Stevie Roxelle

Stop distracting, Babcock, I watch Cleary score goal in second.

FINAL SCORE (Hi Mr. P!)

4-1 Wings

THE RUNDOWN
I was watching the game while working, so my observations are sporadic, but the Wings looked good tonight. Real good. They finally potted a win on the road, against a team who notoriously gives us trouble. Cleary, in his post game interview, attributed at least partially to the absence of Weber. Whatever it was, the Wings looked strong from what I saw.

Your goal scorers were Filppula (twice), Datsyuk, and Cleary. Filppula’s first came from Zetterberg capitalizing on a turnover, and gives a great pass up to Filppula all alone in the slot. Datsyuk’s was a wraparound that he called before the referees did, and that had to be reviewed in Toronto. Cleary’s technically came 13 seconds after the Datsyuk goal. That goal I think was a bit of a backbreaker, and Filppula’s goal was icing on the cake. He was presented with a completely open net after some dirty work around the goal by Abdelkader and Emmerton.

The only Nashville goal came late in the 3rd. Blum flung a wobbly puck in, that Jimmy just didn’t see in time. Otherwise, Howard had an excellent game, as usual, and the Wings prevented Nashville from scoring on the power play, who entered the game with the league’s second best power play.

In other small notes, Darren Helm played with some gnarly stitches after taking a puck to the face in the pregame skate, and Holmstrom left the bench in the third, which has now been evaluated as a lower body injury. Hopefully its nothing serious and we’ll get our net crasher back soon.

HORSECOP OF THE GAME
Jimmy Howard. Monster saves. Twenty-one wins. Aw yeah.

RIGGY SHITBOX OF THE GAME
Hard to decide, but I’m giving it to Ericsson. It’s practically tradition.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Wings play St. Louis tomorrow at 7:30 EST, at the Joe. I think one of the gents have pregame tomorrow, so rejoice! You shall be free of me and back in the capable hands of Petrella, Discher, and Hollis soon.

Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.

WHEN AND WHERE?
Red Wings vs. Predators, in Nashville, 8:00 PM Eastern. Game is on FSD and FSTN.

WHERE WERE WE?
:: Detroit lost to Calgary last Thursday, despite a third period rally. That feels like forever ago.
:: Predators lost to the Stars on Friday, 6 to 3.
:: This is the third out of six meetings with the Preds this season. The first time we beat them 4-1, the second time they beat us 4-3. Let’s hope it goes more like the first meeting than the second.

BEST NAME NOMINEE
Pekka Rinne is too much fun to say. He has one of those names you have to say in full, like Tuuka Rask.

‘MEMBA ME? & OH, HI AGAIN
No former Wings on the Predators, and no former Predators on the Wings.

THE LINEUP (As far as I know, to be updated if necessary)
Franzen :: Datsyuk :: Bertuzzi
Filppula :: Zetterberg :: Hudler
Cleary :: Helm :: Miller
Abdelkader :: Emmerton :: Holmstrom

Nicklas Lidstrom :: Ian White
Brad Stuart :: Niklas Kronwall
Jakub Kindl :: Riggy Shitbox

Tiberius Howard
Ty Conkblock

SCRATCHES
Eaves [face]
Conner [hand]
Mursak [left ankle]
Commodore [Twittering]

The TPL Name Game “Three Stars”
Just like last season, submit your nickname suggestions (follow the theme!), and we’ll use our Facebook page to allow people to vote for the best… the winner gets a free TPL t-shirt!
PETRELLA:  Mike “Trust Me, I’ve Been Doing This Eleven Years” Commodore
STEVIE: Pavel “I Am An Exceptional Thief, Mrs. McClane” Datsyuk
HOLLIS & DISCH: Jingle bellin’

5 HOLE
:: As we saw in the last game against them, Nashville can come hard in the later periods, and that’s a time to watch out for. Hopefully the Wings don’t do their usual Wingsy thing in the 3rd and let up.
:: In fact, the Wings not playing the whole 60 minutes is becoming a theme. In the last game against Calgary, the Wings picked it up in the third period after the Flames had a 3 goal lead. If the Wings can play all 60 minutes, maybe they’ll blahblahblah I sound like Babcock.
:: The Wings have had a 3 day break, while Nashville only had the weekend off. Hopefully the extra time means more rest and not more rust, and the team comes out ready to go.
:: Nashville hasn’t been the best between the pipes lately, allowing 11 goals total in their last two games. Rinne allowed 5 against Columbus, and then was pulled after allowing 3 goals in 7 shots against Dallas. I assume that Nashville is putting him out tonight over Lindback. Rinne can be scary solid, and he’s had a break, but if the Wings can capitalize on him being leaky then they might be alright.

INSPIRATION

I watched this whole movie last night, but here’s the short version for you.

I despise this holiday, but that’s not going to stop me from drawing something silly.

Alternate speech bubbles:

  • What is a “Tumblr” and why do they want “sloppy makeouts?”
  • Do they want us to kidnap Shea Weber or…?
  • What is a “Shitbox” and why do they want it on fire?
  • Do they thing Ken Holland is Santa or something?
  • Why is someone asking me to get you some hooks, Huds?

You can comment with what you think Filppula could be asking Hudler about.

And Merry Christmas everyone.

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