Hockeytown Loggers

The Lumberjack Line (and Brendan Smith)

Valtteri Filppula: 2G, 3A, 5 points
Johan Franzen: 4G, 1A, 5 points
Todd Bertuzzi: 2G, 6A, 8 points

Best line in hockey so far?  The Lumberjack Line was back in action last night and picked up right where they left off.  The Mule, the Sasquatch, and the flashy Finn racked up four points against the Flames (2G, 2A).  In his first game back from his concussion, Franzen banked the puck off Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff's head for, according to Kenny Daniels, his 17th straight game with a point dating back to last year's playoffs.  Bertuzzi scored a on a two-on-one that saw him roof the puck nicely top shelf.  These three have found a great chemistry together so far.  Fippula continues to improve to the next level,  Franzen works his way into traffic like no other, and Bertuzzi is using his size to create space for his line mates.  All together their logging the load for the Red Wings.

Other notes from last night's 4-2 win over Calgary:

• Jimmy freakn' Howard.  One word: Legit.
• The Flying Circus played arguably their best game of the season.  Hank notched his first goal, Datsyuk dangled as usual.
• Nice to see Lidstrom find the back of the net.  Homer wasn't right on top of the crease but his presence in the slot and partial screen impacted Kiprusoff on the goal.  Stick tap to #96.
• C'mon Huds score a goal.
• I love the fourth line.  Not sure what Babs will do when Abby is 100% and ready to go.  
• Once again a note from Kenny Daniels, not noticing Janik is a good thing.  Also, Murph...it's JAN-IK...not JAHN-IK.
• Orange hat guy's seat has been turned from red to orange for the rest of the season.  Just another reason why the Red Wings' organ-i-zation is the classiest in all of sports.  Not only do they respect and take care of their players and employees like no other, but their fans as well. 
• Speaking of class, last night was Breast Cancer Awareness night at the Joe.  Make sure to check out Tom Leyden's story from Channel 7.