Compete Level

Martone might already be Philly’s best forward

Larkin hat trick, five point night for Seider

If the Wings had won against Minnesota on Sunday I would’ve bought tickets for this game

Kane allllmost made it 7-2 on a breakaway

Wings win out, Seider gets 15 more points, either Ottawa or Boston drops out

Norris season

Old Friend Luke Glendening scores a late one on the backhand, I’ll allow it

Wings tied after 1, Faulk scored and then a minute later J’accuse tied it up.

Devils have had way too much zone time this period

David Perron, never doubted you

Broken play just inside the Devils’ line, Compher found Perron and he wired it top shelf

Jesper Bratt floats one through traffic and it finds a way

2-2

Raymond with a slick play to go between the legs of the defender, gets it in front, Finnie buries it

Sure looked like Finnie got high-sticked going in on the forecheck

Devils get a fortunate bounce off a skate and it’s 3-3

Fucking 2 on 1 for the Devils after a loose puck in the Devils’ slot goes the other way, 4-3 NJ

Fucking hell

EN goal for the Devils, RIP Wings

Worst Wings games this season, from memory:

10. Islanders, 10/23: 7-2 loss

I prefer giving up a touchdown and being totally outclassed to having my heart pulled out of my chest, but man, they got fucking killed that night.

9. Buffalo, 11/15: 5-4 OT loss

The game that brought the Sabres back to life. Detroit was up 4-1 in the second and 4-2 in the third, McLeod tied it with a shorthanded goal, Sabres won in OT.

8. Columbus, 12/4: 6-5 OT loss

A back in forth game in which the Wings came back from down 3-1, Fantilli tied it with a minute and a half left and the Beej won in the shootout. History later repeated itself!

7. Ottawa, 3/24: 3-2 loss

They looked like total shit in the second, went down 3-0 in a game they needed to win against a massively depleted SNES blueline, made it 3-2 in the third, but couldn't finish the comeback.

6. Vegas, 3/4: 4-3 OT loss

Wings are up two goals with 10 to play, give up two in regulation for Vegas to tie it, then Hertl scores the game-winner on an OT power play.

5. Boston, 3/21: 4-2 loss

Wings had the lead with 10 minutes left, Zadorov of all people scores the go-ahead goal, and Swayman goalies the Wings the rest of the way. Imagine the four-point swing!

4. Minnesota, 4/5: 5-4 loss

Detroit's down 4-1 going into the third, somehow manages to tie it at 4, then Patrick Kane trips Quinn Hughes with 3 minutes left and Kaprisov completes his hat trick with less than two remaining to give the Wild the regulation win.

3. New Jersey,, 4/11: 5-3 loss

They were up with six to play, but the Devils tied it and got the go-ahead goal with a couple left when everyone pinched up for a loose puck in the slot and sent Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt on a 2 on 1 the other way. Of course it had to end this way.

2. Columbus, 4/7: 4-3 shootout loss

The Beej tied it with 16 seconds left and won in the shootout, taking a valuable point away from Detroit.

1. Florida, 3/10: 4-3 loss

Panthers tied it with the goalie pulled with a minute and a half left, won it with 15 seconds left after some shoddy neutral zone defending. Andrew Copp also got hurt.

My condolences to the neu family

When the Devils scored the go-ahead goal, I was busy telling my son the ways in which the Wings could make the playoffs (for the tenth time in the last week).

He just turned 11 and the only time the Wings made the playoffs in his life was when he was an infant.

More recently in addition to the "How could the Wings make the playoffs" talks, my son, presumably in force of habit, has asked me who the Wings will draft this year, and I've had to remind him that they traded their pick for Justin Faulk.

I can't imagine they'll move up to fifth or whatever, but if this is the year they do after a decade of the worst possible lottery luck, I might need to take a year off hockey.

I'm not retroactively upset about the Faulk trade, either. He wasn't quite as good as I hoped--pairing him and Chiarot was a recipe for getting trapped in the zone--and the total package with a 3rd and Buchelnikov was a bit high, but it was the sort of move they needed to make with how little ASP was playing. But usually by now I'm in Draft Mode and I can't bother with that, either, this year. Do I want to watch the playoffs? Not really!

How I wish the Leafs owned that pick in exchange for any player still on the Leafs