Red Wings 4 Blackhawks 0

Ty Conklin, without question, played his best game of the season tonight and weathered an early storm of Chicago power plays with great positional goaltending. Without him, Wings would have likely surrendered a couple early power play goals just like they did to Colorado the other night.

The pace of play was outstanding from start to finish. It would be awesome for the NHL if these two teams' paths crossed at some point in the playoffs this year. This rivalry is definitely redeveloping.

GLI CHAMPS

If you are a Michigan hockey fan, you gotta love Michigan's dominance of MSU this season. The Wolverines crushed State again in the GLI Championship this afternoon at the Joe, 5-1. That puts Michigan's season score at 16-5 against Sparty this year. Too bad it doesn't count in the CCHA standings. It is always nice to have MICHIGAN hanging on the banner in the Joe.

WHAT AN EYE SORE!

Ok, I can't take it anymore. Something has got to be done about Pittsburgh's hideous blue jerseys that they seem to be wearing more often. THEY ARE EMBARRASSING, DISGUSTING, AND NEED TO BE BURNED!

Now, there are teams out there like Atlanta that have that disgusting blue color as a regular jersey, but no one watches or shows up to their games. Pittsburgh, however, is a high profile team that has the great colors of BLACK AND YELLOW which I love. It was cute in the Winter Classic last year, but it's gone too far and needs to stop!


How can you be the face of the game sporting that awful jersey!?

Avalanche 4 Red Wings 3 (SO)

The Red Wings have a new bad habit of only showing up in the 2nd and 3rd period on many road games this year. I'm starting to think that being a "measuring stick" team is starting to take its toll a bit on them. Teams like Nashville, Colorado and Phoenix, who are battling to stay in the top 8, are getting the best of them or at least giving them trouble this year. Well, it's time to man up boys. We have a HUGE home and home coming up against Chicago, who we have defeated this season, but not easily. I'm pumped. Hopefully the Wings are...and at the puck drop in the first period, not the second.

Predators 3 Red Wings 2

Nashville was very responsible defensively tonight and outplayed the Red Wings physically most of the evening. Combining that with an injury to Lidstrom made for a shitty evening of losing a key player and losing to those assholes. It doesn't look like a major injury, but if it is the rest of the d-line will need to step up and it shouldn't be a problem. It looks like the Central race is going to be a hell of a run if Chicago stays hot. Can't wait for the home and home coming up after tonight's game. The Hawks are technically only one point behind the Wings if they win the two games-in-hand they have right now. Could the Wings-Blackhawks rivalry finally gain some steam?

Red Wings 4 Blues 1

The Blues are in a downward spiral due to injuries and inexperience. Furthermore, Pavel Datsyuk continues to amaze me. His shorthanded goal tonight was brilliant, set up by a great forecheck by Hossa. But the highlight of the night was definitely the Red Wings singing the Twelve Days Of Christmas during one of the commercial breaks in the second period. I hope this makes its way on to YouTube somehow.

Red Wings 6 Kings 4

I couldn't help but laugh when I watched the finish to this game at work. You just know it was going to happen. It almost always does. Somehow, teams just can't put the Wings away when they have a chance to get a victory.

And I've decided not to stress out anymore about goaltending (until they start losing these close ones). Besides, what fun would this season be if the Wings had the same record but were dominating every game. Just wait until we get our first three-game losing streak. Everyone will start FREAKING OUT!

Red Wings 6 Sharks 0

Feels good to get a one-sided win over the highly-touted Sharks. The Wings played solid defense, Conklin played great and Nabokov played poor. That's a good recipe for a big Red Wing win.

Avalanche 3 Red Wings 2

Fun game to watch in person tonight. Tough loss, however. This was a typical first game back after being out west, where the Wings didn't show up until the second period. Usually they don't pay for it, but tonight they did. I don't think Colorado is much of a force in this league but I'll give them this: When other opponents mess up, they capitalize. That was the difference tonight, and that's how the Avs have won a lot of their games this year. A bad giveaway and a stupid penalty spotted them a 2-0 lead, then a dumb penalty by Lebda gave them a shootout winner. Raycroft made some solid saves as well this evening.

Red Wings 5 Coyotes 4 (SO)

Mickey Redmond said it best after Franzen tied the game late in the 3rd period. All Pheonix had to do was skate the puck up the ice a bit and have a better shot at the empty net, and they probably would have iced the game. But they didn't, and the Wings capitalized. Osgood had another average outing, but made some outstanding saves in the shootout. Hopefully the Wings can keep the winning going at the Joe (going to the Wings/Avs game tomorrow). Colorado is due for a win against us one of these years.

Stars 3 Red Wings 1

You had to figure the Wings were gonna lose one of these close ones eventually, but it really came down to the play of Marty Turco, who had maybe his 2nd or 3rd solid outing of the season. The Wings did seem like they had a lack of energy in the second period, but recovered in the third. That Franzen goalpost near the end of the game was a tough one. Hopefully they can play with some speed for 60 minutes tomorrow, which is always fun on the tail end of back to back games.

MICHIGAN > MSU

And how about those Wolverines this weekend!

On Friday night, Michigan crushed Michigan State on home ice 6-1. Last night, Michigan scored 3 goals in the final couple of minutes to get a rare 5-3 victory in East Lansing. These two teams can potentially meet again in the upcoming GLI, but with the way MSU is playing, I'm not so sure they will win their first game against North Dakota.

Despite these weekends victories, Michigan still needs a few big weekends to improve their record. Their next two weekends are the GLI, followed by a HUGE weekend series with CCHA-leading Miami, who swept them earlier this season. Make it happen!

And then make the NCAA tournament and let me down again......................

Red Wings 5 Blackhawks 4 (SO)

It seems like every game between these two teams is a great one. It was nothing but pure offensive talent dominating the pace of the game from start to finish. A typical Wings win this season where the goal scoring is high and the save percentage is low. I'm wondering when this is going to catch up with them. Do we really have to pray for Chelios to come back to spice up the defense?! Anyway, I'm not as bothered by it as I sound. We are #2 in the conference right now and dominating the division as usual. I think I can deal with that.

Red Wings 6 Canucks 5

It was looking destined to be a repeat of the Penguins game for a while there. At least this time the Wings held their ground at the end and drew a penalty to make things difficult for Vancouver. I'm glad the season series with Vancouver is already over. They were a pain in the ass every single night we played them.

What's up with Jiri Hudler? He's been HUGE for the Wings lately. Without Holmstrom in the lineup, he has stepped up and scored some big goals. I thought for sure he was going to get a hat trick in the first period.

Red Wings 2 Ducks 1

I usually don't get too pissed off when the Wings lose in the regular season these days, but the way yesterday's game was going through the second period, I probably would have been furious. They were all over the Ducks from start to finish! A great team performance by the Wings, putting 47 shots on the defensive-minded Ducks. It took 30-something shots to finally beat Giguere, who was playing incredible in net. Thank god they got two by him and won the game.

Lots of home games this month. It's about time! Seems like every game this year that they have been on the road.