I watched much of last night's game, and I was impressed. I didn't get to watch all of it, between playing outside with my daughter, Survivor, and The Apprentice, but it was on the whole time. We have two TVs and from the kitchen table, I can see both, so I didn't have to switch back and forth, I just had to turn my head!


Anyway, the Wings played Their Game last night. This is the first time I've seen them do that in the playoffs yet. They won games 1 and 2 because of lucky bounces and / or Robert Lang, not because they relied on what got them to the playoffs. Last night, they finally played their game.


They completely dominated early, and didn't give up the chances like they had in the other games. They pressured, but were responsible. They were the more physical team, laying the body on their man every time they could. They dug out the pucks from the corners (even Hull did it!), and they made crisp passes through the neutral zone. They got traffic in front of Vokoun, and they rattled him early.


By the way, I was glad to see Shanahan take the interference penalty when he ran Vokoun over. They've been doing that to our goalies all year (more like three years), so now they know what it's like.


For the first period, and much of the second, the Wings played like a President's Trophy winner. In the third, I thought they fell back into "Skate in, open shot, shoot, save, face off" mode, but by then, Nashville had no chance.


I was kind of surprised there were no roster moves (other than Stumpy back in and Devereaux out. Stumpy played very well last night - a little kick in the pants for him. Good job, Dave!). I heard rumors all day about Wooley coming in, Rivers coming in, Hatcher getting benched (yeah, right!), Dandy moving up to forward, etc., but nothing. And that's good. Lewis basically sent a message to Nashville: "We can beat you with what you've already seen." And the score didn't get ran up - I think if the Wings kept up the pressure, they could have easily made it 6 or 7 goals. But at 4, Nashville knows they got soundly beat, but not humiliated - it takes out the revenge factor for them.


This series reminds me of 2002, when the Wings played Vancouver. Another team not used to the playoffs, but gave the Wings fits until the Wings figured them out. But that's not why I bring it up. Who did Vancouver fans hate? Chris Chelios. Who do Nashville fans hate? Chris Chelios. What happened in Game 6 of the Vancouver game in 2002? It wasn't broadcast too much, but Chris Chelios played a great game, and was a star of the game. Usually, they just skate out, wave to the fans (sometimes not even that on the road) and head back to the dressing room. Not Chelios. After the way fans treated him, he skated around like he'd won the Cup! Hands in the air, taking his victory lap, fans booing, throwing stuff on the ice. It was great! Maybe he can do the same in Tennessee on Saturday night.


On a more general hockey playoffs note, San Jose proved me wrong by dispatching the Blues in 5 games. Osgood just isn't a playoff goalie. The more I hear that, the more I believe it. The Wings won in '98 despite him being in net. And the playoff woes continue for St. Louis.


Now, the Flames just need to finish off Vancouver so The Matchup (Wings vs. Avs) can be delayed until the Conference Finals.