dat's sick

Probably our best overall d-man today actually. OEL and Karlsson were both quite bad defensively at times, and Oduya/Hjalmarsson had some disaster shifts and showed their lack of offensive talent. Nyquist was great. I would not be surprised to see him moved up to Z's line eventually. Overall Swedes had an okay first game. Glad they didn't get too much of a free ride, they needed a test to see what they need to work on.

Landeskog-Z-Steen has potential to be an amazing line. The kind of line that could potentially kill a group like Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin. But I'm worried about Sedin-Backstrom-Eriksson. They all need to find their game, or we're in trouble. Defense could also be an issue if Kronwall and Ericsson don't improve on their play. At this point I'm happy with a medal for Sweden, I think we're at most the 4th best team on paper. Lundqvist needs to be amazing.

We have twice the shots they have but I have no idea how. Seems like we're stuck on defense non-stop. Defense not able to move the puck at all tonight.

Smith was aiming for that leg.

Double the powerplay, double the fail.

Goals are like anti-momentum for us. We are always at our absolute worst the shift after a goal. Of course, some of that is on Babcock. He should have gone with the kids or Dats line after the goal, not the 4th line and Quincey.

The ice looks bad. Or it has to be. We are really struggling to make a clean pass.

Kind of a terrible play on the blueline by Dekeyser. I like the kid but he's not ready to be on the PP imo. We looked alright in the period overall. A bit low on energy, but we could have scored a few if everyone didn't have stonehands around the net and Thomas didn't think every game against us is a Game 7. Pav looked good, should have had 2 assists already. He isn't skating very hard but whether that's a sign he's hurting or just not quite having his legs is anyone's guess.

Z has been godly all year when healthy. Imo he's basically been his playoff style self all year, he probably knows this team is a Zetterberg away from being out of the playoff picture.

Definitely a tough one for him. You could tell he was heartbroken when he was injured but he seemed much closer to actually making it back in time than I ever thought he would be. I was looking forward to seeing him in the Olympics but he shouldn't risk his health. Marty St Louis replacing him maybe?

Glendening made an absolutely SICK defensive play on Edler on the PK last game. And overall he's been solid, I think he brings a little more than Eaves. Even if Patty has that great shot he uses once per season and might score in the shootout with. Though if Andy's gonna be on the 4th line he may as well play in the middle. He's better on faceoffs than Luke.

Dats is still not confirmed, but should play unless he has a setback. Andersson feels most expendable at this point. He's not valuable at all playing winger. I guess you could send down Glendening and move Andy to 4th line C, with Datsyuk centering Alfie and Helm. Doubt they break up the kid line until they're absolutely forced to.

Z looked so good last night. 9 times out of 10 when he ends up missing time he's been visibly hurting in the previous game. Going to be great to have Pav back, I've almost forgotten how this team looks with both Z and Pav. I hope they go with 1 of 2 options, either have Pav centering Helm and Alfie (with Andy scratched or moved to 4th line C) or insert Pav with Z and Gus and move Abby to Helm's line. Don't touch the Kid line, don't break up Z and Nyquist.

Two kids and a kid Not the answer Line I've got nothing!

Yeah, Lashoff needs to play. He may actually be our least mistake-prone d-man. And we need that, someone who doesn't mess up. Right now I think Kindl and Smith should be alternating pretty much. I like Smith better because he can provide offense, but he may need the occasional sit down to clear his head after he's had a braindead game like against Washington.

This team is 1000x more fun to watch now than it was a few months ago. Jurco, Sheahan, Tatar... I LOVE this line. It's seriously off-the-charts incredible and you can tell Babock loves it too. 15-16 minutes for those guys. And while Nyquist had about 10 great scoring chances that he didn't convert on, the top line is also fantastic. Zetterberg may be playing some of the best hockey in his career, he looks inspired. Ottawa and Jersey lost, though they picked up points. Anyway it's too soon to worry about other teams. If we take care of business in our games we will be fine. Would be great if we could go into the Olympic break with a winning streak and a playoff spot.

Awesome. For once a struggling team doesn't have a bounce-back game against us. Nucks really are in bad shape, they looked completely anemic offensively. Still, a much more solid effort defensively than last night, and goaltending did what it needed. We had a pretty good game offensively too, but lacked some focus. Tatar could have sealed it, Nyquist had chances, Eaves etc. But I love the look of this team up front. Sheahan line is the most fun line we've had in ages, Helm's line is good and Zetterberg-Nyquist-Abby are on fire.

For once, the bitching about the officiating is 100% warranted. Nucks have committed at least 3-4 clear penalties. At least our PK is getting the job done. But I'd say the Nucks are going to score if they 1 or 2 more chances, which they will. We need to keep it 110% clean and score 5-on-5 because we're not going to get many man-advantages ourselves tonight.

Pretty 'meh' period. Feels like one of those games where not much will happen 5-on-5. We need some PPs. There's a reason we're stuck on defense so much when Q is out there. He can't start a clean breakout to save his life. Even when he has an easy out he often tries something way over his skill level, or suddenly decides to make the 'easy' play and shoot it off the glass and out instead of making a pass. I do agree he has improved a little bit, but he's still infuriating to watch because nothing good ever happens when he's on the ice.

That's terribly wrong. Quincey manages to make bad decision with the puck 9 times out of 10. Very, very rarely does he contribute to anything constructive. His passes are bad, his shots are bad, his positioning is bad. Lately he's not been making as many game-breaking mistakes but that doesn't mean he's been solid.

Don't do that ever again. Ever.

Nyquist was just announced as Franzen's replacement on Team Sweden.

He returns this game. Doesn't sound like Datsyuk is very likely to play any games before the Olympics..

Helm doesn't look up to speed at all. Olympic break will be good for him I think. Hopefully he can practice hard and work on his conditioning, right now he looks dead-tired everytime he's been on the ice 30+ seconds. Still makes quite a lot of good things happen but isn't on the level of where he's normally at.

After that 1st period no one can be angry/upset/disappointed with 1 point. The young guns on this team are what keeps me watching, well them and Z and D (when he plays). Beyond that... we're hurting. Howard is clearly not past his struggles, and all our d-men are struggling pretty much. Lashoff needs to play, which is something I thought I'd never say. That Nyquist. That Tatar. Hell, That Jurco and Sheahan. Beasts.