Wings Lose 4-2 in Phoenix

Giving up three goals in the first period while not scoring any goals yourself is not a recipe for a win and the Red Wings proved that Thursday night with a 4 - 2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard was out of the game with back spasms so that didn't help the situation as Chris Osgood wasn't able to stop the onslaught.

You can't win them all but this one was kind of ugly...glad it wasn't broadcast nationally so the Hat Trick didn't have to watch it!

Next up: The surprisingly hot Nashville Predators at the JLA Saturday at 7:00pm.

Wings Continue Strong Start

Red Wings continue their strong start with only one loss in the last six games, currently showing a 5 - 1 record. They currently sit in second place behind the Nashville Predators who are undefeated at five wins. Goalie Jimmy Howard is playing strong and the offense has been strong. Nice to see after some of the disappointments during last year's season.

Next game for the Wings: Thursday, October 28 against the Phoenix Coyotes at the JLA.

Wings Lose in Overtime

The Red Wings lost their first game of the 2010-11 with a 5 - 4 defeat that ended in a shootout against the hated Colorado Avalanche. Regardless of the loss the Red Wings played solid hockey for three periods and Goalie Jimmy Howard looked great in goal...he blocked some tremendous shots, particularly during the shootout. It wasn't until the sixth round of the overtime shootout that Howard gave up a goal to Brandon Yip.

Next up for the Wings: The Dallas Stars

The Season Ends

The Hat Trick is sad to say that the Red Wings official season has ended with a loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 5. Not surprising but still sad after seeing the Wings make the Stanley Cup Finals the past two years. The Hat Trick is just happy they made the playoffs (which looked shaky last winter) and made it to the second round. They also didn't get swept in four games which is good for the pride of the Hat Trick.

Unlike past years in the early 2000s when the Wings got knocked out when they had a lot more talent on the team, I'm okay with this ending of the season. We knew the salary cap was going to be an issue. The Hat Trick is also clear on another issue: Goalie Jimmy Howard has the talent to be a great goalie in the NHL...however he lacks the same thing that other great playoff goalies lack...experience. He can't get it if he doesn't experience it and sometimes the end result of that isn't what the fans want. The fans also didn't want the collapse of the Wings after the 1995-96 season but the result of that was back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in '97 and '98. The bottom line is that losing this year could be good for Howard, as well as the entire team. You can't win them all and Wings fans are really blessed to have had the run we have had this decade, minus the lockout.

There are always things that can improve, personnel moves that can be made, talent that can be signed. But ultimately you have to be realistic in what you can expect from a squad in a certain year and I think the Wings did well for what was possible. The Hat Trick feels strongly this will be a good learning year for the Wings (and their fans) and puts us in good position for the 2010-11 season.

Thanks again Wings for a great season. Let's Go Red Wings!

Wings Routed By Coyotes, Game 7 Tuesday

The Wings were destroyed Sunday by the Phoenix Coyotes at the JLA, losing 5 - 2 and setting up a Game 7 in Phoenix on Tuesday night. The Wings blew a couple of golden opportunities on the power play, including several overlapping 5 on 3 scenarios. Goalie Jimmy Howard didn't exactly have his best performance but the lineup in front of him didn't exactly impress either. The less said about this game the better.

The bottom line comes down to this: A Game 7 in any series is generally a toss-up so instead of putting away the Coyotes on home ice they have to travel to Phoenix and hope they can pull it off on enemy ice. If they play like they did on Sunday then there will be no need to stay up late to watch the game.

Let's Go Red Wings but the Hat Trick has a bad feeling about this one.

Wings Crush Coyotes

The Detroit Red Wings came back big-time from a lousy Game 3 performance by crushing the Phoenix Coyotes at the JLA 3 - 0. Goalie Jimmy Howard came back mentally and stopped all 29 shots and two goals by star Henrick Zetterberg and a goal by Pavel Datsyuk sealed the win.

Nice job Red Wings!

The Wings really needed to come back and play better in this game and they accomplished that goal. It was good to see that Jimmy Howard could also respond and put a bad playoff performance behind him...having backup goalie (and former starter) Chris Osgood help him with this was key.

The series now returns to Phoenix for Game 5 and it is a tied series once again. It's looking very likely that this could be a seven game series. Let's Go Red Wings!

Wings Lose Game 3

The Wings lost 4 - 2 after a not-so-great third period in the goal tending department. To quote my Detroit cousin's Facebook post: "Stupid Coyotes"

While I'm not usually a big fan of some of the NBC announcers and generally ignore their "advice" they did note that the Wings seemed to be playing "businesslike" when they needed to be playing passionately. I'll agree with that one...they had some good scoring chances but it was incomplete at times.

The Hat Trick knew this was going to be a series and not a cakewalk for the Wings. Detroit could even get knocked out in the first round which hasn't happened in a long time. However, Jimmy Howard is getting the one thing lacking in his consummate skills sets as an NHL goaltender: playoff experience. This will last him a long time and benefit, and the Red Wings, in the future.

Now, the Hat Trick isn't throwing in the towel just yet...but being realistic. We'll see what happens in Game 4.

Watching Game 3 Now

The Hat Trick is spending Sunday afternoon watching Game 3 between the Red Wings and the Coyotes on the wide screen in HD. Cold beer is in hand and the youngest member of the East Coast Wing clan (my eight month old daughter) is trying to master crawling and actually taking a slight interest in what is going on with the game. The family dog is in her typical position...asleep on the couch. The weather is a bit cool, almost fall-like and a pot roast is simmering in the kitchen so it's a great Sunday at that!

The game has been good with a lot of physical play and good scoring opportunities. The score is 1 - 1 with about 8:00 minutes left in the second period. Goalie Jimmy Howard has been solid with 14 saves to this point. Lets go Red Wings!!!

Wings Win A Crazy One, Improve Playoff Position

Last night the Red Wings played division rival Nashville in Tennessee and it was a wild one. The Wings won 1 - 0 but that doesn't tell the whole story. The game was actually won in a 11 round shootout after going 0 - 0 throughout regulation play and the overtime period. Crazy. The game was won by Niklas Kronwall on a fake and then slid the puck in the 5-hole. Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard was stellar in goal and really seems to have hit his stride...he's been on fire since the Olympic break.

With this win the Wings have now won 12 of their last 15 games. More importantly, with the win in Nashville the Wings have moved into the sixth playoff position in the Western Conference. Certainly an improved position from a few weeks ago when the Red Wings were struggling to even make the playoffs. I think it's fair to say that the Wings are playing their best hockey of the year and that getting back several of their injured players has really helped. I think a lot of the higher-seeded teams in the Western Conference are going to be looking warily at the Red Wings as the season comes to a close in a few short weeks.

Nice job Red Wings...deep down I knew you wouldn't let me down!

Wings Lose a Rough One

The Hat Trick got to watch the Red Wings yesterday due to a national broadcast on NBC. Needless to say the Hat Trick has missed quite a few games this year...unemployment forcing the decision to cancel the NHL Center Ice package and then the pissing contest between Versus and Direct TV has not helped matters...but I digress...

The game was a match-up of the 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup teams...namely the Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Wings played solid throughout the game and kept is close forcing an overtime and getting an important point that is desperately needed for making the playoffs. Unfortunately the shoot out didn't go as well with the Penguins taking the victory on a Evgeni Malkin backhander that Wings Goalie Jimmy Howard couldn't grab.

Needless to say there is a reason why the Penguins are unbeaten in shootouts this season. The Hat Trick knew this was a problem going into the shootout but I had hope since Jimmy Howard had played very well throughout the game. At least the Wings got a point and are sitting at the number eight spot in the conference right now with the Calgary Flames.

It's been a difficult year for Wings fans...the salary cap really hurt the team by forcing them to part with several key players. Add in a really tremendous amount of injuries and it just adds up to some bad losses and bad hockey. Luckily the Wings are starting to get some players back so hopefully we'll start seeing that with the standings although even the Hat Trick could not have predicted that the Wings, if the playoffs started today, would be counted out for the first time since the 1980s. Luckily they have time to recover and hopefully we'll see that in the coming weeks, especially with the Olympic break in play that is coming up later in February.

Let's hope things improve otherwise it's going to be a boring playoff season for the Hat Trick.