Wings 2, Mighty Ducks 0

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks early after scoring both goals in the first period. The Wings have the next two days off before their game Saturday at 9:00pm against the Phoenix Coyotes. First Period The Wings scored two goals in the first (and the only two goals of the game). 7:28 into the period, Tomas Holmstrom scored on quick pass from Henrik Zetterberg who got it from Pavel Datsyuk. For once it wasn't the typical Holmstrom deflection, rather a slick backhand shot. The first goal came while on even strength. Less than a minute later, at 8:14 into the period to be exact, Nicklas Lidstrom took a shot inside the blue line which was stopped by Holmstrom upon which it fell to the ice when Zetterberg put it in the back of the net. The second goal happened while on the power play. Notice a pattern yet? All offensive points belong to the Wings who stayed in Torino until at least the semifinals. Datsyuk may not have earned a medal in Italy, but he's helping the team offensively even with a fractured finger. He also extended his point streak to six games following tonight's win. Chris Osgood, the Wings goaltender for the evening, made 12 saves in the first period while the Ducks goalie, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, allowed two goals on 15 shots. Second Period Not much happened in the second period, but I must say that Osgood looked pretty sharp to me. Within the last two minutes of the period, Osgood made an excellent save even though the whistle was blown to call the play offsides. With 1:23 left in the second, Mikael Samuelsson got called for roughing and sent to the penalty box. During the penalty kill, both Chris Chelios and Nicklas Lidstrom blocked a couple shots. It sure is nice to see No. 5 back in the lineup; even exhausted and jet-lagged, he's one of the better defenders in the league. Both teams had six shots apiece during the second, but no goals made it past the goaltenders. Lidstrom had 20 shifts in the first two periods lasting a total of 18:04 minutes, he's leading the Wings in ice time tonight even though there are certainly more rested Wings than Lidstrom. Zetterberg only played slightly over four minutes in the second period after playing about eight minutes in the first. Third Period Once more, nothing much happened. No goals scored. Only 4 penalties in the final period and the Wings were unable to convert on all four instances. Osgood made six saves in the third. With less than five seconds left, Brendan Shanahan rocketed a shot towards the empty net and hit the goalpost. Osgood stopped 24 shots tonight to earn his second shutout this season and his 43rd of his career. It was his first game in a month so that's a pretty impressive performance to me at least. It was the Wings third shutout in the last six games. Other Notes... An NHL.com article by Doug Ward briefly mentioned that both head coach Mike Babcock and GM Ken Holland supported the 5 Swedes to go celebrate in Stockholm and miss Tuesday night's game in San Jose. It also went on to say that the Wings can learn from the losses of Team Cananda and USA in the Olympics.

Not everyone in the Detroit locker room will be walking on air. In contrast to his gold-medalist Detroit teammates, the Wings' Kris Draper came home empty-handed and disappointed after playing for tournament favorite Team Canada. Chris Chelios played for the United States team that won only one game in Italy. Babcock said his Wings could learn a lesson from the disappointment Team Canada and Team USA endured in Torino. "We can have all the skill," Babcock told the Detroit News, "but if we don't play well as a team, we're not going to win. These teams were good teams (in the Olympics) and showed you can't win individually."

The Wings were the only team, to my knowledge, that played back to back games to return from the Olympic break and the Wings had the most players participating in the gold medal game. "I don't think any team could have had a worse scenario than us, missing five guys and the week road trip on the West Coast," Chelios said. "It's not an advantage, but that's the way it is." Pretty good "excuse" for the San Jose loss (even though that was an awful game to watch as a Wings fan). Speaking of which, a Detroit News poll asked readers "Are you upset the gold medal-winning Swedes missed the game against San Jose and the Red Wings were blown out?" 75.72% said, "No; they deserved to go to Sweden for the celebration." 21.14% said, "Yes; they are paid by the Wings and should have been there." 3.14% said, "It didn't matter as the Wings would have lost anyway." Datsyuk, like his fellow Olympians, had to adjust after playing in the larger Olympic size ice rinks.

"Just a little bit scared," Datsyuk said before the game against the Sharks. "Every board is too close." Datsyuk was referring to the ice surface at HP Pavilion. The Olympic ice sheets Datsyuk played on for the Russian team in Torino were 15 feet wider than those in NHL rinks.

Lidstrom needs four more assists (after getting an assist in tonight's game) to reach the 600 assist milestone. Captain Steve Yzerman currently has 684 career goals, six goals shy of Mario Lemieux's. He also needs to play in 6 more games to become the 10th player in NHL history to play 1,500 games (should happen on March 15th against Anaheim in Detroit).