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Written by Kyle Kujawa
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Thursday, 04 February 2010 10:35 |
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I'm sticking with bullet form today, not because I don't have time (go canceled class go), but because I hate dedicating time in my day to Corey Perry and the rest of Team Thuggery.
- I still think Jimmy Howard was the right choice in net. Tip off Brad Stuart, bat in by Kyle Chipchura, but maybe caught out a little far on the 3rd goal. No issue -- he didn't have a heavy workload, but he made about a dozen sensational saves to keep Detroit in the game. That's what they need.
- All things considered, Detroit played a great game. You can't tell me if they fire 47 shots of that quality every night, they'll only score one goal. Jonas Hiller stole this one, particularly from Valtteri Filppula.
- The NHL's explanation on why the second goal counted: "The puck hit his glove before he tried to bat it in." In other words, although he was taking his glove off his stick for the purpose of swatting at the puck, he hadn't officially swatted at it yet. Amusing. How is it that Toronto can determine something like that, but can't make a decision on whether or not Howard kept Steve Ott's shootout attempt out of the net?
- I thought Jonathan Ericsson had a nice bounce back game. He threw two big hits of note, joined the rush, and just generally moved his feet for the first time in about a month. Not a lost cause yet.
- His fight was fine. I think it's stupid that he was challenged, given that was a clean hit on a non-star player, but stepping up to take that challenge is a statement by him that he's ready to play with some fire.
- For all the accolades the FSN crew gave Scott Niedermayer all throughout the game, they failed to mention that Niedermayer got split on both of Pavel Datsyuk's breakaways. Fool me twice we can't get fooled again.
- Speaking of those breakaways, I was about to kill Datsyuk for going glove hand a second time. In something that I thought I suppressed, Hiller flashing the glove on the first breakaway reminded me that Detroit kept going glove all series on him during the playoffs and never beat him there. I guess Datsyuk had something to prove.
- Speaking of Anaheim Ducks that are going to disappoint Team Canada that aren't named Ryan Getzlaf, Perry tried two times to score between his legs. The second time was obvious, but the first time there was a mad scramble on the side of the net and he tried it from the goal line. It's a good thing he was focused on putting the game away and not focused on making the highlight reels. Great job, Sportscenter.
- Second straight game I didn't notice Brett Lebda, and after setting himself apart with a clutch goal on Tuesday, Derek Meech joined his Mebdeech counterpart in the irrelevant department.
- I hope Brad May enjoyed his night off.
- I don't think he made any glaring mistakes (people still point out his missed passes as if he's the only one on the team that has them), but Todd Bertuzzi didn't really do anything last night, or over the past three games. I don't recall him coming up with a great scoring chance -- when I defended him at the beginning of the year it was because he was getting chances like crazy and just needed to find some finish (surprise, I was right). He needs to tap back into that before he goes on a month long slump.
- Dan Cleary wasn't invisible only because I was looking directly for him, but I'm not sure I would have noticed him otherwise.
- Regarding everyone making a big deal about Detroit slipping into 9th again, with the team playing like they're playing and the time we have left, this is really all I have to offer:
- Worth noting: Andreas Lilja played last night for Grand Rapids. He was a -1. I couldn't possibly be happier about that. We need you, Lilja.
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