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Perhaps.
First, Chris Osgood -- finally. This was his best performance of the season, easily. He didn't have to stand on his head, and he did have three straight series in the 1st period where the puck ended up past him and he got bailed out by the laws of friction and/or the post. Still, this is a game that'll help his confidence.
But onto the story of the night -- Doug Janik. I did not expect to come online today and see people raving about him. But, that appears to be the case.
I didn't think he was great. Am I the only one who had that strange stomach feeling every time he touched the puck? What is it? It's the fear. I am terrified of the idea of Doug Janik holding the puck. You might be thinking, well yeah, a big guy who can skate, if he could handle the puck he'd be in the NHL, and that's exactly right. The Wings need someone of his style to fill in for Lilja. But the difference is Lilja can lug the puck up the ice and make a strong breakout pass. Janik looked really nervous with the puck on his stick, he's not a Detroit-style player.
Meanwhile, Brett Lebda looked like a man possessed in the first two periods and he shot right to the net every play he could. Derek Meech was even able to take a regular shift and take himself off the mistake list. Great efforts from both Is it any coincidence that both played well in the two Ericsson-free games? I think Ericsson is still better than both, but it's further proof that they should not be on the third pairing together.
Anyway, Detroit made the right decision and Janik is back to Grand Rapids this afternoon. But I do think he was much better than he looked in the pre-season, where he seemed to fall all over the ice randomly. However, the real story here is that Janik was called up over Jakub Kindl. Keep in mind Kindl signed a one-way deal in the offseason, so he must play in Detroit next season. He hasn't had a great start so far. He'll need to get some NHL time to prove his worth sooner rather than later. But Janik proving to not be a complete screw up in addition to Andy Delmore, who's hurt right now but Detroit obviously likes, Kindl will need to play a little more consistently to get an injury recall.
This game should have been more lopsided, I feel. Datsyuk and Zetterberg both played at the level everyone knows they can, which gives Detroit a chance to win no matter what. Detroit let up too many shots, but I felt the defense was better in that it didn't shoot itself in the foot with stupid mistakes, for the first time this season. Is that in any way related to Brian Rafalski having the flu? I'll let you be the judge.
On individual notes, Patrick Eaves is an entirely different player since he scored against Edmonton. He needs to stay on Helm's line because they're dangerous on every shift. Todd Bertuzzi made a lot of stupid passes, but I think he's still the becoming a dangerous offensive player. That holding call on him that stopped his breakaway was awful. Unless he held up Wideman before the camera's got there, he just stuck out his arm and Wideman tripped over his own skates. The blind passes are the biggest problem, his two-way play has still been strong. Just get it to Datsyuk and get open, never, ever throw it out the middle.
Leino needs to be better. He looked good early but turned it off as soon as he got promoted to the Helm line. I feel like I'm the only one talking about how Dan Cleary is almost invisible right now. Past two games have been better, but I don't recall him doing anything noticeable (actually he had a really nice stick lift on a 1st period flurry that stopped a sure goal). Jason Williams made a few really good two-way plays that I need to mention before he screws up and people talk about how he doesn't play any defense. His penalty was stupid though. Borderline call, but one that they always make when a team is down by two in the 3rd.
San Jose on Thursday, should be an interesting showdown as they've been red hot lately. Rafalski and Ericsson sound like they'll be back, which is bad news against a Sharks team with a ton of offensive firepower. But.. gotta be optimistic, right?
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