VM1138

I don't know if some people have noticed, but the Wings are competing for 1st in the league with Datsyuk, Filpulla, Stuart, and Cleary, Modano out. Despite the godawful month of December the Wings are still winning enough to stay atop. You don't make a trade. Besides, with all the injuries coming back right around the trade deadline you wouldn't want to trade because who knows what the team REALLY needs. Maybe we do need offense, but wouldn't CLeary and Datsyuk coming back fix that? Because of the timing, there's really no way of telling what the team really does need. The only real question mark was goal. If Howard continues to play like last night, and Ozzie comes back relatively quickly, there's no need to make a move there, either. Agreed. I was really harsh on Hudler (deservedly so) but he's trying hard enough now that I think it'd be foolish not to give him a chance to keep playing to see where he ends up. With how deep the team is it's worth keeping him for the rest of the year to see how it goes.

The point is they shut down the best team in the league, locked down the defense and ground out a win. They buckled down when it matters. It may just be a January game, but it's a sign that they still know how to play when things really matter. And that's a good sign.

He only played 18 games? Why do I remember him, then? Any way, this is terrible news.

Well, if Ozzie is out for a while, Howard is picking a good time to start playing like his old self.

Best game of the season! Major hitting, grinding, capitalizing on mistakes, stepping up when it really matters, this was awesome Red Wings hockey, makes me confident for the playoffs! Way to go Hudler!

Well, again, the only realistic option would have been Abdelkader. I guess he could have done it but I'd rather have had him out there on the ice trying to keep the Wings sagging energy going, to be honest. Ericsson shouldn't have fought him, then the WIngs would be down to four defensemen. At any rate, I'm optimistic about the Vancouver game. Ozzie in net and the Wings realizing they actually have to show up this time.

Well, it couldn't have been a defenseman, since with Stuart injured we only had five. It couldn't have been one of the forwards willing to fight because we needed them to press the attack to climb back into the game, so I'm okay with it. Maybe next time we face them.

Disappointed to see Jimmy "Four Goals" Howard show up, but in fairness those goals probably weren't his fault. Getting tired of seeing him flat on the ice every chance he gets. I understand goalies need to take away the bottom of the net but I don't think I've seen a goalie so eager to go flat on his stomach at every save. He's clearly not the goalie we thought he was and at this point has played himself into a backup role. Hopefully Ozzie can keep playing well and earn the start. It'd suck to have two backups. Also, the Wings were pretty sloppy for most of the game but still came out with the win. Like others have said, this was a good character victory, much needed, and happy to see Rafalski get two and Bertuzzi get the winner. Now that this game is out of the way, 60 minutes tomorrow night, please! A win against Vancouver is the closest to a must-win they've played this year!

I want to see Tatar and Mursak get a hat trick each, just so we can laugh at Calgary for getting owned by rookies. But seriously...with all the injuries and Z probably not 100% I hope somebody like them steps up.

He has serious issues with coaches trying to make him work. I don't quite understand it but he appears to be allergic to actually doing the bare minimum.

This is what I'm thinking. Professionalism or no, you have a lot of aggressive, outgoing young guys with money to burn and egos that traveling with a hot young thing who just happens to be a massage therapist, I wonder how many guys on the team have hit that? I know that's terrible and immature, but grant me this one comment, haha.

If Helm can work on scoring on breakaways that alone will get him 20 goals. I've never seen a player get so many breakaways consistently.

I forgot Florida was still in the league, to be honest.

I actually thought about this the other day and to my surprise my brain was actually semi-serious about it. He just won a championship over in Europe a year or two ago, and honestly, if any player could manage the transition it'd be Hasek, the guy is just inhuman, like Datsyuk. It'd be a crazy, risky, laughable move on the part of Detroit, but I can't say that I'd honestly be upset. I don't like the idea of a Howard-McCollum tandem, though. Bring in a vet like Conklin to offset. Howard is after all, still a bit unproven.

Babcock is a ringer, he's friends with the Canadian Olympic curling coach. Clearly he's been trained! Cool video, but man, some of those guys wear some weird things.

I've tried many kinds of beers, I've been trying to find one I can tolerate and everyone always tells me "you've only tried the bad stuff, try this!" and it always tastes worse than the last. I'll stick with mixed drinks, thank you very much. Beer is just too bitter and has a terrible aftertaste. (Judging from Miller Lite, Guiness, Killians, Sam Adams Winter Lager, Heineken and various other kinds)

Who wrote that? Terrible writing, typos and more. Here's some fun from it: Apparently Osgood transformed his game to become a "butterlier."

Murph can be entertaining sometimes, but my God he can get annoying. It makes me mad, honestly, that people like Murphy, who can't speak correctly, can get and keep jobs while a lot of us who are qualified for various jobs can't get them. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when Redmond retires and Murph becomes Ken's full time partner?

Ozzie let in one soft goal. Howard lets in three a game, that was my point. THen there are additional goals that aren't their fault. Therefore we have a 5-3 win with Ozzie instead of a 5-3 loss with Howard.

Perfect ASG format: Have the players, GMs, Coaches, sports writers etc. vote for players with the stipulation that they can't be on their team. Release the list of All-Stars. Don't hold a game.

Unfair. The first two goals weren't anything he could do about. At least give him credit for staying up whereas Howard would be crawling on the ice as low as he could possibly get as soon as he saw the puck. Ozzie stays big in net. The third goal I'll grant you was crappy, but I'd rather deal with 1 crappy goal a game over Howard's 3 a game.

Agreed. One sloppy goal, but otherwise he was great. I'd say he should get the next start but I doubt we'll be that lucky. He's just making the saves when they need to be made.

Interesting story I stumbled across today: In 1937, I think it was in February, Larru Aurie's dog was stolen. So not only did he break his leg (or his ankle, depending on the day and the news report) after leading the NHL in scoring up til that point but he also had his dog stolen. What a crappy year for him, eh?

Exactly, so many people around here think it has to be either or. People arguing for more starts for Ozzie aren't arguing for Howard to be dumped or traded, just that he needs some time to clear his head while we see if Ozzie can continue to play big for us.

It's not all about the stats. I don't see why Howard's defenders have to attack Ozzie to build themselves up. The key to Ozzie's performances is that he's making the huge, key saves when necessary. When was the last time we heard "Huge save by Howard!" when it was ACTUALLY a big save and not just an accident. Ozzie is giving this team a chance to win, Howard has stopped doing that.