One of the most maddening teams I’ve ever followed continued its up-and-down performance over the past couple weeks with a 3-2-1 record since the curbstomping in Columbus. I’ll go at this with a game-by-game approach. The Wings are a different team every night, both literally with all the injuries they have had, and figuratively with the collective effort they bring (or don’t) on a nightly basis.

Red Wings: 3  Canucks: 1 – From my perspective, this was the most impressive game the Wings played in the last two weeks. They were outshot 32-29, but Jimmy Howard looked as good as I’ve ever seen out of him in net. The Wings were the aggressors, out-hitting the ‘Nucks 34-20. Brad May decided to hold his own in a fight (but still fell down I think). Henrik Zetterberg dominated the game, scoring a beauty of a goal for the game-winner.

Red Wings: 7  Ducks: 4 – I wasn’t able to watch this game, but still took part in the post-game festivities thanks to Z’s hat trick. Saturday games are a pain to watch, especially when there’s college football going on. 82 games in the NHL season vs. 12 (or 13 for the good teams) in college football? There’s a reason this game wasn’t on ESPN. And stop being cheap Arby’s. Give me a damn sandwich after a hat trick. Either that, or switch to Little Caesars for this promotion.

Stars: 3  Red Wings: 1 – Brad May almost gets the first Red Wings’ GHHT since this blog’s existence, but it is instead ripped out from underneath him by Dennis LaRue. Yeah, May still needed an assist too, but that call was absolutely criminal. The Wings didn’t play well enough to win, but the NHL’s handling of that call was a joke. It’d be like your dentist winning a lawsuit because he “intended to numb your mouth” before performing a root canal.

Panthers: 2  Red Wings: 1 (OT) – I didn’t watch this game either, but apparently Ozzie let in a softy in OT and the Wings reverted to their old ways for one game. Via Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle:

What I learned:
Having twice as many shots on goal as your opponent does not mean that you will win a hockey game.

Red Wings: 3  Canadiens: 2 (2-1 SO) – Yes the Wings won, but I’m fairly certain 99.9% of Wings fans would have gladly taken a 5-0 loss instead of an overtime win and an injured Kronwall. George LaRaque was given a 5-game suspension for the knee-to-knee hit. It’s not entirely fair that he misses 5 games while Kronner misses a couple of months, but had it been the other way around I wouldn’t be complaining too much. More importantly, I discovered another reason why my girlfriend is a keeper: she texted me score updates while I was at the store purchasing goodies for my social gathering later in the evening.

Predators: 3  Red Wings: 1 – A poor effort by the Wings yet again when they’re on Versus. Seriously, when is the last time they won when the game was on that channel? The lack of Ken Daniels, Mickey Redmond, and Larry Murphy in the building definitely had something to do with the Wings’ poor effort last night. On the other side, the Predators seemed to be playing at a playoff-like intensity. Without a doubt, last night will be one of their top-5 best efforts of the season and they still weren’t able to put away a half-asleep, injury-depleted Red Wings squad.

Overall, the Wings have regressed a bit since they destroyed the Blue Jackets, but the loss of Kronwall for a couple months is yet another huge blow to a team already devastated by injuries. The Wings are back in action tomorrow night against the Atlanta Thrashers.

I’m not sure how much posting I’ll be doing over the holiday weekend, but at the very least I’ll have recaps for the Wings, Lions, and Pistons up by the end of the week. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

After the Dallas Stars ended the Wings’ three-game winning streak on Wednesday night, Detroit will look to redeem itself tonight at Joe Louis Arena when the team hosts the Florida Panthers at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Goaltender Chris Osgood will return to the crease tonight after sitting out the last three games due to a virus per the Detroit Free Press. Kirk Maltby will also return to the lineup tonight after fighting the flu and missing three games, replacing Brad May. Don’t forget to bring a new, unwrapped toy (please no stuffed animals) as the Wings will hold another Toys for Tots drive tonight.

Wings lose 3-1 to Stars

The 3-1 loss to Dallas stung, in particular, because an apparent goal by Brad May was overturned according to The Detroit News and it marked Detroit’s first loss in regulation at home. It was not deemed a goal thanks to an intent to blow the whistle call as explained by Mike Murphy, the NHL’s senior vice president of hockey operations. The DRW blogosphere was angry about the call and had no trouble voicing their opinions: Abel to Yzerman, Babcock’s Death Stare, Below the Crossbar, Big Red Machine, DetroitHockey.net, Hockeytown Static, Motown Wings, Nightmare on Helm Street, On the Wings, Red Wings Blog, Red Wings Hardware, The Production Line, The Scrappy Octopus, The Triple Deke, Unconnected Red Wings Blog and Winging It In Motown. Other hockey bloggers even chimed in, including Puck Daddy, Gross Misconduct, From the Rink, the New York Times’ Slap Shot Blog and Mike Chen’s Hockey Blog.

Forward Henrik Zetterberg extended his point streak to four with Detroit’s only tally on Wednesday. Stars forward James Neal, who played for the local Plymouth Whalers for two seasons including their 2006-07 OHL Championship season, posted two assists and was named the game’s first star.

In Other News

• Osgood’s illness gave netminder Jimmy Howard the reins and he benefited from the extra workload according to the Detroit Free Press. Coach Mike Babcock told MLive.com that Howard’s four-game stretch as a starter helped solidify the Wings’ goaltending situation.
• DRW.com’s Bill Roose talked with Brad May about his career as a fighter.
• Need a gift idea for the hockey fan in your life? If so, the Red Wings have an entertainment package — Homer for the Holidays — for you at a great value. For just $96, you can purchase a ticket to three games (list of games available can be found here) and one free general admission ticket to see a movie at any Uptown Entertainment theater.
• Bruce MacLeod of The Macomb Daily talked to the newest Wing, Drew Miller, about making a return to his hometown.
• The NHL.com writes that Jeremy Williams and Kris Newbury have helped to energize the Grand Rapids Griffins, which is the Wings’ AHL affiliate.
• Hot Ice, which is a Russian magazine, interviewed former Wings forward Sergei Fedorov.
• Nightmare on Helm Street sized up Detroit’s opponent tonight, the Florida Panthers.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images/NHLI

Former Red Wings player Brendan Shanahan announced his retirement yesterday. He finished his career with 656 goals (11th overall) and is the only player to score over 600 goals and log over 2,000 penalty minutes. MLive.com spoke with former captain Steve Yzerman about what Shanny meant to the team. Shanahan was the player that former coach Scotty Bowman referred to as “the missing piece.”

DRW bloggers remembered the fan favorite for his goal scoring and his ability to shine against the Colorado Avs as he posted his 500th career goal against Patrick Roy, the Statue of Liberty marker against Roy, and he was part of the memorable March 26, 1997, battle at the Joe. Here are some of their thoughts: Abel to Yzerman, Motown Wings, Octopus Thrower, Out of Bounds, Red Wings Hardware, The Production Line, and The Triple Deke.

In Other News

• Goaltender Chris Osgood remains out for tonight’s game against Dallas thanks to the lingering flu bug. As a result, Jimmy Howard will get his fourth straight start in net and Daniel Larsson will remain the backup netminder. Ozzie practiced with the team yesterday for the first time in about a week, but wasn’t ready to play a full game yet.
• If you are coming to tonight’s game at the Joe, the Wings are hosting a toy drive for Toys for Tots so please bring new, unwrapped toys (please no stuffed animals) to help underprivileged kids in the southeastern Michigan area.
• With the help of teammate Kris Draper, Darren Helm has shown improvement on the ice this regular season.
• Red Wings’ players like Niklas Kronwall and the third and fourth lines have stepped up into the void left by some of the players who left in the offseason or were injured early on. The defenseman has recorded three goals and four assists in the last three contests.
• Kronwall’s defensive partner Brad Stuart is also getting a shot at offense, playing at the point on the second power-play unit with Jason Williams still injured.
• The Wings welcomed the Memorial Cup champs, the Windsor Spitfires, to practice on Monday.
• Wings’ top draft pick from this summer, Landon Ferraro, is slowly coming around after suffering a knee injury according to Red Wings Central.
• Winging It In Motown takes a look at some stats and awards Wings’ players some various honors, including the Patrick Eaves Award.
• Big Red Machine posted its three (Wings) stars of the week. The NHL named Henrik Zetterberg the first star of the week with a league-leading nine points, two game-winners and a plus-five rating last week.

Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images

Wings win 7-4 thriller over Ducks

Detroit defeated the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday evening at Joe Louis Arena, 7-4, to give the Wings six wins in seven games. Forward Henrik Zetterberg scored a hat trick (three goals in the third period), including the game-winner and an empty-netter, to outlast the Ducks. It marked the first time a Wing has recorded a hat trick since Hank did so on March 19, 2008. Due to the injury situation, coach Mike Babcock moved Ville Leino to a line with Zetterberg and Dan Cleary. The trio hit it off with eight combined points in the game. Goalie Jimmy Howard stopped 19 shots playing in his third straight game, which has resulted in a boost of confidence in the crease.

DRW bloggers chimed in with their thoughts about the win: Abel to Yzerman, Babcock’s Death Stare, Big Red Machine, Hockeytown Static, Octopus Thrower, On the Wings, Red Wings Blog, Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle, The Production Line, The Scrappy Octopus, The Triple Deke, and Winging It In Motown.

In Other News

• The Detroit News writes that The Hockey News put together a panel that determined captain Nick Lidstrom is still the league’s best defenseman at the age of 39.
• Craig Custance of The Sporting News argues that the Wings have the deepest front office in the NHL.
• Chris McCosky of The Detroit News notes how youngsters like Justin Abdelkader have given the team a boost during this injury situation. Speaking of Abdelkader, enforcer Brad May gave him some fighting technique tips after a recent practice according to MLive.com.
• Puck Daddy names Lidstrom’s 2005-06 season as the sixth best individual stats season of the decade.
• The Wings like how their waiver pickup Drew Miller is fitting in with the team, particularly on the penalty kill.
• With Chris Osgood out with the flu, the Wings had called up Daniel Larsson from Grand Rapids to fill in as backup keeper.
• Kyle at Winging It In Motown ranks the Wings’ three most promising collegiate prospects.

The Detroit Red Wings turned up their defensive intensity this week, giving up only one goal in a mid-week sweep of the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks. The Wings, now riding a three-game win streak, sit at 3rd place in the Central Division with 17 points, just one point behind the division-leading Columbus Blue Jackets. The Chicago Blackhawks sit at 2nd with 17 points also, but the Hawks have 8 wins to the Wings’ 7.

Though 3rd place is definitely not a position Wings fans ever want to see their team in, it’s nice to see the Wings starting to hit their stride. They have given up two goals in their last three games, showing the kind of hustle and grit fans expected right out of the gate this year. The 2009 version of Chris Osgood is worlds better than his 2008 counterpart. Ozzie looks much more focused than he did at any point in the regular season last year. The penalty kill finally looks competent, to put it modestly. Since allowing two power play goals in the first two periods against the Edmonton Oilers, the Wings have killed off the last nine penalties they have taken.

Though the Wings aren’t scoring as many goals, the offense is still getting it together. Their holding possession much better. If Todd Bertuzzi could finish the Wings would have won by about 5 goals last night. They controlled that game, and realistically should not have gone into overtime. Ever since Shawn Horcoff scored to put the Oilers up 5-1, the Wings have outscored their opponents 10-2 (in regulation).

Some thoughts:

Don’t look now, but the Wings have taken 9 of a possible 10 points out of their last 5 games. With a trip to the bottom-dwelling Toronto Maple Leafs looming this weekend, the Wings should extend that streak to 11/12 points.

Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images

Around the Rink had experienced some technical difficulties over the last two weeks, which is why this feature has recently been M.I.A. We apologize for the down time and will now return to running this feature every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as before.

Detroit ends San Jose’s six-game winning streak

The Red Wings earned their third straight victory at Joe Louis Arena Thursday evening in a 2-1 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks, who had strung together a six-game winning streak entering the game. Detroit earned its first win in three shootouts so far this season.

Detroit netminder Chris Osgood had a strong outing, making 33 saves and stopping both of San Jose’s shootout attempts.

“Ozzie’s got to be feeling really good about himself,” Babcock said of his starting goaltender, who’s allowed just two goals in winning three in a row. “We’re playing well in front of him, but he’s playing well.”

DRW.com’s Michael Caples breaks down the Wings’ win, including some interesting stats in the 65 minutes of play. You can read other game recaps at The Detroit News, MLive.com, Motown Wings, Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle, The Triple Deke, Unconnected Red Wings Blog, and Winging It In Motown.

Red Wings honor Budd Lynch

Former broadcaster and longtime PA announcer Budd Lynch was recognized in a ceremony before Thursday’s game to mark Lynch’s 60th year with the Wings. All fans in attendance received a commemorative Budd Lynch bobblehead, which proved to be a hot ticket at the Joe last night.

In addition to the ceremony, “the Little Caesars Veterans Program and Coca-Cola will provide a Joe Louis Arena suite to military veterans and active military members home on leave every home game during the 2009-10 regular-season” in honor of Lynch.

Lynn Henning wrote a great article about Lynch in The Detroit News, which details the story of how he lost his arm in the war and how he landed his job with the Wings. Bob Duff of the Windsor Star goes back to Lynch’s start with the franchise.

In Other News

• With the 2009 Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony quickly approaching, Wings’ fans can find a nice chunk of articles on three of their former players. Michael Caples of DRW.com spoke with current Red Wings’ players about Steve Yzerman. Dan Rosen of NHL.com wrote two features on The Captain that were posted on Thursday.
• Forward Valtteri Filppula received the Carhartt award as the “Hardest Working Player of the Month” for October. Filppula remains out until December with a broken right wrist, which has provided Patrick Eaves with an opportunity that he appears to be taking advantage of.
• The Wings have got some good news from defenseman Andreas Lilja, who hasn’t had a headache in three days after seeing a chiropractor in Vancouver by the suggestion of teammate Brad May. There is no specific timetable for his return, but this three-day span has been the first time since his fight in February without headaches. He has started to practice with the team and at some point will have to see how he handles getting hit.
• Forward Dan Cleary is one goal away from notching his 100th career goal and it appears he’s getting a bit antsy to reach the benchmark.
• USA Hockey will announce its roster for the 2010 Winter Olympics on Jan. 1 during the NBC broadcast of the third annual Winter Classic at Fenway Park. A blog for the LA Times has the announcement dates for all of the national hockey federations.
• Bruce MacLeod of The Macomb Daily notes that Brad May will return to the lineup on Saturday after suffering an eye injury on Oct. 31.

It’s good to be home.

After a five-game road trip that saw Detroit pick up 6 out of a possible 10 points,

it looked like the Red Wings were happy to be back in Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit got two first-period goals on its way to a 2-0 victory against Boston on Tuesday night.

The first period was mostly a strong defensive effort from both sides and especially Wings goalie Chris Osgood. Neither team was able to get much of a rhythm going, and there must have been six stoppages in the first four minutes alone. Hits, shot blocks and nifty stick work defined most of the frame.

Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring just two seconds into a first-period power play for the Wings. Despite Patrice Bergeron winning the faceoff for Boston, Zetterberg skated behind him and took a slap at the puck while it was on its side.

Boston goalie Tim Thomas barely saw the puck fly past him.

Two amazing passes contributed to Detroit’s second goal. Todd Bertuzzi took his time and looked down the ice before launching a puck to Pavel Datsyuk just in front of the blue line. The puck bounced off the Russian’s stick, and he decided to flick the puck behind him to avoid the three Bruins chasing him.

Thomas came out of the net as well, and Tomas Holmstrom had a wide-open target to shoot at for his eighth goal of the year.

After that, it was all defense. The Red Wings stopped a Boston power play the third period, but the Bruins were kept relatively quiet.

All that worked out to generate Osgood’s first shutout of the season after he made 26 saves.

Things still aren’t perfect in Hockeytown, but Tuesday night’s team looked a lot like one that can go deep in the playoffs. The defense was outstanding, the power play connected and the penalty kill was flawless. There’s plenty of time, but it appears the Wings are moving in the right direction.

Five more observations:

1. The new guy. Doug Janik played his first game for Detroit after being called up from Grand Rapids before the game. He’s wearing the No. 37 jersey, Mikael Samuelsson’s number from last season. He logged nearly 14 minutes of ice time.
2. Huge kill. The Bruins had a third-period power play that Detroit completely blanketed. Boston had the puck in the offensive zone for more than the entire first minute and never got a clear shot away.
3. Thank you, come again. Tuesday night was Detroit’s only game against Boston this season. The next time these teams could theoretically meet? The Stanley Cup finals. The next likely meeting? Some time in 2010 or 2011 in the TD Garden. They haven’t met in the playoffs since 1957.
4. Boston’s winning ways. Overheard an interesting stat on the play-by-play: Boston is the only team this decade to have a winning record against Detroit. How about that? Didn’t matter on Tuesday night, however.
5. Lineup of backups. No Brad May, no Brian Rafalski, no Jonathan Ericsson, no Valtteri Filppula. Instead, Detroit did fine with Jarik, Derek Meech and Justin Abdelkader.

Player of the game: Osgood. Congrats to the veteran goaltender on his first shutout of the season and 50th of his career.

Word of the game: Homecoming. The Red Wings fans were clearly happy to see their team back in Detroit for the first time in two weeks. The Wings responded with a 2-0 blanking of boston.

Up next: San Jose, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

It’s been a bit of a rough week at the GHHT headquarters. Between exams and sickness, I haven’t had the energy to write much about the Wings’ time in western Canada.

Obviously, the biggest impact of this road trip was the loss of Valtteri Filppula for 6-8 weeks with a wrist injury. As I’ve mentioned in nearly ever Wings recap I’ve done this season, Filppula has been the Wings’ most-improved player in the early part of the year. He wasn’t exactly lighting up the box score, but he and Leino seemed to click well on that 2nd/3rd line no matter who the other winger was. This, coupled with the loss of Johan Franzen, is a big-time setback for the Wings. I’m still skeptical about Franzen’s ability to come back this season and be the same “I shoot, I score” Johan Franzen we know and love. Everyone needs to step up for the Wings now. There’s no more room for error. They need to bring their best effort on both ends of the ice for the entire game if they hope to get back to the top of the Western Conference. This year is becoming a test for the entire Wings organization, to see if they can fight through all the adversity they’ve seen so far and still be an elite team.

I don’t want to say that I’m “happy” with how Jimmy Howard played during the Vancouver and Edmonton games (specifically vs. Edmonton), but I definitely don’t think many of the goals in either of those games were his fault. I think it’s correct to say that he is a big part of why they beat the Canucks. Coming in stone-cold after Chris Osgood let in two soft goals and playing as well as he did was huge. The goalie change seemed to spark the Wings and they pulled out a huge win. Howard let in 5 goals against the Oilers, but many of those were not his fault. Kyle at Babcock’s Death Stare analyzed each of the five goals and broke each situation down, pointing out who was at fault in each scenario. Great stuff over at BDS.

Taking the Filppula loss out of the equation, I would actually consider this road trip a success for the Wings. They earned 6 out of a possible 10 points, including 5 of the last 6. Those first two games were against two of the hottest goaltenders in the business right now. Many fans went into this trip saying that the Wings needed it for “bonding time” yet expected 8 points (or more) out of the trip. If the Wings were in such dire need of time to gel as a team, there was no way they were going to get 8 points out of the trip. Were the points they got pretty? Absolutely not. But when they’re gearing up for the playoffs at the end of the season, nobody will remember how the Wings got those points. Honestly, I’m most impressed with the Edmonton game. It would have been easy for the Wings to treat it a lot like the Buffalo debacle and give up, but the team fought back and earned a point instead. Yes, both Datsyuk and Zetterberg put forth pathetic efforts in the shootout. Yes, Howard looked ugly at points. But they earned a point after being down 4 goals. If that’s not the definition of “stealing a point,” I don’t know what is.

Look at the lineup this year. Here are the healthy forwards that are coming back from last year’s regular season squad: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Cleary, Draper, and Maltby (based on the lineup vs. Calgary). Right now, the Wings are throwing out 6 new forwards while shuffling lines to deal with injuries and ineffective play. The Wings’ top goal scorer right now? Tomas Holmstrom. Why? Because he knows his role with this team. The rest of the Wings? Not so much. Mixing in so many new guys without having much consistency among the lines hasn’t given them a chance to figure out their role for this team, much less get into a rhythm offensively.

I wish I could explain what is wrong with the defense. Most of the guys are the same from last year, with the obvious exception being Jonathan Ericsson in Andreas Lilja’s place. The top two pairings have again been ineffective in the early going. Could it be due to age? I’d say so for Brian Rafalski and possibly Lidstrom. Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart don’t really have an excuse. The defense should definitely be better, though looking at various recaps from last night’s game in Calgary shows me that the D came to play.

Contrary to popular belief, the goaltending is a non-issue. We’ve all seen how anemic Osgood can be during the regular season, but as Captain Norris explains (via the Chief), “I’d bench a full boat of Martin Brodeurs over Roberto Luongos before I’d have Ozzie riding the pine [in the playoffs].” Brilliant stuff over there. A bit outdated (10/23), but awesome nonetheless. I’ve already said my bit about Jimmy Howard. Keep this in mind: he’s a rookie. Find me a rookie goaltender not named Steve Mason who had a great rookie season in the last 20 years. I can’t find one. We’re not expecting the kid to carry us, just to keep Ozzie fresh until he flips the switch.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This team is going to be fine. They got out of western Canada without the swine flu and seem to have found a bit of a groove. I trust that the best organization in sports can fight through the adversity thrown their way and come out ready to wreak havoc in April.

Before Detroit could blink, they were down 1-0 when Henrik Sedin scored 30 seconds into the game. Christian Ehrhoff added to the deficit seven minutes later.

Things weren’t looking good for Detroit on Tuesday night against Vancouver, as Chris Osgood was pulled after giving up two goals on four shots faced.

But then, something strange happened: The Red Wings were on the opposite end of a blown lead.

Rallying back from two goals down, Detroit got a first-period goal from Tomas Holmstrom and then four goals in the third period to win 5-4.

A comeback. A victory. On the road. How about that?

In what wound up being a thrilling contest for those few who stayed up to watch on the east coast, perhaps the most promising sign of the night was the two goals from Pavel Datsyuk.

The Russian is one of the two most important players on the team as far as offense is concerned (Henrik Zetterberg being the other), and he had been without a goal this season before Tuesday night. Datsyuk picked up his first two goals of the season in a three-minute span to give Detroit a brief 4-3 lead.

He also tallied an assist and ended the game with three points.

Jason Williams tapped in the game winner on a power play, and the Wings managed to hold the 5-4 lead for the last four minutes.

Jimmy Howard played very well in relief of Osgood, and that’s a good thing for the future. Osgood had an incredibly off night, but Howard was able to come in and bend just little enough for Detroit’s offense to salvage two full points from the game.

Tuesday was an uncharacteristically bad night from Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo as he let in five goals on 42 shots. To be fair, two of those goals were on Detroit power plays, but this is the man who had given up six goals in his last five games combined.

All in all, a very exciting game for both sides, though Detroit made Vancouver’s fans leave the arena unhappy. Could this be a sign of things turning around in Hockeytown, or was this just a one-game thing for Detroit’s offense?

Five more observations:

1. Ryan Johnson took a nasty slide into the boards in the second period and had to be carted off the ice on a stretcher. Let’s hope he’s alright, as his shoulder slammed into the boards very hard.
2. Filppula draws key penalty. Valtteri Filppula should be credited with drawing the penalty that turned into Datsyuk’s second goal. He burst through three Canucks and would have gotten a shot off on Luongo if not for Kevin Beiksa hooking him. That penalty set up Datsyuk’s second goal of the period. Filppula also got the primary assist on the game-winner from Williams.
3. Schneider says hello. Former Wing Mathieu Schneider scorched home Vancouver’s third goal of the night on a play very familiar to Detroit fans of the past. He was making those slap shots from near the blue line plenty during his four seasons in Hockeytown.
4. Homer right at home. Holmstrom scored Detroit’s first goal and was instrumental on their third and fourth goal, pestering Luongo with his presence in front of the net. There’s no one better in the NHL at that.
5. Road relief. Not only was the victory Detroit’s first in four games, but they also notched their first road victory of the season. They needed to get out of that funk bad.

Best of the Wings: Datsyuk. His first two goals of the season and an assist make him the best Wing on the ice, though it was close between him and Holmstrom.

Worst of the Wings: Osgood. The veteran faced four shots and allowed two goals before being removed. Another simple call tonight.

Word of the game: Relief. The first road win and first win overall in nearly two weeks. This must be a huge weight off the players’ shoulders.

Up next: Thursday, at Edmonton, 9:30 p.m.

I apologize for the lack of posting around here recently. I have two exams coming up this week, so naturally I’ll be posting more as I procrastinate from studying.

I was unable to watch much of either of the Wings’ games this weekend (yes, Thursday evening is the weekend when you’re in college), but from what I can tell most of the Detroit faithful are scrambling in search of the panic button. The Wings have lost three straight contests, albeit two in OT, and have looked (for lack of a better word) slow. Even in the games they have won this year, the Wings have been consistently beaten to pucks by their opponents. But despite the February-like losing streak, I’m not worried about this team.

Through 9 games, the Wings are 3-4-2. For those doing the math at home, that’s 8 points in 9 games, good enough for 4th in the division and 12th (out of 15) in the conference. Their goal differential is currently sitting at -6 (25 for, 31 against). There’s no sugar-coating these stats, because they downright suck from a Red Wings standard. These are the types of numbers we expected out of the conference-leading Colorado Avalanche 9 games into the season. We expected the Wings to be the team sitting at 8-1-2 (or better) with a +12 differential. We expected the Wings to come out this season with guns blazing after an embarrassing letdown in Game 7 of the Finals in their own building. We expected the Wings to solve the economic crisis, cure cancer, find Osama bin Laden, create peace between Israel and Palestine, and fix whatever Donald Trump calls his “hair.” And that was just supposed to be during the trip to Sweden.

My point is this: the expectations on the Wings this season have been too large. This is not to say that winning the Stanley Cup isn’t still the expectation in Hockeytown. I don’t think there’s a Red Wings fan alive that hasn’t expected Lord Stanley to come to the D every year since the mid-’90s. The expectation that the Wings would blow through the regular season a la Neo destroying Agents in the Matrix trilogy is what is causing mass panic among Red Wings Nation.

They are still the uber-skilled roster that we expect year-in and year-out. When you have guys like Ville Leino and Valtteri Filppula on your third line (on opening night at least…), you’re stacked. I’m not familiar with most of the Wings’ prospects, but I’m willing to bet we have a handful of guys in Grand Rapids that would be playing in the NHL right now if they had been drafted by other organizations.

They still have the best coach, general manager, and owner in the entire NHL, regardless of any distractions in place. Mike Babcock knew exactly how to run this team last year coming off the Stanley Cup run. He knew when to push, when to lay off, and when to go to the media. I’m still iffy on his calling-out of Henrik Zetterberg last week, but I trust that Babcock will have this team in contention come April.

They are still the flawless organization that the salary cap was created to control, and they still have made a mockery of the rest of the league. Ken Holland prides himself on keeping the Wings at the top of the NHL after the salary cap was put in place. If he was a player, his number would be retired the day he calls it quits. He’s that good at manipulating the numbers in a way to keep the Wings both under the cap and in contention. Look around the league. Pittsburgh has about one-third of their cap allocated to Crosby and Malkin alone. Chicago won’t be able to re-sign both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. To keep the talent this team has under the bare-bones salary cap they have been given is truly unbelievable.

They are still the motherfucking Detroit Red Wings, and they will still flip the switch at some point this season. There is too much talent on that roster and too much pride in that locker room to let this season go down the drain. It might not be pretty at the start, but this team has the ability to get back to where they belong.

Keep this in mind: last year, the Penguins were 4-4-0 in their first eight games after losing the Cup in their own building. Like I said, I’m not worried about the Wings.

Another night, another blown lead for the Red Wings.

Tomas Holmstrom and Brett Lebda scored to give Detroit a 2-1 lead, and then the wheels slowly fell off late.

Controversial or not, Phoenix tied the game with less than three minutes remaining because the Coyotes crowded the net and Chris Osgood had no idea where the puck was.

Not Osgood’s fault, just great rushing to the net and confusion generation by Phoenix.

The game winner? Much more on Osgood’s shoulders. Adrian Aucoin sped into the offensive zone down the right boards and flung a shot toward the net, a shot that normally has little chance of going in. Osgood had a clear view of the puck, but it somehow deflected off his stick and went into the net just two minutes into overtime.

Final score: Detroit 2, Phoenix 3 in Jobing.com Arena.

Those are the kinds of goals in hockey that make me wonder why teams don’t do as much shooting when they’re in the offensive zone. So often, teams will carry the puck and do a lot of fancy passing to fake out the goalie.

In this case, like countless others, just throwing the puck willy-nilly at the net was all it took for Aucoin to send the fans home happy. Throw the puck at the net, good things happen.

Blown leads are becoming Detroit’s signature this season. I wrote after Saturday’s loss to Colorado that I would be expecting plenty of blown leads in the future. It only took one game for that to be true.

In good news for Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk was back in the lineup and played very well for the first time all season. He picked up two assists in the game and now has four on the season. Him and Henrik Zetterberg were on fire with assists in the game, as Zetterberg took the second assists on both Detroit goals.

Three more observations:

1. Road woes. The Phoenix game was the first of five straight road games in the Wings’ longest road trip of the season. Detroit is now 0-3-1 away from Joe Louis Arena this year and has been outscored 18-10 in those games.
2. Shoot the puck! Usually a rarity in seasons past, the Coyotes outshot the Red Wings 33-27 in the game. Detroit is averaging 30.2 shots per game this year (16th in the league) against 29.8 for their opponents. For comparison, the Red Wings’ numbers from last year were 36.2 (1st in the NHL) against 27.7 (2nd), and their 2007 numbers were 34.4 (1st) against 23.5 (1st).
3. Laying low. Former Wing Robert Lang had a quiet night for Phoenix, shooting twice but not recording another stat in his 15:37 of ice time.

Player of the game: Aucoin. He assisted on the Coyotes’ first goal and score the game-winner in overtime. Simple enough.

Best of the Wings: Datsyuk. First assists on both Red Wings goals, and that pass to Lebda for his goal was beautiful.

Word of the game: Motif. As in, blown leads will be the motif of Detroit’s season. They’re the recurring theme, the story arc, the unifying piece to the early part of the year.

Up next: Saturday, at Colorado, 9 p.m.

This is precisely why I think the NHL did not go with renewing with ESPN and opted for the hardly-much-better Vs.

First of all, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are no longer in their NHL prime. Datsyuk is 31 and Zetterberg is 29. Those are not “prime” ages to play a nine-month NHL season (training camp to the Cup finals).

We’ve noted in this space for years — hockey is a young man’s game. Maurice Richard was 23 when he scored 59 goals in 50 games during the 1944-45 season. Bobby Orr was 22 when he scored 120 points and flew through the air to win his first Stanley Cup in 1970. Wayne Gretzky was 21 when he went 92-120-212 in the 1981-82 regular season. Sidney Crosby was 21 this past June when he became the youngest NHL captain to raise the holy grail.

Younger players are more energetic, more durable, heal quicker and, most important, have heightened mental clarity because younger people think only of the present, which is the key to creativity and productivity. I’m not saying Datsyuk and Zetterberg are Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden and will never win another Stanley Cup. Just realize that players get injured more in their 30s and begin a downward arc in their production.

Secondly, the Wings are probably at the end of their run. Their best players are older and their younger players are average NHL players. They continue to live off their power players and struggle with their penalty killing and goaltending. The injury to Johan Franzen is enormous. The Red Wings will struggle to score goals and that is a problem because they are not constructed to prevent them. Coach Mike Babcock may have to make some alterations to the Wings’ normal style of play and GM Ken Holland may have to reach into his bag of tricks and try to find a goaltender.

The first step is a healthy Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and go from there. Detroit won’t win the Central Division, but it has all season to get ready for the playoffs, when Franzen can hopefully return healthy. There is still a lot of good in Detroit, just maybe not championship good.

I don’t know where to start with this. Perhaps I’ll start with numbers, which were culled from the ESPN website, just to prove they have access to the same information I have.

Datsyuk’s numbers last year read as such:

81 games played 32 goals, 65 assists total of 97 points. +34 with 22 PIMs, on the PP Datsyuk registered 11 goals 25 assists. Oh yeah, did I mention he won the Lady Byng trophy for the third straight season, and the Frank J. Selke trophy for the second straight season? If Datsyuk was at the end of his career, why is he putting up numbers that a lot of players in their “prime” can only dream of. Is he Ovechkin, Crosby or Malkin? No. Is “past his prime” in Pavel Datsyuk’s world still better than most players career years? Absolutely.

Enough on Datsyuk, let’s dissect the Swede, Henrik Zetterberg. He played in a respectable 77 games last season and put up 31 goals, 42 assists and that was good for a respectable 73 points. For those that can’t figure it out on their own, that’s good for just under one point per game, actually, .95 points per game if you REALLY want to get technical. Zetterberg had a +/- of +13, which for a mostly offensive forward, is pretty respectable, granted he’s not Datsyuk, but not many people are, which is what made Datsyuk the Frank J. Selke trophy winner.

Are the Wings off to a slower start than usual? Is Buccigross correct in his assessment of their goaltending situation? For the time being, yes, but name the last season people thought Chris Osgood was going to have a great year. We’ve seen this before, and we know that Chris Osgood doesn’t play like this forever, when he turns it on, he’s almost impossible to beat, especially in big game situations. Which brings me to my next point. Why is it that ESPN covers hockey for maybe five minutes a day when Sportscenter has it’s Ovechkin or Crosby highlight from last night’s game, and they feel like they’re an authority on the sport? Further more, why do people care what John Buccigross has to say? Great, he co-hosted NHL 2Night and had absolutely no connect to the game whatsoever before he started being “the hockey guy” for ESPN.

The short version of this is basically, John Buccigross doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg still have plenty of time before anyone should write them off as “past their prime.”

Avalanche: 3 Red Wings: 3 (2-1 SO)

There’s not much more to say about this one.

Through the first two periods, the Red Wings were the team we thought they were (warning: PG-13 language). They were controlling play, possessing the puck, and generally keeping the Avs on their heels. It was some of the best hockey I’ve seen out of them all year. Craig Anderson was standing on his head to keep the Red Wings from lighting up the score sheet, but the Wings were able to get a couple of goals out of Justin Abdelkader and Todd Bertuzzi. Henrik Zetterberg had his best two periods of the season too. He assisted on Bertuzzi’s goal
and was generally all over the ice.

The third period (and overtime) was a completely different story for the Wings. Mickey Redmond put it best on last night’s broadcast: the Wings simply stopped skating. They had the Avs on the ropes and let them off the hook (warning: PG-13 language…again).

If you can’t tell by now, I’m feeling a lot like Coach Green about this game, even 12+ hours afterward. The Wings really have no excuse for losing that game. The Avs simply out-worked the Wings. They didn’t quit and were rewarded with the win.

A few notes:

It wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about Leino without mentioning Valtteri Filppula. He scored the goal to put the Wings up 3-2 in the 3rd period. I thought it was going to be enough, but the Wings couldn’t hold on to the lead. Fil is also cementing his status with the Wings so far this year. Babcock needs to keep the Leino-Filppula combination together. I’m wondering if Homer could benefit on a line with them (and don’t even get me thinking about throwing Helm over the boards with those two).

Hopefully the upcoming road trip offers a chance for the Wings to get away from the distractions that playing at home bring them. The Wings are off until Thursday’s game at Phoenix.

]]> http://fantasyhockeygenius.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/about-last-night-peverley-mitchell-penner-and-next-week-time-to-bench-datsyuk-lidstrom-lecavalier/ Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:20:28 +0000 ilanmochari http://fantasyhockeygenius.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/about-last-night-peverley-mitchell-penner-and-next-week-time-to-bench-datsyuk-lidstrom-lecavalier/

Canucks D Willie Mitchell is a +/- diva deserving of fantasy attention.

Thrashers C Rich Peverley logged two power play goals as Atlanta won 4-2 in New Jersey. It was the second time this season he scored two goals in one game.

Peverley was not ultra-productive last year (15 goals and 29 helpers in 66 contests) though he did register a +13. Also, he plays center, making him a questionable add in rotisserie formats given his paucity of penalty minutes and unremarkable career PP stats. However, if he keeps up the PP work this season, he is someone to consider in weekly leagues when Atlanta plays four times. He is only eight percent owned in Yahoo! and 11.6 percent owned in ESPN.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent: This box score explains why we love Canucks D Willie Mitchell: In a game Vancouver lost 5-3 in Calgary, he was the only Nuck to log a +1. All his teammates ended up in the negative.

This is no small feat when you consider Mitchell played 21:00 minutes, trailing only fellow blueliner Alexander Edler (25:05, -1) for ice time.

Mitchell was a +29 last season. While the +/- stat has its detractors, Mitchell is proof that it is useful. He is 15.1 percent owned in ESPN and 15 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues. That means he’s yours for the taking if you need +/- help without sacrificing the scoring or PIMs that your forwards bring.

Also: The mighty Nucks are one of six teams playing four games next week (thank you, Sean Allen). Those of you in head-to-head leagues forced to fix your lineup Monday should consider Canucks. The other five teams playing four times are the Sharks, Kings, Oilers, Stars and Blue Jackets.

Aside from Mitchell, the man to add in weekly leagues is Oilers LW Dustin Penner, who scored twice in the Oilers 5-2 home win vs. the Wild last night. He now has nine points in seven games. Penner is 23 percent owned in Yahoo! and only 4.6 percent owned in ESPN.

On the flip side, the Maple Leafs play only once next week. The Capitals, Lightning, Coyotes, Senators, Devils, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Sabres, Flames and Ducks play only twice. From these teams, the only guys I would play are your key Caps (Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin and Green), your white Lightning (Stamkos, St. Louis), your bona fide Stars (Richards, Neal), your hot Hawks (Sharp, Kane) and your old reliables (Iginla, Phaneuf, Zetterberg).

In other words: Pavel Datsyuk (upper body), Nicklas Lidstrom (only three effing points so far) and Vincent Lecavalier (-5) do not make the cut.

photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

]]> http://edrexler.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/game-6-lidstrom-gets-1000th-point-in-big-victory/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:14:34 +0000 edrexler http://edrexler.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/game-6-lidstrom-gets-1000th-point-in-big-victory/

For the last decade and a half, Nicklas Lidstrom has been the most consistent defenseman in the NHL. He’s brought home six Norris Trophies, been named to 11 All-Star team, took home the Conn Smythe in 2002 and even has an Olympic gold medal from 2006.

Tonight, Lidstrom’s assist on what would be the game-winning goal from Henrik Zetterberg put him at 1,000 career point.

To him, it’s probably just another trophy in the case. But he earned a standing ovation from the crowd at Joe Louis Arena, and he responded with a nice curtain call of sorts from the bench.

His individual performance shined bright in Detroit’s 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings, but the team as a whole really responded strongly after a brutal 6-2 loss to Buffalo two nights earlier.

Despite letting in a first-period goal and going down one, Jonathan Ericsson put a slap shot past Jonathan Quick to start the second period, and the Detroit scored the next two goals (from Tomas Holmstrom and Zetterberg).

Those three consecutive goals put the Red Wings ahead for good despite a Kings goal with about eight minutes remaining in the game.

Kirk Maltby made a terrific individual effort in creating his own goal for the clincher with five minutes left, and Brian Rafalski put home an empty-netter with just seven seconds on the clock.

Chris Osgood might have had his best game of the season, stopping 24 of 26 shots and holding strong after allowing an early goal. The Kings, who had started out to a hot 4-2 this year, are now 0-4-1 in their most recent meetings with Detroit.

Detroit moves to 3-3-0 on the year with 6 points and a firm hold on third place in the Central Division. Chicago, on a four-game winning streak is still in first, with Columbus in a surprising second.

Five more observations:

1. Two for the show. In Detroit’s three wins this season, they’ve allowed just two goals each time. That seems to be the number they’ll have to stick to for victories. Their three losses saw four, five, and six goals hit the twine.
2. Home cooking. The Red Wings’ three victories have also all been in the friendly confines of Joe Louis Arena. The two games in Sweden and a trip to Buffalo ended in defeat.
3. Abdelkader gets on board. Since replacing the injured Johan Franzen in the lineup, after the Chicago game last week, Justin Abdelkader hadn’t put a point on the board. Thursday night, he assisted on Ericsson’s goal in the second period by winning a faceoff clean.
4. Saved by the glove. The Kings could have gotten off to an even faster start, but Osgood was able to put a glove on a puck that bounced off the post and into his back, then started moving toward the goal. Quick handiwork by Osgood kept the Kings off the board temporarily.
5. Holmstrom on fire. The veteran’s goal was his fourth of the season, and he is surprisingly in front of all Red Wings scorers. The tip-in tonight was a perfect example of Holmstrom being the best front-of-net scorer in the NHL. Still not on the board: Pavel Datsyuk.

Best of the Wings: Lidstrom. His two assists were huge in the second period, and he broke 1,000 points in his career.

Word of the game: Milestone. For Lidstrom’s 1,000th point.

Next up: Saturday vs. Colorado, 7 p.m.

]]> http://trippingovertheblueline.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/long-hair-yes-no-maybe/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:44:16 +0000 britt1215 http://trippingovertheblueline.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/long-hair-yes-no-maybe/

So why do all hockey players go through a phase of having long hair? They always let it get so long that it covers their face and then gets long and stringy and oily. Gross. It can happen to anybody and unfortunately it does:

Adam Burish

James Sheppard

Alex Ovechkin

Patrick Kane

Anze Kopitar

Ryan Miller

Henrik Zetterberg

Thomas Vanek

Simon Gagne

Christian Ehrhoff

Martin Havlat

Mike Smith

Peter Mueller

Every Conference, Every Division, Every Team. It can happen to anybody.

]]> http://babcocksdeathstare.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/595/ Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:11:07 +0000 Kyle http://babcocksdeathstare.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/595/

Just because I feel like posting another Entourage clip to sum up how I feel:

Specifically, I’m feeling pretty similar to the last ten seconds.

Alright, where to start? I wanted to write this post yesterday. But it would have been much, much angrier. I’ve had some time to calm down, and think about it, and be reasonable. That said: This team sucks right now, and I hate almost everyone on it.

I’m not happy. I’m not happy with the play on the ice, and I’m not happy with what everyone else is saying about the loss.

To preface, is it time to panic? No, not to that extreme. Do we need a trade? Not yet, but let’s just say Kenny H. shouldn’t leave his phone on silent anytime soon. Do we need to wake the hell up? Yes, I think so.

The effort last night was unacceptable, and it starts right at the top. I see a lot of people blaming Bertuzzi, Meech, Kronwall, etc., all the usual. But I can assure you, these are the only players not at fault for yesterday’s loss: Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Valtteri Filppula, and Jimmy Howard.

I can’t believe the stuff I’m reading today. Osgood looked “great?” On which of the five goals that he let in do you think he looked best? I personally like the one where he fell over against the post and left a whole net open. But the one where he kicked a rebound up the middle off a stuff in by a rookie defenseman to a grinder, and then stood up so his five hole would be open — that one was pretty good too. He looked great there. And, my goodness, the way he moved off his post so Clarke MacArthur could stuff one in was just veteran savvy at it’s finest. Left a gift of a rebound for Stafford to put in for the first of the game as well, you don’t think he knew Stafford was there?

Let me clarify; none of these goals were tremendously bad, blame can be placed elsewhere. But at some point, Chris Osgood needs to step up and make what should be easy saves, regardless of who makes a mistake leading up to the goal. That’s what the goalie does. He’s the last line of defense. Defense. He’s part of the defense. So Myers may have walked Jason Williams and Derek Meech en route to the stuff in that led to Patrick Kaleta’s goal, who was untouched and unbothered by anyone as he sneaked in, but why the hell did Osgood just leave that in front of the net and stand up? Kronwall passed to Patrick Eaves’ knee cap on the second Vanek goal, but you can’t tell me Osgood can’t move better laterally to the point where he doesn’t topple over when he needs to stop quickly. There were all kinds of turnovers in the corner that led to the MacArthur goal, but he cheated off his post and I have no idea why. It was a terrible angle, that is not a goal that should ever go in.

He was not great, and I’m blown away that people think so. He looked good in the first, but by no means does four goals against in a period equate to a great performance. A great performance entails making the big saves to keep the team in the game, regardless of how sloppy they were. If Buffalo was just burying goals, or if they were all going in of Nick Lidstrom’s stick in front, that is something you can’t do anything about. But considering the ease in which Detroit allowed Buffalo to walk right to the net, Ozzie didn’t face a variety of difficult shots.

I understand what people mean by not placing the blame on him. I’m not either. It really doesn’t matter how he plays when Detroit isn’t mounting any offensive attack. But “great” is not the word I would use. He was left out to dry, and he did nothing to help his own case. Just watch the highlights. Don’t watch the turnovers leading up to the goals, because I’ll touch on that later, just watch the goals themselves. Picture to yourself that Detroit is playing well and Osgood is letting up goals on those types of shots. If you can do that, and tell me Osgood looked great, I will e-punch you in the face and let you know that you know nothing about hockey. But I won’t really e-punch you because I’m quite frail and afraid of conflict in real life. He was bad, but he was not at fault for the loss — it’s a team effort. Do you see what I’m getting at here?

And I’m not taking the easy road here and blaming the loss on Bertuzzi, Williams, Meech, and the decision to bench Draper and Maltby. Really? Draper and Maltby would have made the difference tonight? I realize they have more goals than our top line, but this is another stupid statement. Those two have never had that kind of impact, let alone in their waning years here, I’m sorry. And while I think Draper at least needs to come back in, May-Abdelkader-Eaves was Detroit’s best line last night. They were the only guys out there skating and trying to get the puck. But none of them were offensively competent enough to do anything with it, and Draper and Maltby would have been no improvement.

I’m blaming the loss on Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Mike Babcock. It starts at the top, I’m tired of hearing about everyone else when these guys have done nothing this season.

I can lump Zetterberg and Datsyuk together. These are the Eurotwins. Why haven’t they had a good shift yet? And, to clarify, there’s a different between a good shift for a line with Brad May on it, and one with the Eurotwins on it. May’s job is to never stop skating, punch people, and hit anyone who he can possibly catch. Zetterberg and Datsyuk’s job is to dominate all three zones of the hockey rink. At no point in these first five games have I seen that. They’ve been good defensively (more on that later) but their job isn’t to be checkers. What happened to last season when they were able to hem a team in their defensive zone for 90 seconds and finally score a goal when the defense finally lost their will to live? Datsyuk barely even touches the puck anymore, he just dumps it in. Zetterberg keeps trying to dangle, but he gets it taken away constantly. More shots, more possession, better passes. No excuse for 0 goals combined in 5 games.

Nicklas Lidstrom had four giveaways. He knocked a puck into his own net (not his fault, but it didn’t help his case). He was the defenseman that didn’t touch MacArthur when he stuffed one past Osgood, not Ericsson as other people have been blaming. He was not good. He was outmuscled and outhustled for pucks all night. Very un-Lidstrom. Cost himself the Norris with this performance, I guarantee it. The media has gotten wind of his four giveaways tonight already. This is how it was last season. Nick has a series of not great games (nothing this bad) and everyone decided he had lost a step, even though he was perfect for the second half of the season. He’ll be perfect from this point forward, I have no doubts, but this four giveaways thing is going to kill him, even though in Washington they consider that a good game for Mike Green.

And Mike Babcock, along with the whole coaching philosophy. I blame him in part for why Z/D don’t explore the offensive zone more. This whole concentration on team defense needs to stop now, because it’s not working. Detroit decided they were going to make up for goals by not letting in so many. But here’s a newsflash: Toronto, Florida, Calgary, and Washington are the only teams who have surrendered more goals than Detroit. Calgary is a mess right now. Kipper looks terrible, but they do have two more games played than Detroit — Detroit will probably pass them, at this pace. Toronto and Florida are terrible, and Detroit and Washington don’t exactly have the same caliber defensive group. Great start. I’m just worrying more and more that this defensive concentration is hurting the creativity of our offense. Let’s not change the system. Let the forwards do what they do offensively and outshoot teams 40-20. Hopefully we’ll win a few 7-6, 6-5 games along the way.

But that’s something I don’t anticipate will change. I’m just bringing it up now because no one else will say it. The way Detroit plays, and how they coast through most of their games, there’s no way this system will hold up an entire season. But what does need to change are the defensive pairings. This is the second full season of them, save for Ericsson instead of Lilja and, for now, Meech over Lebda (wash). Lidstrom will be better off without Rafalski. Stuart and Kronwall may be the Bash Brothers or the Twin Towers or whatever you want to call them, but really they’re the pairing most likely to make colossal, game-changing mistakes. Even through last season, this is the one pairing I did not like. Babcock always splits them up when he juggles lines, but I think we need to make a permanent change. The offense needs to be juggled too, this is what I’d suggest:

Filppula – Datsyuk – Bertuzzi
Cleary – Zetterberg – Holmstrom
Leino – Helm – Williams
Abdelkader – Draper – Maltby

Lidstrom – Kronwall
Ericsson – Rafalski
Stuart – Lebda

Just.. anything different. Maltby will probably come in for Thursday, but I don’t think Eaves deserves to sit yet. I’d rather see Draper than May, as well. Draper is important to the PK, and Abdelkader has been awful on faceoffs this season. Drapes needs to stay on that 4th line, and then May and Maltby can be rotated in with Eaves and Abdelkader whenever. But if this continues.. something drastic needs to be done. Sit a star. Sit Kronwall, sit Cleary, sit Williams, I barely noticed these guys last night (which is both good and bad, because I noticed al ot of other guys for the wrong reasons). Eaves and May, as much as they’re not helping with the goals for or the goals against, do actually move their feet. Maltby doesn’t really move his feet, and neither does anyone on the top two lines right now. Babcock needs to send a message. I do like him as a coach, and I’m certain he screamed himself hoarse a few times already this season, but nothing cures complacency like a well-timed healthy scratch. Bowman was the king at it, but so far since Babcock took over the biggest name he’s tried to send a message is Kris Draper. Set some examples, make this team hate you. We’ve got tons of cap space now, bring up some Griffins if you need to. Waive Meech, sign another defenseman who’s looking for a chance in the NHL. On a team like this, new blood — guys who want to play regular season hockey — should be at a premium.

As I finish this post, I learn courtesy of Drew at NOHS that Datsyuk and Kronwall are getting “looked at” (and like Drew, the first thing I wondered was if they were getting mentally evaluated) and didn’t practice. Lebda, Maltby, and Draper are coming back in the lineup, and there’s no starting goalie yet. The Wings need to play a 60-minute effort on Thursday. Even if they win 6-1, if they’re not hustling for a full 60 minutes I’m not going to be happy. I’m not going to rest until they do. I’m tired of writing such nice things after a win when the team still did so much wrong. Fix these problems, please!

UPDATE: Finally a post-game take that I like. Eric Duhatschek hits the nail on the head a couple of times. Even though I didn’t exactly exercise patience in this post, I find it to be a soothing and accurate read.

]]> http://gordiehowehattrick.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/red-wings-sabres-one-of-those-nights/ Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:16:53 +0000 Rob http://gordiehowehattrick.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/red-wings-sabres-one-of-those-nights/

Sabres: 6, Red Wings: 2

There’s not a lot of positives to take out of this one, so I’ll keep my recap short.

The Wings looked decent in the first period, going into the dressing room tied 1-1. I had mentioned that Valtteri Filppula had been playing well so far this season and he was finally rewarded, scoring on the power play to tie the game at 1. He was definitely one of the positives on the night, drawing a penalty shot later in the game. Ryan Miller made a great save on the penalty shot though, denying Fil what would have been his second goal of the night.

After the 1st intermission, the floodgates opened with the Sabres scoring 4 games in the second period, chasing Chris Osgood after going up 5-1. As Kyle at Babcock’s Death Stare put it:

This is the part of the video game where I’d turn it off without saving.

Ok, so that was actually from his post about Franzen’s injury, but I’ve been waiting to use that line.

Some random thoughts: