Cevari

Not a team win, but Jimmy had a superb game. I'm still so worried about our defense beyond Lids but hopefully when Stu gets back we'll get back on track on that end as well. Until then the rest of the offensive core better show up as well, Datsyuk isn't gonna bail our asses every game. Still, a win is a win and I think we were the better team tonight.

I wouldn't put that one on Howard at all, first Ericsson tries to pinch and fails, then Rafalski (was it him? I'm not 100% sure) doesn't take away the shot OR the pass on the 2-on-1.

Relating to this, do you know why they put those butter knives on the players shoes? I'm worried they might slip and get hurt! EDIT: Go MILLER!

In other games, I haven't been this happy the Leafs won in a while. Carolina is one of my favourite east teams so I'd love to see them make the playoffs (obviously nothing to do with 3 finns on the roster *cough*). And the Laughs aren't making the playoffs anyway so don't mind them winning that much

Awesome! I doubt anyone is surprised which line got the goal, they've really had a great night after the very beginning of the game.

Ah well, if that's how it's gonna be let's hope it's positive at least. "The Detroit powerplay really pounding it home here. They're really coming into their own."

Can tell Vs. has fired a bunch of people, they just had a typo on the overlay there. "Matt Cooke a dirty player?", I don't really know how they managed to typo a question mark in place of a period though

Cleary and Dats work their asses off and get a scoring chance. I hope the rest of the team is watching.

Something I've never really agreed with. Why do players stay on when they lose their stick instead of either taking the change or getting a new stick. Obviously it's the coaches choice but there is only so much a player can do without a stick and it's not like skating to the bench takes _that_ long for NHL players. Just feels like instead of playing 4-on-5 for 10 seconds you often end up playing 4.5-on-5 for 30.

Look who's back!

I think most teams in the league have something similar, some aspect of either the team or the arena in this case that has become gospel to the rest of the hockey world. Examples off the top of my head would be "Minnesota plays the trap" and "The Flyers are a tough team". Neither is exactly false either but I wouldn't say the Wild play a trap anymore and the Flyers aren't in the top5 "tough" teams in the league right now. I expect people would talk about how our boards are lively if they were completely remade and people here would call the Ducks a bunch of goons if they threw out the rest of the ones they have left from a few years ago and replaced them all with 5'10'' euros.

Good night guys, can't believe I stayed up till 5:30 for this

Wings are getting hammered worse than the winged wheel on Howards chest in a training shootout competition between Flip and Helm

Still gotta score in the shootout This made me wonder, how many rounds of a shootout would be taken until they just called the game if the teams just went even all the time. Obviously never going to happen with how fast shootouts can be taken, but I guess both teams would get one point for being terrible.

Sigh. As much as I like Rinne and wish him well it DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE TO PAD HIS NUMBERS BY PLAYING LIKE s***! For the third period all I want is to see five guys giving an effort out there at the same time. This whole game it's felt like maybe one or two guys are actually playing and the rest are just along for the ride. You're getting paid a lot to slap that little rubber thingy around boys, your fans would like to see some of that.

Couldn't watch the game due to an early morning and then got the result spoiled by a finnish news site for the whole 5-goal thing Nice to get a win anyway, and GO MULE!

So let me get this straight. The Red Wings ask the NHL not to invite Z to the ASG. The NHL grants the request, Z is not chosen. This guy wants the NHL to fine Zetterberg because his club dared make a request and the NHL complied. Surely the guilty party here would be the NHL, seeing how they're the only ones why actually made a decision in this chain of events. Maybe next they can start giving out fines to players for bad calls...

Article So NHL.com picks Byfuglien as the frontrunner for the Norris trophy this season, with the runners-up being Lids and Letang. These three also happen to be 3/4 of the top 4 defensemen in points so far. By what I've seen of Atlanta this season they play a system where you could argue it's actually four forwards and one defenseman, so I am extremely sceptical of calling Buff the best D in the league. Even the evidence presented in the article seems to be all points and goals and production, with perhaps a casual mention of +/-, which as we all know isn't exactly an accurate stat to determine a players worth defensively. The part about Byfuglien literally has no mention whatsoever of his defensive skills (or lack thereof). For the record, I'm not taking a stance on the defensive abilities of the three mentioned here, just pointing out that NHL.com doesn't even seem to care. So what do you think? Is the Norris all about the offense these days (or has it always been), and should it be?

Personally I think Flip and Ozzie are just good at maths. Hot massage therapist (see curling event thread) + "groin problems" = good times

Agreed. The thing about players like this is that while they can dominate in the European leagues or the WJC with just their skill and level and hockey instincts, the same will not be true for the NHL. When the opposing team has 4th line grinders with the same skill level (note that I don't mean this in any way demeaningly, Järnkrok and Pulkkinen are just both too young to have reached their full potential) AND they have a ton more physicality it leads to players like this being smothered. They simply can't play their own game because their style is more like that of a top 6 forward than a grinder. This means they can't be given the amount of minutes they need to fully grow into their potential, and can be disastrous for their development. The Wings are traditionally very good at giving their prospects time to reach the level they need to actually succeed in the NHL, not just survive, and I would expect no less in the case of these two. We'll just have to be patient and think of all the highlight-reel goals these two will give us in years to come.

A referee who actually calls dives? Can the NHL hire him, please?

Pulkkinen with his second of the tournament to tie the game 1-1!

Varlamov = player of the game.

He's had years of practive on how to fall without hurting himself