Who even knew Phoenix was now AZ? In this billion dollar global sports economy there are four main leagues – the NFL, NBA, MLB, & NHL – but when it comes to marketing, there’s just the first three.

The first period against the Coyotes was stymied by two penalties against Detroit in the first ten minutes. Nonetheless, we killed them both, then got on one of our own by the end as we started to establish some scoring opportunities.

Petr Mrazek was absolutely magnificent in goal, refusing to allow anything all night. He denied a strong breakaway chance in the second. Then, Arizona made the mistake of fucking with us. They unnecessarily targeted Justin Abdelkader when their net went off. One player held him while another sucker-punched him! Bullshit!

We quickly went on a power play and struck first. Tomas Tatar passed to Pavel Datsyuk, who found Riley Sheahan with his stick cocked and ready to fire. Sheahan sent a guided missile that was too fast for their goalie to react. Detroit instantly made them pay.

The Red Wings fought through more gay penalties, beating back-to-back at the end of the period. Detroit spent ten of the first forty minutes down a man, yet the scored remained 1-0.

The biggest test of the game came on a Red Wings power play in the final period. We lost the puck and took a penalty shot while stopping the stealer. Mrazek came out quite far on the challenge, forcing the shooter where he wanted, then STONED HIM COLD, deflecting the puck and pumping his fist. He couldn’t help himself – it was the play of the night.

It saved us. So did Tatar, who made it 2-0 shortly after. Darren Helm and Tommy were on the breakaway when Helm gorgeously centered for an already #21, who netted our second goal of the contest. Tatar let out an exuberant fist pump himself, riling up a very pro-Wings arena.

Thank god for those two heroes, because Phoenix pulled their goalie and quickly scored on a rebound to make it 2-1. Unrattled, Detroit took advantage of the empty net. Helm found the puck and stuck with it down the ice while falling, hitting the shot on his way down into the back of the net!

Credit our aggressive penalty killing and our goalie, who made 22 saves in essentially a shutout. At the end, we sent the Coyote captain to the penalty box after we got under his skin one last time. Our fans (in their building) let him have it.