Wings 3, Canucks 2

(left to right) Schneider, Fischer, Zetterberg and Datsyuk congratulate Ray Whitney (right) on his game winner late in the third The Wings won an exciting and hard hitting game last night against Vancouver thanks to a goal by Ray Whitney with 1:06 left in the game. The Canucks led twice and the Wings tied it twice before taking the lead at the end. The Wings overrall played well and Dominik looked very good. He gave up two goals but was screened on them and rebounded nicely with some clutch saves. He looked great on a 5 minute Canucks power play in the second. I honesly have so much more confidence in him than I ever did in Joseph. Sorry Curtis. Derian Hatcher, as Brian already mentioned left in the first with what the Wings then called a knee sprain. Obviously, we know now that it's a torn ACL, which is far more serious and will keep him out 4-6 months. That's bad news for the Wings but they still have a deep defense. It's not panic time yet, not even close. Jiri Fischer was amazing last night. He had what was by far the hit of the game when he put Daniel Sedin through the glass in the Wings end. Sedin was lucky not to get seriously hurt on the play but it was a clean hit. I think that as long as Jiri plays like he is, the Wings will be affected that much less by Hatcher's injury. The Wings also need to count on Dominik Hasek keeping it up in net. A player looking very close to breaking out is Jason Williams. He had at least two glorious chances to score last night but couldn't bury the puck. He looks very good with the puck and seems to have a good head for the game. I'm hoping for a break out year from him as well as from Pavel and Henrik. He can do it, just like they can. He's finally got his chance and he needs to take advantage of it. Jiri Hudler's NHL regular season debut wasn't very spectacular. He played around 6 minutes and didn't do much. No big deal, I guess. He was time to get it together. I do think the Wings need to get him on the ice if they want him to get better. I say, send him down to the Griffins if he isn't going to play here. Hopefully Brett Hull will be back soon. The other Wings goals were by Brenden Shanahan and Nicklas Lidstrom, both on the power play in the first. Next up: @ Pittsburg tomorrow, 7:30 Detroit News game notes | Free Press game notes | ESPN game notes | Box score | Photos Lines Holmstrom-Yzerman-Shanahan Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Whitney-Whitney GWG Devereaux-Hudler-Williams Maltby-Draper-McCarty Devereaux-Datsyuk-Williams Defense- Fischer-Chelios Lidstrom-Hatcher-Hatcher left-first period-knee- Schneider-Dandenault Lidstrom-Dandenault Lidstrom-Chelios Schneider-Chelios Fischer-Dandenault 4 on 4- Draper-Maltby Zetterberg-Whitney Shanahan-Yzerman Lidstrom-Chelios Fischer-Dandenault PP- Holmstrom-Yzerman-Shanahan Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Whitney Lidstrom-Schneider Fischer-Chelios Lidstrom-Whitney PK- Shanahan-Yzerman Maltby-McCarty Zetterberg-Whitney Maltby-Draper Lidstrom-Chelios Fischer-Dandenault Net- Dominik Hasek