BlueMonk

Anaheim is slowly rounding into form. The only real question mark I'd see with them is goal scoring, which admittedly is a pretty big question mark. I'd rather have Andy McDonald and Teemu Selanne than Bertuzzi and Weight, so for now, I don't think the team's offense is as strong as it was last season.

Heinous offense, he should be out for the season. WTF is wrong with this guy? His head's not right. He just snaps and goes apesh** sometimes.

It really is cool. Glad to see they're using on FSN Detroit now.

I do think the injuries to Draper, Maltby, and now Holmstrom, are catching up to the Wings a bit. Teams often play over their heads for a while after suffering key injuries, but they can't sustain it. This is where the Red Wings are at now.

Z doesn't have a great slapshot but he was going for the surprise element. If it went in, there would be a whole separate thread dedicated to how brilliant it was.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. It's great that they got the point. They come in handy down the stretch.

Not sure why everyone is bagging on the slapshot by Z. You guys know the story about how Lemaire had a dream that Brian Rolston tried one in a shootout, and then Rolston (without being told about Lemaire's dream) actually went out that night and scored a shootout goal with a slapper, right? Rolston's scored quite a few shootout goals off slapshots.

End of the win streak but at least one point for the tie. Wings just looked lethargic tonight, just a step slow, passes just a little off, etc. Not one of their better games.

I loved this deal from the instant I heard about it, and that was before the playoffs when lots of people were convinced that a) Datsyuk couldn't get it done in the playoffs and b) would suffer a major performance drop now that he had his contract. I thought Datsyuk was bound to see an uptick in his playoff numbers, which he in fact did last season. But even if he hadn't, I still liked the deal. You have to make the playoffs to win in the playoffs, and even if Datsyuk's only contributions were in the regular season, he would have been tough to replace. But yes, it's too early to pass judgment on the deal. It looks good so far, though.

Normally I would be concerned about rushing to judgment about a player based on a small sample of games in which he outperformed his career averages. But I don't think Ozzie's performance this year is a fluke. He's changed his style. Much more aggressive challenging shooters and playing a more traditional butterfly style. This suggests to me that he's adjusted his approach and it's making him a better goalie. If that's true, then expecting more good seasons from him seems like a pretty good bet.

I agree that hockey players are essentially nobodies in the U.S. until they reach the NHL, regardless of where they play. And I wouldn't argue about the racial issues you're talking about in football and basketball. But all that said, I don't think the talk in hockey about "North American" and "European" is that much about race. There's a strong nationalism surrounding hockey in Canada, no doubt about it. But Canadian hockey players can have names like Shanahan, Luongo, Ciccarelli, etc, and still be revered as "Canadians."

The point is well taken, but I think the discussion about where players are from is more about the style of hockey they're raised playing than their race. European hockey players, regardless of their color or ancestry, play in leagues that emphasize a different hockey style than North American hockey players (or at least that's the argument). I don't think the presence of European players is a problem in Detroit. I don't think it's a big problem anywhere in the U.S., with one caveat: By comparison, in the NFL, the top players are followed from the time they're in high school. The NFL draft is a huge deal, because everyone has seen the kids play in college and the anticipation of how their game will translate to the pros is a big part of the appeal. But nobody in the U.S. is paying attention to the European hockey leagues that NHL players are drafted from, so they're like strangers who won't make a name for themselves until they make it as NHLers. I don't think that's a problem, really, but it does have an impact on the popularity of the game.

Yeah, the goaltending comment is silly, no idea what Bucci was thinking when he wrote that.

This game was probably the fight fan's game of the year so far. Lots of action! I saw almost all of it.

That's nice to read, eh? Those guys deserve their props, they're really underappreciated.

Pretty funny that before the game Babs says, "No, no, no" in response to a question about whether it was Lidstrom. Then, after the game... we find out it's Lidstrom.

Parros and Shelley, KD win for Parros.

Real f**kin' good. Concise, BlueMonk

CHRISTOPHER JOHN OSGOOD!!! (sorry, HC) Talk about the goalie stealing a game. Whew!

The scoring chances aren't strongly favoring the Wings, though. Nashville is forechecking like crazy and it's shifting the momentum in their favor.

The scoring chances aren't strongly favoring the Wings, though. Nashville is forechecking like crazy and it's shifting the momentum in their favor.

I don't like the Wings chances in this game if they just try to hang on. I don't see this one goal lead holding up, the Wings need another goal somehow, some way.

Nashville looks like the more rested team.

Looked like pond hockey out there. No discipline. Osgood saved their bacon. Nashville looks like they came out intent on taking advantage of the Wings having played last night. They just jumped all over the Wings with energy and long offensive zone possessions. When teams are tired they tend to go for shortcuts and that's how the Wings seemed to be playing in the first period. But for the Wings to score a couple goals like that really takes some steam out of the Preds.