Gordie Howe's Elbow

Week: January 29 - February 4, 2012

The Wings finished the week 2-0-1 getting 5 points in the standings on their Western Canadian road-trip. More importantly the Wings showed they could be effective on the road, possibly the only weakness they have showed so far this season.

Game 1: @Calgary (Win: 3-1)

There were a lot of questions about how the Wings would play after the All-Star break, especially with that huge loss against the basement-dwelling Montreal Canadiens. However the Wings returned to form against Calgary Flames en route to a 3-1 win. Cory Emmerton would open the scoring for the Wings in the first with a nice snap shot fed by an Adbelkader rebound, it's always a good sign when the 4th line can contribute to the scoring like these guys can. However the lead was erased when Todd Bertuzzi took an interference penalty and on the ensuing power-play Mike Cammalleri backhanded the puck passed Jimmy Howard. The lead was restored half way through the 3rd period on a great effort by Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula. Filppula took the puck down the wing and skated behind the net centring the puck to a trailing Hudler who put the puck in the wide open net. People always talk about the "potential" of Hudler and Filppula so seeing them take off like this and develop a chemistry is nice to see. Drew Miller would add the insurance marker on a nice one-timer from Dan Cleary to secure the 3-1 victory. This game was a great win because Jimmy Howard bounced back from the loss to the Habs stopping 28 of 29 shots and lots of scoring was supplied by the Wing's supporting cast.

Game 2: @Vancouver (Win: 4-3 SO)

This was a huge win for the Red Wings, despite it being a Shoot-Out win getting points over other top teams in the Western Conference is really important. The scary news in this game was that Goaltender Jimmy Howard broke his finger and will miss at least 2 weeks of play. The Wings opened the scoring in the first with a Dan Cleary wrist shot, but Ryan Kesler would answer back with a wrist shot of his own bringing the game to a 1-1 tie at the end of the first. Hudler and Filppula would connect once a gain as Hudler beat Luongo with a nice snap shot to give the wings a 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd. Alexandre Burrows would tie the game for the Canucks with a Slap shot that beat Jimmy Howard. Drew Miller gave the Wings the lead again but this was erased by Mason Raymond who would send the game into Over-time and eventually a Shoot out. The Wings have been really hot in the Shoot out this year and Pavel Datsyuk and Jiri Hudler would both put the puck stick side on Luongo to give Detroit the win in this game.

Game 3: @Edmonton (Loss: 5-4 SO)

Once again it seems that Detroit's kryptonite this year seems to be teams having below 0.500 records. But despite Edmonton's record they have a had a roller coaster season which has had a lot of highs, including Sam Gagner's 8 point night in the previous game. Gagner wasted no time in this game scoring just 2:42 into the first period on the power play to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. Ganger would then set up Eberle for a 2 goal lead. Tomas Holmstrom would take a hooking penalty late in the first period sending the Oilers to the power play once again. However it was Valtteri Filpulla who would get the short handed goal, after the puck bounced off Sam Gagner's skate, Filpulla shot the puck on net and it bounced off of Oiler's Defenceman Ladislav Smid's stick and into the net. However Gagner was still on fire and would tip-in a Ryan Smyth shot with 1 second left in the first period giving the Oiler's a 3-1 lead. This would end Ty Conklin's night and Detroit would send in Joey MacDonald to finish the game. The game would stay that way until the 3rd period before Todd Bertuzzi's wrist shot beat Dubnyk. Drew Miller would then tie the game with a wrist shot of his own, before Todd Bertuzzi would then give the Wing's the lead after being set up for the second time by Henrik Zetterberg. The Oiler's pulled Dubnyk and with 39 second's left Jordan Eberle would tie the game up sending it to Over time and eventually shoot out.

Sam Gagner was first to score with some fantastic dekes and it looked like the Oilers would take it as both Datsyuk and Hudler were unable to beat Dubnyk. However, Shoot out ace Todd Bertuzzi answered the call, skating wide to the right as he often does before doing his spin-o-rama moves, Bertuzzi unleashed a wicked Slap shot, surprising Dubnyk and sending the game to extra shooters. Unfortunately for the Red Wings young gun Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would beat Joey MacDonald for the Oiler's victory.

***

Finishing 2-0-1, this was a pretty good week for the Red Wings. Joey MacDonald looked really good replacing Ty Conklin in the loss against the Oiler's. With Howard out for 2 weeks Conklin will definitely need to step up his game or perhaps MacDonald could end up being Detroit's number 2 goaltender. It was also good to see Detroit's 3rd and 4th lines chipping in to get points and a Hudler and Filpulla connecting for multiple points bodes well for Detroit's future.