The reports of the Detroit Red Wings' demise have been greatly exaggerated. They were written off at various points in the season and it looked like the Coyotes might have had a good shot at knocking them out of the first round. And then, the Red Wings played like the Red Wings that have made it to two straight Stanley Cup Finals. Their best players were their best players while Phoenix's, outside of the miraculous Ilya Bryzgalov, were invisible at best. The team put up with a ridiculous amount of mockery, pressure, and scorn and put together 50 wins and pushed the Wings to seven games. The effort wasn't the best but it shouldn't erase an entire season's worth of good. Travis will have a lot more on the game and the series and the season but from one fan to another: thanks for the hope.

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Ilya Bryzgalov is kind of good. He'll have to keep it up after stopping 17 shots in the first period. Dear Coyotes, feel free to shot the puck, love everyone that hates Detroit.

LET'S GO COYOTES!!!

LET'S GO COYOTES!!!

I HAVE A DOANER

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The Red Wings looked much more like the Red Wings tonight as they rode a Henrik Zetterberg hat trick to a 7-4 win. Having said that, some better goaltending by Ilya Bryzgalov would have gone a long way towards getting a better result. Too Hot to Yandle opened the scoring for the Coyotes before Wojtek Wolski jumped on a bad giveaway to make the score 2-1. He was nice enough to return that goal later on an absolutely brutal play. Matthew Lombardi broke in alone and made a nice move to make the score 3-3 but the Coyotes coughed one up in less than 90 seconds to set the stage for the celebration pictured. Shane Doan broke down the wing and made an odd man rush out of nowhere. It was a great effort but sadly all for naught.

A split at home isn't always great but this was never going to be a short series. They'll need to win one in Detroit and get two chances next week. Some improved goaltending, continued rambunctiousness, and better concentration could see them do it. Travis will be back at some point to give you a full recap but for now what did you like about the game and what did you hate and would you love to shoot the dummy that kept waving at the camera?

Too Hot To Yandle strikes again and the Coyotes lead 1-0. No word on thrown snakes but I think Versus is under orders to not show them. Here's the second game thread. Have at it!