dirtydangles

No kidding - this guy makes Franzen look like Zetterberg out there in terms of effort off the puck. (Franzen has actually been very good lately and I'm not trying to say he hasn't been).

Vanek looks lazy. Never noticed that before.

I just hope we see 2 point games tonight.

Well subsequently Alfe's goal would be that play because even with the poke check we could have lost. Realistically any big play that went our way that game could have been the one to get us into the playoffs. We just gotta keep winning.

He killed like 10 seconds before that with the refs yelling to move the puck so I wasn't too upset. Shoulda had 2 goals tonight with the assist if the refs didn't go fully mental tonight.

lol babs was hilarious in the interview - thought it was the 80s when kronner came back

Cmon kip - even you have to admit Smith was great tonight... building on previous games like I think he has been doing lately. Showed up on the scoresheet tonight for you too.

Refs tried their best tonight to screw the wings.

Huge win. I will say - Smith was great.

Goose is loose

missed it - which player gave up the penalty shot?

we agree on something!

Sheahan is such an outstanding passer - last night his pass to Tatar was outrageous too

You can stick to your stats - I'll watch the on-ice product. Smith has outstanding passing and you say he doesn't - the guy goes tape to tape on the majority of them - Quincey's passing is below average at best. Smith is a great skater and last night Mickey was saying how he can keep up with Crosby and specifically showed the play where Smith smothered Crosby entering the zone and came out in control with the puck. Smith shows spark and instinct in jumping into the play offensively that only Kronner shows on this team (this is a thing you see on the ice rather than in the stats sheet). Another thing Smith does better than others is being physical and initiating contact - he is one the best of our D at reversing a hit and staying steady along the boards under contact (I remember Smith reversing a hit on Boby Ryan in the playoffs among others). I'm not saying Smith is amazing (he could be some day) - but your attitude towards s***ting on him completely is unfounded - especially now when he is playing much better. Smith does do many things well and you have to give him credit for them even if it isn't in the goals column or his +/-. Oh and if you are throwing around stats and my previous paragraph meant nothing to you - Smith 15pts -3, Quincey 12 pts -3 so NO quincey is not better offensively by your statistical standards - goal scoring isn't the only factor. The -3 statistic (even though I don't really care for stats but you do) is the same as Quincey's showing they are equal in terms of being on the ice for bad and good events. Smith outscores Quincey with less ice time this season. The lame thing about stats is you can pick and choose which ones help your personal vendetta and ignore the rest - that is why I generally dislike them. Players give you a "feel" when you watch them every night and Smith has been sending good vibes lately (I know its not objective but if you watch enough games you can see players trend up and down). I trust that much more than the stats sheet and I think most people have the same feeling that Smith has done well lately. I come to threads like this right after the game - when the feeling is still fresh - and post about how I feel a player did - many others do too. Sure - if I want to know how a random player has been doing on another team that I don't watch, then yes, I have a quick look at the stats - but it doesn't really compare to watching that player. Hell - you'd think Helm is useless by looking at his stats and that we should have Hudler instead. And to address your point about being good at one thing - I'd rather have the majority of my players be average at everything than outstanding in one category while being terrible in another. Lashoff seems better on D because he never commits to making anything happen in the offensive zone so he is always positioned to succeed defensively - its no that hard to figure that out. DD is a more polished player than smith right now - there is no way around that. Smith is not bad - he is developing and learning to use his tools.

Ferraro will get much better once he stops getting nervous. He had a bad clearing attempt on the 5min major and obviously that breakaway too but that just seems to me like a player that is nervous and unsettled. I think he can be much better in his sheltered minutes when he feels like he belongs. Look at what Glendening has done this year - he had no business being on the same ice as crosby before this season but has developed the confidence to manhandle him at times.

Ummm until the last 10 game stretch Quincey hasn't been very good at all defensively... Quincey is an older and more developed player than Smith so of course he may make less mistakes but the difference is Quincey makes boneheaded mistakes DESPITE being in the league for a long time and hasn't learned from them. Smith is still raw and hasn't had all the learning experiences yet. So if you want to go and rip on smith for his shortcomings then you better start ripping on tatar for all his turnovers by trying to do too much with the puck and rip on DD for his low point totals which are comparable with Smith's despite getting PP time. So just rip on ALL the rookies for playing like rookies and say players that have been in the league longer are better - that way you will be consistent.

I'm guessing babs doesn't want to lean too heavily on helm to pk in his first game back. A good chunk of guys like glendening and miller's minutes are pk minutes.

Ferraro stays because he is a prototypical bottom 6er. Helm, Glendening, Miller, Ferraro, Emmerton will kill penalties until Abby is back and Ferraro goes back down. Pulkkinen is undoubtedly a better player but not for the bottom 6 role. With all the penalties we have been taking lately it makes sense to keep some PKers around and try to keep the puck out of our net.

Did Smith piss in your cheerios? He had a very good game. He went up against crosby a number of times and came out of it with the puck. Aside from his dumb moment against Edmonton he has been very good over the last 4 games. He is showing poise - and Kronner isn't just covering up for him - I haven't seen Kronner have to straight up bail smith out when they played together - its more that he has a partner that is confident and supports him. Quincey, although he has played much better defensively lately (credit due), still gives the puck away way too much - this tends to be a stretch pass that gets intercepted at our blue line that comes back for a shot.

Great game today on top pair. D was solid and threatened in the O-zone.

Goose is loose

babs new strategy - just wing it

cardiac kids tonight

f*** yeah

Glendening just doesn't give a f*** - thats his composure - the kid just competes.