That was a fun game to watch but I'm clearly getting soft as after 6-0, I started to feel bad for the Wings. For those of us that grew up in the Lemieux/Jagr era, we can empathize with the Wings fans yesterday. Not that fun.
I put so little stock in this game, it's almost not worth replying to this thread. I put much more stock in the loss against the Rags and the OT loss against the Sabres than this. I honestly think these guys just need a couple of days of rest and a practice or two to begin to gel.
What I hope this game does for these guys is help jumpstart that swag or confidence, especially for Rakell, Kapanen, Heinen, and ERod. They each had a good game but we really need them to start heating up. Did you see Kapanen's celebration on that beauty? That is the celebration of not only a goal but a release of stress. That is a guy who wanted and needed THAT goal in a big bad way. Yeah, it's nice to get the monkey off your back by whatever means necessary but that goal a couple of games ago was a flukey chance. The goal he scored was a pure outburst of speed and skill. Anyone who played knows that internally, there is a MASSIVE difference between those two. Then I noticed him all game playing with a little more swag in his step. I've been saying now for a couple of weeks that the best thing possible for this team is to get Kapanen going and to get ERod back to where he was. That is the depth scoring that will win playoff series.
Rakell having a big game in the top 6, Heinen scoring, ERod looking better and better...all good things. The win here means nothing but if it gives all of those guys a boost, that is the true victory.
Looking ahead, Zucker could be a major x-factor for us. Looking at the lineup, I think we are well suited to run:
Jake-Sid-Zucker
Rakell-Malkin-Rust
and that is a lethal Top 6. That rivals Tampa and Carolina IMHO.
Then run:
Heinen-Carter-Kapanen
ERod-Bleuger-McGinn/Boyle
That third line, if Heinen and Kapanen heat up is as good as any third line in the league. Add a scoring touch to the 4th line in ERod...and we could really be looking at something here.