Open Game Thread
Ottawa Senators at Detroit Red Wings
October 7, 2011 – 7:00 PM
TV: FSD
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Regular season hockey is once again upon us, with the Red Wings kicking off the 2011-12 campaign hosting the Ottawa Senators.
Game time is 7:00, with the Wings suggesting everyone be in their seats at 6:50 for a pregame ceremony honoring Lokomotiv (we still haven’t seen what Babs meant in saying that the Wings would be honoring McCrimmon all season long). For those watching from home, FSD’s pregame kicks off at 6:00 (which means I need to get out of the office pretty quick here).
Cory Emmerton will be in the lineup tonight as Patrick Eaves and Fabian Brunnstrom are healthy scratches (Mike Babcock said he wanted a natural center on the fourth line without breaking up Abdelkader and Helm on the third line). Mike Commodore is out on D, still recovering from a bruised knee.
Khan has the lines…
Hudler – Datsyuk – Cleary
Filppula – Zetterberg – Franzen
Abdelkader – Helm – Bertuzzi
Miller – Emmerton – Holmstrom
Lidstrom – White
Kronwall – Stuart
Ericsson – Kindl
Howard
Conklin
Budd Lynch ruining names. It’s hockey season.
Good job by Jimmy to hold the post on Foligno.
Cleary to the room. We’ll see what happens there.
First thought on the helmet numbers… They look stupid but aren’t as distracting as I’d feared.
Is there a purpose for them? I didn’t even notice!
Cleary back out. Not sure if it just happened or I missed it earlier.
They say they’re to help officials and media identify players.
Bert snipes it on a breakaway to get Detroit on the board. Great breakout pass.
“Todd Bertuzzi” chant going. A little quiet, though.
Not a horrible period. Could definitely get better. Lots more jump for the Wings after the goal.
Hot damn this is a huge lead (knock on wood).
Unrelated comment, but I can definitely tell it’s the first game of the season because I’m not annoyed by the same 10 songs they play inside the Joe yet.
White gets his first as a Wing. As Mickey points out, Emmerton with two points on the night.
As usual, I jinxed it hahahaha.
Ugh, D kind of got caught flat footed there.
Nicely done.
Are we going to give away a five point lead to laziness? I sure hope not!
Crap… That was close!
No killer instinct. Early in the season but worrisome.
I’m going to break my postgame thoughts into a couple sections here…
Pregame
The season opener always has some extra stuff attached to it that I usually find fun. The player introductions seemed more rushed than usual, though, and there’s no forgiving some of Budd Lynch’s mispronunciations. Danny Cleary’s name was mangled so badly that he didn’t even skate onto the ice, thinking someone else was called.
The ceremony honoring Brad McCrimmon was heartbreaking. I almost wish the team had done something different, that it would have been better not to drag his family out there. A framed jersey can’t mean much to them right now. That said, Beast’s son pulling on his dad’s jersey, that’s a bit of an iconic moment.
As I tweeted before the game, from an aesthetic standpoint I really don’t like the patch the Wings wore in honor of McCrimmon, Salei and Liv. It was lazy to just do the initials with no other imagery and the placement above the left sleeve numbers was awkward. If they had to go with that patch, it should have been above the tip of the wing on the chest, where the captains’ letters should go (which is a whole other design argument). A better option would have been a bigger patch on the shoulder of the jersey.
Early Game
The Wings took awhile to get rolling but once they got on the board, they were buzzing for the next 30 minutes. All four lines were clicking, too, which is something the Wings will need all season.
Todd Bertuzzi’s goal was a series of great plays. The shot was fantastic itself but that doesn’t happen without a perfect pass from Helm and a nice little play by Kindl to draw the attackers to him.
Cory Emmerton got his second goal in three career games. He’s not going to keep that pace up but it’s great to see hard work paying off.
Up until Ian White’s goal it was a very solid game for Detroit, you couldn’t poke many holes in it.
Late Game
And then it all fell apart.
The Red Wings kind of deflated after Milan Michalek scored to end Jimmy Howard’s shutout bid. It was a really fluky goal, kicked up and over Howard, dropping in behind him. Sometimes a team needs that, though, and the Sens took advantage.
Michalek added another on a Sens power play just a couple minutes later and Kuba notched a PPG to make the game look close.
It was too little, too late for Ottawa but if the Red Wings had that kind of let up in a game where they hadn’t scored as many goals, it’d be a different story.
Overall
Not a bad opening night. Good to get a win out of the way early and shake some rust off. Of course, the fact that it was a win makes it easier to say that.
Lidstrom looked like he flubbed it a little. Looked more like a forward for a second though.
Great effort by Bert in the corner to make that happen.
Kronner should have shot after that great move.
Major pressure led to that. Wings really buzzing.
Hudler found his hands, and what a steal by Pavs.
Checking in a little late… I agree with everything you have said!!! Is Nick playing Wing? Sure looks like it! 4-0 nothing!!!! Gotta love it! I have been waiting all summer and it is time to DROP THE PUCK!
Helm = Emc2
Save by HOWARD!