TWFE answers a few Red Wings burning questions: 1 up on the Avs edition

I'm going to give "burning questions" a shot with the Detroit Red Wings tonight. I'm nowhere near the hockey expert as most of the Red Wings blogosphere, but I'll throw a few of my half-assed opinions out into the world wide web...

The questions, the questions, the questions are on fire!

Detroit beat Colorado 4-3, anything stand out?

Tonight, it was one thing.The goaltending.

Chris Osgood won the game for the Red Wings, Jose Theodore lost it for the Avs. Theodore ended the game somewhere outside the Joe, supposedly back at the team hotel, feeling sickly. More like sucky, but that's me. Osgood ended the game by smothering a point blank shot with 5 seconds left, saving the game from going into OT. Osgood only faced 21 shots, and the Avs scored first, but Ozzie came up huge when he had to, which is all the Wings need.

Give Ozzie his due, he won the game for Detroit. The fans at the Joe said as much, with their "OZZIE" chants in the game's final moments.

The Avs' Petr Forsberg was out with a groin injury, did it make a difference?

Well, it didn't hurt.

Seriously, he's a shadow of what he once was, not nearly the same player when compared to the All-World Forsberg who on the ice the last time these teams met in the playoffs. With or without Foppa, the Red Wings are a better team than the Avalanche. The Wings are better offensively, defensively, and have possibly the best coach in the NHL. An over-the-hill Petr Forsberg isn't enough to overcome all that, is he?

Johan Franzen's pretty God damn good, huh?

The player of the game, obviously, with 2 goals and an assist. Everyone was worried about the Red Wings finding secondary scoring. The Mule apparently has that well under control. He's become one of the Red Wings most vital players, a force on the ice.

The Joe was rocking, did it factor into the game?

This win may have the best overall performance by the Red Wings of the playoffs. I don't know if you can give the fans credit for the Wings playing up to their talent. But you can't deny Joe Louis Arena was damn loud. Not as loud at it was during the glory years of 97-98, before the Red Wings jacked up ticket prices, and the fanbase turned corporate, but loud all the same. It was great to see!

I don't think we need to worry about any more Red Wings playoff games not selling out.

Any more thoughts on the NHL/Al Sobotka/octopus controversy?

I said my piece last week, and nothing has changed. The NHL, as usual, has their brainless heads up their ass. It's one thing to crack down on penalties, or some sort of rule violations. To to piss all over Detroit's 50+ year old tradition? Please.

This is an Original 6 city, and the NHL seems intent on killing off the term "Original 6," and the traditions that go with it.

Is Red Wings-Avalanche still a rivalry?

In the same way a hammer is a rival to a nail.

It hasn't been a true rivalry since the 2002 Western Conference Finals. for those who say tonight's game was intense because of "The Rivalry?" Well, what the Hell else would it be? It's the 2nd round of the PLAYOFFS, for crissakes! Every game is going to be intense at this point.

The fans and media still making this series out to be a continuation of the legendary 1996-2002 blood feud are deluding themselves. Yes, those years when the road to win the Stanley Cup went through both Denver and Detroit were, to witness as a fan, absolutely awesome. March 26, 1997 game is, to this day, my favorite regular season game of ANY Detroit team. (Come on, how many regular season matchups have their own Wikipedia entry?) I hated Claude Lemuix and Patty Roy with a white hot passion back then, and I still do today.

But they are no longer Avs, the Red Wings are a different team, and this is no longer a rivalry. It may become one again, but it takes long playoff series for rivalries to develop. To be honest, I don't see this series going more than 5 or 6 games. To call this a rivalry is wishful thinking.

The series is 1-0 Red Wings up. What happens Saturday?

As long as Osgood plays well, the Red Wings win. I see no reason they don't take a 2-0 series lead with them to Colorado.