dat's sick

It will take a lot to get him back into the lineup though even if we're stuck with the contract.

Actually it might. He could be playing through injuries and some time off could make him closer to 100% when he returns. It also could be beneficial for him to get a mental breather and a fresh start. I really hope we see a different Weiss upon his return, otherwise he's probably a lost cause.

It sucks that we can't play a game without someone getting injured, but hey it's going to be great to see how Jurco does and maybe if he scores 2+ goals Holland will move out some dead weight to keep him up. Anyone else think Sammy may have played his last game for us?

Injured? Love this show, not sure what you guys were expecting. Tatar reading the lineup was hilarious. Phaneuf is like the villainous boyfriend of the dorky guy's love interest in a rom-com. In the end I think Kessel gets Elisha. Babcock behind the scenes is great. "I thought the league wanted MORE goals!". Also this should probably clear up that he's not to blame (too much) for the team sitting back on leads. I only hope they waste less time in coming episodes on slow-motion montages set to (admittedly great) emotionally evocative music. I want a bit more lockerroom stuff and seeing what the guys do outside the rink, great moment with Helmer & Co. out at dinner.

Look, a wild sensible post appeared!

Bad puck luck on 3 goals. Only the 3rd was on Monster as well as he let it leak through, but he had nothing to do the whole period so was probably cold. We really need to start fixing our PP. We had some good puck movement but get very few quality chances. This could easily have turned in our favor that period. Hope the guys fight back, aren't we due for a comeback at some point this season??

It wasn't.

All in all that's not the worst thing that could happen. It will give us a chance to see what Gus can really do as a starter without creating too much of a goalie controversy. Mrazek should get a start or two in that span as well. Howard will get a chance to clear his head a bit and hopefully comes back looking like the Howard from seasons past.

Yes most likely Gus will not be at this level all year, but he's not a bad goalie. He had a lot of personal and physical problems in Toronto on top of playing behind a poor team with tons of pressure. And it seems Allaire was completely wrong for him. I saw him in Sweden before he came over and I followed him closely in Toronto. This year he looks much more like the 'Monster' he was in Sweden than he's ever done before in the NHL. With Howard signed for many years to come and hopefully just in a slump and Mrazek coming from below I don't see Gus as a long-term solution, but it's not crazy to think he could be our starter this season/playoffs without it completely killing our chances.

Kindl and Sammy on the point is disgusting. Nyquist makes mostly good things with the puck but both him and Tatar have been guilty of trying too many difficult plays that get broken up. Cleary of course adds nothing and is great at giving the puck to someone who is covered by two guys. Definitely agree Smith needs to get a chance. He's got good instincts and I even think he could be good at carrying the puck into the offensive zone and establishing pressure. We also need Weiss to find his game so he can center that 2nd unit. Until then I think Helm should do it.

When Dekeyser returns it should mean Quincey sits. It has to. Kindl is having a bad season but isn't guilty of too many game-breaking mistakes. But he'll have to shape up or he's going to be out of here soon. Oullet could be ready next year.

Main problem with our PP is the wrong guys have the puck too much. Kindl and Samuelsson have it all the time on the 2nd unit. Kindl thinks he's Datsyuk sometimes. On the 1st unit Datsyuk should have the puck 90% of the time, but instead it often goes via Franzen to Bert and then the play is dead because Bert is a giveaway machine. There's also too heavy a focus on shots from the point, which simply doesn't work when we don't have Lids and Raffi back there. Alfie has a good shot but he should move in closer to the net. Move the puck down low more. Nyquist and Dats have enough skill to thread passes through there for great scoring chances.

Pav is the only one with a legit excuse. Every goalie expects a deke, he needs to shoot every now and then. He also was close to finding that small opening but just couldn't. Shame no one else even made a simple forehand-backhand move.

How does everyone go for the shot????? Wow. Huge goalie, get him moving a bit... Pretty unreal SO streak.

I hate Quincey. He literally makes the wrong decision everytime he has the puck in the offensive zone, fluke goal or no. He also has no feel for the game, in terms of when to do what. Last minute of play and a fragile 1-0 lead and he does that. Sigh. We had some great shifts before that and now TB can feed off that goal. Will be happy with a point in this one.

Bert is so slow it's almost comical. I've said it before, he's useless other than with Z+D or on the PP.

What the hell!?

He wasn't terrible tonight but then again I don't expect anything from him anymore so any little thing will make me think/hope I'm seeing progress. I feel bad for the guy. Even just a few simple 2nd assists would help make his stat-line look less pathetic but nothing is going offensively when he's on the ice. The fact he's not looking much better than Cleary or Samuelsson is downright scary.

No sane GM would take a chance on Weiss right now. So yes, the Isles would probably accept that trade.

How are people freaking out about this loss? Come on. We played a bad 3rd but we only lost because Howard is incapable of winning hockey games right now. Both goals were saves that Monster would have made. Then he basically allows 3 out of 3 in the SO (got lucky Huberdeu missed his attempt, he was lost). And we also had some bad luck with the s***ty GI call and some missed open nets and Kronwall's crossbar shot. It certainly was far from a game where we lost because the team is built the wrong way or the coaching was bad or anything.

This is going to be something, isn't it?

Toews and Sharp are at best the 4th and 5th most skilled in that group so...

Andersson has been useless anytime he's not playing with speedy wingers like Nyquist/Tatar. Bertuzzi has been useless anytime he hasn't played with Datsyuk+Z. Those two aren't going to grind anyone down because they'll be two-three steps behind everyone all the time.

I'm not convinced. Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Bert Franzen-Helm-Nyquist Alfredsson-Andersson-Tatar Miller-Weiss-Abdelkader If Weiss gets his head out of his bottom we could switch him and Helm and have a fantastic 4th line and still hopefully a working 2nd line. Not a huge fan of Bert but if he plays he needs both Z and D with him to be good.

I was half-joking, but that's the way things have gone for Howie lately. People wouldn't blame him for a game like this, 35 saves and we only scored 1 goal.