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The game last night was a whole heck of a lot more exciting than I thought it would be, that's for sure. I was expecting the Devils to put me to sleep early on but the game turned out to be a lot of fun to watch than I was expecting. Curtis Joseph was definitely key in keeping the Wings in the game during the first few minutes and made saves on six shots before his own team had even one. Even after a shaky start to the game, the Wings were noticeable more comfortable at home and played a much better game than any they played out west. The game never went in to long stretches of boredom with both teams actually keeping the game fast paced and moving for most of the night. The Wings beat Martin Brodeur on some nice goals but could have scored more had he not been so strong. I was disappointed in Joseph for that first goal but he more than made up for it later on when the game was still in doubt with some very good saves. That one-on-one play by Pavel Datsyuk had me out of my chair and yelling before I realized the puck had hit the post. I was sure it was a goal and was disappointed to say the least. Mathieu Schneider once again showed the league how big a crime it is that he's not on the All Star Team by having another high quality game along with scoring a key goal. The Wings made a huge improvement on special teams and were 100% both on the power play and penalty kill including a shorthanded (and empty net) goal. Hopefully that will be the start of another stretch where teams will actually fear the Wings' special team units. The Captain has now passed Mario Lemieux and that is where I think he'll stay since I can't see Mario making another comeback and because Marcel Dionne is too far ahead of them both. Congratulations, Steve! It was good to see the Wings play to their potential again though I'd like to see a lot more of that on the road in the coming days. They have a tough schedule coming up which includes two games with the Colorado Avalanche in a little more than a week. Hopefully they'll build on last night's game and carry it down the stretch as the beginning of a solid second half performance. News | Freep | ESPN | Box Score Lines- Thomas-Datsyuk-Hull Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Whitney Shanahan-Yzerman-Whitney Maltby-Draper-Dandenault Devereaux-Yzerman-Whitney Shanahan-Zetterberg-Holmstrom Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Hull Shanahan-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Schneider Fischer-Chelios Rivers-Woolley Lidstrom-Chelios PP- Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Hull Shanahan-Yzerman-Holmstrom Whitney-Lidstrom Schneider-Woolley PK- Maltby-Draper Zetterberg-Datsyuk Shanahan_Yzerman Lidstrom-Chelios Fischer-Chelios Lidstrom-Schneider 5 on 3pk- Maltby-Draper Lidstrom Net- Curtis Joseph