First let's talk about Howard, over and over fans and critics alike are pointing to his missed saves and over looking those he made. On numbers alone Howard is superior to Nabokov, but he also has more self control, he doesn't give up after a few misses. Nabokov is not thought of as the best Goalie in his home town. He is barley tolerated after so many lackluster showings.
Howard is not to blame!
The Ref's… Well fine clearly they made some bad calls and missed others but if you put their bad calls and missed calls on a scale I think everyone will agree (even if only privately) that the Red Wings have alot more on the plus side of bad calls and missed calls then their opponents. I'll even go so far as to say that I think the team and fans have become accustomed to a certain level of favoritism on the part of officiating to the point that when a game is called even Detroit feels slighted.
The Ref's are not to blame either!
Babcock: He is the coach, responsibility begins and stops with him. Its coaching that keeps the team from laying off when they have a lead, its coaching that pulls a goalie if they go cold and its coaching that gets the team to calm down and regain their composure. Babcock is very likely the best coach in all of professional hockey today and you gotta believe when he got home he looked in the mirror and verbally B**** slapped himself. Nobody including the Sharks expects to see Detroit lose game 4 and you can rest assured that the Coaching is going to be precise.
One last thing, the wings were beat by another team, they didn't lose because they suck. They lost because another team was able to capitalize on their mistakes. In the playoffs it's all about who sees a hole and attacks first on a sheet of ice with precious few holes.
