Mike Modano Scores, Pavel Datsyuk Scores, Fights in Red Wings' Opening Night Win

The past two seasons, the Red Wings have lost their opening night game. 

Though it's hardly a harbinger of doom, starting the season in a hole isn't what any team has in mind as they drop the puck on a new year.

On Friday, the Wings wanted to make sure to get this season started on the right track, by earning a "W" in Game 1 of 82.

If it were a 5-4 shootout win, that would have been good enough.  However, a 4-0 beat-down?  Now that's how you want to start a hockey season.

Aside from providing an answer as to when the Red Wings would get that first win under their collective belts, the Wings also answered a few other questions on Friday night.

Questions that, left unanswered, would have grown into rather large monkeys perched atop various player's backs.

Questions like, when will Mike Modano score his first goal? How soon will Franzen become a factor? When will we see Howard get his first shutout?

I'm not sure there was a person on the planet who was waiting for Pavel Datsyuk to get his first Gordie Howe Hat Trick, but, if you were, well, he delivered on that one too.

In what turned out to be an unexpectedly, but delightfully hate-filled battle (there were two fights and several other post-whistle scrums throughout the game), the Detroit Red Wings appeared to put the rest of the league on notice that, if they were hoping for them to stumble out the gate the way they have the past two years, they shouldn't hold their breath.

To be fair, the Red Wings were facing the Ducks of 2010 who don't resemble anything close to the Ducks of 2007.

Hell, they don't much resemble the Ducks of 2009 either.

An expectantly soft defense, and unexpectedly weak offense had almost as much to do with Detroit's win as did their dominating play throughout the game.

Still, the Red Wings could have let this one get past them had they not committed to playing the up-tempo, puck-possession style that has come to define Detroit hockey yet was often absent through much of last season.

Mike Modano looked more comfortable in this game than he did all through the preseason, and was part of a two point night for Detroit's much heralded third-line that includes wingers, Dan Cleary and Jiri Hudler.

Johan Franzen got a great jump on what many expect should be a 40-goal season for the Swedish power-forward, netting what turned out to be a goal that doubled as the first of the game and the game-winner.

Jimmy Howard didn't have much work (21 shots), however, he made sure he was in position to make a great first save, which is all he needed to do as his defensemen took care of the rest.

With goals coming from each of the Wings' top three lines, it looks as if the red waves of offense Detroit's depth was supposed to create this season is certainly a reasonable expectation.

However good the team looked and however satisfying this win might be, no one should get ahead of themselves here—this was merely a solid win over an inferior opponent.

Let's see how much of what happened on Friday night will carry over to the next day as the Wings fly into a hostile and rabid United Center to face the Blackhawks in what will be their Stanley Cup banner-raising game.

The Blackhawks aren't going to be half as easy as the Ducks were, but, if the same Detroit Red Wings show up on Saturday, those waiting for Detroit to get on their first win streak aren't likely to be waiting long.

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