Flames @ Wings: 1st periods are for schmucks

Red Wings 4-3 Flames (OT)
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Kipper was given a rare night off for the Flames, and Conk was in net for the Wings in the battle of #2's.

This is how it went down, with what we'll call ... a "running blog". Creative, I know. But that's what these full game recaps will be called henceforth. Not sure if that's the correct usage of "henceforth", but fuck it I don't get paid to do this.

1st Period

• 1:00 ... McElhinney tested early after Pav makes a nice lead pass to a streaking Hossa on the wing. I'm going to hate typing McElhinney.
  

• 3:25 ... The Z line goes 3-on-4 into the Flames end and nearly score, but McElface makes his second huge save in the game's first 4 minutes.
  

• 5:05 ... Flames 2-on-1 -- and David Moss misses a gaping net. Conk's positioning was so off that I'd have to question his blood-alcohol level right now. It resembled something out of a 1980's Ron Hextall low-light reel.
  

• 13:00 ... The Flames are playing like they have a 2-goal lead; one forechecker and 18 guys in the neutral zone. Nothing real exciting going on right now, Wings only have 5 shots.

• 15:05 ... Conk looks awful. He gives up a humongous rebound, and after a scrum the puck goes in the net. 1-0 Flames.

• 18:07 ... Curtis McElhinney, in his 3rd career start, is outplaying Ty Conklin. Our goaltending situation right now is not exactly ideal.

• 19:10 ... Another Flames goal, and a rather annoying one at that. Todd Fucking Bertuzzi skates around Stuart easily, Conk is hung out to dry after he stacks the pads for a save, and Daymond Langkow pots a gift wrapped goal. 2-0 Flames to end the period. This sucks.

2nd Period

• 0:00 ... Statistically the Flames are the 4th worst 5-on-5 team (going by g/ga ratio), and they end up +2 after one period. No way this continues, right? Right. Okay. This can't go on, we're in agreement then. Right? Whatever. I hate this shit.

• 0:30 ... God dammit, get the puck up, Hoss. Should be 2-1 right now. McEldick was stretched as far as his body would let him and made a desperate foot save.
  

• 3:01 ... Good stretch of work for the Wing offense. Penalty to the Flames, maybe that goal comes here.

• 3:15 ... or maybe not. Raf gives the puck away at the blue line, but to his credit rushes back and makes a spectacular poke check without taking a penalty. On the next turn back down the ice, McElgoalie makes an obscene save ... somehow seeing a Kronner slapshot through two players (in which he had like a 2 inch crack to see the puck). Unreal. By the way, this guy has zero career wins.

• 6:59 ... Of course it would take Kris Draper to get the Wings on the board. He takes a slap shot/pass that gets tipped in by Filppula. 2-1 Flames. The fact that Drapes took a slapper that didn't get swallowed up by the goalie's ribs is the most shocking American story since the Kennedy assassination. Wings have some serious buzz to their game now.
  

• 8:00 ... Chris Osgood is 3rd in Western Confernce allstar voting for goalies. That is beyond ludicrous. I love Ozzie but if he makes the all star team, shitting my pants in public would be less embarrassing.

• 10:26 ... This game suddenly has some edge to it. McElpenalty comes out to deny a breakaway but shoots the puck over the glass like a guy who's in his 3rd career start.
  

• 12:26 ... Flames escape again and on top of that, the Wings get called for a penalty of their own. On a side note, Pav is seeing the ice brilliantly tonight; he looked really sharp on the power play.

• 17:00 ... Defensive zone adjustment, perhaps? For the last couple Flames' rushes, the Wings have had at least one guy in front of Conklin to swat his rebounds away and keep the top of the crease clear.

• 18:03 ... Homer gets called for a hook, but Cleary bails him out by drawing a penalty in the Flames end. Another solid game out of Dan Cleary so far. In other news, Joe Sakic breaks three of his fingers not playing hockey. It goes without saying, but this would never happen at Steve Yzerman's house.
  

3rd Period

• 0:00 ... Intermission interview w/ Daymond Langkow: "We gotta stay out of the box, they've got a pretty good power play." Yeah, no shit. That power play is destined to score this period if the Flames take any more dipshit penalties and the Wings quit screwing around. Whether they do or not will determine the game.
  

• 2:31 ... Already six stoppages in play this period. I don't think the Joe could get any quieter. I think I just heard a mouse fart near the Wings bench.

• 3:58 ... Nice save by Conk. Another whistle. Jesus Christ.
  

• 6:00 ... More Datsyuk: kept two pucks in the Flames end by himself at the blue line, then created a scoring chance, followed by another Flames delay of game. Come ON, power play.
  

• 7:11 ... Kronner takes a slapshot and it hits Mule right in the dome. Mule also commits goalie interference to negate the power play.

• 8:49 ... Flames score. Slapshot, bounce falls to Moss' stick, goal. Fuck this. 3-1 Flames.

• 9:51 ... Just when things couldn't look any more bleak, Hank scores. Yay. 3-2 Flames.

• 10:00 ... I just realized that I hate time-stamping these bullets with how much time INTO the period it is, rather than how much time is left. Guess I'll change that for next time.

• 13:47 ... WOOOOOOOO, RAF! Shades of The Finals, Game 5. 3-3.

• 20:00 ... What a flurry at the end. Phaneuf unleashes a slapper that Conk turns aside, then up the other way Cleary gets in the middle of yet another scoring chance, Hossa can't quite tuck it by the near post. Overtime time.

Overtime

• 0:30 ... Datsyuk AGAIN creates a chance, and the Mule gets absolutely stoned on the doorstep by McElsave.

• YYYYYYYYEEEEESSSSSSSSS, and it's Lidstrom with the game winner. Datsyuk providing traffic in front. McElscreened made a good effort out of it but fell one goal short, 4-3 Wings.
  

Final

Well that was some comeback. I didn't think it would happen after Calgary's 3rd goal but the Flames eventually wore down (played last night, after-effect for sure). Conk was shaky early but hung on at the end. Just another 1-goal game for the Wings, who seem to love making it harder then it has to be.

Top 3 Wings:

3) Brian Rafalski (1 goal, 1 assist)

2) Dan Cleary (2 assists, 3 blocked shots) -- Great, great game. Solid in his own zone, spearheaded some offensive charges. He looks like he's back to pre-puck-to-the-face/eye-injury status of a year ago.

1) Pavel Datsyuk (1 assist, 10/15 faceoffs) -- The past couple weeks I've wondered aloud whether he's been playing too fancy. Well tonight he was the best player on the ice. He had at least five "wow" plays and was playing with a dominating level of awareness in the Flame's end.