The Wings did more than just win 4-2 Wednesday

As the horn to end the second period sounded last night in the jam-packed Joe Louis Arena you could sense a bit of relief throughout the city. The Wings, who had brought the regular season to a close with some weak play and an even weaker record, sure turned it up last night for Game 1 of the playoffs.(More in detroit red wings jerseys

The Red Wings seemed to regain some of their form from the past 19 years in the playoffs for the second and came out flying. Yes, the Wings did get a pretty wraparound goal from Pavel Datsyuk, and maybe some luck when Franzen blasted a wrist shot from the blue line past Ilya Bryzgalov, but the two goals and the goal resulting from a power play from Brian Rafalski were all the effects of good ol' hard work. The Wings out-skated, out-hit and out-worked the 'Yotes the entire second period and much of the third.

Jimmy Howard was noticeably nervous in his first playoffs last year. This year he said he wasn't nervous going into the first game, and it showed. Howard stood tall and kept his Wings in it after going down 1-0. Howard posted his sixth career win and posted a .926 save percentage.

The better news is that Detroit showed they can play great hockey without him, and took a 1-0 lead in the series, which in the end shows that they can let Zetterberg rest a bit more until he is 100%.

Detroit is off today and tomorrow, and the series resumes on Saturday at 1 pm.