wings_fanatic

Monster had no chance on the first 3 goals. The last two he would have liked to have back but I do not blame him for this loss. I know he can and will be better. The larger problem here is the line combos.

You spelled freaking wrong And honestly, right now I would say it is more of Babcock's fault than Kenny's. Kenny did all he could... if Parise did not want to sign here, he did not want to sign here. Fact is, tonight we would have had a much better chance to win the game had ABDELKATOR not been on Pavel's wing AGAIN!!! Babcock uses the same lines that do not produce. If that does not change, he needs to go.

Yes the last dozen games. Look at the stats and see what Pavs, Hank, Brunner have been doing. ANy during that stretch, Babcock has refused to change lines. Why not pput Pavel with Brunner? IS it that hard of a concept?

Well it is upsetting that the Wings lost this game because they played with intensity, but made dumb errors. But the loss highlights more than that. Ever since that Vancouver game, the Wings have had trouble scoring more than two goals in a game, and virtually none of the big guys have been scoring. What has Mike Babcock done in this time? Only kept the top two lines pretty much the same. Hank/ Brunner is not working anymore! Franzen and Abdelkator are doing nothing with Pavel! But Babcock continues to keep his lines. In my opinion, if Babcock continues to stick with these same lines, when they are CLEARLY not working, then he should be fired. It is ridiculous. I don't care how successful he is as a coach, he is not doing his job right now by keeping these lines when they clearly have not been working the past dozen games.

At this rate I would be happy with just someone with a combination of skill and will. Cleary had will but no skill and Franzen has skill but no will. Lol.

Another good period by the Wings and that 2nd powerplay unit was great at moving the puck, but also getting shots to the net. The first unit should take notes. Also, I think it is time the Brunner/ Zetterberg experiment comes to an end. Yes they played overseas during the lockout and had chemistry, and had chemistry earlier in this young season, but lately they have been getting nothing done together. More than that, Brunner looks like he is just trying to do too much and Hank has been making some off passes. A simple mix of the lines is the solution here. Filpulla- Datsyuk- Brunner Nyqust- Zetterberg- Franzen Fil and Pavel are the 2 best forwards out there tonight and both guys can get Brunner set up for shots and allow Brunner to simplify his game. I have always believed that Franzen plays better with Hank and Nyquist would add some nice speed to the line. I really wish Babcock would consider this.

And yes, Brunner on the point is NOT working. Babcock needs to give up with that approach now. Let him set up down low and play Kronners and Smitty on the point.

Their 2nd goal was a complete fluke. Bad bounces like that have been happening to Detroit a lot lately, not to mention the Wings also hit a post very early on which is a bad bounce... it seems lately all the good bounces go to the other team... but based on how the Wings played the 1st there is no doubt that they do not deserve to be down a goal right now and if they continue to play like this, they will win the game.

Absolute luck on the Flames part that they are ahead in this game... the Wings are dominating play thus far. I think it is time Babcock takes a more balanced approach with the powerplay units because having all the studs on the top unit is not working anyways. PP1: Brunner- Datsyuk- Franzen (Franzen can be the net guy and Brunner can set up for the shot) Filpulla- Zetterberg- Nyquist (Good puck movers and two guys that can get Zetterberg the puck. Fact is, when he is with Pavel on the top PP unit, he does not shoot as much. This unit will get Hank shooting more.)

I met Nick Lidstrom 2 years ago at the arena in my town because his son way playing an exhibition game there during the summer. So I sat down and talked to him for a while and I asked him about what position his sons play. He said that 3 out of 4 sons play forward and none of them are at the age where they want to be committed to defense yet. So, from that I gather his 3 other sons are quite younger than the 18 year old Keven. Having said that, he basically said he has no expectations of his sons in hockey, and just wants to see them have fun and become their own player. That would be extremely hard to do if they came to Detroit with these Detroit fans... if they didn't perform like Nick, half the fans would be all over them instantly.

You sir do not know what you are talking about. Kronwall not leading the D core? He is 3rd in scoring in the league!

Notice how Datsyuk and Zetterberg have a great shift once they are finally put together?! That could turn out to be the turning point of the game if the Wings manage to score on this powerplay chance. IF they do not score, changes need to be made no doubt.

It is no coincidence that Pavel was playing great hockey UNTIL babcock gave him crappy linemates. This team cannot get any pressure going against COLUMBUS!!! If that is not a sign to load up a top line I don't know what is. I would not mind Tom Renney as a coach if Babcock continues to be this hard headed.

I cannot believe Babcock continues to refuse to play Pavs with Hank. Hank looks completely off of his game ever since that Vancouver game and, to top that, he has 1 goal in the past 17 games. How to fix that? I dunno maybe put him with the best playmaker on the team. If we lost both games this weekend a lot of blame needs to go to Babcock because this is ridiculous.

Any word on if Babs has taken his head out of his rear end and changing up the lines to start today's game? I better turn on the game and see #13 and #40 on the same line and not with #8.

For tomorrow's game I will be extremely pissed if we don't see: - White in the line-up for either Kindl or Lashoff - Datsyuk and Zetterberg playing on different lines... they need to play together to get some energy going and some goal scoring done for the Wings. The stats alone show that the big guys need a change in lines because they have not been scoring. - Some sort of changes to the Powerplay units

Great job by Babcock to wait until we are down 3-0 near the end of the 2nd period to finally change the lines. This game is a joke and it illustrates so many things that we have been overlooking despite winning lately. - Our powerplay is GOD AWFUL and no changes have been made! Time to stop scratching White and bring him back in for either Kindl or Lashoff and use him on the powerplay. He has a good right handed shot from the point and quite frankly I am tired of using a forward on the point it has not worked at all. The powerplay units need to be split up because it just is not working, very much like the top 2 lines. - I would like to see Nyquist be called up to play with Pavel tomorrow. A Nysuist with Datsyuk and Franzen would be a nice line that could get some stuff done.

It is a shame because he has done a masterful job with the Defense but he has handled the top 2 lines horribly lately imo. Once Fil gets back he will have more options, but playing COLUMBUS he should see the opportunity to play pavs and hank together to produce some much needed goals. I mean you can visually see that Pavel looks extremely frustrated with his line so there better be a change in this game

I would love to know what it is going to take for Babcock to switch up the top 2 lines. For Christ's sake they were getting nothing done that period and, frankly, have not done much since that win against Vancouver. I know Babs is a world class coach, so as a world class coach he should know when to change up the lines... and that time is clearly now! We are playing Columbus which means we can load up Pavs and Hank on the top line and get away with it this weekend until Fil comes back. I think it would be smart to do: Brunner- Datsyuk- Zetterberg (I think Hank has been below average lately, making silly passes and just trying to do too much. Pavel looks frustrated playing with pylons, so this would be the perfect time to reunite them with Brunner). Cleary- Franzen- Abdelkator (They won't score goals but they can at least compete with the Bluejackets 2nd line).

This is just a dumb rule and is another reason why the modern game of hockey pails in comparison to hockey back in the day, just 10 years ago for example. There is no reason for this rule other than to try to let the officials control more of the game.

There is no doubt that Mike Babcock has done a masterful job with this team this season. Losing Nick Lidstrom and Brad Stuart (And rafi the year before) is a HUGE loss. To top that off, the Red Wings have had over 110 man games lost due to injuries, which is UNREAL! Yet, Babcock has not only kept the Wings in the playoff picture, but they are a couple points out of 4th place! In doing so, he has sort of reformed the way the Red Wings play this season, and it is very evident these past few games. The defense are getting far better at moving the puck, there is more shot blocking than ever. There is no doubt that Mike Babcock is doing a damn good job despite losing key players in the offseason and the many we have lost due to injury. Now, in saying that, he needs to give up on playing Cleary and Abdelkator with Pavel Datsyuk. It isn't working. Not only are they not scoring goals, but they are making stupid plays to give the puck away after Pavs works hard to get possession of it. Given Fil and Bert not playing, I can live with 1 of Cleary and Abdelkator playing with Pavs, but not both! While Hank has Brunner AND Franzen (tho lazy) playing with him, Pavel has NO ONE playing with him. With that said, I would expect Fil to be back either Tuesday or Thursday, which will help a lot. But until then, Tatar needs to play with Pavel.

Don't like this move by Babcock at all. To me it is poor coaching. White has not been the worst Dman on this team and has played a solid game (not great) but solid nonetheless. The fact is Quincy played awful earlier in the season but Babs played him. Clearly played awful for practically the entire season until recently, but Babs kept playing him. How does Babcock justify benching a guy that has played better than the 2 before mentioned names? To me that is silly and inconsistent coaching. On a positive note, nice to have Smith back!

Good for Kronners and good for the Red Wings. The best part is, he had a rough start and is just getting going lately. I have noticed better passes, but the biggest thing I have noticed is his confidence. He is standing guys up at the blue line, forcing them to go offside, he is shooting the puck a LOT more from the point, keeping more plays alive, and as others have mentioned, is coming into his own as the number 1 dman on this team. Keep it up Kronners!

I think it would help to challenge on goalie interference calls. How many times have the Wings been given those BS goalie interference calls where a goal is called off? Take a look at this video and how we were ROBBED from going to overtime. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qTMC7B8Js There are other examples as well, but I think coaches having an ability to challenge calls such as this would be HUGE.

We can whatever we want about Abs and Cleary playing with Pavel, but the fact is they have been our best line because Pavel is playing unreal. When all of these injuries mounted, Pavel raised his game to another level and despite having linemates who are not up to his standard, continues to make stuff happen. Hank's line has been invisible though, which is not acceptable given the fact that Hank has 2 far better players playing with him than Pavel does. Also, Howard continues to impress, and our bottom 6 is looking good.