Red Wings – Wild: Post-H2H Notes

I’ve got to say, H2H was a hell of a lot of fun. It helped that the Wings won, of course, but many thanks to all of Team Herm for putting it together.

As for the game itself… The first period worried me quite a bit. The Wings were getting chances but no goals and I thought for sure the 3-1 power play advantage would get evened out.

Four quick goals in the second pretty much knocked the Wild out of it. Franzen’s first was a hell of a shot and the one eventually credited to Ericsson was a great (though also lucky) play.

Ericsson might have had his best game of the year. A goal, an assist, and +4.

That Detroit let Minnesota back in it late in the second and at the start of the third is a definite negative. The PPG to make it 4-1 might not have been able to be helped but the second Wild goal was absolutely awful. Jimmy Howard simply cannot give that goal up.

Drew Miller continues to show why he’s still in Detroit and Ville Leino was moved to Philadelphia (something Malik and I talked about before the game). A strong defensive game, as always, and his goal was nice, too. Good speed coming up the wing and a quick shot. It was past Backstrom before he could do anything about it.

The player of the game was, of course, Franzen. He was all over the place and played like he was hungry, with four points to show for it.

The Wings are now tied with the Colorado Avalanche for seventh in the Western Conference but Colorado has a game in hand. A win in Nashville tomorrow will tie the Wings and Predators with Detroit having a game in hand.