Let's Watch Sports in Detroit Today!

Good afternoon and greetings from the Joe Louis Arena where this afternoon the hockey season ends two days after the baseball season began and it is from where the baseball season begain Thursday, Comerica Park, that we will head after the hockey game for game two of the series between the Tigers and Red Sox.  In any event, we speak, of course, of the end of the regular season as no matter what happens today here, the Wings will be in the playoffs when they begin next week.  The question is, against which team will Detroit match up in Round and where will it start?  The Wings, with just this one game here against Chicago to go, could meet anyone of 4 teams in the opening round, and could start the playoffs here in Detroit or in either Nashville, Phoenix, Los Angeles or San Jose.  So how's that for options?  If the Wings win today and Nashville loses tonight in Colorado, Detroit will finish ahead of the Preds by one point and will be the home team in a first round matchup against Nashville. If the Wings lose today either in regulation or otherwise, Chicago will finish 5th and the Wings will be the road team against the Pacific Division winner, be it the Coyotes, Kings or Sharks.

There are hundreds of fans here this afternoon wearing Quebec Nordiques jerseys.  Pat Verbeek says they have been showing up around the league lately because they want a team.  They announced a couple of weeks ago that they'll be building a new, (presumably) NHL-sized arena there with groundbreaking later this summer and now the Quebecers are going around the league in search of a team to put in it.  (They can't have this one.  Perhaps they could try Columbus.)  I, for one, will miss Le Colisee in Quebec City, the home to the Nordiques when they played in the National League (I once saw a Wings game there) and to the Rafales when they played in the IHL.  I did a dozen or so games from there when I was the announcer for Grand Rapids.  One one trip, we brought the wives, stayed at a famous and great hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac overlooking a the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the local papers were calling our team "The Honeymooners".  We beat Quebec both games on the trip and everybody had plenty of, well, you know.  Best. Road. Trip. Ever.   Great town for romance, Quebec City and I know having actually honeymooned there.

While I was having my sex (day) dream, Chicago's Victor Stalberg 5-holed Jimmy Howard on a rebound and his 4th of the season at 10:14 has given Chicago a 1-0 lead and has moved the Wings that much closer to road ice disadvantage in the playoffs.  Marion Hossa, stilled booed here every time he touches the puck, is off for hooking (will everything today have a sexual connotation?) and we will see if the Wings can tie it up.  First Period: Detroit 0, Chicago 1.


The period ends with no further scoring and with each team having had 9 shots.

I was speaking a moment ago about all those Quebec jerseys here today.  You should have seen the Big A in Anaheim last night.  Albert Pujols was making his Angels debut and I'll bet there were 5,000 fans wearing his jersey.  Pujols lined into a double play in his first AB with LA and went 0-3.

And do you know which team signed a big ticket free agent first baseman and moved the guy who had been playing first across the diamond to third?  That's right. The Los Angeles Angels did.  Mike Trumbo, the rookie who hit 29 homers last year playing first base for LA, got himself moved over to third when the Angels signed Pujols (sound familiar?) and he made two errors last night, which means that he got himself completely outplayed by Miguel Cabrera--the other slugger in the AL who lost his job at first when his team signed a new guy to play that position.  The thing is, I'll be Trumbo didn't get a call from his manager asking if it was okay with him they way Cabrera got a call from Jim Leyland asking if he minded.

Also in LA last night, Kendrys Morales returned to the lineup, his first game in almost two years since he broke his ankle in the most stupid play off all time.  Morales hit a game-ending homer a couple of days before Memorial Day in 2010 and in the home plate celebration that ensued, he broke his left ankle so badly that two surgeries were required and it's a bit of a medical miracle that he's still playing at all.

The Wings head down the tunnel and onto the ice for the second period....

We are halfway through and it is still 1-0, Chicago.  That is all... Second Period: Detroit 0, Chicago 1.


2-0,.Chicago as Andrew Shaw buries his 12th at 17:20, seconds after Wings goalie Jimmy Howard made one of his best saves of the season, and seconds after a Detroit penalty had expired.  Patrick Sharp and Hossa get the assists and the Wings--who have scored 7 goals in the 5 games and two periods they've played since scoring 7 in a romp over the Blue Jackets here a week ago Monday--are in trouble deep.  End of Two Periods: Detroit 0, Chicago 2.


If the Wings cannot come back (still trail CHI 0-2 in 3rd) and if Phoenix wins tonight in MIN (8pm EDT), Detroit will play the Coyotes in the first round with games one and two in PHX next week.  If, on the other hand, PHX loses tonight, Wings would likely get the winner of tonight's LA at San Jose game, although there are some scenarios regarding overtime/shootout wins and losses in both the PHX and Sharks games which would result in the first round foe still being the Coyotes.  Still 15 mins to go here, tho..

Johan Franzen (29) sneaks one through the pads of Corey Crawford and as we approach the final ten mins, Detroit's back in it, trailing 2-1.


If Wings lose in reg (down to a min left) will have finished season 7-12-3 in final 22 games and will be the #6 seed in West.  HOLD ON--DATSYUK TIES IT WITH 46.4 LEFT ON AMAZING BACKHAND, BACK-TO-THE-PLAY BETWEEN THE FEET CROSS-CREASE PASS BY HOLMSTROM. AND WE ARE HEADED TO OVERTIME HERE IN DETROIT!  END REG: DETROIT 2, CHICAGO 2.


The point the Wings get for getting the game to OT gives them 102 and means Chicago can't catch them in the West standings, so Detroit will play Nashville in the first round.  Both the Wings and Predators have 102 points as I write this.  If they end tied in points, Nashville will have home-ice because they have the tie-breaker.  Down to a minute left in OT.


In shootout now and Datsyuk opens with a move you can't believe and does everything but score then Patrick Kane goes down and makes a move I can't even describe and beats Howard.  Hudler shoots high and if Sharp scores, it's over.  Sharp's slapshot it wide.  Bertuzzi must score to extend the game.  He hits the post and Nashville has home ice in the first round.  FINAL (SO) DETROIT 3, CHICAGO 3.


Off to Comerica Park...