Firehawk

What a difference missing the playmaking ability of Datsyuk makes...

You know how that problem will be fixed? By losing. The wings have won way too much (not that I'm complaining). They're due for a letdown. They've actually been taking periods off for the last several games and goaltending has bailed them out alot. Howard's been great tonight, and without Datsyuk I think that's the difference. The point is when you win all the time it's hard to keep that edge. They'll lose a couple, end their home streak, and get back at it. This is just my opinion.

if we have to lose, do it on the road guys, come back and keep it going against Vancouver!!!!!!!

How do you not call that penalty takedown on Helm? Objective refs? I don't think so.

not gonna get any ref breaks now...

damnit. finger nail biting time again...

Unfortunately it's going to take a rival or a loss for us to regain that hungry game we play for 60 minutes. TOo much winning causes complacency. I thought the Dallas game as well we were very lucky to be up 2-3 goals with none allowed. We played lackluster for a good half of that one.

Remember in years past how many of us thought if we had a Peca Rinne type goalie that saw many shots and made most of those stops (also like a Kiprosoff) this team would be that much better? We may have that now with Howard. I gotta see Howard win a cup before it really sinks in but yes, we may be set in goal for another decade.

With macdonald playing like this, why not just leave him in until he loses, or until Howard is 1oo%?

Wings winning all the battles now

We are due for a penalty call against us . I bet SJ gets 1-2 calls go their way before the end of this game.

The way the wings can clamp down we should be destined for 23 wins here. But we gotta keep on our toes. f*** YOU SAN JOSE! YOU WANNA BE LIKE US? GET RID OF THORNTON AS YOUR CAPTAIN!

OH BABY SUCK ON THAT NIEMI f*** YOU THORNTON

One more goal should really put this game out of reach the way we can clamp down defensively.

Well that sucks. WHy couldn't Thornton have been standing there?

In the ref lounge during intermission, a memo comes through "call a penalty on SJ, you guys are making it look obvious". lol Come on wings, score on this!

I'm still confused about the SJ goal. Thornton touched it above the net, shouldn't the play have been blown dead right there? Even if the goal was permitted, shouldn't the review have disallowed it for that reason, even if the puck touched Abby's stick before going in?

I wholeheartedly believe the same. Not a conspiracy against the wings, but just an NHL mandate in general. They dont have to come out and tell refs explicitly to do this, they can send memos out stating "We want the games as exciting as possible" and it's an implicit and untraceable order to call games like that. I hate it. It penalizes the better team. IF a team is good enough to win a game 6-0 objectively, they likely get 4-5 more calls against them making it much harder to win. The better teams get screwed. Then the league commentators just blow it off as "breaks of the game". BULLs***.

Anyone else just sick and tired of Thornton? I didn't like him but I respected him until the playoffs last year when he looked like he got shot in the ankle when Zett touched him and then he went crying to the refs. THis game he's been whining the entire game to the refs...you can see it. Well, period 3 coming up. Hopefully Babs gets on them for slumping in the 2nd and they pick it up in the 3rd. Odd how the refs started calling penalties on detroit quite a bit after we got the lead in the game, and even more after we got a 2 goal lead. I'm not saying it's something against the wings in general, it just seems the refs try to give the team that's down more chances to come back. This is not being objective no matter how you look at it.

Uh yeah that was the worst ever idea.

I didn't like how they broke up the fastest skater either. Terrible. How can you classify that as a fastest skater? Is the fastest runner in track asked to run tires like in boot camp? Give me a break. The fastest skater event should be exactly like they had it before. It should be a full out lap or even 2 laps...tonight the event was too choppy. Players didn't even have enough room to get to full speed.

Bettman is clueless. Stop trying to force hockey down the throats of non hockey towns. What a waste. The league should be cutting 10 teams anyways and moving the good players to the rest of the teams. Talent is stretched and the NHL is not in a position to be this large.

Is anyone else bothered by the way Kane sounds when he's talked to by the commentators? He sounds to me like he doesn't want to be bothered, or kind of arrogant. I hear he's a bit of a jerk from even Chicago fans but I was just wondering if anyone else got that feeling... With that said, Kanes superman goal was pretty neat. I thought Perry's was a bit better.

I agree with you. Not having Lidstrom does affect the game, but not like that LOL. Where was the offense? THey played a team that's way out of the playoffs. I'm sorry but the wings just took the night off. And you know what? Given their recent record, I'm not mad. You'd like to win the games you should easily win but as good as they've been, I can live with one blown game every now and then.

Yeah I was gonna say, didn't Darren look REALLY BAD? I mean my goodness...he's totally aged. He looked really beat up and poor. Hate to say it. WTF? Still love em though.