SDavis35

ROW is first tiebreaker, and if NJ were to catch up to us they would most likely have more than we do. At the very least we can eliminate most of the teams we're racing with.

In my mind, we need to win 4 of 7 to make the playoffs. Just like the real playoffs, we start against a top team!

11 points (or 6 wins as noted above) Best the Caps can do is 95 points and we have the tiebreak.

If I were the coach I would do the same. Gustavsson has been winning, so he is not a liability. Howard has been playing real well but needs a break so he doesn't get overworked. Pretty much everything said in the topic. Doesn't matter who's in net to me. I want this team to continue battling hard, putting the playoffs out of reach for those behind us.

I thought he played really well... if not for the blocked shot I think he could've scored the goal Nyquist did. With the shot being blocked thourugh, he did Nyquist a favour by throwing Bernier off. He wasn't flashy and I think he can still be better, but he was more noticeable than he has been in a while (and in a good way) from what I remember.

19-3-7 when leading after 1 21-3-7 when leading after 2 These stats seem deceptive, compared to the rest of the league, that's 25th and 29th in the league. Obviously we are getting points when we grab the lead, but just watching the games you know we're losing our lead and forced to fight for the full 60. Good for development, but definitely would like to feel comfortable in the 3rd like we did back in 2008. I do think it's just the players we have right now being put through a learning curve that is fairly steep. I think we've done better in the second half of the season, but I don't have the stats for that (maybe someone else can find them?)

Another +15% with today's results (so far). All for naught if we have the wrong results tomorrow.

What about 20+ games? (ie. among Starters) Not that it would say he's better or anything, it would probably make him look worse. You are not a Howard hater, you will at least entertain the idea that he played well. I don't think either goal could be considered "bad" as much as he just got beat. Bad timing for sure, but the Wings are battling and competing well so the goals allowed is behind us. At least we can agree that this season, Howard has not been at the top of his game. He is therefore average (statistically) this season. I just don't enjoy reading the others who think we need to trade in Howard based on a single poor season.

Top 10 among active goalies (career) in both SV% and GAA. I thought he's played well this past week at least, I didn't notice how many solid saves he had until FSD showed the clip early in the 3rd.

I lean towards the Jackets tonight... Rangers having just 1 point more than us and (if regulation loss tonight) two games more than us. Gives us a good shot at taking those extra two points than them. Have to just hope that it doesn't make OT, that's where we get in a bit of trouble. Same for TOR-MTL, Habs win and we close in on the Leafs, it doesn't matter who makes it at this point, it only matters who's catchable.

Does this mean the streak is over? We didn't lose anyone?

I'm always checking up on that site. I'm surprised at how easily a team's % can change though. roughly +15% brings us to 50% chance of making playoffs if we win tonight.

Guys like Nyquist and Tatar are close to scoring 20 goals this season. Nyquist as a top liner has more goals than Zetterberg in fewer games. I'm not saying they're future superstars like Zetterberg/Datsyuk, but they're going to be really good players for many years. We need to have a top line though, Nyquist-Franzen-Alfie are second line guys right now. This team is working hard, doing good things but has no finish. When you get good chances you need to finish them, that's why we're in the spot we are. The players are a part of the issue, but next year they will all be better. We need leadership from guys who can get the job done offensively, and those guys are injured. We have a seriously good team when healthy, easily top 3 in the division. I'm looking forward to our future team, cause these guys are fun to watch.

Leafs do too if I'm not mistaken. (Chances of catching them aren't looking good though.)

I'm sure some of it has to do with the defensive style of the game taking over. It seems that the teams who have the best defense are the one who win. You have the occasional anomaly (Pittsburgh, who's been consistently good) but for the most part, Defense is what wins. The other major factor I can think of is parity. We certainly have blowout games, but not as often I don't think. Minor factors could probably include the skill of goaltenders these days, it's tough to beat them one-on-one, and with the size of the defensive players (along with the defensive-minded game) you just have no space to move or get a good shot unless the other team makes a mistake. I'm sure in 20 years we will have teams finding ways to break the trap and other defensive styles, but for now it is what it is. I don't mind a 2-1 game, but I can't enjoy a game where the shots are only 25-21. (which doesn't seem to happen the past 2-3 years, more like 35-28)

My first thought when I saw this was the Fischer incident. I think the score was the same and even the timing was similar, really scary to think how easily this can happen. NHL made the right choice no doubt.

4 Wins in their past 25 games. Tortorella's impact wore off quickly.

I think the numbers listed relate to current salary. Also, (directed at OP) I don't think Cleary, Bert, Sammy or Alfie will return at all. Not even worth discussing their re-signing, I think it's just not going to happen. Gus is going to be hard to fit in at a reasonable price considering he's likely to get some good teams throwing money at him.

If he was planning to trade one of our young centremen; the injuries would make it less desirable to do so. Let's say he was shopping Andersson, or Sheahan. He now wouldn't want to because he would see Emmerton as the replacement, which probably is worse than what we have with Andersson and Sheahan. Just a theory though.

I agree, I think with Zetterberg, Sweden could have won it. I'm happy Canada won but my "cheering" was like a wings regular season win in March 2008. It's time to get back to Red Wings hockey, something I can cheer about with lots of energy! Edit: I also wanted to mention that I think Sweden is the "Canada" of Europe, such a great hockey nation!

What a game! It was tons of fun watching the defensive battle. Hate Healy though... he's worse than pierre by far. He was whining about the penalties against Canada, even though all the penalties were legit for both sides. Good game USA, that should have been for gold.

USA was the better team for most of that game. It wasn't the refs (imo) who changed the outcome, it was Zapdos (as I call her) who saved the game several times all day long. I can only hope tomorrow is half as entertaining.

There's also the fact that this Latvian goaltender is playing incredibly well. Almost Mrazekian. (Can that be a term please?) I think I enjoyed the goalie fending off a team of all-stars more than Canada scoring.

The Czech coach has been incompetent every game I've watched. It's like all he does is stand there behind the bench and watch the players go.

Is it just me or did Russia have more shots in the last 30 seconds than all the rest of the period? Wish Datsyuk could have had a gold, but I dislike all others on that team, except Radulov, at least he played a good tournament.