Firehawk

I think the ref says he got the puck so they didn't call it, but I maintain if that's ANY OTHER PLAYER besides homer, that's a frickin penalty shot. Unbelievable.

I really hope we don't face the blackhawks in the first round. The Hawks do not deserve to be that low on the pole. Too good of a team. They will likely take a big boy out in the first round if they draw Vancouver or SJ. GOOD SAVE MAC!

I would really like to get opinions on this because it has had me thinking for quite some time. I understand the need for salary caps. I think it works in the NFL. I think it works in the NBA. But I am not convinced it works in the NHL. How do we get average people interested in the NHL? My view of it is that if we had less teams, it would be alright. There would be much better talent on the fewer teams and then I think it could work. But right now, I just don't think it does. Maybe I'm spoiled by the great success the Red Wings have had pre-salary cap era. But, most teams have 1-2 players most people have heard of, and then the rest are role players. Wouldn't it be better to have 5 high flying stars on every team? I think the games have become watered down. Instead what we have now, are filler on most teams. Players that lack talent try to attack the stars, whether by trying to injure them, or beat them up enough to have a chance to skate with them. Maybe this is part of the problem with the increase in serious injury lately. Just a thought.

Too much fire power on Chicago to keep them to one goal. I think we lose in OT 5-4.

I understand. You can build a case that the Wings over the past 20 years have under-achieved. 96 for example, 95, 99, etc. They were good enough to win 10 cups in that span. The point being, I'd still rather watch a lineup of stars than a lineup of role players.

What happens to referees that make clearly bad calls? Does the league take any action on them? We never hear about stuff like this. Sad to see Howard out. I hope he doesn't miss significant time. While I think we are screwed with Howard, I still think we need him to be playing in the playoffs for us so that we can at least see what we have. I was expecting this playoffs to be the YAY or NAY for HOward. Nobody knows what MacDonald is. In the last 2 games he's played or taken over for us, he's been fantastic. But teams are not studying MacDonald. So, that may be why. What a great story that woudl be if he did take us far into the playoffs.

You don't need to be a NASA scientist to understand hockey, give me a break. Maybe the difference is football is covered on TV far more than hockey is. The very young generations have never seen hockey on TV. Since the NHL has been off ESPN, most people don't even have the right channels to watch the NHL. It has become almost an underground sport. The only people that follow hockey are hockey snobs.

I do not understand this line of thinking at all. I have been following the playoff race in the west and yes, there's a jam of many teams just a game away from being in or out. But what I argue here is that the overall level is lower. You are not going to convince me that a battle of chicago and nashville for a playoff spot is the same as Detroit versus Colorado in the 90s. Two star studded teams that were equal in talent was far more interesting to watch than calgary and Dallas battling for a playoff spot. What I'm getting at is the players today battling for these spots are not stars. They are mainly role players. I would rather watch stars battle than role players nobody's heard of. This is what I'm getting at. Look deeper than just points. Disagree with you that fans aren't attracted to stars like we think. Shy of hockey snobs, nobody wants to watch the NHL. It's obvious. Nobody knows most of the players on Calgary, or Nashville. By your line of thinking, the NHL will always be what it is. And this is simply not true because 10 years ago it wasn't true.

Perhaps you are correct, that it is the amount of teams. I just find the NHL to be very dull. If I didn't love the wings and hockey so much I would turn off wings/predator games, or wings/columbus. Who watches a florids versus nashville matchup?

I'm glad some people get it. Thank you for not being a superficial retard when someone says "but he's got the most wins in the league". So ridiculous. QFT. I was a howard supporter last year. i thought he was great. I was hoping it wasn't just because other teams hadn't figured him out. YOu could make this case this year that that's precisely what's happened. Other teams studied howard, and now they know how to beat him. The Wings defense last year was not great either, but Howard was much better. This year the defense is about the same it seems, and Howard's numbers are terrible for being on a super power like the Red Wings. If we had a proven solid goalie on this team this year I argue that that goalie would have even more wins. For those saying the defense has hung him out to dry all year, that's just ridiculous. Take the game the other night where Howard got pulled on all 4 of those goals. Tell me which goal the defense left him 'out to dry' on? Howard gave up big rebounds, one of which he never even bothered to cover when it came right through the crease right by his stick. It made no sense. Howard is slow to get from post to post, he over-reacts on shots, and he rarely ever controls rebounds. This is not the making of a good goalie. Now last year, I gave him the free pass. Even in the playoffs, I didn't care how many bad goals he let in. I just cared that he gained experience for this year. This year he does NOT get any passes from me. I've called him out this season, and if he does not elevate his game in the playoffs, then I will be calling for his head in the off season. There is no excuse. Now that he knows the speed of the NHL regular season versus playoffs, there's no excuse. It's time to become the goalie we need him to be, or start over with another goalie. With that being said, I feel Howard does get the start in net for the beginning of the playoffs. This would typically be where I say if he doesn't measure up after a couple of games, he should be pulled and put Ozzie in and hope he can do the same as in prior playoff years. But I don't know what the answer would be this time. You can't throw in a pure rookie like MacDonald if Howard buckles. And what a shame, another entire season would be wasted.

If the wings don't get on the ball here and very quickly, we could find ourselves 4-5th place by the end of this. Chicago is 7 points behind, yes, but we play them 3 times and they have a game in hand. I really don't want this to come down to giving Chicago a chance to overtake us by beating us 3 times. Just going to make things harder on ourselves. We need to take advantage of Toronto tonight and beat them. We really need to stay top 3 in the conference going into the playoffs.

That's a win for Vancouver. We need homer out there.

Sure are alot of canucks fans there. You can hear the "LOUUU" and there was a pretty good cheer when they scored. I'm getting a bit aggravated lately with opposing teams coming in and getting a sigificant amount of seats. That never used to happen in Detroit. Maybe we are spoiled, or spoiled/economy.

Since i've been bashing Howard lately, I have to give him credit in this game. He's been solid today. The goal he gave up was not his fault, bad break. SO FAR, he's doing well. I swear to God if he lets a soft goal in on this 1-0 game I'm going to scream. NICE SAVE HOWARD>

I would counter your argument with the fact that while the Wings D is not up to par like it typically is, it's still the Wings and the defense is still better than most teams around the league, yet Howard still has very average numbers. So, by that logic, if Howard played on an average team, he'd be absolutely horrendous, wouldn't he? The defense does break down and I went on a rant about this about a month or so only to be ridiculed by those saying that we are second in the league, so why am I focused on the defense? Well, in the playoffs we will not be scoring 4 goals a game. But if we have a goalie that allows soft goals, not control rebounds whatsoever, and the defense continues to try to puck handle in their own zone instead of dumping it out safe, we are in SERIOUS trouble. I just ask Howard to make the stops he should make, and control rebounds. In the NHL this is not too much to ask. But howard doesn't do this. I think the pressure is getting to him, honestly. With all this said, I do think Howard needs to start the playoffs, and see how he fairs. If he blows a series for us, well, at least we know where he stands.

One other stat on Howard, which is quite telling. NHL.com says he's given up 149 goals, which is 79th out of 84 goalies. That is scary. If Howard was on an average team, he'd probably have been blown up by now and moved to the AHL.

I went to NHL.com and checked a couple stats for HOward. His GAA is 2.79, which has improved slightly. But, he's still ranked 55th out of the 84 goalies that came up. His save % was .908, which is 48th in the league. I'm sorry, but on a team like the Red Wings, a very sound team, very good team, these numbers are pathetic. Those comparing Osgood to Howard, there's no comparison. Ozzie quarterbacked us to 2 cups, and I just don't think it's fair. Howard has done nothing yet. This playoff is make or break. I was behind Howard until 1/3 of the way through the season, and as of late I've really lost confidence in him. All 4 goals were absolutely pathetic. If howard lets in goals that are very difficult to stop or impossible, that's one thing. But every goal he let in yesterday was just pathetic. He is slow to get back to posts, he doesn't even attempt to control rebounds (a la 2 of the goals yesterday), he over-reacts to shots/passes...it's ridiculous. I think he's rattled. I don't know if he sucks this much or if it's a mental game with him right now. I will forgive everything if he plays well in the playoffs, but I don't have much faith.

I'd give up a decent forward to get a decent goalie.

Thanks Refs. Phantom call, way to take the momentum away as soon as Detroit gets something.

Glad we got one. Howard still sucks. It should be 1-1 tonight right now. Thanks Howard.

CAN we please put MacDONALD IN? THANK YOU!!! I cannot believe I defended Howard for all last year and post season. This guy is absolutely atrocious. CONTROL A ******* REBOUND YOU SIEVE!

Would be nice to have a rough defender like Weber in a wings jersey.

Quick ref, hurry and find a reason to nullify it...HURRY.

are you kidding me? You know what, no wonder nobody watches this ******* league. This referee squad is so far the worst squad I've seen in a very long time.

We'll win this one. After yesterday's win and now on the road I think the wings will win this one by 2 or more goals. Hoping...as long as Howard doesn't do something stupid again.