Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Mike]

The Wings LIVE!! Raymond bags his 30th with the goalie pulled late to tie it at 4. Detroit erases a 4-1 deficit to force OT. Looking for the extra point now.

[Mike]

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!

Lucas Raymond, come on down!!!

Probably the greatest regular season win since the brawl in ‘97. Just amazing.

[Hannibal]

Go Flyers

[Mike]

If the Flyers beat the Caps in regulation those two teams would have the exact same record, regulation wins, OT wins, and shootout wins. They'd go down to the 5th tie-breaker which is head-to-head points earned. Given that the Flyers must win in regulation, that could mean they have to pull their goalie late in a tie game and the Caps could win and clinch the last spot with an empty-netter. That would really suck.

[Tom W]

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!

Lucas Raymond, come on down!!!

Probably the greatest regular season win since the brawl in ‘97. Just amazing.

It did have a particular "biblical" dimension when octopi started raining down on the ice in the 3rd period. Obviously, it looked like the Wings were toast and people just wanted to get rid of them, but it was still pretty cool..

[Mike]

It really fired the place up tho.

[Mike]

Dear sports:

I fucking hate you… and will never stop watching.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Will you stop posting?

[Mike]

Not a chance in hell.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Not even for a Twinkie?

[Hannibal]

They were easily in the playoffs with about 15 games to go.

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[Hannibal]

I didn't watch any sports last night holy crap I had no idea that it transpired like this. God really did not want the Wings in this year's playoffs. But that had to be the most exciting playoff clinching evening that the league has seen in a long time -- maybe ever?

[Mike]

That's the first good replay I saw of the disallowed goal in Philly. What an absolute gut punch. Ultimately, the Wings did themselves in with poor play down the stretch but the last 4 games were fucking amazing, especially the two against Montreal. To be down 4-1 and 3-1 with your season on the line and come back to win, scoring each game with your goalie pulled, is something I've never seen. Too bad they didn't show a little more of that resolve during their last 23 games.

They were 8 points clear of a playoff spot on February 28th then lost 7 straight and went 8-12-3 to finish the season. Prior to the final flurry of 3 straight OT/SO wins to end the season they won 5 of 20 games. Even the last 4 games, which were exciting as hell, they gave up 18 goals and still managed to pick up 7 of 8 points. Mickey said it best last night in the postgame: "You just can't continue to always outscore your mistakes". The goaltending is below average but the team defense is abysmal. They give up WAY to many odd-man rushes and cough up the puck in the defensive zone far too often.

It's such a frustrating season because, frankly, they fucking collapsed down the stretch. BUT, it was the best season points-wise in 8 years and this team is ascending rather than slowly dying on the vine like 2010 to 2016. I think my bottom line takeaway is that I'm finally excited about Red Wings hockey again and watched more games this year than I have in the last several seasons combined. Looking forward to watching the playoffs.

[Hannibal]

I wish that they could have snuck in there this year. There's no guarantee that they will continue improving next year. I doubt that Kane re-signs with them.

8th worst team in the league in goals allowed and if they had made it into the playoffs, they would have been worst in the tournament in that category. Some really obvious stuff to work on. DeBrincat fizzled after a crazy start. And they need to be able to win without Larkin.

[Mike]

They have some really strange numbers. 27 regulation wins was 13th best in the Eastern Conference. Only Columbus, Montreal and Ottawa had fewer. But they went 14-9 in OT/SO. Their 38 ROW (regulation plus OT, not counting SO) wins were 7th best in conference. Up until 2020 ROW was the tie-breaker but was changed to RW. If it was still ROW, the Red Wings would have been in over Washington.