puckloo39

Sabres just kicked it into gear in the third. It looks and sounds like a playoff game.

Buffalo scores, 5-4 lead over TB. Turn over to this game if you want to see some excitement. WOW!

4-4 tie in Buffalo/TB game. Sabres are playing possessed all of a sudden. Three unanswered goals in three minutes in the third. Whoa... I am on the phone right now with my friend in Buffalo (sportswriter for AP). He's at the game and I can't even hear him over the fans screaming.

for sure. He's definitely the only Wing the refs might be able to recognize.

I am glad this period is almost over. Columbus is getting increasingly aggressive and the Wings are looking sloppier each shift.

I hope Z is saving all his goals for the playoffs.

hearing aids? Wings on the powerplay. Now would be a really good time for a goal.

you said that better than I did. Right. I think this is going to be another one of those nights. Nothing bounced the right way for us on Sunday and it's the same tonight. Norrena is thanking his lucky stars right now on that last scramble.

if they can't tell Nick from Raffi, they must be blind. So they put the 5 time Norris winner in the box, as a default since they weren't sure? I would sorta buy that Ozzie was way out there and fair game. I didn't get a good enough look to tell if the BJ could have avoided him. Dang DVR is hinky tonight.

do Wings fans at the Joe ever boo stuff like this? I don't hear anything, but it may be just the way the game is mic'ed. The fans would be screaming their heads off in Dallas over something like the sequence leading up to the CBJ goal.

disgusting.

OMG, "you got the wrong guy!" Nick in the box, should be Raffi. And they do nothing about Ozzie being run over. perfect McGooooo game call.

nothing much to see, so far. Columbus looks slow, but they played last night... so maybe that's good.

Zherdev stepped on Datsyuk's stick, or that's what it looked like. Tripping, the call. Malhotra blocked a puck with his ankle just now... ow.

:banana:

Modin is apparently trying to systematically kill his team mates, one at a time.

Maybe Pav needs to learn to be a puck-hog and shoot all the time, instead of passing to his team mates? He was well tutored by Hull as a rookie, to be the pick-pocket and set up guy. Pavel pairs so well with Z, I think that would be a difficult thing for him to adapt to keeping the puck in order to run up his own numbers, however. Not that he would, anyway. I agree with Ovie for the Hart.

I seriously couldn't care less if Dom ever plays another game for the Red Wings. After three stints with the Red Wings and their 'fans', the NHL should just give him the d***ed thing. If Ozzie manages to backstop them to a Cup despite the refs' best efforts to thwart that, Hasek's name goes on the Cup anyway. All Babs has to do is stick Dom in for one shift in one game of the finals, and Bob's your Uncle. Winner! Works for me.

I completely support and love Pavel Datsyuk... he's an amazing player and integral to this team's success, not to mention (I hope) a Red Wing for life. But I doubt he will win the Hart. While Pav is very valuable to this team, he's not the reason this team is excelling. There are too many others who contribute to the well-oiled machine in Detroit. Ovechkin would get my vote this season. He's simply got another gear, or something, and makes Washington look almost like a contender on a given night. Miraculous, pretty much, that. Sid is cool, but Ovie rules.

or Nick would. Thankfully, Cloutier will never be a Red Wing. That one was and is still the best long goal ever. Poor Vesa... no worries that he will do such a thing in the playoffs, anyway. Not this year anyway.

Dom's not the goalie I think of when it comes to letting in shots like that one. Why would you say this? And why would you try to turn this thread into yet another Hasek bashing thread?

And it was short-handed, too. Poor Toskala... he's a nice guy and he's stuck in Toronto. I feel bad. I laughed out loud.

maybe Brodeur really is leaving New Jersey to play for the Avs.

perfect... I guess at some level Simon has a right to be miffed, but I wouldn't be surprised to see either of them show up as repeat offenders. That's when the hammer really ought to be dropped, but I tend to believe that Pronger will get more slack than Simon. Burke is definitely part of this equation, and it makes me dislike him even more than I already did.

who let who down? I don't know about the Detroit media, but the out of towners have a bit of perspective on this game: Honestly, though, the Blue Jackets played hard, but they didn't play all that well. Still a little sloppy with the puck, boys. In that sense, the Red Wings let Columbus off the hook. Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek, he of the wonky back, didn't look so hot. Once he got pulled in favor of Chris Osgood, they looked a lot sharper in all aspects of the game. Who will be the Red Wings goaltender come playoff time? That's starting to be a pretty good question. If I may reprise my, "I can't stand the bruises anymore, put him in the net!" role as a [crap]-stirring forward, I'd argue that Hasek wasn't any worse than his teammates were in their own defensive zone, and he was probably better, quite frankly. Aside from the first goal, I really didn't think that he could have stopped the rest of the shots that eluded him. I don't imagine this is a very popular analysis around here. Not as if both goalies haven't had similar games this season. Dom is just held personally responsible for every goal, every game. He will be fine next game, provided he has some help in the form of offense, defense, and well.... you know. Let's just show up, OK?