That's certainly one way to bounce back from a bad loss, isn't it?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
One of the best games of the season for dramatics and I'm stuck behind Blueline Express in section 209!Actually, even though I was working, I was able to catch a good bit of the game. I want to say just a little less than half of the game in all. One of the good things about working an upper level store is that things are nowhere near as busy. That ten minute break becomes ten minutes of actual game time, since if you're really needed with your co-worker they can just call you back over, and you split the period between one another. The door in to my store was a mere ten feet from my watching spot, as well.
It also helped that everyone there was too busy filling their stomachs with dollar dogs (the whole "Sugardale $1 hot dog" thing that happened last night), meaning people were too busy carrying dogs by the arm full to take a look at stuff in the store. Either way, the place was definitely rocking, and to some extent you can thank all the migratory Red Wings' fans who helped make the overall attendance come to be 17,000+. Not that many of the fans were from Detroit, it seems, let alone Michigan; talking with several people in Wings' jerseys who were at the game, a majority of them seemed to be from areas such as Cleveland, or even people from Columbus! Talk about annoying ... but alas, Detroit is an Original Six with a pedigreed history of winning, so what can you do?
Because I was only able to watch in several minute increments, I'm going to toss out my observations in a more succinct, bulleted manner.
-Sergei Fedorov was on a mission the likes that I've not seen from him when facing the Red Wings before! Blue Jackets' fans know all too well the heckling and jeering that Fedorov receives when he goes to Joe Louis (and if you don't, just watch Wednesday's game on FSN Ohio), so maybe this was his way of getting out all that pent up frustration he'll most likely have tomorrow. Well, probably not, but it makes sense.
-There's still some injury issues going on, and Adam Foote and Pascal Leclaire were not in the line-up tonight. Pazzy was expected to be out, but Foote had an outside chance of sneaking in for tonight's game (but he also was supposed to have maybe been in the line-up during one of last week's games, as well). To me, I get more concerned about an injury the longer that someone's "questionable" status is drawn out. It could mean a lot of things, such as if a player is pushing themselves too hard, or the diagnosis was not as dire as it should have been.
-Chris Osgood was supposed to start last night's game, apparently. Makes you wonder if maybe Hasek getting the nod within the final 24 hours might have kept him off of his game in the one period he played in? Great goalies like Hasek probably don't let sudden starts get under their skin much, but you never know.
-This doesn't have anything to do with the game on the ice, but it was something I observed as I watched the "too many men" penalty that Detroit got during the game. The jumbotron was going through a wide variety of Red Wing' player pictures as a way to show the minor penalty was for the team as a whole, and just so happened to use Jiri Fischer's picture and name as well. Most people already know what happened to Fischer last season, and that his outlook on an NHL return is slim at best, even if he hasn't officially retired or anything. So it was sort of stunning to see the graphics folks overlook that.
-Fredrik Norrena continues to pull rabbits out of his goalie's helmet, making two stunning saves in the third period to keep the team in this game when the Wings began to come on stronger than a drunk at a bar. However I am concerned about Norrena's fortitude, to be honest. This was an amazing win for him, and he bounced back strongly after being chased from the net in Saturday's game against Chicago ... but at the same time, does he have the endurance to keep going like this? Pazzy continues to improve, but there hasn't really been a date set for him to come back to the line-up.
-Will the Blue Jackets as a whole have any gas left after clinging to last night's win by the skin of their teeth? Wednesday's game, I am predicting, will not be pretty in any way. The Wings are most likely disgusted, embarrassed, and angry at themselves for coming out flat, then barely missing out on stealing a win from a Blue Jackets team they probably feel is too weak to lose to. The Joe is not friendly confines, and an agitated Wings team will only make things even harder.
Labels: Blue Jackets, post-game, Red Wings
