Let's Watch the Wings and Stars! (And Maybe See Some History)

And so we say, "Hi again, everybody!  We greet you tonight from the Press Box, high above the ice here at the Joe Louis Arena..."  Actually, we are quite pleased to be so greeting you this evening as, presumably because the Wings are going for that all-time Consecutive Home Ice Wins record, the Press Box is packed.  Sometimes   this means I get bumped, but they Hockey Gods and the Detroit Red Wings Media Relations Department (have I mentioned lately what an outstanding job they do?) have graced me with a seat.  And so, we can report!

Would you like to know who's Hot and who's not? Sure you would.  I stole got this from TSN.ca, as good a hockey website as you will find.  They are the ESPN of Canada, you see, and hockey is #1 there, etc.

Who's Hot

DALLAS

Alex Goligoski (D) 5 pts in last 3 GP
Loui Eriksson (RW/LW) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Jamie Benn (C/LW) 7 pts in last 7 GP
Michael Ryder (RW/LW) 2 pts in last 2 GP
Mike Ribeiro (C) 3 pts in last 3 GP
Steve Ott (W/C) 6 pts in last 7 GP

DETROIT

Brad Stuart (D) 4 pts in last 5 GP
Ian White (D) 2 pts in last 3 GP
Niklas Kronwall (D) 2 pts in last 3 GP
Henrik Zetterberg (C/LW) 8 pts in last 5 GP
Justin Abdelkader (C/W) 3 pts in last 3 GP
Johan Franzen (LW/RW) 5 pts in last 5 GP
Joey MacDonald (G) 2-0-0, 1.92, .932 in last 2 GPI  1.87 goals against average and .926 Save % in last 5 games since Howard injury.

Who's Cold

DALLAS

Trevor Daley (D) 0 pts in last 15 GP
Richard Bachman (G) 0-1-0, 4.50, .864 in last 2 GPI
Kari Lehtonen (G) 1-2-1, 2.70, .889 in last 4 GPI

DETROIT

Tomas Holmstrom (RW/LW) 0 pts in last 10 GP
Jiri Hudler (RW/LW) 0 pts in last 5 GP
Valtteri Filppula (LW/C) 1 pts in last 4 GP
Todd Bertuzzi (RW/LW) 1 pts in last 4 GP
Pavel Datsyuk (C/LW) 3 pts in last 8 GP
Ty Conklin (G) 0-0-0, 6.00, .727 in last 2 GPI

Dan Cleary is still out of action, his injury know being reported as a "knee" instead of the more general "lower body", Jimmy Howard is still out with the broken finger and Kari Lehtonen starts in goal for Dallas.  The Wings seek a season sweep of the Stars tonight, but all the games have been close.  The two games there were each 1-goal games (including a shootout) while Detroit's 5-2 win here back in November (win #4 in the current 20-game home win streak) was a tie game mid-way through the 3rd before Detroit broke it open.  They are singing the anthem.  We will be right back.


Underway and the Wings are buzzing, as usual.  No score at first commercial break at 7:01 mark of first.


1-0 Detroit on a power play goal by Henrick Zetterberg (12).  Jamie Benn was off for goaltender interference and Zeterrberg had the puck down low and his centering pass came right back to him off a Dalls defenseman's stick and since Lehtonen had reacted to the centering pass, the post was open and Zetterberg shoveled it in.  Assist (somewhat gratuitously) awarded to Daqtsyuk and Lidstrom at 7:57..

2-0 Detroit on a goal just 1:18 later as Brad Stewart (5) snapped one by from the circle to the left of Lehtonen after Darren Helm won an offensive zone faceoff oh, so cleanly.  The Wings are pouring it on.  Detroit had 3 goals by defensemen in that win here against Dallas back in November, and the blueliners are on the board tonight thanks to Stewart. I didn't get the assists on the goal, but you can look it up if you like. The time was 9:15.  8:03 left in 1st: DETROIT 2, DALLAS 0.


Helm gets the only assist on the Stewart goal and Detroit is back on power play--Adam Burish of Dallas off for roughing at 14:13.

Our thoughts on the first period: This was another one of those periods that the Wings have, well periodically, that makes it hard to realize they are playing against another NHL team.  They were dominant in all regards.  Shots were a representative 20-10, Wings and Detroit got the only goals of the first. After 1: Detroit 2, Dallas 0.


Second period just underway.  Did I mention the crowd tonight is bigger than usual?  It is.  You can tell from the number of standees.  The seats are pretty full as usual, but they are packed in a couple deep in the standing areas.  I used to stand all the time when I was a kid at Olympia and I'll tell you, if you didn't get there an hour or two before the gates opened, you'd find yourself 6th in the "standing six-deep" configuration behind the last row of the balcony at the east end.  If you were will to pay the price (a misnomer since a Standing Room seat when I was in high school was $3) and get there way before they opened the doors, not only would you not be six deep high, you'd be in the first row of standing room at center ice, right beneath the main TV camera.  Sure, you'd have to wait another hour and a half once you got insides, but what a seat spot from which to watch!  14:00 left, 2nd: Detroit 2, Dallas 0.


It's been a quick second.  No scoring and the Wings have maintained their 2-to-1 edge in shots by outshooting the Stars 10-5 in the period as we approach the last minute of play.

The period is over.  While more evenly played than the first, Detroit still had the edge in the play and outshot the Stars 11-6 in the period (31-16, game).  Joey MacDonald made a couple great saves and got a little help from the left post when the Stars hit it with just under a minute left in the period.  Detroit is 23-1-1 (.940) when leading after two...After 2 Periods: Detroit 2, Dallas 0.


The teams return to the ice.  Is history 20 mins (elapsed playing time) away???


Dallas is all over the Wings in the first 5 minutes of the third, beating Detroit to loose pucks and such, but somehow fail to manage so much as a shot on goal even with several quality scoring chances.  14:18 left 3rd: Detroit 2, Dallas 0.


We've only been at it for 20 minutes, but we are down to 5:42 left in the game.  Dallas has mounted a charge here in the 3rd period but the Wings have been holding on.  Shots are 36-18, Detroit.  The excitement mounts, you know?  5:42 left: Detroit 2, Dallas 0.


3-0! 3-0!  It's over (4:49 left)!  It's over!  They are gonna do it.  Juri Huder gets the goal at 15:11.


I have to leave you now.  It is time to head for the dressing room to see what the fellows have to say about this record 21-game home win streak.  They will probably say they haven't given it a second thought, but you have to ask.  We'll check in with you later and, as always, we thank you for following along tonight.

Final thought? Part of the determination of how impressive a record is, is how long it takes for it to be equalled or bettered.  It will be interesting to see how long this record set by the Wings here tonight lasts.