If like five teams lose tonight and the Wings win, Detroit jumps past Ottawa, Washington, Pittsburgh and the Islanders in the Wild Card standings.

Naturally, that doesn't matter one bit. But it is kind of fascinating when you consider where this team was 8 games ago.

Since then, they've earned 14 points in 8 games.

This is what they do. They make you want to dream like a young man. They want to fill your heads with hope and little nuggets of joy. Optimism. But, a few too many of us have the wisdom of old men and we resist.

It's easy to say that when it's all said and done we'll be fighting for Hughes and not for a spot. It's also easy to say that fighting for a final spot is the reason we are where we are right now.

7 out of 8. Against middling teams? Yes. But beating the middle is how you compete with the top. It has to start somewhere. The rebuild. The rebuilding or even the creation of confidence.

We knew this year would be interesting. It is.

We really have no idea what to expect from night to night.

So screw it. We are not Beautiful Losers, yet. Let the old men whither for a bit longer while the young men among us dream, just like Bullet Bob says we should.

It's a Live Blog, bitches.

Drink up and LGRW.