dat's sick

Cleary got hold of it and gave it away.

The defense was mainly good because of Abdelkader and Cleary. The way they create space for the d-men is truly a joy to watch. Hope Babcock starts double-shifting them, with the legs and hearts they have 30-35 minutes per game shouldn't be a problem.

Apparently O'Reilly would have had to pass through waivers before joining the Flames. So this was basically the dumbest move ever by a GM.

Don't think Avs will match. High price for someone who doesn't want to play for you. Bad deal for everyone involved. Avs lose a promising kid, Flames risk massive overpayment if he doesn't reach potential quickly, O'Reilly goes to a dead-end team.

We would have won 1- or 2-0 if not for the last 5-on-3. It was a really solid road game, Kings didn't have many good chances all game. They got a lucky PP goal that deflated the Wings a bit. We could have scored more, and we almost did on our good PPs, and for example a post by Franzen, but with this kind of effort we will win a lot of games imo. Just bad luck mainly in terms of officiating led to this loss.

That's normal for Hudler. Lights the world on fire a couple of games, then he diseappears completely. That's one of the reasons Brunner atleast so far is looking like a vast improvement, he's less streaky.

Brunner looked really solid defensively against the Kings imo. You can definitely see he's starting to figure out defensive zone coverage and such.

Correlation =! causation. He was solid on d and scored a goal. This was one of our better games this year, maybe that was because of Quincey?

Please give Datsyuk someone to work with on his line. At this rate he will leave for Russia next week. I would. Hard-fought game against LA last night, I wonder if we have the legs to compete tonight. Both the Kings and Sharks are teams we struggle a lot against, but we should have won yesterday so I hope we can see a similar effort against SJ.

Damn, just finished watching the game. Had a bad feeling we would end up losing in regulation. When the 2nd 5-on-3 happened I could predict exactly what would happen. Sucks. Good thing is that was a great game by the Wings. Best road effort so far, maybe best overall defensive effort apart from an unlucky breakdown on the 2nd goal. Sometimes you lose games where you deserve to win, but if we keep playing like that we'll be winning more games than not. Our PP also looked very, very good and I'm pretty sure we would have scored had we gotten another chance or two. Which we probably should have gotten, there were atleast 2-3 easily called but missed penalties against the Kings in the 3rd. Can't argue too much about the penalties that the Wings got called for though. The faceoff violation rule is horribly stupid, but blame the league for that. Against the Sharks I'm going to be a little upset if Babcock doesn't move Franzen (or Brunner) to Datsyuk's line. Feels bad to continually watch the most skilled player in the league play with two of the least skilled..

As bad as Cleary has been this season, the last couple of games he's really done great work in front of the net. Screening the goalie, getting deflections etc. Putting Brunner closer to the net and Z on the point also makes sense. I hope we can get the PP going on the road as well, we really need all the help we can get on the road.

6 points in the last 2 games. I hope it's a turning point for him.

Vanek actually leads the league in scoring at 26 points. Z is tied at 2nd though. Pretty nice. Crazy game through 2 periods. Can we hold on the this lead? Have a feeling we're going to see the Nucks pressuring a lot.

Nice hand-eye by Datsyuk but obvious high-sticking and no goal. Lots of action in this game. Crazy game.

Damn definitely way too quick whistle there. Easy mistake to make though I guess. Get one on the PP to nullify the bad call.

Looks like Babcock is being outchoached so far. Not getting good matchups. Sedins out against our 4th line for example. Terribad turnover by Abdelkader on the last goal. That could be a backbreaker in a back-to-back game, hope they can fight back despite tired legs. Feels bad that we have to play Howard so much. He really needs an extended time off, but can we throw in Mrazek for more than 1 game at a time? Doubt Babcock will want to. Good thing is Vancouver's defense is not looking too solid either, and Luongo hasn't been great. I'd be happy with a point, but I'm fearing the Nucks could run away with this...

He's been okay. Nice tip for the goal. But it's not like he has set the world on fire. He's ben exceptionally bad this season so he needs many more decent games before I think he has a place in the top 6. There would be a lot less Cleary 'hate' if he didn't get 20 minutes of icetime on Datsyuk's wing even when struggling badly.

Kronner tearing it up offensively atleast!

Not too much going on in this game. Would be nice to close the game with a PP goal. Tatar keeps proving that he needs to stay in the lineup.

If the best thing you can say about a player is that he's not doing awful things, it's not a good sign. My main problem with Abdelkader and Cleary with Datsyuk is that it's so, so obvious neither of them understands how to play with him. They're never ready for the give-and-go passes, they're always a step behind from getting to the open areas, and obviously neither of them can score on the chances he gives them. Datsyuk is creating magic out there, but it's wasted on 2 guys who think hockey on a much lower level. Tatar looks on fire, he's everwhere winning pucks and making good plays. He's got good hands around the net, as well as the vision to make good passes. Having him on the 3rd line does give us some more scoring depth, but the reasonable thing to do would be to switch him with either Cleary or Abby. Frustrating... And Zetterberg's line is looking weak. A lot of time spent defensively.

3 goal lead???? What is this devilry!?!?! Great shift by Datsyuk. Weird shot by Kronner but I'll take it.

Add "Cleary fails" and you have the recipe for alcohol poisoning.

Why can't we ever play GOOD after getting the lead??? Just keep going, score more goals... Kronwall looks bad, Zetterberg seems to be struggling a bit, Datsyuk just seems tired of playing with Bad and Useless.. I really hope we can pull out a win.

Those Selkes, Byngs and Cups would help him get in. As would his reputation as being one of the most unique players of all time. Definitely think he'd get in even if he leaves after next year. Point totals aren't everything.

I like his speed and the potential is there, but I'm really not sure he'll ever become a good NHL player. He simply hasn't been strong enough on the puck from what I've seen. He's gotten some chances but never impressed. Doubt he'll clear waivers but I don't think anyone would have traded anything more than say, a conditional 7th for him. Wonder if an injured team like Ottawa will take a chance on him.