commentary...

last night's game between the Canucks,and Red Wings was a very tight fought playoff-intensive game... Vancouver got lucky on first goal,when puck deflected off Nicklas Lidstrom's skate through Jimmy Howard's legs,and actually their second goal was scored,seconds after a missed tripping call,by referees,on a Vancouver power play... neither goal was Howard's fault,but the first goal should have,and could have been,stopped by Howard... that is hockey,and that is the reason that hockey is very unpredictable... with any luck,game could have gone into overtime,but recently,the Red Wings have had only bad luck,in their games,having goals disallowed by referees,the dreaded bad puck bounce,or simply running into goaltenders that have played their best game... in some cases,their best games in weeks,or even months... in one case,having a goaltender give up six goals one night,and then have same goaltender play like Jacques Plante(old-time Hall-of Fame member of the Montreal Canadiens),against the Red Wings,and give up only one goal,against them... that is hockey,but it is frustrating to watch... the Red Wings,most of the year,have been very consistent,and good(note their overall record),but recently,the injuries have caught up with them,and the bounce of the pucks do not seem to be going their way,right now,which happens to every team every year... before you say anything,let me remind you of something:from February 7,2008,to February 17,2008,the Red Wings lost six games in a row,but at the end of 2007-2008,they were the team lifting the Stanley Cup,not Pittsburgh,shutting out the Penguins,until the third game of the Stanley Cup Finals,and winning nine games in a row,during that year's playoff run,closing out the series,against Nashville,in six games,sweeping the Colorado Avalanche,in four games,and winning the first three games,against the Dallas Stars,and then winning in six games,and steamrolling the Penguins in the first two games,by shutting them down,and out... this year's team has potential,but has only shown glimpses of dominance... right now,the Red Wings will be in the playoffs,and will be an underdog,by many pundits,which is just what Detroit,i believe,wants,but they want to play their best game,going into the playoffs,and they are defensively,but offensively,they are out of sync,which is very odd(could be blamed on injuries),but Red Wings will not hear any of it... they expect to play their best every game,and expect to win majority of their games,even without their best players,which brings me back to last night... they played well enough to win,but also they played well enough to lose,last night... with some bounces going their way,they could have won,but right now,they are playing on the thin edge of games that one bounce of puck means a loss,or a win,and they are losing games that normally they would win,but winning games recently have been hard to come by,and as a fan,it is hard to watch the games...