GoWings1905

Exhibit A of why Smith should be on the PP. His offensive instincts are better than anyone else's on defense. Not the first time Smith has created offense by jumping into the play tonight.

Yup, poor effort by everyone but the Datsyuk line. Only group that has done anything at even strength.

Rarely does poor officiating surprise me in this league, but this is just on another level tonight. What a circus. Sheahan had the puck and they blew the whistle. Not sure the penalty is much of a call either.

17 games as a ref and this dude sucks as much as his co-workers already.

People see what they want in players. Mrazek wasn't good just three nights ago, but Howard should get pulled in his first start in over a month.

I disagree, Mrazek let in plenty of weak goals during his starts. He got pulled numerous times and was the beneficiary of the team scoring a lot of goals in wins.

To an extent. Mrazek got pulled the other night too, so I'm not sure pulling Howard would be an upgrade. Jimmy needs to play to work the rust off.

For one weak goal after not playing in over a month?

Jimmy! Great having him back because the rest of this month is brutal. I think Jimmy may be a little rusty though, so 5-3 Wings and a Tatar hat trick.

I want something to help me forget about Legace and the Oilers series in 2006 too.

First in the East on February 7th! This team, man. Doan is such a clown. Enjoy spending your final years losing in front of 28 people.

That's a dive. The stick in the skates had nothing to do with him going down.

What the hell was even the call? I didn't see either occur.

Tatar is obviously a terrific player, but he is still prone to spurts of being careless with the puck. On a brighter note, Ericsson has looked great lately. Really starting to come on defensively.

Riley! What a shot. Nice play by Tatar to keep that puck in the zone. The Red Wings seem to get called for too many men a lot this season.

This Bolduc character is quite the tool.

Great effort this period, especially from the third and fourth lines.

Quality officiating tonight. I like how it took two seconds after the "interference" occurred for the decision to call it a penalty.

What a joke call. How does that being a penalty make the game better?

That's a terrible call, especially since they didn't make it on the ice. Huge break because that was ugly. Three guys standing around in front of the net and a bad rebound to give up by Mrazek.

Definitely going to need Jimmy back for that gauntlet road trip to close out February. Mrazek has been decent and thankfully the offense has been scoring goals, but the Red Wings are a much better team going forward with Jimmy Howard in goal. Hope he can stay healthy down the stretch and for the playoff run.

The same reactionary comments you are bemoaning about Mrazek are constantly perpetuated about Howard when he is healthy. I would be more likely to accept that the only thing you have against Howard is his puck-handling if your history suggested otherwise, but I think it goes well beyond that specific area. You can't be upset when people (rightfully) point out Mrazek was struggling and then do the same to Howard. Mrazek was giving up four goals prior to the Islanders game. He got pulled allowing three on seven shots to Buffalo and then gave up four in his next two starts against Minnesota and Florida.

You decided two games into the season Howard was awful with that infamous thread. Besides, Mrazek was giving up four goals every game prior to the Islanders. Nobody was writing him off for life; just merely stating that he was struggling in those starts. He rebounded well yesterday and the Red Wings did a much better job of suppressing scoring chances.

If the Coyotes don't deal OEL, I would gladly take Yandle as a consolation prize.

Nice bounce back win by the Wings. I thought the Datsyuk line was excellent and so was Glendening. Defense and Mrazek were much better than in Tampa. They really limited the Islanders scoring chances. Watching it live at the Joe, I honestly didn't think Marchenko was all that good. I'm sure he was solid defensively which is his game, but I noticed he struggled moving the puck in the first period especially. Definitely an area where Ouellet is further along, but I like they are giving Marchenko a look still. Overall, great month of January for the Wings with a tough schedule and road games. Gonna be even tougher in February, but this team always finds a way to keep competing.