And so it begins

Summer is officially over. I have to wipe condensation off of my windshield every morning before leaving for work, the Pumpkin Spice Latte has returned to Starbucks, and, best of all, hockey's back.

Granted, it's not exactly hockey at it's highest level, but I'll take a split-squad game any day if it means that it gives the guys at NHL Home Ice Radio something to talk about and makes them stop playing "Best of...the NHL Awards" recap shows.

The Wings traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night with half of their team in tow and took on a Sidney Crosby-less Penguins squad, so basically it was a split-squad game for both teams. Evgeni Malkin made his first start for Pittsburgh after suffering a season-ending knee injury last February. He looked to be back in shape, and some articles are already suggesting that he's back to Art Ross Trophy form which, like, whoa premature.

Pitt 1 Det 0; 11:40 in 1st period- Kunitz from Malkin

The play starts to break down when Kronwall sends a cross-ice pass that's just past Eaves' stick. The puck ricochettes off the boards to Malkin. Eaves' forward momentum has brought him past Malkin, and he has to turn and come back to try and forecheck. Malkin has all the time he needs to send a tape-to-tape feed across the ice to a trailing Kunitz.

This is pretty clearly a broken play. There's no chance for the Wings to employ any strategy on the forecheck, not with Kronwall trapped behind the net, Eaves in poor position to defend, and Stuart alone on an island in the slot having to cover the trailing man and the low winger.

Kunitz gets the puck and skates around Stuart's outstretched stick. He wrists one that appears to hit Howard's shoulder and go in, but it's hard to tell from this camera angle.

Pitt 1 Det 1; 13:54 in 1st period- Kronwall from Datsyuk & Stuart

I love the way this plays out so very very much. If this happens the rest of the year, then we're in better shape than I thought and Pavel's on his way to a very solid point total.

We start with the Penguins in a solid defensive position. They've got both defensemen back and a forward in the neutral zone, so there's no real chance of an odd man rush here. Datsyuk is carrying the puck along the right side and is met near the blue line by Richard Park. Datsyuk skates through the stick check of Park, keeps control of the puck, and makes his move near the top of the faceoff circle.

Datsyuk has two options here; option one is forcing a pass to a well-covered Patrick Eaves. Option two is dropping the puck back for the trailing man into that giant red box in the photo above.

Datsyuk makes the smart choice and drops the puck to Nicklas Kronwall. Kronwall has the puck and he has plenty of space to get off a shot. One of Pittsburgh's defenders is in the corner covering Datsyuk, the backchecking forward has just entered the Pittsburgh defensive zone and can't get to Kronwall in time, and the defender in front of Kronwall is far enough away that Kronner will be able to shoot before he has to worry about the defender making a play on the puck.

Kronwall picks top corner glove side and unleashes a great wrister that beats Fleury for the goal. I love everything about this play. Datsyuk draws defenders in and opens up space for other players, and defenders jump up into the rush to take advantage of easy opportunities. Therein lies the beauty of Datsyuk; he opens up space that allows our offensive defensemen to thrive.

Pitt 2 Detroit 1; 10:58 in 2nd period- Malkin from Sneep & Martin
A quick disclaimer: this type of goal is bound to happen in the preseason. You've got a group of Red Wing that likely will be spending the season learning their craft in Grand Rapids, and they're trying to slow down Pittsburgh's top line and top D-pair. Meh.

A Wings player (I think it's Lashoff but can't quite see the number) steps up on Pittburgh's D-man, who easily sauer passes one ahead for Malkin. You can tell from the screenshot that Malkin's going to have plenty of room to move along the right side boards as Ryan Johnson is behind him and Fabian Brunnstrom is too far to the left (which like, duh he's a LW) and has his own defensive responsibilities to worry about.

Enter Garnet Exelby. He's got his stick behind him, trying to take away Malkin's pass to the center and keep him along the right side boards. He does this, but it doesn't end well.

This is the exact moment at which it's over for Exelby. Malkin uses some kind of swim move to push past Exelby and from here on out it's just a footrace.

See that red box along the bottom? Jimmy's got that locked up. See that red box up top? Not so much. The yellow circle is the puck. Guess where it's headed. Exelby's stick has been all over the place on the play and he doesn't stick check here, instead resorting to a good ol' fashioned shove from behind. Too bad the puck's already in the air. Nothing left to screencap here; it's a Pittsburgh goal.

Pitt 3 Detroit 1; 13:25 in 2nd period; Niskanen from Morrow & Asham

Not a whole lot to talk about on this goal. Pittsburgh's on the power play, they win the draw, move the puck to Niskanen, and a hard slap shot from the blue line finds its way past a well-screened Jimmy Howard.

The Wings defenders are barely able to get out of their faceoff formation before Niskanen has gotten the shot off.

The defender didn't do a good job of clearing the front of the net, and it costs on this goal.

Pitt 3 Detroit 2; 2:48 in 3rd period- Hudler from Exelby & Datsyuk

Maybe I'm giving him too much credit but Pavel impresses again on this play. He creates the opportunity that leads to the tip-in because of the respect (and sometimes ill-advised moves) he draws from defenders.

Pittsburgh's set up well defensively. It looks to me like they're playing zone defense. Datsyuk moves through the middle and behind Letang's zone, made possible because Letang is focused on Hudler and the puck.

Hudler sneaks the puck under Letang's stick to Datsyuk, who's going to turn with it and walk back up the left-side boards.

Here's Pittsburgh's first mistake. It seems like Letang should move back towards the net and let Datsyuk move up along the boards as he's got help up high in the zone. Instead, he turns and gives chase to Datsyuk. This is going to bunch three Pittsburgh defenders up high.

There ya have it. Three Penguins above the faceoff circles. Pay attention to Hudler on the right side. He's all alone behind the defenders. All the Wings need to do is work the puck down low and they've got a scoring opportunity. Datsyuk passes to Exelby at the blue line, and Exelby takes an awkward chop at the puck...

Remember what I said about Hudler? That's him with the stick out and on the ice (woot fundamentals), about to get a tip.

And that one's behind Fleury. Just for fun, take a look at who's in front of the net. Even in the preseason, he's making life miserable for opposing netminders. Gotta love it.

Hard to get a good read on anything after this game. There were mistakes on both sides, but what really surprised me was Pittsburgh's third goal. I'd classify it as a soft one, as there wasn't anything terribly unusual on the play (erm, other than the fact that the puck ended up in the back of the net).

The Good

• Pavel Datsyuk- he consistently altered plays and moved defenders around, often drawing them out of position. If he's not the most talented player in the league right now than I don't know who is.
• Jiri Hudler- Despite saying that he doesn't feel like he has to prove himself in camp, he does and it's showing. It's not just that he scored the last goal, but that he made smart plays with the puck and found open areas of the ice. That's what a top six forward does, and that's how he played.

The Bad

• Jimmy Howard- While he may have been hung out to dry a few times, he was consistently beaten high. He wasn't terrible but I wouldn't say he was solid either.
• Garnet Exelby- I know he picked up an assist on the last Detroit goal, but that doesn't save him from being on the wrong side of the list. His defensive play on the Malkin goal (or lack thereof) was concerning. He's got to learn to use his stick effectively, as trying to shove elite players off the puck isn't going to cut it in the NHL.

AVGÖRANDE 2011: Lidstrom watch complete

He's back. I know this is late, but I can't let this pass without noting. More info is available here, here, and especially here.

AVGÖRANDE 2011: Lidstrom watch

It has now been exactly one week past the point when Nicklas Lidstrom made his decision to return to the Wings a year ago, and I'm getting worried.

Today's news came from an interview with Lidstrom on the Jim Rome Show, and while not a death knell it isn't exactly reassuring either.

The Free Press and Detroit News both have reports up, and essentially they just reiterate what we already know; there aren't any physical issues that would cause Nick to consider retirement, only issues of motivation.

Lidstrom said during the interview with Rome that his decision has mostly to do with getting motivated to train for a long season, and the fact that training to perform at an elite level gets more difficult with age.

A very small slice of comfort can be found here and here- old articles I dug up that discuss Lidstrom's flirtation with returning to Sweden in the 1999 offseason. Though it sorta feels like we're living on 12 years of borrowed time, what's one more year when you're still a Norris-caliber defenseman...right?

11 for '11 Game 3: The Franzen Five

Never has there been a multi-goal performance with a better nickname than this. The Franzen Five? Pure gold, and something I definitely did not come up with.

Franzen's five goals are naturally worthy of inclusion on a season-highlights list, but perhaps more interesting than the number of goals The Mule scored is the necessity of them in the win. A 7-5 win is terrifying from a defensive perspective, but since there's not a chance in hell I'm going to spend a minimum of 20 screen caps on Ottawa Senator's goals we really don't have to worry about that. Instead, I'm just going to analyze the Franzen Five and call it a night. Enjoy.

Franzen goal 1: 6:52 in 1st- Franzen (22) from Salei (8) and Filppula (19)
The play begins as Filppula enters the offensive zone and the defenders switch. Karlsson covers Franzen for a minute, but lets him cut deeper into the offensive zone uninhibited.



As the Senators settle into their defensive zones, it becomes apparent that no one has picked up Franzen. This leaves him in a great net-front position, with any potential rebounds easily accessible.



Filppula backhands one from the high slot that hits Lehner and bounces off his pads and to his left. Take a look at the two Senators defenders in the screen shot. Think they realized they forgot about Franzen now?



Yeah, that's a goal.



Franzen goal 2- 7:40 in 1st: Franzen (23) from Zetterberg (38) and Bertuzzi (22)

Bertuzzi carries the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. He spots Zetterberg trailing him and puts on the brakes.



Zetterberg cuts towards the net and draws two defenders with him in the process. Bertuzzi is tightly defended as well, but Franzen is all alone immediately behind him. Zetterberg sees this and makes the cross-ice pass.



Zetterberg has skated far enough into the offensive zone to make Lehner slide to his left and account for him. Zetterberg times his pass to Franzen perfectly, leaving Franzen with half of the net empty and Lehner out of position to do much about that. Franzen puts this one away for his second goal in less than a minute.



Franzen goal 3- 00:30 in 3rd: Franzen (24) from Zetterberg (39) and Rafalski (29)

We'll start this one with the breakout. Zetterberg has the puck in his own zone as Franzen starts to cut towards the center lane.



Franzen gets the pass around center ice. He cuts back towards his left around the blue line, recognizing that the Senators line change has left no one in the right faceoff circle and two defenders bunched up near the left blueline.



Franzen takes a shot from the right faceoff circle and beats the goaltender. It's pretty much as simple as it sounds.



Franzen goal 4- 7:10 in 3rd: PPG Franzen (25) from Rafalski (30) and Lidstrom (33)

Lidstrom gets the puck at the point and fakes a slapshot, instead dishing to Rafalski.



Rafalski unleashes a huge shot that hits the boards behind the net and ricochets towards the side of the net.



The puck hits Franzen's skate, and somehow that settles it down enough for him to get his stick on it.



It's a good night when pucks are hitting you in the skates and just lying in front of you, waiting to be shot. Franzen lifts this one and scores his fourth on the night.



Franzen goal 5- 19:26 in 3rd: Franzen (26) from Zetterberg (40)

There's a lot of little keep-away type plays we're going to skip here. We start with Zetterberg carrying the puck into the offensive zone against three defenders. He has Franzen waiting on his left.



The defense collapses around Zetterberg at the top of the zone. Zetterberg backhands one to Franzen, who now has the entirety left side of the ice to work with.



Franzen backhands a shot towards the empty net just before a Seantors defender dives for the puck. Franzen shoots in time to avoid the dive and scores once again.



All in all, a truly amazing performance. The only thing that might be more remarkable than Franzen's night is the fact that he only scored two more goals the rest of the regular season

11 for '11 Game 4: Calgarian Comeback

The Wings offered a little foreshadowing in an exciting but, at the time, easy to ignore regular season game in November. What appeared to be simply an exciting late game tally and subsequent overtime win showed early on that this team was never out of a game or series, no matter the deficit.

Detroit goal 1: 1:56 in 1st- PPG Franzen (9) from Rafalski (8) and Lidstrom (16)

We pick this one up mid-way through a Wings powerplay. The puck is chipped out of the corner to Lidstrom at the left point. He has a lot of space between himself and his defender and takes advantage by putting a hard slapshot on net.



The puck hits Kiprusoff, and he gives up a huge rebound. Rafalski is waiting for the puck in the right faceoff circle. In this frame, Rafalski is at the apex of his fake slap shot.



Rafalski puts a perfect pass on Franzen's stick instead of following through with the slap shot. Franzen is in perfect position to put a quality shot on net; two of the defenders are behind him, and the one that is assigned to him is a second slow to react and playing low in the zone. Franzen has time to settle the puck and lift it over Kiprusoff.



Detroit goal 2: 2:28 in 3rd- PPG Datsyuk (7) from Lidstrom (17) and Rafalski (9)

The play starts with Rafalski getting the puck in the high slot. The defenders at the top of Calgary’s box are tight together, and Rafalski’s man is closer to him than Lidstrom’s. Rafalski makes the smart play and passes to Lidstrom instead of forcing a shot.

Lidstrom one-times the puck into traffic. Holmstrom is directly in front of the net and Datsyuk is in the left faceoff circle. Both are in great position for any rebounds or tip-ins.

Somewhere in the general vicinity of this frame is where Datsyuk gets his stick on the puck and redirects it. It happens so quickly that it’s difficult to find a non-blurred frame to screen cap.

Detroit goal 3: 11:04 in 3rd- Zetterberg (6) from Datsyuk (14) and Kronwall (5)

Upon carrying the puck into the neutral zone, Datsyuk notices Calgary’s defenders bunched together and dishes to Zetterberg on the left side.

Though his defender is playing him tightly, I’m a little surprised Zetterberg decides to cut to the middle of the ice here. While he’s almost guaranteed a step on his d-man, there’s a defender in the high slot that could easily close the gap and make a play on the puck. Oh well, that’s why I’m not in the NHL as clearly Zetterberg made the right choice. He has room enough to cut through the middle and towards the left faceoff circle.

The aforementioned high slot defender does attempt to play Zetterberg but is a step behind. At the same time, Zetterberg’s initial defender tries to stick with him but is also behind. This gives Zetterberg a great backhanded opportunity, as he already is making Kiprusoff use his feet and move across the crease. Zetterberg takes the backhander and buries it.

Detroit goal 4- 19:56 in 3rd: PPG Zetterberg (7) from Datsyuk (15) and Rafalski (10)

While there are times that I try to extoll the beauty of the game in an attempt to convert non-fans into fans, the truth is that hockey is often a game of strange bounces and improbable occurrences. Take this goal, for instance.

The key to this play comes with 14 seconds left in the game, when a Calgary defender loses his stick. The Red Wings have already pulled Jimmy Howard, and now Calgary finds themselves down a man and down a stick. That makes this something like a 6-on-4.5.

The puck is cleared to Rafalski near center ice. Rafalski sees Datsyuk moving into the neutral zone and makes a nice pass to him right before Datsyuk pivots to re-enter the offensive zone.

What happens next is truly and uniquely Datsyukian. Pavel sheds two defenders, at one point lifting his stick and placing it across the stick of one of the defenders. Somehow he emerges from

Datsyuk carries it into the left faceoff circle, where he notices that both the defenseman and the goalie are playing him and not Zetterberg. Left alone in the right faceoff circle, Datsyuk needles a cross-ice pass to him.

The defenseman reacts and is able to turn. He might be able to get a stick on the puck, or at least change the shot…except that he has no stick. Kiprusoff doesn’t have much of a chance here, and we’re all tied with 3 seconds left in the game.

Det goal 5- Lidstrom 1:38 in OT

We’ll pick this up mid-cycle with Helm carrying the puck towards the left faceoff circle. It looks like Tanguay has good coverage on him. Note the words “looks like”.

Helm turns hard to cut towards the net, while Tanguay just sorta keeps drifting up ice.

Kiprusoff has somewhat committed to Helm and already has his pads on the ice. Prior to getting crushed Helm is able to get a pass across to Lidstrom, who has just jumped up and joined the play. Lidstrom must not have been able to get much on the shot because he chooses to walk around a diving Kiprusoff despite having a completely empty upper half of the net.

Lidstrom turns the corner and backhands one into the net for what has to be one of the prettiest goals of his career. Comeback complete, game over, and Detroit walks away with 2 points.