Wings 4, Rangers 3

Yesterday afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Rangers in Detroit during NBC's premiere NHL broadcast. I wasn't able to watch the entire game as a result of feeling crappy from my oral surgery on Friday evening. I missed the intermissions so I didn't catch some of the special features that NBC introduced. I don't know if it was my TV, but I thought the NBC broadcast seemed a lot sharper/crisp. I definitely enjoyed the viewing experienced much more than I do the FSN broadcasts. I've yet to catch an OLN game.

Since I was under the influence of Percocet, my opinion on the game probably won't stack up to some others' game summaries and comments. So I've collected various thoughts on the game from both Rangers' and Wings' fans!

On the Wings' Matt Saler has a lengthy and informative game summary including some thoughts on the NBC broadcast.

I enjoyed the NBC broadcast much more than the OLN versions, though I still prefer FSN. Bill Clement and Ray Ferraro were the studio crew, with Mark Messier joining them in the intermissions. Mike Emrick and John Davidson were in the booth but Pierre McGuire was between the benches and provided insights throughout the game. NBC kept track of the ice time of Brendan Shanahan and Jaromir Jagr, keeping a special clock under the scoreboard whenever either of the two were on the ice. I can't say I paid much attention to it, though.

Iwocpo at Abel to Yzerman has a very thorough game summary including numerous thoughts on the NHL broadcast.

NBC’s first weekend of hockey was so much better than OLN you can’t even compare the two networks. Graphically, talent wise, creativity…everything about NBC looked polished today.The Inside the Glass feature is outstanding and will only get better as the reporters–Pierre McGuire in our game–and players get used to it.

I like the shift cam. It appears NBC will select an impact player from each team and track how long each of their shifts last. Cool idea.

The studio deal was cheesy as most are, and predictable with “hockey’s greatest captain” on the set. But Clement seemed much more at ease than he is on OLN. Ferraro’s not bad.

Paul at Kukla's Korner has some thoughts on the NBC broadcast during the Wings vs. Rangers' game (rather than the actual team performances). I've linked to the comments page because the second comment was pretty interesting as well.

HockeyRodent covers the game with five photos and descriptions along with additional comments.

My guess is that the Rangers are the NHL's elite in throwing together a great mix of dedicated, hustling and talented players who don't play formation hockey. But the Senators and Red Wings are that much better because they do.

At HockeyBird, some comments on the game are given as well as links to other Rangers' commentary on yesterday's game.

The Detroit News' Bob Wojnowski was impressed by both Chris Chelios and Brendan Shanahan's performances in Saturday's afternoon game.

Rangers' fans, Shari Frost and David Goldburd, of Blueshirts on Broadway have reactions from the game.

Blueshirt Bulletin has found some silver lining in the Rangers' loss to the Wings in Detroit.

Here's the good news. You know the bad news already, that the Rangers did not play anywhere near close to their best in dropping a 4-3 contest to the Red Wings yesterday, but that's as much as we're going to delve into that here. The good news is, even on an off day against the team with the most points in the NHL, the Rangers came within one goal and a handful of untimely mistakes of pulling out at least a point, maybe two. Just a few weeks ago, they were happy to measure up to the better teams in the league by hanging in there with them and giving themselves a chance to win, even on good nights like those against Vancouver and Colorado. Now, that's no longer good enough, they want to win.

Don't forget to read postgame thoughts at Ranger Pundit.

Detroit became the first team to reach the 30 game victory mark this season, which Dallas quickly tied after beating Boston yesterday.