On Red Wings

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.

Today's goalie?

OK, this is still confusing, but maybe not totally confusing.

Depending on their game this afternoon with the Black Hawks and the Kings game at Colorado (both at 3 p.m. ET), the Wings could finish 5th, 6th or 7th.

Right now, the Wings are tied for 5th with Nashville with 100 points; Los Angeles is 7th with 99 points. However, the Wings lose all ties with the Preds and Kings. But the Predators are done, so Nashville finishes ahead of the Wings if  Detroit doesn’t get at least one point. The Preds win all ties with the Wings and Kings, who have 99 points and are 7th at the moment.

The Kings can finish 5th if they get to 101 points, meaning they must win, and the Wings don’t.

Whoever finishes 5th gets Phoenix.
Whoever finishes 6th gets Vancouver.

If the Wings win, they have 102 points and finish 5th.

If the Wings get 1 point, they have 101 points.
If the Kings win and tie Detroit at 101 points, the Kings get the Coyotes and the Wings play Vancouver.

If the Wings lose and the Kings win, Detroit could finish 7th and play San Jose (since that means Chicago wins and takes the Western Conference by tying San Jose at 113 points).

I think that covers all the possibilities. But as Dennis Miller likes to say, I could be wrong!

The BIG question: Who will Mike Babcock start in goal?

Mood meter: Great day in sports with the Wings game, the Masters, the Tigers and Cleveland and Paris-Roubaix in cycling.