Nashville Predators (at) Detroit Red Wings: The Live-Blog

Pre-Game Skate:  All I can tell you is that they are all important, even these less-than-sexy matchups involving Detroit and Nashville.  That's because right now the difference between 3rd place in the Western Conference and 14th-place in the Western Conference is 9 points.  Nine.  And that's all.

7:43pm:  And we have a goal.  Martin Erat skated inside the rim of the circle to the right of Jimmy Howard and beat the Detroit goalie with a wrister over the left shoulder.  No screen.  No tip.  Nothing at all and Howard--with plenty of time to set himself and get square to his shooter gets beat glove side high. One does not like to see that.  It's early. Erat's 8th of the season comes at 3:09.  Here are the obligatory "when scoring first" numbers:  Nashville is 19-3-5 (.611) when the get the first goal of the game this season, Detroit--playing .660 overall so far--is 10-13-2 (.440) when scored upon first.  FIRST PERIOD: DETROIT 0, NASHVILLE 1.  


8:01pm:  2-0, Nashville.  David Legwand stole the puck deep in the Detroit zone and dropped it back to the Detroit line then headed for the net.  Because of that, he was right there in front to slam the tasty rebound left by Howard into a wide-open Wings net.  Legwand's 8th comes at 14:13, and no, I do not have stats for what happens when Detroit gives up not just the first goal of a game, but the first two and I do not have the time while the game is going on to review each of the 53 box scores generated by the Wings so far this season to get the answer to that question.  FIRST PERIOD: DETROIT 0, NASHVILLE 2.


8:31pm:  And it's 3-0, Nashville.  We're just into the second period and the Wings elected to leave Nashville's Colin Wilson all alone out in front.  When he got the puck, as you knew he inevitably would, Howard stopped his first shot but not his second and the Preds are one the board again just 1:03 into the second period.  SECOND PERIOD: DETROIT 0, NASHVILLE 3.


8:35pm:  Well, let's see.  What else is going on?  I had lunch with Tigers President Dave Dombrowski today.  (Actually, I sat next to him while he ate prior to addressing the crowd as our guest speaker at the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association luncheon but it still counts, right?)  Dombrowski believes the Tigers will win them all this year, and who's to argue.  Everybody's team looks good in February!  A 162-0 season coming up for Detroit in 2011.  It should be a hell of a year.

8:38pm  It's hard to figure sports, you know?  Take Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne.  He shuts out Detroit 3-0 Saturday, get's lit up by a bad Edmonton team Monday--pulled in the second period, in fact--and now tonight he's back to shutting the Wings out again.  We're almost halfway through this one, 11:04 left in the middle twenty, and Detroit has not scored on him.  The weird thing is this:  we're halfway through this game and the Wings have a grand total of 12 shots on goal.  That is something like unheard of for this team.  We just had our first penalty of the game, speaking of not a lot going on.  Jakub Kindl goes off and the Preds are on the power play.  They are 1-13 (7.7%) on the power play against Detroit this season which, for those of you new to the game, is not very good.  Ooops.  Make it 2-14.  Nashville gets a power play goal from Sergei Kostitsyn at 10:26 and Howard is excused from further participation as Joey MacDonald comes into the game to play goal for Detroit.  SECOND PERIOD: DETROIT 0, NASHVILLE 4.  




9:00pm:  Take that Pekka Rinne, you and your shutout.  Ruslan Salei followed his own shot to whack his rebound into the net and the Wings are, at long last, on the board.  It's Salei's 1st goal of the season and it comes at 16:02.  SECOND PERIOD: DETROIT 1, NASHVILLE 4.


9:08pm:  The period is over and we have lost all interest in this one.  The Wings, no doubt stung when I pointed out that they had had only a dozen shots in the first half of the game, rallied to record 14 in the second period but I don't think its going to be enough.  Detroit is down by 3 as we head to the 3rd....SECOND INTERMISSION: DETROIT 1, NASHVILLE 4.


9:29pm:  Sorry, I've been reading about that idiot congressman from New York, Chris Lee (R-Of Course), who was trying to pick up women on Cragslist by posting a shirtless picture of himself and by saying he was a divorced 39-year-old.  He's married and 46.  Oooops.  The story broke on Wonkette.com at 3:34 EST and by 7:18 Lee had resigned (to spend more time with his family, no doubt).  In hockey if you are stupid they call you a donkey.  We will apply it to Chris Lee here:  What a donkey.  There is been no change in the game, in case you were wondering.  Still 4-1, Predators and it all looks pretty hopeless tonight.  The best moment came a moment ago when the Wings had a shot at a wide-open net.  So wide-open in fact that Todd Bertuzzi raised his stick in exultation before the shot was taken.  He would have been sooo ready if the puck had actually gone in the net, but the shot, sad to say, was too high and poor Todd was just sort of stuck standing there with his stick raised over his head for no good reason at all.  Such is this night for Deteroit.  THIRD PERIOD: DETROIT 1, NASHVILLE 4.


9:45pm:  Okay, normally I wouldn't do this but I'm having a slight health issue tonight and I think I shall depart the proceedings prematurely this evening.  As I depart, there are 7:00 left in the game and the Wings are still down 3 and I don't think they are coming back.  If they do, I will miss it, sorry.  This is the worst I've seen Detroit play this season.  I'm not that worried about it.  In an 82-game season, you will have the occasional clunker.  Best to not make it a habit, though.  Good night, all.