This is one of those games that's usually best not to write about the night of. It's usually full of bitterness and strong statements that don't quite hold up after a night of sleep. However, I've got some ideas.

To preface this, this loss sucks. By far the most disappointing of the season, but not the worst. This was a sure win where Detroit looked like the better team for 58 minutes. I said some terrible things during the end of this game, and it ruined my night. This type of game is absolutely inexcusable. And it's not one you can just throw out, because this is a trend that's been happening all season, and it's been happening even more frequently of late. Before I launch into my little spiel, I need to acknowledge that I'm even guilty of some negative thinking via Twitter, something I already regret saying and currently disagree with. I was mad after the game, and the last thing I wanted to read was something along those lines -- as if this wasn't a total team collapse and Howard had a chance.

After reading the thoughts of others on Twitter and the Winging it in Motown game thread, I changed my tune. The mood of the internets right now is something slightly worse than hopelessness. People are taking this loss hard, and I don't blame them. It did give me a little perspective, and the opportunity to say something that maybe other Wings fans won't be saying:

Let's. Be. Positive.

This line of thinking comes from what was recently a major event in my life. Obviously, I'd like to think hockey is something I know a lot about. But what a lot of you probably don't know is that entertainment is what I consider to be my second big interest. Films for one, but also the world that is late night television. If you're interested in that area at all, you're obviously aware of the recent tragedy that is the late night scene at NBC involving Conan O'Brien. I have been absolutely transfixed on this situation over the past three weeks. I've been watching more late night TV than ever, and watching clips of what every late night personality is saying about this in my spare time. The reason is, Conan has always been an idol of mine. He's shaped my sense of humor more than any other single person.

I was the only 6th grader who regularly watched Conan (through re-runs mostly, but there were definitely a few nights I was up until 1, regretting it the next day), and my fascination with the show continued into high school and heavily into college. I have no doubts he'll land a new job, but I couldn't help feeling bitter and a little sad that he lost The Tonight Show. Sure, $33 million is a pretty good deal -- it's not like he was completely screwed over. But when you put yourself in his shoes, it's the job that he worked his whole life to get, and dreamed of getting to that point. How easy would it be for you to give up your childhood dream job for a few bags with dollar signs on them?

These were his final words at his Tonight Show desk:

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

That stuck with me. It's not all that deep, but I found it pretty inspiring. He could have said anything he wanted to end his show, but he chose those words. After sticking it to NBC for weeks, he was able to end on a classy note. I really started thinking about it, and was able to apply it to my position as a blogger. Obviously, I dislike losing. But there's nothing that sets me off more than bitterness and cynicism from commenters, even some bloggers, after the Wings lose a game like this. It's pointless. I spend far too much time arguing with people who are being too cynical, when really, things are pretty good. Relatively speaking, to where we could be, that is. We could be a lot worse off. We're in sole position of 8th place, by one point with one game in hand. Over a team playing some absolutely terrible hockey. We could have made up some ground today and made our jobs a lot easier, but that just didn't happen. But it's not over.

There's a ton of time left in this season. Making the playoffs is not nearly going to be as difficult as people are making it out to be. We're 8th now. Ninth place, Calgary, is fading fast. Dallas just isn't good and is finally starting to lose more games in regulation than overtime. Minnesota and St. Louis are playing decent hockey but are still a ways behind. The major threat to Detroit from below is Anaheim, who's starting to get it together after some terrible first half play. Los Angeles is only barely hanging in there after falling from the top of the West, and Nashville still has to play Detroit four times. We control our destiny.

People see games like this, and Washington and Los Angeles where Detroit blew leads, and they say things like "we're not going to make the playoffs with stuff like this." I couldn't disagree more. Larry Murphy had a quote earlier this season about how "there's just a few of those games every year that you just ball up and throw away" and it's become increasingly concerning that Detroit is having too many of those games. As a rule, I would agree with that. However, Detroit has had a ton of those games and are still in a very good place heading into the final 30 games. They got one star player back tonight and have a couple impact players coming back very soon. It is just... ridiculously negative to think that with the guys we have out in the lineup, we're going to continue dominating teams and blowing leads in the waning minutes. It sucks that we've done that as much as we have, but it just... will not keep happening, and that's what I honestly believe.

I take way more good out of this game than bad. What's bad is obvious: we blew a third period lead. We gave away points to a team we need to gain on in the standings. Nearly every goal was the result of a defensive melt down. This "worst loss of the season," "there's always the draft" stuff has got to stop. The following things happened during this games and are reasons for optimism; if you disagree, I will question whether or not we watched the same game.

• Pavel Datsyuk was by far the best forward on the ice, as he has been each of the past ten games, but not as many before that.
  
• Nicklas Lidstrom would easily be a Norris nominee, again, if his past 10-15 games were anything like his first 35. He's been exceptional, and it's clear what most people saying were right -- once he gets his first goal, they are just going to come in bunches. I would wager money that he scores 10 by the end of the year, he looks great out there right now.
• Niklas Kronwall came back and made an impact. He could probably play a little more (21 minutes is a little low for him), but he looked really confident with the puck. Kronwall is the best defenseman in the league at making a move on a defending forward at the blueline, and he did that about four times tonight. It's a sign that it won't take long for him to get to 100%. He made no mistakes. He's not Derek Meech. All good things.
• Detroit's 3rd line continued to be absolutely excellent. Once everyone's healthy and they are likely the "4th line" (which could be before the Olympic break) Detroit will once again be among the deepest teams in the league.
• Detroit dominated for roughly 59 minutes. All but about three minutes in the 2nd, and the final two minutes of the game.
  
• Most importantly, for those saying this is the worst loss of the season, Detroit took a point out of this. They didn't lose 6-0. It's disappointing, but it's not the Islanders. We lost to a team playing good hockey, and a team that did not give up after falling behind twice. Not even close to the worst loss this season.
• This is another tally on the list of teams Detroit has looked clearly superior to in the past few weeks: Chicago, San Jose, Minnesota, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, and now Phoenix. Are you afraid of playing any of these teams in a first round matchup?
• Detroit was six inches away from sealing this game with an empty net. You can only blame puck luck so much; but missing an empty net from your own end by six inches is just about the definition of puck luck. And if that isn't enough, Phoenix's 3rd goal went off the inside of Brad Stuart's elbow. You can only beat yourself up so much over that.
• Unlike recently games where Detroit's choked, where offense and capitalizing scoring chances has been the problem, Detroit scored four goals tonight with only three powerplays.
  
• Detroit rebounded from a major setback (two quick goals by Phoenix) for the first time this season when Patrick Eaves scored 11 seconds after Keith Yandle.
• Todd Bertuzzi was very good and actually found some pretty instant chemistry with Valtteri Filppula. Best game from a 2nd line in a month or two.
  
• No weak goals.
• Brad May had three shots and drew a penalty. It's a Festivus miracle.

To me, the team playing well and losing makes is better than the team playing poorly and winning. Granted, only to a certain extent. Making the playoffs is the priority. As long as we're in that position -- the seed doesn't matter to me. Once we get to that point, I'm looking for positive trends that will continue in the future. To me, the individual performances we saw from a handful of players today greatly outweighed the disappointment of the outcome. I don't feel like I'll be completely joined in that thought in the comments tonight.

My second points, briefly: context. Going hand in hand with cynicism, I hate when people take one stat, and use that as a reflection of poor performance. Case in point: people saying Brad Stuart played poorly because he was a -3. Yes, he was a -3. But I can guarantee you that most people pointing this out don't remember what he was doing on the three goals he was on the ice for.

1. He was defending along the boards. Kronwall vacated the front of the net covering a forward in the high slot, and Filppula got beat down low by Yandle. Tremendous pass by a talented playmaker in Radim Vrbata.
2. Stuart and Lidstrom each took a side of the net to protect the pass out front. Before Stuart was completely set, a centering pass banked off his skate and went in front. No Wing, even Howard, knew where it was before it was put in.
3. Jonathan Ericsson abandoned Shane Doan in front of the net and Doan had all day.

Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't see the doom and gloom today that everyone else does. I'm mad, sure, but this won't last. Being a cynic and calling for the head of Babcock, Howard, Stuart, Lidstrom, whoever, is just, frankly, dumb. You don't have to be as positive as me after this, but let's not be needlessly cynical. There's no doubt in my mind this team won't make the playoffs and isn't capable of a long playoff run. And I don't think there's anything from this game or any of the other disappointing ones before it that should make you believe otherwise.

Wings are in Minnesota tomorrow (what is with these back-to-back, different city games, Gary?). I'd expect Chris Osgood to start, but I hope Howard starts. I'll get heat for this after what I said about Osgood blowing leads, but Howard made some huge saves for us. It was a miracle that it took Phoenix as long as it did to tie it up. I fully expect a convincing, thorough effort.

Comments (17)

Pete311 said:

	... Thank god someone else is taking a positive out look on the Wings right now. Everyone has seemed to lose it over the past two week. I guess it's a good time to go crazy, but why waste the energy. When the Wings get healthy they're going to be a nasty team to deal with, and that's a fact. Go Conan. Go Wings. Kill the Wild!
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January 27, 2010
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Baroque said:

... Being a cynic and calling for the head of Babcock, Howard, Stuart, Lidstrom, whoever, is just, frankly, dumb. And who, I wonder, could you possibly be speaking of with those comments? I felt far worse right after the loss than I do now, which is normal for me. Rationally - they did play much better for more of the game than they have in a while. I especially like the quick bounce-back after Phoenix goals. A lot of pressure on Bryzgalov (who I have always thought was a fantastic goaltender, and knew that if Phoenix could put together any offense at all to complement him they would be a good team pretty quickly). Two points would have been better (no duh) but one point keeps them in a playoff position, and that's what I wanted as a minimum. No one got hurt this time, which is a refreshing change from early in the year. I'm hoping that after a poor game Stuart has gotten all the crappy out of his system for the rest of the season and will go back to the solid, reliable defenseman that he has been more often than not. Lidstrom is playing extremely well, which makes me happy because he and Pavel are my favorites. There are a few teams that I would love to trade places in the standings with, but there are far more that I would not want to trade with, so on balance things are not as dark as they look right after a loss. Could be better, but could be much worse.

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January 27, 2010
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r0bert8841 said:

... Excellent post. 3 minutes before the game ended I was thinking how great the Wings had been all game. Well I am going to forget about the last 3 minutes and OT. The goals weren't for a lack of effort, Stuey was playing his ass off diving all over the place. Doan just willed his way to a few of those last goals. Our teams defense looked soooooo much better without Meech, nothing against the kid but he should not be playing on the 2nd pairing!!Our offense looked lethal and had it not been for Bryzgolov it wouldn't have even been close. Lidstrom was just dominate, Datsyuk played good. May was a force, so was Abdelkader, Miller, and Filpulla. Rafalski made a few great plays himself. And we got a point, so its not too big of a loss.

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January 27, 2010
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zombi said:

	... Very nice post. I really felt the same way after cooling down last night.
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January 27, 2010
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Black Francis said:

	... That made me feel better. I think Stuart has had some real bad luck the past 2 weeks and he's got to get it together. He was on for all 5 Phoenix goals last night.
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January 27, 2010
Votes: -1

breakaway said:

	... I have endless amounts of optimism when it comes to this team, as evidenced by the way I completely forget about each game they lose by the time they have to play another, and I eagerly anticipate each new game. Still, this post did a lot to cheer me up when I was contemplating last night why I love this team so much when all they offer me over and over is heartache.
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January 27, 2010
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nitzua said:

	... Great post, Kyle. You always have a way of putting things in perspective and minimizing panic.
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January 27, 2010
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KyleKujawa said:

... Nice to see some confidence today, guys and gals. I was wondering if I'd be alone in this thinking last night. Baroque, I assure you I didn't have anyone specific in mind. I was just thinking about players that large groups of people have been trashing, despite their strong play. The injury thing was another positive I meant to throw into my large list of bullets. Versus said Kronwall went down the tunnel at one point. The fact that he finished the game, and the fact that there's no story this morning saying "he tweaked something," is absolutely another positive to take out of this game. Black Francis, that's sort of what I don't want to hear, if you were insinuating that he played poorly. I know Stuart was on the ice for all five goals. But that first powerplay goal was the only one he really had a chance to make a play on. I don't think you were really bashing him, but I don't see being on the ice for five goals a negative things when four of them were completely beyond his control.

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January 27, 2010
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Jonhny754g said:

... Anyone that is bashing Stuey hasn't been watching the game this year. While Rafalski got injured early in the year he really stepped up, same with when Kronwall got injured. Incidentally, line pairing tonight via Khan : Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary Bertuzzi-Filppula-Miller Draper-Helm-Eaves May-Abdelkader-Maltby Leino (scratched) Lidstrom-Rafalski Meech-Stuart Kronwall-Ericsson Osgood (starting) Howard Yes Ozzie is starting. Brush off the dust Chris, you whinned about facing the top scoring team in the league in Washington, Minny is tied for 16th with 145 GF. Bring your best. And yes, I did notice that Meech is supposedly starting, either it is a horrifying lie or they've decided Meech can't do any worse then Lebda. Other then that these lines look good. We have some net presence in Cleary for the flying circus, Bertuzzi and Filuppa had good chemistry last night so that should work. And Brad May drew a penlaty last night. The Horrors! What will he do next? Score real goal? Fight a real fight? To all you Lidstrom hater out there, Mr. Lidstrom is now a b]+18. Also, just a quick question. Because I know this blog gets tons of traffic, and the comments get reviewed by tons o' people, what is everyone thinking about the forward line combinations for when all is healty with our team? Mine are looking like : Holmstrom-Dastyuk-Franzen Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary Miller-Filuppa-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Abdelkader May and Leino sent down to GR. Opinions on my lines, and everyone elses lines?

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January 27, 2010
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Brobz said:

	... Good post. Now out of the heat of the moment, I was beginning to feel better about last night's game. And this post makes it all the more easier to do that. This team has too much damn talent to not expect greatness.
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January 27, 2010
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waltdetroit said:

... Johny754g: I think that the cap will not allow us to keep abby up - he'll go go GR until the playoff. Partly because of the D. I think that those loyal to the end front office people & coaches will keep 8 D, yes they will keep Mebdeech. They will keep them as they have helped the team get to this point. I am not sure if "when all is healty with our team" means after the Olympics or in the playoffs. At Playoff time, I will assume the wings will be playing the top 2-3 teams in the playoffs, maybe the top team in the west in the first round, so I don't know if I would break up Dats & Z & Homer. I would play them on different lines before the playoffs. I have a line-up but missing a 3rd line wing: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Homer Bertuzzi-Filppula-Franzen Cleary-Miller-?? Draper-Helm-Eaves (Abby, Leino, Ritola,??) Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Lilja-Ericsson Mebdeech

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January 27, 2010
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waltdetroit said:

	... oops, left malts& may as choices
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January 27, 2010
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Jonhny754g said:

	... Johny754g: I think that the cap will not allow us to keep abby up - he'll go go GR until the playoff. Partly because of the D. Good point, I think Malts will probably be our 13th forward then.
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January 27, 2010
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KyleKujawa said:

... Johnny, you left out Maltby in your second lineup. I don't really want him in the lineup, but if he and Abdelkader are up, and Lilja is healthy, it gives Detroit 24 players. Abdelkader would be be fine to stay up after the playoffs, but I'm thinking more and more if we do get all healthy, he should probably finish the regular season in GR. He'd come up for the playoffs -- at the rate GR's going, getting there will be a miracle. Walt, I'm not sure if it was intentional, but you left out Williams, who could fill that 3rd line winger spot. I'm not sure if I'm sold on Miller as a center. Not certain about his faceoff ability, but I think his speed (or lack of it) makes him better suited to the wing. Cleary's played center at times, and Williams was actually a center for a while in Detroit the first time. I'd do this. It's doing great things for my NHL 10 team, haha. Bertuzzi | Datsyuk | Franzen Filppula | Zetterberg | Holmstrom Cleary | Helm | Eaves Miller | Draper | Williams Just based on the fact that none of the wingers on the bottom four lines are really proven centers. I love Draper on that Helm line, but I think Cleary gives it more offensive punch. Cleary and Williams also provide major flexibility as they can be top six players in a pinch. We'll see what happens after this weekend when 29 and 96 return.

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January 27, 2010
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waltdetroit said:

	... We are missing that 3rd great center to allow a really great 4th line and Cleary gives a good scoring touch. I like it "The sun will come out tomorrow..you can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow come what may" Lets Say Leino finds his scoring touch, then Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Homer Leino-Filppula-Franzen Bertuzzi-Cleary-Miller Helm-Draper-Eaves
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January 27, 2010
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Jonhny754g said:

... Johnny, you left out Maltby in your second lineup. I don't really want him in the lineup, but if he and Abdelkader are up, and Lilja is healthy, it gives Detroit 24 players. Abdelkader would be be fine to stay up after the playoffs, but I'm thinking more and more if we do get all healthy, he should probably finish the regular season in GR. He'd come up for the playoffs -- at the rate GR's going, getting there will be a miracle. Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean too, and Abby is our only player that we could send to GR so I'd send him down. I'd have Malts as 13th forward.. Kyle I like your lines, except for the 4th line. I'd say keep Eaves, Draper and Helm together for that line. Fastest line in the NHL, and the beest engergy line.

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January 27, 2010
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loojay said:

	... This is why (IMO) you are the best of the Wings bloggers. Level-headed, quality analysis without the extraneous silly stuff. Good job Kyle.
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January 30, 2010
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