Phoenix
Brad Stuart scores the OT winner.
I like the way the Wings did this on Sunday.
The Kings had already won their game in come-from-behind fashion at Colorado, 2-1, in OT. So the Wings had to win to finish fifth — which they did with a wonderful 3-2 OT victory of their own on a beautiful Dan Cleary-to-Brad Stuart pass for the winner.
So the Wings will open up at Phoenix — no easy match, but a better travel situation than the West Coast.
The rest of the matchups:
- Chicago gets stuck with Nashville. Good luck, eh?
- San Jose wins the West and gets Colorado.
- The Kings get a West Coast matchup with Vancouver.
Score: Wings 3, Black Haws 2, OT
Final standings: Wings 44-24-14, 102 points, 5th in the Western Conference, 2nd in the Central Conference, 10 points behind Chicago. Considering where the Wings came from following the Olympic break and all the injuries this season, it feels like a championship.
What I liked about the game: The Wings finished 16-3-2, taking 34 of a possible 42 points. No team played better down the stretch — not even the Presidents Cup winning Washington Capitals — than the Wings.
What I didn’t like about the game: I’d be nitpicking faceoffs and 0-2 on the power play.
The BIG question: How will the Wings do against the Coyotes’ Ilya Bryzgalov? Or should we ask, how will the Coyotes do against Jimmy Howard? Let the playoffs begin!
Quote: “We’ve had a great run, but in saying that though, the most remarkable stretch for me was when we had no players, when we had eight guys missing and the guys hung in there and they battled and they chipped away and found ways to win games. To me that’s more remarkable than what we’ve done since the Olympic break. Since the Olympic break it’s been great, but we had skill to do it with. When we were doing it when we had no skill — or not near as much I thought that was impressive.” — Mike Babcock
Mood Meter: Celebratory.
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