Lost in the HOOPla

One casualty of my new baby-inspired lack of blogging recently is Red Wings coverage. As we hoped, the Olympics invigorated this formerly lethargic team. Through January and early February, the Wings were continually outshot, outskated, and outscored. They regularly lost 3rd period leads and look destined to miss the playoffs.

Since the Olympics, they've gone 9-2-1. The nine wins came against top-notch competition like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Vancouver. They even *look* like the Red Wings now. Tape-to-tape passes. Dominant possession. Cool confidence in clutch situations. That confidence served them extremely well last week when the Wings scored with 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation on back-to-back games. The first buzzer beater forced overtime against Edmonton. An Edmonton player tried to fall on the puck deep in his own zone. I actually didn't know that was legal. Didn't matter as the Wings pried it free. Zetterberg raced toward the net and let loose a backhanded shot. The goalie parried it away, but the rebound found an unmarked Rafalski on the weak side who slotted it home. It was an exhilarating play:



Unfortunately, the Wings lost in a shootout, but the goal did earn the team a precious point. The next game, the Wings were tied Vancouver in the waning seconds of OT. Filppula battled for the puck near the blue line and sent a pass along the boards. Zetterberg picked it up and skated toward the middle of the ice. He sent another backhanded shot that beat Luongo. The team erupted:



Back-to-back nights. Amazing hockey. The Wings followed that Vancouver win with a dominant win over the Malkin-less Penguins. A few months before, the Wings could barely skate with the Pens - a 2-1 OT loss on January 31. It took a Herculean performance from Howard (46 saves) to force overtime. Now the team is different. The top two lines are really clicking, especially the Zetterberg line. They've got an astounding 20 points the last three games. The Datsyuk line is not putting the puck in the net as consistently, but they are creating chances every shift. The goals will come.

Things are finally looking up.

The one unfortunately development is that the teams ahead of the Wings in the standings continue to win too. Despite the 9-2-1 run, the Wings remain in the 8th spot, 4 points clear of Calgary. The Kings and Avs have fallen slightly, and, if the Wings' solid run continues, they could overtake them. Nine games remain, and the Wings are four points behind the 5th spot. That should be their goal. The run continues tonight against the Wild. Go Wings.