I went out to eat last night so I only caught pieces of the first two periods here and there before I got home to catch most of the third. I didn't see enough to do a real, full recap.

But I did want to talk about one fellow in particular, Valtteri Filppula, because I had nearly given up on him.

I think all offseason I predicted that he would really come through for Detroit with 60-70 points. I remember a few people telling me he didn't have the hands or the finish to pull it off, but I always felt he looked like a player who was right on the edge of being a legitimate top scoring threat every night.

It wasn't until about a week ago that I started to doubt him too. He's a really smart player so he tends to generate a lot of chances by himself, a lot more than a lot of good players in this league. I found myself groaning more and more recently with how easily he tends to just miss the net completely on glorious, glorious chances. I think it was the Edmonton game where I was planning on going on a rant about how I don't think he'll ever be more than a 40-50 point player. I didn't end up writing about that game, but, surprise, he's had eight points since then.

I don't know if it's confidence, just a threshold he hit when he turned 26, or his new fantastic linemates, but Filppula finally looks like he's found it. He looks like a brand new player out there and I'm really digging it.

Do I expect him to keep scoring eight points in three games? No, but I think it's more than reasonable to suggest this new confidence and new environment should be enough to where we can count on him for a timely goal every once in a while.