Octopus's Garden

Sergei Gonchar, 2 minutes for Obligatory Pens Penalty So Next 5 Can Be On Detroit

15 shots? Pittsburgh scorekeeper's got a happy trigger finger me thinks.

Nice head fake, Malkin, you idiot. This game needs more shots of his ugly parents.

Of course, Kronwall just got away with 19 cross checks ...

May needs to fight someone to wake this team up.

They've gotten away with at least 3-4 interference calls. Dats got knocked down on a Pens breakout, someone just got clipped on a loose puck, Miller was interfered with behind the Pitt net. I'm not surprised.

I'm thinking about watching on mute. Or with the computer looping Ken Kal's call of the last 30 seconds of the '08 Cup Finals for three straight hours.

This is in no way hammering Howard for the loss to the Coyotes. He could've made a save on at least 1 of the 4 and shouldn't have let the puck back in play on the 2nd, but I refuse to pin this on him. That said .... I post this for 2 reasons. 1. If the Wings get into the playoffs, it's going to be Osgood. Plenty on here have made that point as the season goes on, and I believe it to be true. As well as Howard has played, Osgood will be the guy in the postseason (knock on wood that the Wings get there) 2. This team just needs a spark. Getting injured players back is all well and good, but this team needs a major kick in the pants. Blowing leads constantly is as much mental as it is physical. Will Ozzie prevent that? Given that he was in for Washington's comeback? Who knows. But now's the time to find out. 30 games left. Time to make a move.

Can I answer after Sunday? If they lose both those games, I'll have to vote no. If they beat Nashville and play well in Pittsburgh, I'll say yes.

Just looked at the schedule ... looked at the standings ... and realized the Olympic break could be excruciating if the Wings are in 12th or 13th place. Friday's a must win and they need to somehow get a point in Pittsburgh before they head West. No one's going away.

I withdraw my "Time for Ozzie" thread from last night. Ugh ...

Pretty great news there ... let's hope they all actually get back in the next week or two. That said, I can't be the only one interested/concerned to see how a Lilja return would change things up -- that's another chunk of salary that the Wings would have to account for by clearing out a guy or two. Can they take him off long-term IR but sent him to GR for an extended conditioning stint without it counting against the cap? I'm not sure how that works. If they can do that, he'd be a nice addition come playoff time.

The amount of offense will depend on how much the big guns step up. Will Dats, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, etc. finally start scoring goals? If not, it won't matter what the line combos are -- you can only expect so much from Williams or Homer or Franzen off a knee injury. Those lines obviously look much better than what's going on now, but no matter what a team's role players do, if the stars don't carry their weight, it's tough. Also, I'll be surprised if Abdelkader is still in the lineup when those guys get healthy. They have to cut $$$ and he's an easy move to GR

Yea, he's been terrible this year. He also missed during Score-O at the Michigan-Ferris game last night and some chucklehead from the stands scored. Also, Tim Horton's donuts are pretty good -- 2 dozen of them might be too high a price. 4-2 Wings. Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Lidstrom, Eaves

Not to be the guy to interrupt and give Michigan kudos, but there are 22 Wolverines currently in the NHL (some borderline -- Andy Hilbert, for example) ... but I'm not sure where I get the rip on Michigan's player development. A lot of those guys have been around foreverrrrr. Looking your way, Mike Knuble. As for Johnson, he was exciting to watch in college because he physically overmatched everyone in the CCHA -- huge, bulky defenseman with monster shots don't come around all that often, even if Michigan had JJ and Komisarek in succession. What he missed in positioning and smarts, he just made up for by being bigger than everyone. That obviously hasn't translated very well to the pros -- but if he was given the proper environment to develop in, he might be a lot better.

Just back from the game ... well, that was obnoxious, as were the Caps fans who heckled me that "It must suck to be out of the playoffs!" and that the Wings "can't buy the Stanley Cup anymore!" ... to which I calmly asked for the Caps fan to provide more information about how to win a Stanley Cup, given his franchise's great history. Anyway, on to the game ... couldn't tell exactly from my vantage point, but I have a hard time faulting Ozzie for any of those goals. Maybe should have had the second one, but if Stuart doesn't get turned inside out, he's not in that position. 1st and 2nd goals were crap defensive breakdowns (and the 2nd was because of a stupid penalty) and the 3rd was just a fluke. Beyond that -- I'm pumped for the rest of the season. Playing on the road against the No. 1 team in the East, still shorthanded, the Wings SKATED CIRCLES AROUND WASHINGTON. The top line looked great, the defense absolutely stuffed Ovechkin and a lot of guys skated really well. If they play like that the rest of the season, they will EASILY get into the playoffs and could get to the 4th or 5th seed. I'm very happy with how they skated, I think they did a better job clearing the front of the net than they had and the PK was spectacular until that last stupid Stuart play. Things are looking up. Keep the faith, people.

Headed over to Verizon shortly here ... praying it's still a game come the third period. Don't let me down Ozzie.

Since Detroit's in the unusual position of actually having to fight for a playoff berth, and I find myself checking every score involving Western Conference teams frequently, I'm stealing a baseball tradition and busting out the Magic Number. The Magic Number is the combined number of points won by Detroit and lost by teams above them that will get the Wings into a playoff spot. Right now, mathematically, Calgary is the closest to the Wings -- just one point ahead of LA with one more game played. So Detroit has 34 games left. That means a max of 68 more points to be won. Tiebreakers aside, if the Wings won out and Calgary lost one point, Detroit would get into the playoffs. So as we stand on the afternoon of Jan. 18, the magic # for Detroit to get into the playoffs is .... 69. Let the countdown (and possibly a few inappropriate jokes) begin!

Calgary down 6-0. Gonna chalk that up as a Flames' loss. Wings Magic # to Clinch a Playoff Spot: 67

I'll be there too ... I hate everything about Caps games. The EXTRA LOUD MUSIC!!, the scoreboard telling the fans when to cheer, the fans that yell and scream but don't know the rules, etc. It's like an NBA game had sex with an NHL game and the result was a horrible sports experience.

Let's effin go! This team's beatable.

Of course. This season makes me want to punch a baby.

What are the Wings, 1-for-1000 in replays all time? This is just ridiculous, it makes so sick to have a game decided like that. Just a blatant screw job. There is NO justification for that call. None. Absolutely none. This replay system is such a pile of s***.

May in for Leino as well, according to MLive. I know it made more sense to shoot Janik down to GR, but booting Meech or Lebda for Big E would've made me a happy panda.

The Russian Jive Stevie Y and the Motor City Players