Henrik Zetterberg

On the same day at the Preakness Stakes, the Blackhawks were off to the races early against the Detroit Red Wings.

Unfortunately, much like a race horse, they were spent for the afternoon after the first initial sprint, and got out-skated and out-worked the rest of the game.

Patrick Sharp got a breakaway late in the third. After getting Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard to commit to defending him, Sharp passed it across the ice via Michael Handzus to Patrick Sharp. Howard lunged across the goal, but couldn't stop the Blackhawks sniper making it 1-0, 5:55 into the first.

Detroit was committed to defense after a poor showing in game 1, and displayed better pas...

The end of the season is in sight, and the Detroit Red Wings found themselves needing a win on home ice to try and maintain their position in the Western Conference standings against the team that trailed them by only a point: the St. Louis Blues. It was the day of the press conference confirming what everyone already knew--though still enjoyed hearing--about the 2014 Winter Classic. It was a day where the Wings needed to be tough, and resilient, and smart.

Of those three things, we witnessed the first two. The last one cost Detroit dearly.

There are a number of factors that led to the 4-2 defeat the Red Wings suffered tonight at the hands of the Minnesota Wild, a team who had not won on JLA ice since 2006. Even the final score is misleading, as the match wasn't even technically as close as it might lead one to believe. Devin Setoguchi scored a pair and multiple miscues by Detroit made this an easy one for the Wild. Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller notched the two Wings goals, though Miller's came with mere seconds left on the clock in the 3rd. For all intents and purposes, this game should be treated as a 4-1 loss.

The Wings began the second leg of this season yesterday and started off nearly as poorly as they began the season. Let's face it, when you lose to a team half as good as the Blues by half the margin, the odd's the difference.