dat's sick

I think he has been very, very good considering he's been away for such a long time. Most of the time you don't notice him out there, and that's a good thing. He keeps it simple and doesn't pinch in time and again like certain other players. Ericsson should take a long hard look at the way Lilja plays.

Huge thanks to Matt for all your hard work in getting the site back up. I know you're working on the look of the board as well, but remember to get some rest too

Babs did pull Howard too quickly. Ozzie hasn't played in forever, throwing him into a game like this was destined for failure.

Okay now that the game is lost, atleast Babs shuld try some different lines. Filppula-Zetterberg-Franzen, Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi or something. We can't field 3 strong lines, better to just load up on the top 2 lines.

No he wasn't, but his confidence was at an all-time low and he was being used in all kinds of roles he didn't fit in. With everyone coming back from injury it would take some pressure of him, and allowing him to slowly get his confidence back. Basically I just think they gave up on him too soon. They were kinda forced to do so due to the salary cap, but I wish they had found some other solution. This team so badly needs someone who can be a scoring threat on the 3rd line.

Let's not go crazy. 1 goal does not equal mistake. Brunnstrom scored a hat-trick in his first NHL game, what has he done since? But at the same time, I was sad when Holland let Leino go. This team is seriously lacking in scoring depth. Miller/Eaves/Helm/Draper are all 4th liners. That's too many 4th liners in the lineup at the same time. Leino is slow and soft but with Filppula on a 3rd line I think he would be able to do more than we are seeing Miller doing right now.

More like Franzen and Lilja, and honestly Franzen is playing AWESOME. He really is the type of force we've been missing this season, but obviously he can't save us all by himself. Lilja is also playing real solid imo, quietly doing his job just as I had hoped. I'm not losing hope over this game. For parts of tonight and last game the Wings have looked better than they have all year. They just need to get rid of bad habits like slowly changing the entire 5-man unit while the other team has the puck, or defensemen pinching in at all the wrong times. Our playoffs hope have NOT died tonight, especially since a miracle comeback still isn't out of the question.

Now I see... Scott Walker would have shot-blocked all 5 Vancouver shots that led to goals while scoring a hat-trick.

They had an olympic break too, so this is only the 2nd game of their current roadtrip. Still sad to see the Wings play like this.. although I don't think they've been that terrible. It's just that Vancouver has scored on EVERYTHING.

What can we do? We have too many grinders.

Rafalski and Kronwall need to stop going deep in the offensive zone on EVERY shift..

Bleh.

Pav doesn't want another Byng!

Sick goal by Hank. Shades of Forsberg.

Howard hasn't really been sharp these 4 periods after the break. I hope he gets back into his pre-break groove real soon, because we need him to be solid every night. Overall though a pretty good 1st period by the Wings.

Guys, you can blame Kronner, but that was a SICK goal.

And Swedins strike. Damn they're good.

Lol at Mickey: "Salo, Zetterberg's swedish teammate"

Willy! What a shot!

Datsyuk line looks good!

Don't really think that was unexpected when you had the Kovalchuk and Phaneuf deal just weeks before the deadline.. if those deals had been today it would have been more exciting.

True. False.

Yep, I talked to him just now and he didn't like the move at all.

Poni. Skoula makes almost no money and the Leafs sent him on right away. You obviously seem to think that ANY trade is better than NO trade. We don't need another veteran with a bit of grit.. who would Walker bump on this team? Miller, Eaves? Draper? Helm? No. Just no. Afinogenov would help us but his value is HIGH right now. A combination of Ledba/Meech+draft pick won't get him.

uhhh.. yes? Walker has 5 points in 30+ games. Surely he is exactly what the Red Wings need!! Stupid Holland for not seeing that!