Game Day: DET 2 @ EDM 3 (SO)

I'm not sure what I was expecting from tonight, but I really shouldn't have been surprised by the first 10 minutes of this game. I mean, judging by the way we've played this season thus far, a game against the worst team in the league is exactly the kind of game we can expect to lose. Also, coming off breaks (the Olympic break excepted) hasn't done much for us this year, either. Basically tonight seemed predestined for total FUBAR.

1st Period

• Is this a new tradition? This giving up a goal in the first 2 minutes thing. Or in tonight's case, the first 1 minute. Because if so, I gotta tell ya, I'm not a fan.
• We suck off breaks, we suck against lousy teams, we suck against bottom-tier goalies, and we suck in the first 5 minutes. This is the reality of our season thus far. Now, how much does admitting all that suck? A lot. We're talking SMW*.

2nd Period

• Basically the 1st period sucked. And the 2nd wasn't much better. I think the less said the better. Until St Patrick Eaves scored off a great Helm/Draper play. Have I mentioned I love that Little Red Corvette Line? 'Cause, I do.
• Finally got a powerplay with only a couple of minutes left in the period, then wasted it. I particularly liked Filppula fumbling a decent pass and letting the puck sail back into the defensive zone. Not.

3rd Period

• An insane exercise in wide shots and futile passes. I honestly don't know how we can live with ourselves when we play like this against teams that are this far below is in the standings. It's just stoo-pid.
• The period ended on a crazy note with our savior, Brian Rafalski, potting a shot with just 0.03 seconds on the clock. The Wings nation went crazy, Twitter exploded, and at least a hundred people I'm aware of offered to bear Rafalski's child. I was one of them.

OT and SO

• We couldn't quite manage to score in the OT period, so we went to a shoot out, at which point the Wings nation dispaired. Why? Because our dear James, while proving better than anyone expected him to be this season, SUCKS in a shootout. He just does. And apparently, God is mad at Datsyuk, because his prayers before his shot got him nowhere. I didn't see if Filppula prayed, but he should have. Maybe it would have helped.

In summary, it could have been worse. We got a point. Which was better than the alternative, but I'm seriously sick of this trend of struggling against bad teams. We're better than this. Now we just need to remember that.



*SMW=Syphilitic Moose Wankie, my absolute measure of the worst sucking able to occur in our reality.