Avalanche at Red Wings: The Live-Blog

6:59pm: We're going to have a little delay getting this one underway here at the Joe as there will be a pre-game ceremony to honor Dino Ciccarelli and Jimmy Devellano--each inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. We told you the other night that Devellano's contribution to hockey was the invention of the European player (Petr Klima, Sergei Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom et. al.) and we were only half kidding. There were Europeans in the league before Devellano came along, but he perfected the practice of signing top talent from over there. Meanwhile, it's possible I may have seen every home game Ciccarelli ever played in Detroit along with all the road ones during the playoffs. Here's what I will always remember about him: after every practice, without fail, Dino took one of those ten-gallon paint buckets, filled it with pucks and dumped the whole thing in the area of the crease. He would then spend 15 minutes or half an hour or whatever it took roofing them all from right around the net. It's what made him such a good finisher, in my opinion. I've never seen a player work as hard as Dino Ciccarelli on the art of scoring goals. It paid off for him. Ciccarelli, being introduced to a standing "O" as I write this, scored 608 of 'em in his 19-year career.


7:02pm: Game on, as they say and the Wings get 5 shots on goal before Colorado gets any and before the game is 100 seconds old. And now, at 3:14, they go on the power play. Paul Stastny for hooking.

7:12pm: The Avs kill it off, barely. I know this is going to sound silly, but I'm going to say it anyway: I'm tired tonight. Why? Because I broadcast a high school football game this afternoon. I can hear you.  "How can that make you tired?"  I'll tell you why. It's because I work hard at it.  "He's at the twenty! He's at the ten! He scores! Touchdown, Harrison Hawks!" (That's who I had today, Harrison vs De La Salle.) Anyway, you try doing that for 3 hours and tell me if you are tired at the end of it all. Harrison won 33-23, by the way, to move into the state semifinals. They are looking for their 13th State title. Two more wins will do it.  No other team has won 12. They look pretty good to me, and I think they are getting a break in the next round. Grosse Point South upset Temperance 44-42 in the fog last night to advance to meet Harrison. GP South was 5-4 in the regular season, one of a handful of teams to even make the tourney without getting 6 regular season wins. I talked to somebody who was there in Temperance last night and he said you couldn't see South's game-winning field goal on the last play of the game from the stands due to fog. But, back to hockey: Colorado had a power play but they didn't score either, so its still 0-0 with 11:00 left in the first. Perhaps a short break is in order. We'll be back in the event of something noteworthy.

7:31pm: Something noteworthy: At 12:58, Todd Bertuzzi scores his 3rd of the year on the power play. Some Av was off for doing some (illegal) thing and Bertuzzi just skated to the circle to the left of Avs goalie Peter Budaj and whipped a wrister over his shoulder. It seemed pretty innocent compared to some of the chances the Wings have had (they've outshot Colorado 10-3 right now), but that's how hockey is sometimes. DETROIT 1, COLORADO 0.

7:44pm:  Period over.  The Wings are fortunate to lead even if they did outshoot Colorado 12-6.  The Avs hit the crossbar with 0:16 left in the period.  But, the only way that counts is when its a drop-in game and there's no goalie and the guys are counting anything off the iron as a goal, which is not the case tonight in this officially-sanctioned NHL game.  Besides, each team has a goalie.  DETROIT 1, COLORADO 0.

8:03pm:  Let's see if I can describe this one for you.  Jiri Hudler just banked one in--his 1st this year--off the left skate of the startled Colorado goaler Budaj from behind the Colorado net.  Budaj has just stopped Hudler on a semi-breakaway after Hudler got to a loose puck in the attack zone first.  (I suppose Budaj could have come out of the net to get to it first, but that's a tough call for a goalie, "should I stay or should I go, now?)  Anyway, Budaj was down and Hudler got to his own rebound and banked it in from behind the net.  The goal came just 0:30 into the period.  DETROIT 2, COLORADO 0.

8:11pm:  Dan Cleary takes a pass from Bertuzzi and backhands Detroit's 3rd goal of the night past Budaj.  It's the 5th game in a row in which Cleary has scored and he ties Johan Franzen for the team lead with his 7th goal of the season at 5:50.  DETROIT 3, COLORADO 0. 
Cleary, for the record, has a ways to go to tie the record: LONGEST GOAL STREAK – 9 games – Steve Yzerman (12 goals, Nov. 18-Dec. 5, 1988; 14 goals, Jan. 29-Feb. 12, 1992).  That's straight out of the Detroit Red Wings Media Guide so I probably just infringed on a copyright or something but, gee, I thought they put this stuff in the record book so we could, you know, use it. 

8:23pm:  It must just be demoralizing to play against these guys some nights.  They did a thing on "Hockey Night in Canada" last week where they showed Detroit making 8 passes in 11.3 seconds en route to scoring a goal in Edmonton.  That's what they are doing tonight against Colorado.  The Wings have 19 shots on goal with 6:00 to go in the second period.  I bet they have 40 shots at goal--shots in the direction of the Avalanche net that missed and were therefore not recorded as shots on goal.  Their dominance tonight in remarkable; breathtaking.

8:37pm:  The second period is over, and for the 4th time in the last 5 periods the Wings have played, they have held the opponent without a goal.  The only rough spot in the period was Budd Lynch jumping the gun.  The Wings 93-year-old PA announcer announced, "Last minute of play in this period," just as they stopped the clock with 1:01 showing on the scoreboard.   Why even have a "last minute of play" announcement?  Somebody tell me.  DETROIT 3, COLORADO 0.

8:51PM:  Yours truly, your humble correspondent, is picking the 3 Stars tonight, did I mention?  Right now, I'm going with Hudler for finally scoring a goal, Cleary for scoring in 5 straight and another player I will not mention as to do so might jink him.  That is all for now.  The 3rd period is about to start.

9:03pm:  Detroit got caught with too many men on the ice when they were shorthanded and Colorado just scored on the ensuing 5-on-3.  At 5:28, John-Michael Liles scores to ruin my pick for First Star as Jimmy Howard loses his shutout bid in the 3rd period for the second game in a row.  John-Michael, for the record, may be the first hyphenated first name in the NHL since Jean-Guy Talbot or some other ancient Montreal Canadian.

9:08pm:  Phil Myre, speaking of former Montreal greats, points out that Marc-Andre Fluery, a goalie somewhere in the NHL, also has a hyphenated first name, thereby ruining my previous post about old John-Michael there.  Thanks, Phil!

9:15pm:  They just came for my 3 Star picks with 3:20 left in the game.  You have to pick before the game is over so they can get them to Budd in time which means sometimes you wind up looking like a dummy if somebody does something great after you've turned in the sheet if his names not on it.  I went with Hudler (3), Cleary (2) and Bertuzzi--the only multiple-point scorer in tonight's game--(1).

9:22pm:  And we're done.  Detroit is held to 2 shots in the 3rd but it doesn't matter as the Wings win.  Colorado pulled their goalie with over 2:00 left in the game but it didn't help them and Detroit couldn't get an empty-netter, not that it matters.  Detroit will be no worse off than tied with St. Louis for first in the division depending on how the Blues do tonight in Phoenix, and the Wings are off until St. Louis comes here Wednesday night.  And I guess we'll talk to you then.  FINAL SCORE:  DETROIT 3, COLORADO 1.