NHL Friday: Red Wings spoil Mike Babcock’s return to Hockeytown

Another night, another major NHL storyline. This time, however, the focus was centered off the bench as Mike Babcock returned to Detroit for the first time behind the visiting bench.

But you know what? Babcock probably doesn’t care, and nor should he. He knew what he was giving up and getting into when he went to Toronto. In his mind, he didn’t have anything left to prove in Detroit. Toronto presented a new challenge, and accomplishing his difficult goals there will surely make nights like the loss in Detroit well worth the effort.

It was answered.

You could line up that shot a hundred times and Hayes might never score from that angle again. But that one time was enough, as the Rangers went on to win 4-2 on the back of an impossible goal.

You might have heard that Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock returned to Detroit on Thursday, where he spent the previous decade winning a Stanley Cup and helming one of the most successful NHL teams in the last 10 years.

You know who else heard that? Mike Commodore, former NHL defenseman and noted Mike Babcock hater. Now that he’s retired, Commodore has lots of time to watch hockey and tweet really mean things like this:

Then the comedy of errors turned into a fairly cool play.

So when he returned to Detroit on Thursday behind the Toronto bench, you just knew the Red Wings fans and organization would take the time to recognize him and thank him for his decade of service. They wasted no time, giving Babcock a standing ovation in the first period.

And in typical Babcockian fashion, the legendary coach looked pretty unaffected by it all.

So much so that his fist targeted Boll’s noggin as soon as they ended up near each other again.

When it comes to Marc Staal, revenge is a dish best served quickly and to the face. Apparently.