GoWings1905

Good effort, Franzen. Way to watch him go straight to the net. I hope his birthday present is a new team.

What a waste of Weiss. I get easing him back in from injury, but he can play on the third line with some actual skilled linemates like before at least. Are we worried about messing up the chemistry of six goals in six games or what?

I don't think that's impossible given the spurts of positive play the Wings have shown at times, but this should have been the portion of the schedule where they banked points. A ton of home games, relatively weak opposition and they were playing really well before this losing streak. January and Feburary are brutal. Maybe being on the road will be a blessing because their luck has turned at home, but eventually the travel and stiffer competition is going to wear on them. Mantha and/or Pulkkinen may need to make an appearance sooner rather than later if these goal-scoring woes don't get solved quickly.

This is insane. Imagine even being 4-4 in the stupid shootout as opposed to 1-7. Six game losing streak with five of them coming at home. This was a game the Wings deserved much better than their fate, but that doesn't matter when you desperately needed two points. Nice call by Tim Peel late in regulation to give the team down a goal the chance to tie. In a league of incompetent officials, he's the absolute worst.

Z winner in OT. First star Tim Peel because he ruins every game he officiates.

Bettman's NHL. Where everyone in the world knew the Avs were getting a power play down a goal. It's beyond pathetic what this league does in terms of officiating by the score. That Jurco play happens on every faceoff of a game.

If Franzen could exert as much effort into scoring goals tonight as drawing the refs attention, that would be great. Just play hockey. I'm embarrassed at all of his whining.

Part of the reason the Wings are struggling to score goals is because the transition game has been awful lately. The defense cannot move the puck cleanly out of the zone. This isn't a great puck-moving group for starters, but they have been really bad during this losing streak.

Jurco should be on the power play instead of Helm.

I like those lines much better. Maybe flip Abby and Jurco to make it optimal, but clearly the Wings needed a change after scoring only five goals the past five games. Needless to say, the Wings better get back on track real quick before January and February hits. They have already thrown out too many valuable points in the softest part of the schedule this month. I'm just nervous the Bruins are going to find their stride before long and the Wings are going to end up in the wild card chaos again.

Not exclusively because of Franzen obviously, but it would be nice if he could contribute anything offensively for a team struggling to score goals. Because what else does Franzen bring when he isn't a goal-scorer? 0 goals in 13 games and a minus 9 is atrocious. That's not streaky -- it's not competing hard enough as a player.

No cross check of course. Fitting the way things have been going lately. Five goals in five games. But keep rolling the same lines, Babs. The Wings really needed to bank points during December with all of these home games and they have done just the opposite. This coming off a stretch where the Wings scored a ton of goals, played fast and had the puck all of the time. Looking like another inconsistent season ahead, especially since the schedule is about to get brutal.

That's a penalty, but was that any less obvious than the holding the stick? This is tough to watch right now. The Wings are completely lost offensively.

Put Z and Pavel together for the last ten minutes at least. Both are playing well tonight and these lines aren't scoring otherwise.

What a disaster. Why are the same lines that have five goals in five games still together?

Horrible pass by whoever handcuffed Sheahan right up the middle. 10 SOG in half of a game just isn't good enough. The Wings need to get something going offensively.

Yeah, the dude with a .922 save percentage and GAA barely over 2 hasn't come up with any big saves this season.

The Wings look like garbage again offensively. Five games running and Babs still hasn't switched up the lines.

Well, there was only one year since and Howard played all of three games in a series the Wings were absolutely manhandled as a team. If Howard performs like he has so far, he is the least of the Wings concerns.

To be fair, what members of this team have been any good in the playoffs in that same five-year span? I don't know what people expect Howard or Babs to say. They obviously have a problem in the shootout, but I guess it doesn't strike me as making excuses. I agree they do need to try something else (ideally winning in the first 65 minutes), though part of the shootout is just pure blind luck. I mean, does anyone believe the Islanders who are 9-0 in extra time are doing something that is so incredibly unique to warrant all of their success? It's frustrating to be sure, but there's a lot of good to take away from this Red Wings team that wasn't present when they were also piling up shootout losses a season ago. The points are too valuable to keep throwing away, so I hope they get back to winning in regulation soon.

I don't think that has anything to do with his larger point about shootouts not being involved. He was simply stating they aren't a part of the game then. Jimmy was great two years ago in the playoffs anyways.

Jimmy has been stellar in regulation all season. I'm not going to call him elite either, but you can't base that solely on his shootout woes. I don't think we could have asked for anything more from Jimmy in regulation, though. He's definitely nowhere near average.

Why isn't Jurco being used? He has great hands. Try something different because nobody besides Pavel has any clue how to score. I think the larger issue though is the Wings need to start winning these games before the shootout. Jimmy was great tonight in regulation, but the offense has completely dried up at even strength the past week. Babs waits far too long to mix up the lines. Z - Pav - Jurco Gus - Sheahan - Abby Cleary (Weiss) - Helm - Tatar 4th line The Wings best hockey this season has come when games are more wide open. They rarely win low-scoring tight games like the past four have shown. I think Babs prefers this style, but the Wings are deep enough at forward now to not have to rely on keeping scoring at a premium.

The last shootout I watch to decide an NHL game will be the best one ever.

How many more games of struggling to score before these lines get changed?