BlueMonk

Not a good goal. Ugh.

I don't disagree, but he took an excruciating penalty early in the game that might have something to do with why he's been sitting. A neutral zone interference call while the Wings had the puck, not good. Well, for my money, he hasn't been as good since 9/11. It had a profound effect on him personally, and he became suddenly very politically partisan and it took away, IMO, from his routine. But the early shows I thought were pretty good.

Dennis Miller can be really funny, in the right context. Sports shows aren't it, though, yet he keeps trying his hand at them for some reason. His show on HBO a few years ago had some hilarious moments. Hey, speaking of Dan Hinote's girlfriend!

I'd love to have him. He'd fit in great. Solid, stay at home defenseman, hits, will fight. I'd trade him straight up for Chelios.

The Wings should have dressed Downey for this game. And if the score gets more lopsided, this will become even more apparent.

Avery alleges he's been libeled by Howard Berger.

That's not surprising to me. Remember when he was with the Wings and he was making a drinking gesture towards Theo Fleury, who is an alcoholic? The racial slurs, too. It's ridiculous, there's no need for that. Like I said, at this pace, he's going to leave the game of hockey via a premeditated, on-ice incident.

Cool, toby. I get like that around famous people, too. Last week, my daughter and I were at the Wings game when they were having the benefit dinner for the owner of The Goalies Den. I guess I didn't realize they were in Cobo, because as we made our walk from the Cobo parking lot, we saw Gordie Howe. I got really starstruck but managed not to make a fool of myself.

Hawks are playing a really good game and look desperate. Great goaltending by Bulin, too.

I wonder if the Wings traded Kronwall to Chicago, maybe he'd become an NHL caliber defenseman.

The myth that Howe was a feared fighter has pretty much been debunked by now. The Lou Fontinato fight seems to have taken on a larger-than-life quality over the past 50 years. It's funny, but the word last night that he had only had one Gordie Howe Hat Trick came as a surprise to me for a different reason: I had heard he never had one! So apparently he had one more than I thought he did.

Cherry's main complaint was that the Leafs didn't dress Belak. He gave credit to Avery for getting the Leafs' best player (this is highly debatable) Tucker in the box for 5 minutes. I think his rant was more aimed at the instigator penalty. Avery is a good hockey player, and he's curbed his biggest weakness, which was committing dumb penalties without taking someone else with him to the box. But I think some of the sideshow stuff he does is more aimed at drawing attention to himself than helping his team. Remember, the L.A. Kings let him go, and teams don't jettison talent for no good reason at all. Also, the things he says probably do cross the line at times, especially the racial slurs. It wouldn't surprise me if his last game in the NHL is the result of some kind of retribution from another player, and that won't be good for hockey if that's how it goes down, with the inevitable attention it will draw from the national media. He has improved as a fighter. And he's an important part of the line he plays on, not bad at all.

Tucker and Avery mixing it up during warmups before the Rangers-Leafs game, look for them to go very soon.

Same here. I heard a stat on XM radio's feed that well into the 3rd period, there had only been 28 faceoffs so far in the game! By comparison, the recent Montreal-Boston game finished with 71 faceoffs. Incredible action in this game, just great to watch.

Totally agree. I posted about this on the Downey on waivers thread. I love guys like that.

I was there too and saw this exact same thing! We were on the bench side, in these awesome seats that someone hooked us up with. Best seats I've ever had, lower bowl, just a few rows back near center ice. Great game by the Wings. Dominated every aspect of play. The top line is so good now that it's not a matter of if they're going to amaze you on the ice in a given game, but when.

I just read the interview with Downey in this morning's Detroit News (it's linked on the top of the forum page here, "Downey takes one for team"). Man, I love his attitude. No wonder guys love having him (and players like him) in the clubhouse.

Me, too. When I saw him go to the box on Wednesday night, I thought, "Don't give Ken Holland a reason to have second thoughts." I'll go ballistic if they let him go and don't replace him. And I'm not talking about f**king Kopecky when I say "replace," either.

Burke is right, as usual.

The Sens have done this (blazing starts) before. Right after the lockout, it was them and Detroit who were on pace to outscore their opposition by more than 2 goals per game, which I believe hadn't been done since the Canadiens dynasty. It lasted well into the season, longer than we've gone so far this year, but it didn't last forever. It's easier to get wins now with the shootouts, so who knows, maybe they can break the wins record. Regardless, I don't think this Ottawa team is really that much better than everyone else. They don't have a lot of scoring depth and it's not like they're icing a roster full of HOFers the way the Habs teams of the 70s did. In the salary cap league, I think a team has to be on a mission to separate itself from the pack, which the Sens might be because of how last season ended. They have to approach regular season games like they're playoff games, because the talent is much more diluted around the league. The only problem with that is, you want your team to peak at the right time. After the Pistons lost in the NBA Finals in 2005, they came back with a vengeance in 2006 and broke the franchise record for wins, then promptly unraveled in the playoffs. If you're a Sens fan, you're probably excited by the way they're playing, but at the same time figure you've seen this show before, and didn't like the ending.

Just got back from the game. The Wings dominated for so long, hard to believe it went to a shootout. I thought the top line was pretty gassed in the third period. I haven't checked a boxscore yet, but it seemed like they (along with Lidstrom) were on the ice all night long. Osgood played really well. I was hoping for a Downey-Tootoo dance. Downey asked Tootoo to go but Tootoo declined.

I'd pay to watch Bertuzzi finish him off.

They lost too many players the early part of this season. Couple of Hall Of Famers and a few All Stars to boot. Too much to overcome. The Ducks need to get healthy and settle these ridiculous "retirement" issues before they're going to start winning again.

Watching the Minnesota feed, the first replay I've seen, the Boogaard-King fight is not so clear cut. King landed punches early, for some reason Boogie didn't lose his equipment right away. He looked to be cut from one of King's punches. Boogaard definitely took over the fight from that point forward, but his punches didn't seem to do any major damage. I'm inclined to call it a draw, King early, Boogaard late.

I can't believe the Red Wings swept in Western Canada. First time they've done that since Calgary joined the league, right? I think that's what they just said. Here's one thing I'm happy to say I'm noticing the Wings doing more often, something that was sorely lacking in previous seasons: Chipping the puck out of the defensive zone when they get in trouble. Prior to this year, they would maddeningly insist on trying to maintain puck possession and wind up turning it over or taking a ton of physical abuse from the forechecking forwards. So much smarter to change things up when necessary. I know I'm a broken record about this, but being flexible and being able to adapt the playing style needed against a specific team or game situation is really important. This team seems capable of doing that. Chris Osgood is really, really impressing me.