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Big E didn't have Dorsett tied up or anything and they barely had gotten the gloves off when Toots stepped in. Tootoo did his job in not letting D-bag Dorsett take a good player off the ice for 5 minutes. Message to Dorsett, when you drop your gloves be ready to fight. Win and props to Tootoo. As far as his play as a fourth liner Tootoo has been great. esteef

It's hard to blame injuries when you lose at home to a s***ty team like Columbus. They don't have a Datsyuk or Zetterberg on their team. Wings should have won this game handily.

We should sticky this thread. Apparently this isn't going to go away.

Referees: Eric Furlatt (27) - Ian Walsh (29) Linesmen: Steve Miller (89) & David Brisebois (96)

You try losing the most man-games of any team in the NHL, included amongst your injured players three top-six forwards, a PP QB, and the team's best PKer, and then see how easy things go for you.

Pavel Datsyuk is playing like a mad man right now and Babcock sticks him with two plugs in Cleary and Abdelkader. I have always liked Babs but he is just setting this team up to fail.

Columbus is a pretty irrelevant team — Dorsett should go get his nose checked out

Mickey was right when he siad Toots knows his job and not letting Big Rig break a hand or something and risk injury in a fight. Imagine Ericsson out for a month after that fight.

You're all being way too harsh on Cleary. He's done a lot of good things this season, such as:

If we had Helm, Franzen, Coliacovo and Smith back in the lineup I think we would make the playoffs with 'relative' ease. So yes I think injuries are a big issue. The team hasn't been able to become a cohesive unit, with guys rotating in and out of the lineup every game. Of course if Sammy comes back and replaces Tatar that actually makes us worse, so the injuries haven't been all bad. And there are some things that can't be blamed on injuries however: Filppula stinking. I'm severely disappointed in him. Kronwall god awful defensively. Sooo disappointed. And Babcock's mental illness and manlove for Dan Cleary. So in the end what GMR said is probably about right. Unless we can start getting and staying healthy, real soon, we're a long shot to make the playoffs. Sucks that Helms seems to be far from ready. Definitely the most important player missing at the moment, he's a key player.

Thats why I said that Washington was the worst team in the league. I agree with your assessment. Tatar and Nyquist should be up here and getting top line minutes. I think that Holland has earned some time to rebuild this team, and trust me we are in for some rebuilding. Dats and Zetterberg are exiting their prime. The old guard is retired. New blood is coming into the system. We were due for a rebuilding that is for sure. To expect a Stanley Cup every year is a luxury we have had, and now that isn't a reality. Holland's past success should earn him the right to rebuild, which will take years, not months or days. This problem will not be solved by making desperate trades and sacrificing our future by trading away our prospects. I feel that 4 Stanley cups in the last 15 years is a great run. Not many teams have accomplished that feat. I know many Wings fans are impatient and reactionary, and they can't give the leadership that time to rebuild. This is why I am glad that the fans are not in charge of their contracts.

If not for injuries, we'd finish as a 5-8 seed and lose in the first round. Thanks to these injuries, we're unlikely to make the playoffs if the injury bug keeps up.

Looked bad today. Babcock's decisions have been baffling this season. From the line combos to the goalies. Starting Howard the game after he leaves with blurry vision? Give him a rest.. Monster looked good when he came in. Right now Gustavsson needs to start atleast 2-3 games in a row imo. Regardless of what happens. Give Howard a real chance to re-focus and find his game again.

Tatar with a measly 10:03 TOI, and he hustled and made nice plays and worked his ass off the whole time he was out there. Maybe if he was getting top 6 mins we'd be far better off. and at .500 we need to try something better than wasting Dats with Cleary and Abs. Abs is good, but Cleary needs to grind away on the 4th line. May as well bring Gus back up and use this season as a tryout.

He's a good coach, just stubborn. Plus, he hasn't exactly been handed the best pieces this season.. not to mention half the pieces are broken.

Couple of things: * Bad turnover Brunner. I like you, but with 30 seconds left in the game, keeping the puck deep is #1 priority. Live and learn kid. * Why is White and Lashoff our D-men on the ice in the last minute? Ericsson?? Bad coaching. * Timeout should have happened a long time ago. Bad coaching. * What is Howard doing on the goal? Tough side-to-side play but still. Rest the guy already. Monster looks ready to play. * Abdelkader and Cleary. Bad coaching. * Zetterberg's worst game of the season, easily. * Tatar was maybe the best player on the ice for us. Hello Babcock??? Awful, awful loss. Things are starting to look rough in the standings. Not even getting a point tonight.. wow. Injuries aren't an excuse unless Babcock's mind has been injured which I'm starting to think. Desperately, desperately need to the win the next game. And the one after that. And the one after that. Sigh.

How does Tatar not deserve more ice time

Say what you want about Toots, but that boy plays his heart out!

Dorsett can go f*** himself twice. Idiot.

Tootoo is our best player tonight.

Huh? He's the only defenseman who's scoring for us. Quincey is scoring about as often as the Pope right now.

Are you watching the game? Dorsett had his gloves off ready to fight E and Tootoo intercepted him. Dorsett was fighting someone and Tootoo made sure it was going to be him.

no wonder datsyuk wants to go back to russia. can't blame him.