An unfortunate result in game 1, but not the end of the world. Going forward, the Red Wings will need to shoot more and turnover the puck less if they want to win this series.

More after the jump:

Here we go on the quest for #12.  Game 1 of of our 22nd consecutive year of the playoffs.  A game against one of the dirtiest teams, full of whiney balding, 30 year old frat boys.  

They are talented.  Dumb, but talented. 

However, we have a killer on our team.  He goes by Howard, Jimmy Howard. 

A duck killer that is.  

A killer movie poster and live blog, after the break: 

We've looked at the expert predictions earlier today, but now for the real experts that you've all been waiting for...us at NOHS.   Here's our completely unbiased, 100% researched, no favoritism at all for the good guys in red and white or against those bastards in black.  Lets start with our reporter in the desert: 

Sully: 

Our leading goal scorer is Pavel Datsyuk with 15 goals, but our team gets timely scoring from all lines and we have a bit of depth. Z is our top point getter with 48 points. Anaheim's top goal scorer also has 15 goals (Getzlaf) and their points leader has 49 (Getzlaf again). I think these teams are more evenly matched than their points total shows. Difference being Jimmy was our only goal-tender with W's, they had two great goalies. But I think our top forwards play a very good shut-down role against guys like Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan-Selanne and we have a history of making mediocre goal-tenders look great but great goal-tenders look silly. Plus, for all the grief we've given Mike Babcock this season, I think he'll out-coach Bruce Boudreau in this series and we'll all remember why we like having him on our side. 

I dig previews.  It shows how little most of the supposed experts really know.  So why wait? Lets take a look.  

Detroit Free Press: 

Helene St. James -  Red Wings in six. The travel will test, but the way the Red Wings have been playing for the past week should carry them through this series. The Wings already showed twice this season that they can win in Anaheim. The key will be scoring first and forcing the Ducks to chase the puck. The other key will be to watch penalties, because Anaheim has a very good power play. The Ducks don't have the relentlessness of the Chicago Blackhawks, so if the Wings can establish themselves early, it'd be huge.

Jeff Seidel - Red Wings in six. The Wings beat the Ducks twice in their building during the regular season. Since then, the Wings are even better and have added Danny DeKeyser.

Drew (I Don't Care What the Fans Think) Sharp - Red Wings in six. Always go with the hot team and the hot goalie in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wings are probably far from a consensus underdog in this series, considering the recent history of low seeds going far in the playoffs.

George Sipple - Ducks in six. The Red Wings wouldn’t have extended their streak of making the playoffs for 22 consecutive seasons if not for the play of goaltender Jimmy Howard. While the Wings may have the better goaltender, the Ducks prove to be the better team.

Isn't it sad how little the Detroit beat writers actually know about the Wings other than St. James?  Look at how little detail each writer put.  Sipple: "Wings have a better goaltender, but Ducks have the better team."  Really George? Do you know who the Ducks' goaltenders are?  

Drew "I'm smarter than you" Sharp manages to do his usual of saying nothing while saying something.  And Jeff Seidel, whoever he is, states the series record.  Good for you Jeff.    I wonder why the Free Press is struggling...  

Over at the Detroit News with Kuflan, things are a little better, but his analysis doesn't seem to agree with his prediction: 

Storylines: Two teams heading into different directions? Anaheim was the second-best team in the league for the early part of the schedule but ended April with a 7-5-1 record. The Red Wings won four consecutive games to make the playoffs and they're playing their best hockey of the season. The Ducks are deeper than in past seasons but C Ryan Getzlaf and LW Corey Perry are still heavily counted on for offense.

Key player: Anaheim RW Teemu Selanne. At 42, age appears to have finally caught up with Selanne this season; he was dropped to the fourth line at one point. But he can still be dangerous for one series.

Prediction: Anaheim in 7

So Detroit is hot while the Ducks aren't, Selanne is old and really they are a one or two line team.   He takes a deeper look here and says that while both forward squads are better than their defense, Detroit has better goaltending, so the Ducks win?  Makes tons of sense Kuflan.  

Lets take a look from around the hockey world, after the break: 

Playoffs start tonight. Many of us from time to time weren't sure if this day would come for the Wings, but deep down we all knew that Captain Z wouldn't let his first season as commander go down as the year the Wings didn't make it in.

My coverage on this site has been lacking. Some of that is due to work, some to feeling in a rut as a fan. I wrote an article right before the Calgary game that I never ended up posting. If I may be so vain, I will quote myself from that very article after the jump.

Jump!

First and foremost, up front, I want to know what you all think of this regular season. It only ended on Saturday, and with the playoffs beginning Tuesday it seems there is no time to reflect. Playoff mode, where this team tries every year to find their STFU switch in the complete inky darkness and flip it, is here.

But since this team cannot look back on how this season went, allow us to do that for them. What really will we be saying about this season, years from now? I think I will remember the disappointment the off-season free agent signings brought about. And Mikael Samuelsson proving the point of everyone that criticized Ken Holland. I will remember our namesake was injured essentially the entire season. Jim Howard, slow out of the gates, turned it on when we most desperately needed him and finished the regular season with a 0.964 Save Percentage in April.

Then there was the rise of the young guns, guys like Nyquist, Brunner (who fell off the pace once people “caught on to his tricks,” as Mick would say), Andersson, Kindl, Lashoff, and even Abdelkader. A career year in a 48-game season? I guess moving a third line grinder to Datsyuk’s line will do that.

Wow, have we let all of you down.  Probably the biggest weekend of of regular season hockey for the Wings in 22 or so years and what do we bring you?  A couple recaps, and that's it. 

Well in that time, Jim Nill, Wings assistant GM who's consistently been a topic of rumors of his leaving to become the GM of somewhere, has been hired by Dallas to be their GM.  We all knew it was coming eventually, as Holland told CBC: 

“I think Jim Nill was ready to be a GM five, six, seven years ago,” Holland, the Red Wings GM and Nill’s boss the past 15 years, said in a phone interview Sunday. “Most of the teams that have made GM changes [during that time] have called to ask for permission to talk to Jim Nill.

“For a variety of reasons he’s chosen to stay but I know he wants an opportunity to be a manager.”

That he's finally leaving should come to the surprise of noone.  I mean, it has been almost certain that anyone who has a mustache these past few years, you're going to leave Motown.  Look at the evidence:

And of course, Jim's got a killer stache.

New rule - no facial hair for anyone in the coaching staff/management.  

So anyways, how bad will Detroit miss him? 

More after the jump: 

There it is, Hockeytown. 22 straight playoff appearances for the Detroit Red Wings. I never doubted them. Okay, so I doubted them. But only when they appeared to doubt themselves. This team that we’ve seen the last four games? They’re capable of breaking some hearts in the playoffs.

More after the jump:

Red Wings were down early and it looked for a short time that they would play down to their competition, but they found another gear in the second and took over after that.

More after the jump:

He might not be wearing the C, but he's been the team MVP (well, maybe co-MVP) almost every night.  

At the very least, we can rely on excellence out of #35. 

Jimmy's just about taken that next step into the world of elite goaltenders and today Josh Howard's rewarded him with his very own movie poster. 

It's a big one for a big game tonight, after the break: