Red Wings vs Coyotes Recap 1.19.2012

If there was a game this year that I thought Phoenix might win against us, it was tonight. The Wings have struggled on the road (though not lately) and Phoenix had been playing well on home ice. However, the good guys won again. Again. When was the last time Phoenix beat Detroit? Including playoffs, we've got at least a 7 game winning streak going against them. I'll check later. Or you can. Either way.

Jump for the full recap:
Game started off a like like the Dallas game. Wings were a bit slow and Phoenix got the bounce they needed to take a 1-0 lead. Detroit picked up the play later on, though, and eventually took control of the game.

The power play had good pressure, but couldn't score. Smith was finding the puck through traffic and when he wasn't, the puck was hitting the post. I was worried when Phoenix scored right after surviving major pressure on a Wings' power play, but they kept their cool and stayed in the driver's seat.

I don't like Torres.

All of those too many men calls would have been way funnier if we had made them pay. Still, it just shows that Dave Tippet is wasting his talent down there. He's a great coach, but that franchise is a black hole. I guess that could come across as a silly statement because too many men is on the coach, but the man can only do so much.

The ice was terrible tonight. Says the guy over 1,000 miles away. But seriously, the puck was always bouncing, rolling, skipping... That's what happens when you try to put a hockey team in the desert. They should have a winter classic down there. We'll call it, "water polo."

White and Lidstrom were not letting anything past them on the blue line tonight. No matter where Phoenix tried to clear it, there one of them was to hold it in. I asked on twitter and I'll ask here: How has White not found a team who will keep him? It's not like he asked for tons of money or anything.

NOHS Three Stars of the Game:

First Star: Todd Bertuzzi: When Bert is on, the team is great. I hope he's starting to see that he still has 'it.' He can still be the power forward he was in Vancouver. not many guys can blast the puck as hard as he did, then follow it up with one of the nicer shootout goals you'll see. Without looking, I'm guessing there are people out there saying "He shouldn't even be in the league!" after he scored the winning goal. Well, he is, so you better hope your goalie learns to stop his shots.

Second Star: Franzen: According to me anyways. Why? because he's not alive or dead. He's undead. One minute the guy is unable to move his lower body because of severe pain, then he's being helped into the locker room, then he's out there creating scoring chances. In my opinion, the trainers strapped him to a table, sawed his leg off, attached a new one and away he went. I think they have a box of spare parts for Mule, with hockey gear already attached so he won't miss a shift. That's my theory, anyways.

Third Star: White/Lidstrom. Like I said, they were killing Phoenix by intercepting their clearing attempts. It only resulted in the one goal (scored by White) and none on the power play, but they were on top of their game, for sure.

NOHS Favorite Moment of the Game: Ken complaining about the Phoenix stat keepers. Funny how Phoenix spends most of the period in their own zone, but gets 13 shots and only has 1 turnover. Ken has been very snarky for a while now. Especially since Detroit started getting only one power play per game.

Who were your 3 stars? Who did I miss? Who needs to sit next game?

Speaking of the next game: It's Saturday against the Columbus Lebdas. Puck drops at 7:00 EST.

LGRW!