lets go pavel

I'm not a Bert hater, but today there were 3 plays when I noticed him on the ice ... the goalie interference he took while Z was swooping around the back of the net ... the penalty near the end of the game ... and the play when he put Thornton into the net, and skated right past a loose puck in front of the crease in the process ... not a good day for him, I hope he picks it up ...

100% agreed ... Cleary's bringing an intensity and will that I don't think we've seen from him before ... sweet! And yup, Flip had another strong game ...

Pavel and Hank were pretty solid out there too ... if Bert hadn't f*&ked up every other scoring chance we might have put #3 up sooner.

Yup, separates the fans from the fakers ...

Just don't let him eat Bernie ... the way he gives up on us, I don't trust him!

perhaps he's still bitter that we waxed the blues 5-1 on his jersey retirement night

In my opinion ... yes. On paper Homer and Bert look like similar type players, but from what I've seen they play very differently. Homer works well with Z and Dats because he stays out of their way, let's them work their magic, fights for the puck behind the net and gets it back to them, and of course plants himself in front of their goalie which pulls the d-guys down. Bert is different, he wants the puck more but doesn't seem like he has the sweet passing to work with Dats and Z ... he's not content to plant himself in front of the goalie all game, he skates around in front and gets in their way. I just don't think he complements what they do very well.

Looks like we'll have at least one fan in SJ cheering for us ...

I'm excited about Flip on the second line, should give us some jump and maybe fire Bert up too. I'm also going out on a limb and saying we get 2 on the power play, not for any reason except that all season we struggle for 4-5 games and then one game we break out with a handful ... I think today's the day. Score first, SJ gets frustrated, takes a few penalties ... 5-2 (Bert, Dats, Z, Schneider, Draper empty net)

we don't make it up as often as we should, we're in fredericksburg about an hour south of DC, but my wife and I teach so weeknights pretty much don't happen for us, and weekends usually fill up pretty quick ... now if there was hockey in the summer ...

Hey, I'm from VA and I go anytime they're in DC too ... and every time I've been it has seemed like the crowd is at least half Wing's fans ... it makes a big difference when you're 600 miles from home and the crowd is chanting "lets go red wings!"

perhaps .... though with his rear in the goalie's face all game, who knows what they're smelling??

I think there is some truth to the notion that the more armored the players are the more reckless they are ... but not so much because they figure the other player is protected more ... I would think the first thought that enters a player's mind is their own well-being, and if they feel more protected they are more likely to throw the vicious check or be more aggressive with the stick ... self-preservation, more than consideration?

or whining about goalie interference so Homer gets called for breathing on Kipper ...

and He Sucks!

what's he bent out of shape about? i just turned the game on ...

Yes, he was ... credit where credit is due ... but overall, how many games is he a complete non-factor or worse? Hell, if you or I played 82+ games, chances are we'd get lucky and win 1 or 2 of them ...

Lang skates away from another loose puck ... Sammy takes a weak wrister from the blue line ... Lang gets called called for hooking ... Sammy loses the zone on the point ... Lang throws another blind pass across the middle ... it looks like the "Top Of The s***list Competition" is going 7 games ...

Okay, I don't live anywhere near Detroit, but you can't tell me that people who are Wings fans and hockey fans suddenly give up and go watch baseball just because Yzerman, Shanny and Mac are gone. Yes, it's a different team, a younger team, but they're no less exciting, and they're still YOUR team. Besides ... baseball? Don't get me wrong, I like baseball, but if I have to choose between watching baseball and hockey there's no contest. Either the people who were buying the tickets before weren't really fans to begin with (in which case their absence isn't a big deal) or they're being priced out of the arena. I gotta say the latter ... those prices are high for a lot of folks.

Yes, but then I think he's only had 1 or 2 occasions to try ... at least he skates hard and goes for loose pucks. With Lang it seems that if a puck is loose he's skating in the other direction ... slowly.

Not sure anyone's dismissing him ... simply commenting that his performance yesterday was good but that he wasn't tested too much, and he gave up lots of rebounds ... so we'll be happy to expect more of those!

I say send the Pain Train to the front of the net!!

We did have some scoring chances, but it seemed like a lot of them never made it on net because we didn't get the shot off fast enough (Dats coming across the middle). I don't know that I ever said to myself, "damn, that was a nice save, we should have had that one, we were robbed", maybe once or twice.