Dry your eyes, Eddie — Bertuzzi’s got a hanky for you.

On By mpetrella

FINAL SCORE (Hi Dad!)
3-2 Red Wings in Overtime.

THE RUNDOWN
Third meeting of the season between Wings and Hawks. Third time it was a 3-2 final. But it was the half-toothed murderer who ended this one. After missing the last game with an undisclosed injury, Todd Bertuzzi Kool-Aid manned his way through the Joe Louis doors and said, “I GOT THIS.”

BULLETS OF IMPORTANCE

  • Game was all Detroit in the first period. The Wings had something like 11 shots before Chicago got on the board at all. Then, with the first power play, Tomas Holmstrom just doin’ what Tomas Holmstroms do — the best in the business tipped an Ian White shot from the point, and it’s 1-0. Wild Cherry’s Play That Funky Music filled the arena and all was right in the world. Todd Bertuzzi would make it 2-0 on a dumbshit Chicago line change with under 4 minutes in the frame. Pavel Datsyuk registered an assist on both first period goals.
  • Jimmy Howard had no business stopping that point-blank shot after a funky bounce that sent the puck sailing over his stick with a wide open net waiting for the Hawks. Somehow, he got his jimmy legs over to the opposite post and denied an opportunity to make it 1-1 a few minutes after the Homer goal. He wouldn’t be so lucky in the second period, as another miscue with the stick turned into a Hawks goal into a gaping net. That would make it 2-1 with just twenty minutes left.
  • Take the first bullet and reverse it. It was all Chicago in the early going of the third, holding Detroit without a shot until nine minutes in. Some Wings penalties (notably, a double minor for Drew Miller’s high stick drawing blood), some Hawks scoring chances, and it was scary for a bit. The Wings would kill the double minor, and Drew Miller jumped out of the box and found himself on a breakaway. Though he was denied by Crawford, it represented a metaphorical changing o the tides. The Hawks started to get desperate (Eddie Olczyk started crying about uncalled and non-existent interference), and allowed an odd-man rush with less than two minutes to play. But they’d pull Crawford and tie it with 51.7 to play. Shit.
  • Franzen was the best player on the ice for either team in overtime. He was all over the ice, controlling the puck and everyone else was forced to wait for him to decide what he was going to do. Force. But the hero of the day will be Todd Bertuzzi — scoring his second goal of the game in sudden death and sending the Hawks west.

BULLETS OF LESS IMPORTANCE

  • “Those of you tuning in to see the Olympic Trials: Marathon…” Who the hell sets an alarm for that? Even hockey out-rates distance running. Maybe.

DISCH APPROVED “HORSECOP” OF THE GAME
Todd Bertuzzi. A game-time decision turns into a two-goal day.

THE RIGGY “SHITBOX” OF THE GAME
I’m going to go with Ericsson here, and here’s why: at one point in the second period — despite all the trouble Howard was having playing the puck — he gestured to Tiberius like “come on, get the puck to me up the ice!” which he then carried TOWARD Howard and promptly iced. Mix in a little “ill-advised penalty right after the Hawks found some life,” and you have quintessential Shitbox.

WHAT’S NEXT
The Wings welcome Buffalo to the Joe on Monday. I’ll be on the ice for practice, so one of the other fellas should have your pre-game.

Photo Credit: AP