Saturday, April 18, 2009

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In game 2, the Wings put on a clinic and looked much like the team who captured Lord Stanley's Cup the season before. My previous post explained how Ozzie looked like he really has 'flipped the switch' and today's shutout just cements that point. At the other end, Jacket's goalie Steve Mason was frustrated by staring at the back of Tomas Holmstrom's jersey all night. Mason clearly off his game was caught out of position on several occasions because he was focused on trying to move big number 96 on his own. The game was lopsided from the start as 10 seconds in, Dan Cleary took a penalty off the opening face off, and the best scoring chance on the Columbus power play was when Marian Hossa split the defence and nearly scored shorthanded.

Midway through the 3rd, TSN commentator Gord Miller even compared this game to a professor educating his students about playoff hockey. The big challenge for the Wings will be to remain focused and not get to cocky after back to back decisive wins at Joe Louis Arena. I'm sure Babcock will remind the boys what happened just last season in round 1 when they won games 1 & 2 in Michigan, then lost 3 & 4 in Nashville. The Blue Jackets will come out strong in game 3 with 2 days to rest, and rowdy crowd supporting their home team for their first ever home playoff game. Detroit looked sharp tonight, and for the first time this season, I felt like I was watching the Big Red Machine running on all cylinders.

I will give credit where credit is due in the creativity department, as Jakub Voracek figured maybe he could play better defence with 2 sticks...


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