Taosuntzu

With two goals on Hiller tonight, Osgood now has the best playoff GAA of .5 and sv% of .978 through 2 games. :beerbuddy:

Franzen from the blue line, unscreened! Was that a weak goal?

It's off #5 Zanov on his own goal!!!!

Then please explain to me how Ozzies was weak after 1/4 Scoring ops, and 3 on net, while Rinne was an expected goal on 1/2 scoring ops and the first on net?

Wow, what a weak goal Rinne let in, he saw it the whole way.

4 scoring oppertunities in 2:30 min? ...Really? Pull Ozzie now, DET will not play in front of him.

You might be right. I'm thinking about all the way back to the St. Louis days when Macinnis and Pronger would play both the 1st and 2nd lines consecutively. Then they would also take the entire PP, and Play on PK1. Back then the announcers used keep track of their TOI, and match it to the TOI of Lidstrom and his pairing. They always came out close, sometimes over 40 mins. Today's hockey is played so much faster, you end up sprinting your entire shift. I also want to see Lidstrom's TOI compared to the other pairings and see if the speed of the game is passing by elite defenseman. (ie: If you can only play 20 min, or 1/3 of a game, then how much difference can the Neidermayar's, Gonchar's, and Zubov's of the league make?)

Like most others on this forum, I think the wings defense has been sub-par this year. (I use sub-par instead of substandard because it hasn't been as bad as I and everyone else makes it out to be.) Well it has me thinking about what is different from last year to this year. Aside from our free agent signing of Hossa, and the loss of the wings defensive coach, there really isn't much of a change. So, what's different? For the few remaining games I'm going to try to keep my on what defensive pairing is matched with what opponents line. My theory is that (unlike the play-offs) each pairing is averaging 20 mins of a 60 min game. If all the wings opponents are approaching the wings with their play-offs mins, then that means there is a majority of the game that the wings 2nd and 3rd pairings are playing a higher quality of line then they will be in the play-offs. (when Lidstrom and Rafalski start playing 35-38 mins a game). After all, there has been very little doubt all year long that the wings would make the post season. Why not keep your slightly older top pairing injury free, and at the same time get your 2nd and 3rd lines some time against stiffer competition? tl;dr Just curious about average ice time for our top defensive pairing.

The home team has last change in the play-offs. To prevent your opponent from putting their top line out on the ice against Draper, Maltby, and Samuelson; you need to split up your top line. Don't put all your eggs in one basket so to speak.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SJS just losee a game to PHX about a week ago?

I'm curious about the play-offs. Do you (as a whole) feel it is better to go into the post season fighting tooth and nail for a point like 6th through 11th spot, or if it's better to waltz into the play-offs like Red Wings do year after year? I'm also curious about why everyone expects them to win every game. Is it because of the extra piece of hardware, or is it just a pride thing? Also, do you think that there is a team in the west that can beat them in a 7 game series, and why?

This will be an interesting game to watch. If the lowly Isles get more than 8 scoring chances in the 1st period, then pull Ozzie than, sit him for the rest of the season and start Conklin in the playoffs. Cause a couple nights ago against Calgary, after allowing 12 scoring opportunities on 8 shots on goal, it occurred to me that they play just fine in front of Conklin. This points towards a locker room issue, and regardless of the reason you cannot side with an individual over the rest of the team. As for a trade, I doubt he is worth much, and K. Holland isn't like every other team in DET. He wouldn't trade something for nothing. I'm not sure of the new rules or if the waiver draft is still used. But if it is, then you can bet TBL, PHX, ATL, and LAK can all use a play-off run next year. On another note, this team could very well be in our conference next year. Show them why they should stay in New York. Also I remember last year when we took the President's trophy last year, a bunch of naysayers said it was because of how weak the central is. Well this year it looks like all 5 central teams have a decent shot of making it to the play-offs. I am sure an entire division has done it before, but not since expanding to 5 teams per div.

A couple of years ago Scotty Bowman attended a GM conference about using the euro leagues torpedo defense in the NHL to create offense. For the past couple of years I been waiting to see if he was blowing smoke to try and get teams to use it, so that his team can rip it apart, or if he was serious and no one believed it would work. Tonight, Chicago is using it. San Jose tried to use it on a couple of shifts. I am starting to see what Scotty meant. I think it will replace the L&R wing lock.

Your right his save% is down. But is his play? You can't simply say that it is by a stat sheet. It is not how the stat is calculated. To see if he is allowing goals that sould be stopped you would have to remove all scoring chances on all goalies through-out the league, whether they blocked the shot or not. Even then Zetts 5 hole shot tonight wasn't actually a scoring chance even though there isn't a goalie in the world that could have stopped it consistently. It is okay to appreciate goalies for their stats, but unless you walk a mile in their shoes.... The only way to truely grade a goalie is to watch them. See how well they keep themselves between the puck and shooter. Watch their movement side to side. Watch their stick and see if it stays flat on the ice and centered on the 5 hole on along the ice shots. But if you do that you'll miss the game. What I like to do is +/- their great saves, and goals into minuses. Still subjective but, it tells me what I want to know. By the way I just watched the NHL vid recap. I sugget you watch it, it really tells the story of tonight's game. Usually it's just a high light reel. But, tonights really captures the story. In fact I'll try to link it! Invalid Video Link Can't do it but it's at NHL.com in game recap.

This is what I'm talking about. BLIND!!!! 2 of the 3 goals scores tonight were identical to the 2 Ozzie let in. I have waited my whole life (it seems) for this game. To say Ozzie let in 2 soft goals, is the same as saying Dats and Zetts goals were flukes! It is the mentality in DET to say a goal against is all the goalies fault. While a goal for was an amazing play by <insert player here>. The Flyers dominated this game from start to finish. The only apreciable stat is the score. For god sakes Biron was so good that the Wings couldn't score on 3 empty netters from 90 ft.

Osgood haters again!! UUUUAGHHHHH!!!! But this is the game I have been waiting for since 1997-98 season. It finally happened. I wish I could recap the entire game so you can understand why, but do to short attention spans, and the fact I'm already a wall of text'er, I'll stick to the big points. The wings have 3 goals on 4 scoring chances, and only 1 goal out of those 4 scoring chances. Osgood allowed 2 goals on 8 scoring chances, and both were on scoring chances. Okay, so the game wasn't exactly perfect; Dats to Franzen was a nearly unstoppable goal. I say nearly because of those exact cross ice feeds, I have seen a couple saved by the likes of Roy, Brodeur, Guirre and ....yes, Osgood. If you look at the actual goals let in, other than the aforementioned, they were identical. But wait! I said the scoring chances weren't let in the math doesn't add up. Ahhh! You don't understand what a scoring chance is. Let me explain. A scoring chance has absolutely nothing to do with the goalie or where the puck is on the ice, kinda (it has to be over the blue line in the scoring zone), Any NHLer can score on any goalie at any time off a scoring chance. So what makes it a scoring chance? If the shooter is wide open and doesn't have to hit the puck quickly or it'll be taken from them. Like, Gretzky over the top of the net and off the goalies back; the wrap around; the break-away; and my favorite the acute angle along the post score. It has to do with the type of players that make it to the NHL. In your local req league you have your great skaters that streak past everyone, and you have your big players that are immovable objects. You also have guys that can shoot the puck so hard that it will break the goalies mask. You also have your players that can hit the same spot on the crossbar from 30 ft away (half the distance to the blue line). In the NHL they can all do all of these things, and the all stars would make your local speedsters look like they were standing still. It's not that uncommon to see a shooter left alone on the side of the net with the goalie square to the shooter, even in the NHL. Oh, but left alone this is the greatest chance a player has. Like I mentioned before NHLers are the whole package. Accuracy and power! They can turn the play into a physics question from grad school. If goalie (a) presses against the post (b) with X amount of force, how hard will the player © have to hit puck (d) to make squeeze between (a) and (b) to score? If no defense hurries the shot the shooter has a longer time to aim. You won't see to many pro golfers walk up to the ball and swing, they get into their stance and concentrate on contact. Same for hockey. Now let's talk about goalies and something I like to call Osgood'itis. A goalie can't make a forward shoot. But, can he make them not shoot? How does a goalie force a player to not shoot, and what does that have to do with the red wings making every other goalie in the league look like my wall of text? An earlier poster already mentioned the key to understanding this in their own posts. But tried to rely on just the stats and not the truth behind the stats. (Osgood is small, every team out there is looking for Mason's and Kolzig's. Every goalie in the league can stop 9 out of 10 shots. I hold my breath every time Osgood has to make a save.) THAT IS OSGOODitis! Osgood is small, and the best goalie skater in the league. In order to cut down the angle of a shot he has to come out further than just about any other goalie in the world, (btw did you know Osgood is bigger than Tretiak?) What do you think goes into Ovechkin's mind when a goalie comes out that far? "I can outskate him to the far side and get an empty netter." Osgood can be you to the other side Ovech, shoot his pads, get the rebound. Remember way back when, "Osgood gives up bad rebounds" Any way he figured it out, #30 gives up fewer rebounds than any other goalie now. Crosby hardly ever got a shot on OZ. I wonder if that's what went through his mind in the finals! Next, .900 sv% reflects break-away shots too! And no goalie averages better than .666 sv% on penalty shots, most hang around .400. Penalty shot = scoring opportunity. Funny how that works. As for my favorite, "I hold my breath every time they shoot the puck", do the world a favor and don't stop after the save. Do you think that NJ fans don't hold theirs? As for too long didn't read (sorry forgot, ATTN: span) tl;dr OZZIE, OZZIE, OZZIE!!!!!!!

UUghhh! I can hardly stand all of you Osgood haters. You really don't understand anything about hockey, and you take everything an announcer says as pure fact. A hint for you: Barry Melrose is an analyst, when has he ever been right about anything to do with hockey? And, a lot of you turn-coats now professing your undying support of C. Osgood. Please tell me the difference between today and the last time these 2 teams met? Could it be THE F'ing 13 SCORING OPERTUNITIES!!!! Ol' #30 played the same as he has been playing all season, great. He is a great goalie with an outstanding record and more accomplishments than most goalies to ever play in the league. So, what was different, how did the wings stop the turn-overs? The zone break-out! Instead of sending the puck down the center of the ice, they looked at the opponents D'. If they came off the boards to try and jump the pass, the Wings would send the pass down the boards. If the break-out man couldn't get to the puck off the boards, it resulted in an icing. And what is the biggest ***** about the game today? Too many icing calls! Next up was taking care of the odd man rushes off the Jackets break-out. To combat this Babcock continued to switch up his lines through-out the game. Getting Hossa enough ice time to be productive, but not relying on his defensive play to stop an odd man rush. So apparently the coach knows what he is doing. To be able to do this in the play-offs you have to get every individual player enough ice time in a game to know what to expect if Draper and Maltby accidentally find themselves on a line with Hossa, Zetterberg, or Datsyuk. Honestly, don't just watch a game with your eyes. Think about why something happened. Stats don't lie, neither do they tell the truth. Oh yeah, Congrats on the shut-out OZZIE!!! You average 6 a year, so here's to 4 more in 12 more games going into the play-offs. :beerbuddy:

Wow, I never realised that Barry Melrose had so many alts on this forum. Melrose's character assassination is absolutely astounding. /adrian_monk OK! Here's what really happened. After the parade, the DRW's were left with a large cap space. To fill this cap space they picked up 2 free agents. They added Hossa and Conklin, both from Pittsburgh, a team that uses speed to break out of their own zone and produce break-aways. Hossa became the highest paid per year player on the team. Players like Crosby, Ovechkin, and Hossa all play a system where instead of preventing the pass between defense-men, they look for the break out feed. To play in the Red Wings system they need a great set-up man; ie: Malkin, Backstrom, or unfortunately in our case Datsyuk. What does all this have to do with defense? During a game Hossa will stand in between the defense and move toward the puck side. In the event of a turn-over, Hossa drives to the opponents net. This starts a chain of events that resembles a pick six in football. The closer of the two defense-men will move between the puck and Hossa, while the other defense-men gets between the net and Hossa. This was never a problem in years past and throws our D into a state of panic. They all go for the puck and don't watch their man. The other play that has manifested is the LWL. In years past the Wings have played it flawlessly, to the point that the name is no longer appropriate. If the puck comes down the center both forward and center collapse on the puck carrier. The left board, the right side D'man moves to the center, the closest player to the right wing picks up the chase. Both Dats and Zetters do this so well that there might as well be 4 D'men back, Hossa not so much (despite Mickey Redmen's accolades) he certainly tries, but Zetts and Dats both pick off the pass and in unison rush back up ice. /Scotty_Bowman There is no real perfect solution for the problem. The best I can think of is to play 2nd and 3rd lines against the opponents 1st line, and continue to switch Zetts and Hossa through out the game to keep the other team guessing as to what each line will do. Have your D'men look for opponents moving off the boards and bounce pass the puck off the boards to spring a break that will get their D'men to pinch more allowing a few more odd man rushes per game. This still does not help shore up the defense or block shots but gives you a better chance to win a shooting gallery.

One more point and the Red Wings become the first team to clinch a play-off spot of the 2008-2009 season. All of you naysayers put that in your pipe and smoke it. I'm listening! Let's hear the - "Our goaltenders suck, our defense is weak, our players aren't physical enough." whining. It takes all of those things and more to get an (x) in front of your games played statistic. Especially post salary cap era with more than 10 games left.

First I was like But then they got the puck back Oshie in front of the net and I was like Then Oshie wound up and no one put pressure on him and I went Then I was all . Other than that, great game!