Forget that there were two good hockey teams on the ice at the Joe on Friday night. Forget that they both are original 6 teams, divisional leaders and that both squads have an excellent chance to go deep into the postseason. None of that seemed to matter when thinking back on this game. I don't think people will remember a Nick Lidstrom goal on a 5 on 3 power play with 1.2 seconds left in the 1st period. I don't think people will be reminded of an amazing Pavel Datysuk back handed goal and I don't even think people will remember that the Wings were outshot 19 to 3 in the 3rd period but still won. Nope, none of that seems important if you were there and experienced the sold out crowd in Downtown Detroit.

It was the people that packed the Joe that were the story of this one, the tons of Montreal fans that started chants only to be met with pro Detroit yells from the Wings faithful. Captain Nick Lidstrom when asked about the crazy, raucous crowd said "You could hear them when you stepped onto the ice before the game, You knew there was going to be a lot of electricity in the air. It felt just like a playoff game.'' Detroit coach Mike Babcock also noticed the energy right away "During the national anthems I thought it was fantastic and they were obviously fired up, I think it's real special when Original Six teams play. I wish we did this more often.''

I honestly can't remember a regular season crowd like the one that was there on Friday night. From the patented "Olay, Olay, Olay" chant from every Montreal fan in the building to the typical "go Hab's go" screaming, it was something that while annoying was pretty intense. At one point in the 3rd period, both fan bases were chanting at the top of their lungs that you had no idea what was being said but you definitely could feel it. Of course there were some people in the arena that the great atmosphere was totally lost on. I asked Canadians head coach Jacques Martin what he though of the crowd and if it truly felt like a playoff game? His response after pretending like he didn't understand the question, looked angrily at me and said "in Montreal we play in front of crowds like this every night" and then abruptly ended his post game news conference.

As an afterthought I guess a score would be proper as the Wings won 4-2 and in the process ended their longest losing skid of the season at 3 games. But when thinking back on this game, it won't be the win that's important, instead it will be the amazing feeling of sending opposing, obnoxious, arrogant, elitist fans in your building home, big fat original 6 losers.