airing is the same episode as the premiere earlier in the night, I may have to switch.
Jenn, House is an absolute must. Like Intervention, I only have the DVR record new episodes (which start again next Monday), otherwise there would have been another problem. HA!
I always had you guys pegged as How I Met Your Mother guys, but Kaley Cuoco would be enough to make me tune in too haha.
The only thing I hope they do next game is not dress Ericsson. Big Rig was -2 again tonight, and his downward spiral (which, at this point, is worse than Leino's) is just accelerating at an unstoppable rate.
Otherwise, great game, there's a ton of chemistry between the guys.
To be clear, we are ALSO How I Met Your Mother men (at least…I am). That just didn't interfere with last night's late start time on the East Coast.
Monday: How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, House, Intervention, Hoarders. What a day…
The fact that TPL is a fan of How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory just makes you guys all that more AWESOME.
That second period made me feel like I was being jailsexed by the Wings after being such a tease with a purely dominant first period. But after a lot of frolicking by Dangle-icious Datsyuk, Lidstrom must've heard I was contributing to H2H with his goals, and saved the day. Best $5 I've spent this week.
By the way, have you guys picked out new words for the month of March? Or will the jailsexing continue??
Pavel would never say it, ever, but I think he's ticked off at how the Russian coach used him on the team. Probably also that he couldn't figure out a simple thing like "pulling the goaltender."
Ooh, and I have a pledge for the children – $5 for every Nick Lidstrom point until the 26th. 🙂
For the 2930582th time in writing a comment here. Please stop
hating me TPL. Btw what I wanted to say was that no more SDFU ! Huzzah.
Nurse, sorry for the delayed response. We didn't get a TON of submissions for March Word of the Month (only three I think), so we kinda felt like maybe folks weren't as interested in it as they were with JAILSEXED. Perhaps JAILSEXED becomes a TPL TM (BTW, I LOVE ANAGRAMS).