Postgame: Coyotes @ Red Wings

I caught most of this one on the radio but it sounds like a familiar story taken to extremes.

Wings jump out to an early lead, get a little sloppy/lazy, opposition outplays them to end the game. Of course, taken to an extreme like it was tonight, that doesn’t give you the usual downer outcome.

Five goals in the first period is the kind of lead the Wings are allowed to sit on. Want to see them keep the pressure on but it’s pretty much inevitable that they’re going to start to coast. So they did coast, and Phoenix started playing better, but it’s not like Detroit ever looked bad tonight, even at that point.

The Red Wings needed the kind of opening they got tonight after two consecutive lazy losses. Not just a lot of goals but scoring that was spread out. Bertuzzi and Helm have been playing well as of late and pick up a goal each. Filppula comes back from injury to get one. Conner, the hometown kid who’s been great on the third line during his call-up, gets an assist in his first game at home.

A good rebound win, something the team can build on.

And hopefully Pavel Datsyuk was just a little dinged up, with no reason for him to risk anything. That’s what both the radio and FSD made it sound like so I’m not going to worry about it yet. Mike Babcock says he’s fine so we’ll have to trust that for now.