The Detroit Red Wings faced off against the Western Conference rival Edmonton Oilers. The Wings jumped out to an amazing start putting 5 pucks behind starter Dwayne Roloson. Detroit sniper Johan 'the mule' Franzen left the game in the first period with an upper body injury and did not return.
[Two ironic notes relating to my previous post regarding Rangers goaltender Stephen Valiquette/Patrick Roy: (1) Roloson was pulled after the first as he should have been and (2) The last time Detroit scored 5 goals in a period was Dec 2, 1995 as noted in the post about Patrick Roy]
The Wings kept the pressure on in the second and managed to add one more goal to start the 3rd leading 6-0. It seems like common sense, and something you shouldn't have to remind professional athletes, but the Wings came out flat in the third. They played as if they had a big lead, and just wanted to ride out the final 20 minutes. In the NHL today, you can't count a team out no matter what the deficit may be. As a direct result, the Oilers managed to bang in 2 ugly goals, then added another pretty one to make it 6-3. Red Wing coach Mike Babcock had seen enough and reminded his team that the game isn't over until the final buzzer sounds. Babcock's re-focusing of this club proved positive and Samuelsson picked off an errant pass for a breakaway goal. Late in the final frame, rookie Ville Lieno tipped in his 3rd career goal as the final nail in Edmonton's coffin.
I think Detroit's future with players like Darren Helm, Ville Lieno, Justin Abdelkader, Jonathan Ericsson, and Thomas McCollum should be bright. (just don't mention the ones who got away... Shawn Mathias)
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