wings_fanatic

Some of you are ridiculous! Just last game everyone on here was loving the Wings and a loss, regardless of to who, those same some of you are calling for babs to be fired or Franzen to be traded. I wish our fellow fans were not so Two-faced! Anwyays, I feared this would happen back on Monday. The Wings embarassed the Jackets in every single aspect. I feared first of all the Wings would come into tonight with their focus on Friday's game against the Preds and to add to that danger, I knew the Jackets would play strong to regain some of their pride. Disappointing loss for sure, but at least it will motivate the Wings to be ready for Friday at home. Some thoughts on the game: - Nick was outstanding and by far our only consistent player tonight. - I thought Kronners and Stu had a lousy night for their standards... giving pucks away, falling down, backing up too much. - Franzen was terrible, as many of you pointed out, but the difference is I knew he would not be good because he has missed games. He is not going to come back and magically just get going... he fought the puck at times tonight, mis-read plays. As expected, it will probably take him another game to get into form. - With that said, I never have liked him playing with Pasha because he is just too freakin slow. Pasha has very little to work with and it showed tonight. While Hank and Fil have been good together, I think Pavs needs a better line to work with in the playoffs or we are doomed. Nyquist- Datsyuk- Bertuzzi (Nyquist has speed, finish and actually tries every shift and this line looked good!) Filpulla- Zetterberg- Franzen (I think Fil and Hank have been great and Franzen could become the big guy on that line that has been missing, and can score more ggoals than Hudler) Miller- Abdelkator- Hudler (I think this is a solid 3rd line until Helm is back, and the addition of Hudler makes them 10 times better offensively without Cleary) Cleary- Emmerton- Homer (decent 4th line... addition of Cleary makes more defensive line which is good) - All in all, I think these would be the best lines to try for now as it provides the most team balance. If these lines do not work then I would suggest the Eurotwins to be reunited. - Lastly, I think Babs was great tonight by not talking to the team. A coach blabbing does not work all the time and he is aware of that. By not talking he sent an even stronger message to the team and they knew that he was disgusted with that performance. Coaches have to pick their battles, and that is why Babs is the best coach in the world and that is why guys like Nick Lidstrom by into him and listen to what he says. Anyone that thinks Babs was dumb for not talking tonight does not truly understand the world of hockey. - On a final note, Conks was NOT the reason for the loss tonight, but he just does not look confident in net. IMO a rusty Jimmy will be just as good against the Preds and with limited time left to get him in game form, might as well play him Friday.

These 2 games against Columbus are a perfect opportunity for Babcock to get the team powerplay going finally. That is one of the key things I am going to take away from these 2 games. GO WINGS!

I think Wings fans argue with one another just as much as fans of other teams. I find that laughable because we have experienced more success in the past 20 years than any other franchise in the world, and in this case the NHL. 4 Stanley Cups, multiple President trophies, multiple division titles, many long playoff runs. Not to mention all the greats that we have been BLESSED to watch in a Red Wings uniform... Stevie Y, Shanny, Federov, Hull, Chelios, The Dominator, Ozzie, Grind Line, Russian 5, Zetterberg, Datsyuk... and through it all... NICK LIDSTROM. These guys have been our team, and even through significant changes over the years, the team we cheer for still remains one of the elite in the NHL and every year come out of the gate and make their way to the playoffs. Ask any team in the league which team they would NOT want to face in the playoffs and I am willing to bet lots of money that a majority of them would pick the Wings. Fact of the matter is we are blessed to be cheering for such a great team and organization that is so committed to winning and so committed to its fans. Yet, some of you see fit to debunk them anytime something goes wrong. Then as soon as things are back to normal, you are back to cheering them on claiming them to the best there is in hockey. Get a grip and support your freakin team and stop arguing with one another.

I am pretty sure that last night was a DTE energy savings night, which I think means they don't play the goal horn in as long of a sequence as usual.

Well this has been one interesting game. I still think that call on Nick was quite lame and ultimately it led to 2 goals against us (also our s***ty PK). Having said that I love that the Wings did not give up and have been so determined all night. Not that I am blaming Conks, but if Howie was in net tonight I don't think we would be losing right now. Having said that the Wings need to come out and DOMINATE from the 1st shift and on in the 3rd because we CANNOT allow another early goal against us... also I think the refs owe us a call for that lame call on Nick. Here is to hoping the Wings come back and win!

Haha yah headlines tomorrow will read... "The offensively challenged Red Wings find way against Canes scoring 20 unanswered goals winning the game by a score of 20-1, led by returning Captain Nicklas Lidstrom." That would be nice. In all seriousness, just playing well and getting a WIN will do it for me

I swear to god the Wings are cursed. We have been hitting so many stinkin posts lately and missing open nets it is not even funny. Then, opposing teams get lucky goals against us like their goal tonight. Having said that, the Wings were by far the better team that period and if they continue to play with this tempo they will win this game. Their powerplay already looked 10 times better with Nick back on it... he took a couple good shots and made some really nice passes along the point that gave the PP many more options then the past month.

The curse of Quincy again lol... all jokes aside they have a rly bad record since getting him haha.

As much as I like Smith- - I REALLY do- - I will be thrilled to have the greatest Defenceman of all time back in the line-up tonight. If Nick declared himself a game-time decision saying he wanted to test it twice to be sure, then you have to assume he felt good on it this morning and just wants to make sure he gets the same result later tonight before the game. I think that leans more to him playing tonight then not playing. Here is to hoping #5 is back tonight and the Wings get rolling. GO WINGS!

well good old politics should not prevent kids from getting on ice training from the best freakin hockey player in the world, Pavel Datsyuk... that is just so stupid. I would send my kid there not caring because I bet pasha would set something up to get my kid in another league.

Lidstrom is not FOR SURE playing Saturday, but all signs point he will. He has been skating hard, has hard 2 or 3 good full practices with the team and looked good in the process. Even Babcock seems like he is confident that Nick will be back Saturday. The report that came out today about Janik ssaid that we won't know for SURE until after tomorrow's practice for as to whether or not Nick will play, but all signs point to yes. Hope that helps.

I cant believe coaches in Russia would blackmail parents so that their kids CANT go to Pavel Datsyuk's came!!! Crazy damn communists!! haha

This is a professional business. Babcock's team is on a 6 game losing streak. Consider a million dollar business owner that is highly known to the public and business starts to go downhill. If he is interviewed about it, he probably won't be as professional as he would be if things were going good because its a business. This is no different here. Babs has a right to be pissed off, between the losing streak and seemingly ever day he has to deal with a new injury to his team... its going to affect your mood. To top that, I like that he is showing emotion. I like that he is ticked off with the way his team is playing, and it showed from Pierre's dumb interview. IMO, as long as coaches don't go off on the interviewer, they should be able to answer questions however they want during or after a game.

Absolutely not. I think that coaches should not even have to be interviewed before, during or after games. To top that, Pierre asks the DUMBEST questions ever and after losing their 6th straight game, do you really think Babs wanted to sit there and answer dumb questions by Pierre? I do not blame Babs at all and neither should you.

Haha completely agree with you. Most my friends are Leafs fans or Habs fans and all they do is complain that us Wings fans are bandwagons. It saddens me to say that yes there are a lot of bandwagon Wings fans who LOVE them while they are playing good, but if they have a bad game, are put on the Americans most wanted list on these forums. Take Zetterberg as a prime example. Earlier in the season, everyone was BASHING him nonstop... past his prime, worthless and there were even threads made suggesting to TRADE HIM! Now that he has found his game, those SAME "fans" are praising him and love him again. Then there are those fans that supported Hank all along and knew he would find his game. We as fans need to come together to support our team through Great times AND BAD TIMES... that is what fans do. Mark my words, Nick will be back Saturday and the Wings will get back to business on the winning side.

Well your an idiot for bashing Pavs and clearly you know nothing about hockey! IT TAKES 4-5 games for a player to get back into form after injuries... anyone that pays attention to hockey knows that. To top that, at least Pavs was out there trying and created some chances. HE has a reason to be a little slow and rusty tonight and I have no doubt in my mind that after a couple more games he will be at the top of his game. Players that did not have an excuse to be terrible tonight were Cleary, Hudler and I thought Stu was slow too. I have noticed Stu and Kronners have been slow at several points since taking over the top pairing... a clear difference between them and #5.

Guys you dont get it... it isn't that the Wings brought Pavs back too early... he is fully recovered... the problem is that it takes 4-5 games for a returning player to get into game form. Sitting him wont help at all... he needs to play so that he can get his legs going where they should be along with his confidence. Having said that, it would help if Babs would give him some SUPPORT.

With injuries players usually come back and have a pretty good first game just because of momentum but then usually have slow games for 2 to 3 games after that... so no surprise that Pasha seemed a bit slow tonight. It did not help that Babcock has put CLEARY or HUDLER with him though as they are both slow and cant follow a play up if they wanted to. Hudler had a terrible game tonight and had no reason to do so whereas Pavs can because he is still getting into game form. Having said that, this was a fantastic game to watch from a fan of hockey standpoint... 2 great teams battling it out, both goalies making timely saves, strong defense and the refs let both teams play. I am very confident to say that this was the last game we will havta watch without Nick and I will be extremely surprised if he does not play Saturday night at home. We played very well tonight, for the most part, considering our lineup and I am willing to bet they start a nice winning streak beginning Saturday with the return of the Great Number 5.

Hudler has been TERRIBLE this game. Frick he can't tell what Pavs wanted to do at all! He isnt even watching the puck! I love the Zetterberg line, but I want to see some change to the Pasha line. I think Bert has been good tonight and since Hudler is playing like crap how about trying Miller up there with pavs and Bert? Miller works hard, can score some goals and has deserved some bigger minutes imo.

I cant wait for Nick to be back... the team is playing better tonight but it seems like there are times where they "rush" to get the puck and and in doing so make a bad turnover... that does not happen with Nick. Other than the 4 or so giveaways I thought the Wings had a good period. As for the PK, Kronners simply has to be better than that... he is too good of a dman to let Richards by so easily. having said that, why the hell was Stuart up so high?? Frickin Pasha was back more than him... really it was Stuart being so high that led to the goal... PK has to be better than that... agaain Nick will fix that.

This may sound dumb, but at this rate I think I want the Wings to lose so that we drop down to 6th to play Dallas in the 1st round. I know we shouldn't pick our poison but if we get 6th and play Dallas it could be a HUGE benefit to us. Blues (1) vs. Sharks (8) Canucks (2) vs. Kings (7) Stars (3) vs. Wings (6) Preds (4) vs. Hawks (5) Not only would it be a befefit for us in the 1st round, but we would not have to play the Sharks in the 2nd round either which would be HUGE. Regardless, I will be surprised if the Wings don't win tonight... I bet Pasha has a really strong game for us.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Mark-Spizzirri/Howard-injures-groin-againPANIC-IN-HOCKEYTOWN/77/43218 From what I understand, he does not need to clear re-entry waivers because it is emergency based... the Red Wings need to have 2 goalies up. So Conks will be starting tomorrow.

umm its conks against lunquist... and the rangers have been struggling lately too... and that is without the injuries that we have been dealing with. We play well against the Rangers and I am willing to bet the Wings start a winning streak tomorrow night in NY.

I think babcock should experiment with this for 2 games and if it works then great.. if not then switch it up... at this rate we have nothing to lose. Simply put, if it works than babs will look like a genius and all the fans whining about Babs, and Kenny, and so on will forget about this skid by the end of the season. But I say 2 games because they have to get used to each other again... and from the times that they have been together this season, there have been times where you could see the chemistry (Hank pass to Pavs against the Preds).

One thing about Homer is that he is on the 4th line, which is not a good 4th line to begin with. After thinking about it last night, I think Homer would still be effective playing on the top line with Pavs and Hank. On the 4th line he has to skate a lot more and try to play plays with the puck a lot more... that is not his game at all. Playing with Pavs and Hank on the top line would allow him to play his game... which is retrieving pucks (he is still very good at this) and pass it right off to Pavs or Z and then go to the front of the net... that is his game and he is still good at that. Overall I just feel that Babcock is not using his players properly enough this year... usually he is a lot better at making line decisions but not this year. The 4th line is bad because Homer is on it and Homer is bad because he is on the 4th line. There is no reason that, the lines should look like this: Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Homer Franzen- Filpulla- Hudler/ Bertuzzi Miller- Abdelkaor- Hudler/ Bertuzzi Cleray- Emmerton- Mursak I think the top 2 lines would be able to both produce and control play, the 3rd line would be able to do hard work and chip in some offence, and the small addition to Cleary on the 4th line makes it a little more defensively responsible. I feel that these lines would provide the best chance for the Wings.