marcaractac

Then I say start him. He is our #1 to be. The sooner we get him some NHL playoff experience the better. Jimmy is the kind of goalie you can only win with if you have an all star defense in front of him, much like Crawford in Chicago. We were never gonna win with Howard in goal. Howard is a good goalie who has kept the position mostly stable during the rebuilding of the roster. Mrazek is the goalie who has won with the youth on this team, and I have no doubt in my mind that will continue. I don't think anyone is expecting a cup this year. If Mrazek keeps playing well, just as well get him some experience. In the end, if he does play in the playoffs, I don't think he would at any point become the reason we lose a series. If anything he might steal a game or two. Mrazek is 2-2 in shootouts to Howard's 1-8. Obviously defense is gonna be a big part of not allowing goals. Any goalie will look like Dan Cloutier with a lousy defense in front of them night in and night out. But unlike Howard as of late, Mrazek was there to make the saves when called upon. The lack of offense lost the game. Not Mrazek. Mrazek is the guy who stole the team a point.

That will come with experience. I do think his stellar play is a much better indicator of the goalie he will be than the starts he has been pulled. People need to remember how bad Howard was at first. It was painful. But the more he played, the better he got, and then stole the #1 job. I have no doubt Mrazek can do the same.

The team has nothing to worry about if they keep pace with those in the chase. So that win IS all that.

A series is 7 games. We need a goalie who can play more than a game or two without getting hurt.

HAPPY WRESTLEMANIA!

It's a young team, who were comfortably in a playoff spot. They took the foot off of the gas during a time when other teams battling for the playoffs/playoff positioning are stepping up their game for the home stretch of the season. That combined with a few key injuries has led to an absolutely slump. I'm confident they'll get things going good again some playoff time (hopefully before the season ends). Last year they s*** the bed and had nothing left when the playoffs started. Hopefully this slump just means they are getting it out of the way. My only concern is how inconsistent Howard has been. He doesn't have much time to get back into form. Will be very bad if he can't find it all while Mrazek is sitting on the bench every game.

Chris Johnston ‏@reporterchris 6m6 minutes ago The #leafs announce a non-sellout crowd of 18,366. The streak has ended

*Obligatory "Get er done, Kenny" post*

I see no issue with the goal. When a player breaks his stick and doesn't drop it, the refs more often than not warn the player before they call a penalty. The stick break and goal all happened so quick it is irrelevant really.

Just saw on TSN that Kovalchuk may be looking to find his way back to the NHL. To do so, he either needs to take a full year off of pro hockey, or if he signs for a team, all other 29 teams must sign off on it. There seems to be a possible loop hole that he could just go back to playing for the Devils to avoid the whole 29 other teams signing off thing. Gonna be interesting to see what happens.

Scores with a broken stick!

I thought it was the dumbest thing at first, but now I hate it when there isn't a shot counter.

The team is going through a slump. Every team goes through slumps. The 07/08 Red Wings went through a slump (albeit started by injuries). Babcock is smart enough to realize no team is gonna coast through a season without facing adversity. This slump will have absolutely no effect on his decision in the offseason.

Yup. No chance on the gift of a rebound he gave up.

I honestly think Gus has had his last start with this team. With there no longer being a roster limit post trade deadline, I think Mrazek is here to stay. Only chance I can see him being sent down is if Howard starts playing like he did before his injury again, and they want Mrazek to log minutes.

True haha, but I assume you know what I mean. I mean, a dman like Zidlicky would have been the perfect partner for Lids. Much like Rafalski was.

Agreed. This is not like years past when we could just pair guys like this with Lidstrom and not worry about it.

The thing is, ever since his very short span of bad games, he has been nothing but lights out. I'm not saying the team should give up on Howard and get rid of him in the offseason. But Mrazek is the hot goalie right now and they should absolutely give him as many starts as Howard for the time being to give one of the two the chance to absolutely prove they are the go to guy come round one. Having Mrazek sitting on the bench every game is the worst thing they could do with how hot he has been since just before Howard came back from injury. He needs to get regular playing time. Luckily the next two games are back to back, meaning he and Howard will start each of them anyway. All I know is that the pressure should absolutely be on Howard during his next start. Because his job as the playoff starter should absolutely be on the line. No doubt the Wings played much better against the Pens overall. But Mrazek's play also could have had a lot to do with that. It was the same last year when Gus was in net. The team played better. Mrazek also made the early lead matter. Pens had several chances to get themselves back into the game, but Mrazek shut the door. And the Wings responded to that every single time.

PULKS!!!

100% agree with you both. I'll be pretty disappointed if Howard gets the next start.

I wonder if Jimmy is getting nervous

This is the goaltending we need.

How can this possibly count?

Beauty!

Zid is on fire