There’s plenty to talk about after the win over St. Louis, but I’m going to table all of that for just one second because there’s something that needs to be said first…
Yes we CAN go get some piping hot curly fries because The Perfect Human decreed it so with three pucks in the back of the net.
Operation: Curly Fries has come full circle and I can’t think of a better way for it to happen than Nicklas Lidstrom notching his first career hat trick. That said, it’s incredibly hard to believe he hadn’t gotten “tricky” before this, but I’m not one to question the cosmos. It’s fitting that Captain Nick is the first one to send you scrambling to your printers for a box score and to your nearest Arby’s for some curly fries. He’s truly a man of the people, and when the people speak, St. Nick listens. Christmas come early, if you will. Personally, I hope Nick drops down my chimney with a hot piping order of seasoned potato goodness and a bottle of my favorite whiskey, but we’ll save that discussion for another time.
Before we move along, be sure to snap some pictures of you picking up your curly fries tomorrow while wearing your TPL shirt of choice (I <3 Curly Fries is, of course, the preferred choice.) Don’t have one? Pick one up at The Production Line Store. Once you’ve grabbed your fries and taken your picture, send it to us at contact@theproductionline.us and we’ll post it up over on our Facebook page.
On with the recap…
FINAL SCORE (Hi Mr. P!!!)
Wings 5, Blues 2
Random Musings
The Wings got it done tonight, although not in the prettiest fashion. It was a rough and tumble game to be sure, and the Blues came out early looking like the had snuck into Mike Babcock’s personal study and stolen the magic defensive recipe out of one of the leather bound books that he keeps on the shelves, limiting the Wings to a paltry five shots in the opening stanza. The Wings looked confused, and Murph even said they were acting “frustrated” on the bench, making myself (and I’m guessing quite a few of you out there) wonder if the wheels were going to fall off yet again at home.
Which is just the thing this team needed.
I loved this game because it forced these guys out of their comfort zone a bit. After throwing 51 shots at Jonathan Quick the other night, it was refreshing to see the Wings have to come out there and pick their moments and capitalize on the chances that St. Louis left on the ice. None was bigger than Dan Cleary’s power play goal after David Backes found his way in a very ill-advised manner to the penalty box, and that’s what’s been missing from this team now for a few games. The Wings have this tendency to lay back and act like they’re going to overwhelm opponents with high shot counts and pure athletic excellence, which, quite frankly, has gotten them into sticky situations this year. I don’t know if St. Louis just frustrated them to the point that they got pissed off or what, but I’m certainly not complaining and I’m damn near thrilled to see them fight hard and gut one out, while making sure that the opportunities they were given were buried in the back of the net.
Now, we all know Lidstrom gets the spotlight tonight, but you have to tip your…cap (if you still have one on, I guess) to both Henrik Zetterberg and Dan Cleary, who also had monster nights. Hank picked up 4 assists along the way, and Cleary nets the game winning goal, while picking up a pair of assists to boot. Zetterberg continues to play excellent hockey at both ends of the ice, and Cleary continues to show everyone what he can do when he’s fully healthy, rubbing my face in it at the same time… and I’m OK with that. If you would have told me that Buckets would be leading the team in scoring after 30 games, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed. I’m thrilled to see his hard work and effort translate into gritty goals and pretty darn good all around play, and if some crow needs to be eaten along the way, I’m fine with it.
One last thing before we go tuck ourselves into bed with visions of curly fries dancing in our head. I know I’ve been all kinds of supportive of Jonny Ericsson over the past month or so, but there is no way he will ever shed the moniker of Riggy Shitbox after he put an icing touch-up in his own net. NO. WAY. As I said on Twitter, it was the quintessential Riggy Shitbox play. I literally facepalmed.
Enough hating. Nick wants YOU to go get some curly fries and enjoy a big win.
Curly Fries Bitches.
Curly Fries image courtesy of @sigsegfalt
Nicklas Lidstrom image courtesy of Sports Illustrated
