Recap: Detroit Red Wings 1, Atlanta Thrashers 5

Bleacher ReportJan 16, 2008

I don't have much to say about this game. There isn't much to say.

I hope that was the low point of the season, because it sure felt like it.

I have to give the Thrashers credit for playing such a great game. We shouldn't get so hung up on the Wings' performance and forget what Atlanta did. Marian Hossa was a stud. Kari Lehtonen was a wall. Ilya Kovalchuk was only barely kept to a single point. They knew what was at stake and got the win they needed to vault Carolina for the Southeast Division lead and third place in the Conference. Compare that to what a win would have meant for the Wings: 72 points, 10 ahead of Ottawa and 15 ahead of San Jose. That's the game in a nutshell: the Thrashers had something to play for. The Wings? Not so much.

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves and start riding Chris Osgood for his play since the contract extension and being named an All Star. I was guilty of that kind of thinking last night. The fact is, though, he hasn't had a team playing in front of him and he can't be expected to completely stone guys like Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa. I did think maybe last night would be the night Dominik Hasek took over the #1 spot on a more official basis, but I suspect the goaltending rotation will continue.

By the way, I'm not so sure about Babs' decision to pull Osgood there. Was it really worth sending out Hasek cold? They are fortunate he wasn't tested much early on. I suppose it accomplished the goal of causing the Wings to pick up their play and tighten their defense, but it seemed like an unnecessary risk.

I'm going to go ahead and call out Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg here. Since this slump started in the Colorado game, the Eurotwins have combined for two goals. Zetterberg has three assists over that span, and Datsyuk has two. Contrast that with just about any four-game stretch during the season and you won't get a favorable result, for either player (though more so for Zetterberg). The Wings best players have been anything but over the past four games.

They have one game to get things back on track before they head to California. If they can't at least put up a good fight Thursday night, it'll be a long trip. According to Bruce MacLeod, they got a "loud refresher about the penalty-kill" at practice today. That's a start.

This isn't the end of the world by any means. They've built up quite a buffer zone between themselves and the rest of the League and can afford some slipping. Some adversity would probably even do them some good. But that doesn't mean letting this develop into a 4-6 game losing streak is advisable. They'd obviously like to pull out of this before it becomes a full-on nosedive and I'm confident they will.

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