Mater_Horn

Silence over the face-off violation penalty (compared to when Dats got one).

Two more things. a) I don't think that Schnyder (the attacking player) is guilty. He certainly didn't want to hurt his opponent. They used to be team-mates. b) Both teams agreed to continue their playoff games after this accident, even though the League offered to postpone the series. Langenthal (the team without the paralyzed player) won the 3rd game 6-5 in OT.

Exactly. Yet, for this situation in particular, I am very sorry for what has happened to Ronny Keller. I wish him and his family the very best for the future. Of course, such accidents may happen anytime, in any league, including the NHL. Are there any rules or amendments otherwise that could be changed to avoid such incidents? I doubt it. There are some discussion now in Switzerland on whether "Flexbanden" (i.e., the more flexible bands (huh?) that are standard in most NHL arenas (sorry, don't know what the actual English expression for Flexbande is...)) could have avoided this injury, and the general consense appears to be "no, they couldn't". So, it semms that we're left with the "if you play hockey, you may get paralyzed".... Sad.

I think this win has to be credited to 1) Red Wings' defense 2) Gustavsson 3) Team effort I know they overlap, but still. And then, as the 4th, Brunner, who's always good for a penalty shot.

WOW. Great game by the Wings! SJ Sharks are a good team, and they played well tonight. Very aggressive in the offensive zone. Wings defense had one of their best performances this season. And thanks Brunner for finally making my wish come true. Although late, but it still counts, right?

Brunner is THE NUTS in penalty shootouts!

Really, time for Brunner to net one... Jeez!

Yes. It's his night. Showed a little aggresiveness there. GJ Brunner.

Can you lift it, Cleary? Sad.

If someone was gonna offer me 1:1 odds for a 0-0 after 60, I'd take it. Sigh

Good job by the Red Wings defense. And Kudos to Gustavsson! SJ is forechecking heavily and pressing hard. Overall, good game by the Wings. Time for a goal now (sniper Brunner?). It will require a lot of work and much energy to win this, whilst SJ has the advantage with the 1 day rest. Go for it, guys!

Brunner's in good shape tonight. Doing well so far, as in the last game. If game continues like in the first, he will score in this, sooner or later.

Looking at the first 30 minutes, I'd say it was one of his three best performances this season.

I didn't imply he hasn't improved, rather, I meant to say his improvements were shallow. Brunner has done all this, especially in the first few games. It didn't really click with Datsyuk, and I think that's why Babcock put Franzen on Brunner's side. Good article indeed. Why is it so hard to address these issues? Did Babcock say Brunner needs to become better defensively or not? Yes. And Babcocks thinks he will. And I think Brunner needs to become massively better defensively, and I doubt he will. But only time will tell.

"Rough reviews"? Or "realistic"? I've seen him play in the Swiss League. And I've seen every Wings game this season but two. So he did get better throughout his games? I only partially agree. He's floating around a lot less, and shooting less. That's what makes him better now, compared to his first few games. He's still a sniper. What hasn't changed? He's still a liability in the defense (currently, game-to-game, changing how big that liability it is). As for "willing to learn at age 26": Brunner's got to surprise me here. AFAIK player's don't "learn" new behaviours at age 26 easily. For Brunner, this means he will never become any solid defensively, i.e. he will never effectively attack a player holding the puck, will never place an effective check in the offensive zone etc. He's too old to "learn" that, guys. His style is different. He's got his chance playing in the Swiss NLA by scoring terrific goals, and eventually they let him play with the best players on his line. The outcome is Babcock, who lets him play with good working players (Z) also. Result: Brunner scores. But he's neither working hard for the team, nor solid defensively. Let's be realistic. Btw, I hope Brunner scores 25+ this season.

Nah. Brunner is awfully bad in the defense. Apart from that, he's a really good sniper

Hahahaha. Thanks for this!

This. Make it $2.2 - 2.8M. Noone is going to offer 3.5M+ for a 3 year contract. Why? a) his current goal scoring stats are overrated (a couple of goals were useless, a few could and would be scored by ANYone, 2-3 were good, but only 2-4 were great) b) time will show how much of a defensive handicap he is for the team (e.g. the St. Louis game 10 days ago was just lost due to his turnovers) And for Brunner, a 3.5M contract over 3 years is bad also, because what if he scores 45+ goals and 80+ pts over the next 2 seasons? He's too old to wait for a superb long-term contract in 4 years. Either he gets one in 1, at most 2 years, or he doesn't.

now THIS is where Brunner needs to be on the pp. In or around the slot. Not on the blue line.

Brunner. No one (except Nightfall) seems to have noticed. But this is the 2nd game (after St. Louis) that was clearly lost cos of your turnovers. I thought this was your night. Jeez...

Open Ice. Blue Jackets allow it. Brunner time.

Brunner needs it, too. Hasn't done anything good for the team in the last 4 games. This is the day.

Brunner looks hot tonight. Going to make up for the last 4 games. Scoring 2 more.

wooohoooooo. Brunner night!

My thoughts exactly. He's a sniper, and a floater.... let him float around the slot. He has not proven good on the blue line.