commentary...

the Red Wings are a much better team than they were last season... however,in recent games,they have played to the level of their opponents,which mostly is a real bad thing,because they should be cruising to the Stanley Cup playoffs,beating inferior teams,and playing tough teams very well,but,folks,their team defense has really sucked over the last couple weeks,which means that losing to Arizona,and San Jose,is a bad harbinger of things to come... it appears that both the Coyotes,and Sharks are not going to make the Stanley Cup playoff field,even though the Sharks are not mathematically eliminated,yet(they are still in a deep hole)... in the last two weeks,the Red Wings have had three very odd games(in fact,the last three games that they have played),in which they have chased the lead,and the teams that they have been playing... until yesterday,they had not had a lead,in regulation,in the last four games,when they scored two goals,in the opening 1:46,against the New York Islanders,but then gave three goals,in the first period,then tied the game,at three,by the end of the first period,then gave up a power play goal,and a short-handed goal(the game winning goal-GWG),for the Islanders,in the first five minutes of the second period,and lost 5-4 to the Islanders,in which they had almost thirty minutes to tie the game up,to send game into overtime,but could not muster a whisper of offense... it has been just horrible to watch the Red Wings play,in the last couple of weeks,because being a fan,you just do not know,right now,what team is going to show up-the team that bulldozed through most of the season being a tough team to beat,or the team that is playing like creampuffs,lately,giving up goals,it appears,at will??? note to Red Wings:get your head out of your rear ends,and start playing Red Wings' hockey,or you will not get out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs,and you will get bulldozed by your opponent,like last season,in the first round series,against the Boston Bruins,in which you won only one game,by the score of 1-0(Pavel Datsyuk scored that goal-the only Red Wings' player who played like himself,even though he was not 100% healthy,in that series)...