wings_fanatic

People bashing Z are hilarious. Pretty sure he has earned enough to have a bad game every now and then he is human. He is a workhorse and I am not worried at all that he will find his game and getting Pav back soon will no doubt help him. BTW what an awful lazy play by Kindl he sucks.

For the life of me I don't understand why Babs refuses to play Smith on the PP! He has such good offensive instincts. Can make great passes, knows when to shoot, has a good one timer. Our PP would be better with him on it. Play him with Danny D on the point and 3 forwards up front because the whole 4 forwards thing isn't working.

3 games in and Franzen back to his useless self. Z looks lost without Pav hopefully Pav sparks Z and then we can get Abby off of that line.

I disagree. Use your head. Look at how often Pav and Hank have gotten injured lately. We don't want to risk them getting injured when we have loads of other guys who can kill penalties and our pk is looking pretty good right now.

I suspect when Pav comes back the lines will be: Hank- Datsyuk- Franzen (Franzen has been playing really well with Hank so no need to change that, but they still aren't scoring.) Jurco- Sheahan- Tatar Nestral- Helm- Nyquist Miller- Glendening- Abby But I think the best would be: Hank- Pav- Franzen Jurco- Sheahan- Tatar Nestral- Weiss- Nyquist (Helm to me doesn't cut it for scoring goals. I really want to give Weiss a chance to skate with Nyquist, and Nestral has looked far too good to toss aside. This could turn out to be a great line) Glendening- Helm- Abby/ Miller (Solid grinding line)

The difference being Dom and Ozzy won the big ones. They were big time players for big time games. What has Howard done since becoming our starter? He has never taken us past the 2nd round. Even the years where we had Lidstrom, Rafi, Kronner and Stu as our top 4 D, Howard never took us past the 2nd round and, in some cases, costed us playoffs games (See game 3 both years against San Jose). He was sub par against Nashville. Thats why this year I think is the year where Howard either proves himself, or we make a change. On another note, I find it humorous how often the Red Wings are screwed against the Ducks. Think about it: 2008: Lidstrom scores in the last minute of the game to tie it, only to have Dan Ohalloran waive the goal off... awful call 2009 playoffs: In the last minute of one of the games, the Wings scored to tie the game, but the ref said he intended to blow the whisle...awful call 2013 playoffs game 6: Last minute of the game and Quincy is tripped and there is no call, Ducks score to tie the game. There are probably more examples but these are the big ones. That is a lot of bad calls against the same team. Not just bad calls, but bad calls that costed us the game or could have costed us the game.

I figured that would be about what he said. I wish just one time he would pull a Tortorella and go on a rant of how that is just unacceptable to have a game end like that. I think for big key missed calls like that refs should be fined like they are in some soccer leagues in Europe.

By the way, I have gamecenter so can't watch post game. Can anyone fill me in on what Babs said in his presser? I am interested to see if he chooses to ignore the bad call like he usually does or if he places blame on the ref.

Well said. IMO this is an important year for Howard. If he continues to be just average, then that is not good enough. Not when we have a really good goalie in the minors and he can play the puck too.

Solid game tonight. I still do not like Kindl at all, I find he loses every single puck battle that there is. Quincy had a very strong game which is nice to see. I thought Smith had an okay game but had a couple plays I think he would like back. He needs to remember he is at his best when his legs are moving. The top line is starting to get going... they generated a lot of chances tonight and looked impressive. The same can be said for the kid line... only a matter of time until they get on the scoreboard. Howard had some nice saves tonight, however it comes back to the timely save idea. At the end of the day, he simply was not good enough tonight. He really needs to learn how to handle the puck. Either handle the puck or stay in the net. Anything is better then confusing your team everytime you come out of the net. He costed us a goal, but did not cost us the game. He needs to be better though. Overall, I am really liking what I am seeing from the team. They are competing really hard and their speed is amazing. Bare in mind we are looking quite impressive WITHOUT Pav in the lineup.

Someone REALLY needs to teach Howard how to handle the puck! That exact play probably happens like 5 times a year with him and a goal is given up. I have seen 12 year old goalies handle the puck better then he does. I know it is not his comfort zone so either learn how to handle the puck or stay in your net. Also, I HATE Kesler! These refs neeed to get their act together and make the right calls.

And the same can be said about Boston. Well said. And Chara is aging. When they lose him, they will be losing a LOT of their structure and stability on the blue line.

Helm on the PP sucks he just has no skill for that. Overall a strong period by the Wings. Just a couple bad plays and one of them costed us a goal. Z looks a lot more engaged which I am not surprised about at all, the kid line is fantastic, Danny D and Smith look extremely good together I think I am going to really like that pairing as the season goes on. The PP needs some work but I am not worried its game 1. One thing I notice that is still killing us from last year is that we always seem to lose the faceoffs on our PP's so right away the other team is always able to clear the puck. Wings got to get better at that. If the boys play like this all game we should end up with the W.

I was initially using google chome. I just tried internet explore and it is working thankfully. I hate internet explore but tonight I love it haha. Now, lets go wings!

Okay thanks. What internet browser are you using?

Hey guys is anyone else using gamecenter? I have gamecenter (I am in Europe) but it keeps saying connection error for any game I try to watch? Any suggestions?

One thing is for sure. Oulette is so much better than kindl it isn't even funny. So much more composed, a better skater, smarter. I will be extremely disappointed in babs if he opts to play kindl over oulette. On a final note, good for goose to score in the shootout... Maybe confidence booster to get him going a bit more.

Ya please don't put franzen anywhere near the same sentence as pav and hank.

That is inaccurate and you are basing that off of pre-season. We know that Pav and Hank are 2 of the most premier forwards when healthy and we know that they were by FAR our best 2 players in the playoffs AGAIN last year (and Hank only played two games)! The problem has been that they have been given no support. Ever since 2009 finals, the only consistent players for us in the playoffs have been Lidstrom, Rafalski, Pav, Hank and Kronners. Besides that, all our other players have been hit and miss and Ken Holland has not done a thing about it. Franzen should have been gone two seasons ago along with Cleary. But, it is what it is. I still say that we have a very good group of forwards this year. Pav is rumoured to be back sooner then expected so latest being a week or so into the season by the sounds of it. Based on how awful our top line of Hank and Mule has been, I think it is time to put Pav and Hank together and hopefully we re-sign Alfie (Yes I want Alfie to play). Hank- Pav- Alfie Nyquist-Weiss- Franzen Jurco- Sheahan- Tatar Abby-Helm-Miller To me that is a very solid group of forwards. I do not know why Babs has been playing Weiss with no one, because we know he has talent and can skate well and I really want to see his speed along with Goose.

Well the Red Wings teams I grew up watching were the best by a long shot and, in my mind, thats the way it is. I wish we could go back to the glory days.

No it is not I agree with you, but I think the last game or two you should ice your team. Lets face it, most guys today aren't playing tomorrow so the point of todays game should be for Babs to use the lines he wants to use in regular season to let players develop chemistry.

I don't get why Babcock won't try playing Gus with Weiss. He is wasting Weiss's talent. Babs split up Gus and Hank and has Gus playing with Anderson now. I am sorry but Weiss is way better than Andseron and I want to see what that combo looks like.

It scares me watching our top players so far this pre-season. Pav looked good in the first game with tatar, but other then that I have NOT been impressed with our top guys at all. Franzen looks as lazy as usual. I know it is only pre-season, but I feel that he needs to prove that he is not his same old lazy self and to me it looks like he is not even making an effort out there. Cleary looks just as bad as he did last season. Kronner and Hank look like they don't care, which I am not worried about because I know what those two are capable of when it actually does matter. I feel that there are just too many games in the preseason, and I think this every year. We have a ridiculous amount of injuries all around the nhl and I think the solution is to lesson pre-season because these amount of games just are not necessary. Nonetheless, hopefully the Wings best players show a little more life in the 2nd and 3rd period.

I have seen it before that is why I knew the music but just could not place it. But I will have to disagree with you on that one. The best movie made, in my mind, was inception. The movie was just pure genius and each time I watch it, I am more and more captivated. But hey, we can't all agree on anything. At least on here, most of us can agree that the Red Wings are the best haha.

Thank you kind sir... you truly saved my day! I would have sat here trying every method possible to figure it out I knew it sounded familiar!