dat's sick

That play right there. Cleary. In. A. Nutshell. I feel really bad for Weiss. He has looked better and better even before the injury, and really good tonight. But what can you do with Sammy and Cleary on your wings? Babcock really has to give us either Nyquist-Helm-Tatar or Nyquist-Weiss-Tatar. Basically I just want Nyq and Tats together, they're so good.

Z has looked completely spent the last few games. To be fair the game yesterday was probably pretty draining. Unsurprisingly Alfie looks like one of the freshest guys.

It's a very big game imo. Gotta bounce back. And if I'm not mistaken if we win it'll be the first time all season that we end a 'losing streak' at 1 which we really need to be doing more. If we can play half as well as we did in the 1st period last night we should be fine against the Sabres. Gotta get some goals and of course goaltending. Assuming Monster's in tonight?

I liked how he actived from the blueline and took the puck down low, it was something we haven't seen a lot from our d-men in a long time. Not sure he would be anything special at forward, it could be an experiment I guess but if he can play like he did last night I like him at D. Really the only thing lacking last night was the finish. He had a great scoring chance in the slot and passed instead. It wasn't a terrible idea and Weiss probably should have been ready for it, but when Brendan gets the confidence to shoot in those situations he'll start getting some goals.

Anti-fighting crowd..lol. Hell Smith had a nice fight, what did it help? I just don't see how 1 tough guy in the lineup would have changed a thing. We'd be better with Tootoo/toughGuy#127 in the lineup over Sammy/Cleary but then what? We're still not gonna outmuscle certain teams. Our best bet is winning with skill and yes, our PP. Biggest problem last night was the Wings didn't keep their cool. They took penalties of their own. But we outplayed Ottawa, actually we absolutely dominated them in the 1st. It was a fluke win even if they did well to push the game to what they wanted it to be. We can't be all things at once like before the cap.

Not after this kind of hit. Who the hell even saw it the first time? Had Datsyuk stayed down after the Methot hit I'm fairly sure someone would have gone after him. Not Mccarty on Lemieux jumped him, but gotten up in his face atleast. Ericsson, Smith, Abdelkader, Miller, Bert(when in) can all challenge guys. Yeah we don't have a Kocur but who the hell does? Mccarty was also pretty unique. People freak out everytime we have a game where we look 'weak'. Worst part this time is that we are freaking out because we lost against Ottawa. A seriously awful team whose 1 great player is a soft as jelly smooth-skating SWEDISH d-man. But I guess some think Neil is their MVP.I'll be clear, I have nothing against having 1-2 tougher guys on the 4th line. Obviously having Sammy there is awful. Tootoo is the quick fix. But until the salary cap is lifted we're not gonna have several goons or the extremely rare skilled+tough guys as well as highly skilled players. We are what we are. We are far from perfect but becoming more skilled and better at beating teams with skill is a much, much more realistic scenario than trying to swing huge trades for big forwards and enforcers and etc.

If Ottawa is so big and bad why are they not even in a playoff spot? Let's be a little bit level headed: if our PP works okay in last night's game we win that game. We don't have to be able to outmuscle all teams, it's okay to be 'pushed around' as long as we actually win in the end. Last night the Wings lost their cool and also didn't execute on special teams. But they had every chance to win. Did Ottawa destroy Cooke after he took out Karlsson? Not really. These ain't the 90s anymore.

I doubt anyone on the ice or on the bench realized what happened in the moment. Would someone have gone after Cowen if they did? Maybe, maybe not. Either way some people need to stop living in the past.

They weren't on LTIR so I don't think it actually helps to have them out of the lineup. Gives an extra roster spot but without cash to call anyone up we can't use it anyway. So I say 'no' to that conspiracy.Sucks about Datsyuk. Hope it's just for one game. We should be able to beat Buffalo without him, but who knows with this team. Let's see: Franzen-Z-Alfie Tatar-Weiss-Nyquist

Weiss was really good in the 1st period. I'd like to see that line with someone other than Cleary. Didn't notice him much in the 2nd and 3rd, but then again he didn't seem to get much if any PP/PK time, easing him back I guess.

Yeah Howard needs to win games, somehow. He can't be blamed for that 5-on-3 goal but imo the 3 others were possible saves. Okay the Smith bounce was real unlucky but I just get the sense Howard isn't really on his toes, he's not active, he's not finding the puck. Whenever a rebound goes out he has to search for the puck and then moves, he takes too long to recover from one save to the next. He made a huge save when it was 3-2 which I thought was great, giving us a chance. Then he fails to close down the 5-hole in close right afterwards and it's all for nothing. Monster isn't a rock, but he's been getting wins. I say play him tomorrow and if we win, keep him in the net for a bit. This game was SOOOO winnable. Ottawa players got in the heads of the Wings players though and we failed to score on the multidue of chances we had, plus we couldn't get the saves from Howie. Just tiny things here and there and we lose again.

Some of my faith in Babs/Holland is starting to be restored. Seems they may actually be watching the same team we are.

Has Weiss ever played wing? Let's not make him learn a new position too. I'd rather see Mule moved back with Helm and Tatar as a 3rd line and Z-Weiss-Nyq as 2nd.

Do the Wings actually have to do a move right now to keep Gus up? I was under the impression they didn't have to. Weiss/Alfie are not on LTIR so their salary still counts, but do we get too many bodies if they both come back? If so could maybe Sammy be waived just to clear a spot, and if no one else is injured by the time Danny D comes back it's bye Cleary?

This is Hollywood movie stuff. Holland the villain.

Damn, gotta get shots on goal.. just shoot, shoot, shoot.

Nyquist looked great every shift. Hey maybe this guy can actually help us... !

Nyquist, nyquist Nyquist nyquistnyquist Nyquist. Nyquist nyquist? Nyquist. Nyquist-Nyquist Nyquist, Nyquist, Nyquist. Nyquist.

Damn, Holland sounded almost offended when the guy brought up Jurco. This is the most pressured Holland I've heard. "NOW HOLD ON JUST A MINUTE". LOL. Guess a youth movement is out of the question. I liked that he took some blame and admitted things aren't good. He didn't defend Cleary in any way so I'm starting to think Danny boy is on the ropes, could he be sacrificed for the sake of Nyquist? Please.

I hope the crowd gives him a standing ovation. And that he scores 6 goals. In the darkest moment of the season, this news is exactly what we need. Now don't do nothing silly like call him up for one game then send him down again!

Gonna be a tough 3-6 weeks. Very sad for him if he misses the Winter Classic.

Disagreed. We don't have enough finesse and skill. Babcock's style works best when he's working with skilled players. Because he gets them to work hard and play defense. Right now we might do better with a coach that lets offensive guys focus on offense, but I'd rather see more skilled and speedy players inserted into the lineup. The reason I have a hard time blaming Babcock is because he's still getting the most out of many guys: Z, D, Bert, Alfie, Kronner, Dekeyser, E, Helm, Abby. What coach can make Cleary, Sammy, Andersson, Quincey and Kindl into good players? Babcock needs certain types of players. Right now we have too few guys that can handle his system. Of course we could change the coach, but I'd rather change a few players before parting with a coach that 29 other teams would be interested in.

Pathetic effort by everyone not named Datsyuk and maybe Zetterberg. And we lost Dekeyser for who knows how long. Man it's tough watching this team right now. I have zero confidence they'll pull off even the easiest plays.

Maybe losing Dekeyser is what tips us over the edge in the wrong direction, making us lose games in regulation instead.

Glad everyone's starting to realize Andersson is a big nothing. Though he can do okay when he's got 2 skilled players (like Brunner and Nyquist) on his wings, I think it's pretty telling when a guy is completely invisible and unable to make an impact 'on his own' so to speak. Time to move on from him to either Sheahan or (my preference) Jarnkrok.