That's More Like It!

Detroit Red Wings Johan Franzen, back, celebrates as he watches Marian Hossa celebrate his 2nd goal of the 2nd period for a 4-2 lead against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 4 of the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Anaheim, CA on Thursday May 7, 2009.
(JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP)

Yes. The Wings I know and love showed up at the Duck Pond last night… beating Anaheim 6-3 in what was an immensely satisfying game for Wings fans. Here’s the Detroit News' Bob Wojnowski:

This time, no doubt. This time, Marian Hossa ripped one shot into the net, and then another, and the only whistle was the low phew of relief by the Red Wings.

No controversy and no contest.

The Wings stopped waiting around and finally unleashed Thursday night, and with a terrific performance by a new line combination, they found their scoring stars. Hossa and Johan "Mule" Franzen each scored twice and the Wings rebounded nicely with a 6-3 victory over the Ducks to tie their playoff series 2-2.

This was the response the defending champs absolutely had to deliver after the crushing loss the other night, when Hossa's apparent tying goal was waved off after the ref lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle. It was a staggering call that could have altered the series for good, if the Wings let it.

Not this night. And frankly, I expected this forceful, poised response because it's hard to imagine the Wings digging a 3-1 deficit, and hard to imagine Hossa staying quiet for much longer. I don't know if the Wings seized control of the series -- the games have been too tight to say that -- but they sure appeared to solve some issues heading into Game 5 Sunday in Detroit.

There’s an absolute TON of press on last night’s game. The irreplaceable mlive.com has its usual tour de force wrap-up of press commentary from both Dee-troit and LaLaLand here. Here are the first few items (only the very tip of the iceberg):

Before the Detroit Red Wings faced off against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night, Wings coach Mike Babcock openly acknowledged that the Red Wings faced a stern test, as the Los Angeles Times' Helene Elliott noted:

May 8, Los Angeles Times: "Anyone who has been through [the Stanley Cup playoffs], knows that winning the trophy is suppose to be hard," Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock said. "You're supposed to go through some battles. . . . We're being tested right now. We got to find out if we're mentally hard enough."

The Ducks, meanwhile, felt an urgency even with a 2-1 series lead.

"Our will has to be at its highest level because you know theirs will be," Coach Randy Carlyle said before the game. "Their desperation will be on display tonight. We better be prepared to play the game at a very high level."

While Elliott rang up the total on the cliché meter, Nicklas Lidstrom told the Free Press's Helene St. James that he told an as-yet-scoreless Marian Hossa to keep his chin up:

May 8, Detroit Free Press: "I keep telling him you've got to keep shooting the puck, keep driving to the net," Lidstrom said. "I told him continue to shoot the puck. You can see his still positive and still skating real well. He's trying real hard."

Hossa did get a goal near the end of Game 3, but it was waved off because of a bad call, leaving him with nothing to show for the first 17 shots he'd taken on Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller.

"It's frustrating," Hossa said. "Definitely it doesn't make you happy, but on other hand, we're getting chances and doing lots of good stuff. We just have to keep working, stay patient. Hopefully a rebound or some good stuff is going to happen."

Hossa led the Wings during the regular season with 40 goals and was third on the team with 71 points. He had just four points the first seven games of the playoffs, tying him with linemate Tomas Holmstrom. The center on their line, Pavel Datsyuk, had three points.

"We believe our line is creating good chances, we just have to get one ugly one and hopefully another then they'll continue," Hossa said.

If you don't want to read any further because you're bleary-eyed and missed half the game, the Free Press's Steve Schrader offers up a few "cheat sheet" quips for the water cooler:

May 8, Detroit Free Press: "Hossa finally scored a goal in the series -- at least one that the refs counted, anyway. Then he added one for good measure."

"The past two Cup champions facing off -- you just knew this series was going to go six or seven games."

"The Wings still can't stop the Ducks big line -- it got two goals Thursday."

"That's the first time I've been happy to see Jean-Sebastien Giguere in net against the Wings in the playoffs."

"That's it, this series is over. Wings in six."

I think it’s premature to count The Quackers out just yet. This series could well go seven games and the outcome is still in doubt in my mind. But if the Wings continue to play like they did last night… and the Ducks fail to raise their level of play… then yeah: it’s all over but the shouting. Or whining. Whatevah.