RedWingsFanatic

Ansar Khan is reporting that Kopecky will be out with his shoulder injury and Ellis will be out with a headache, so Hudler will center a line with Drake and Downey.

I'd wager to say that this is a fairly important game for the Wings to win tonight. It would be nice to end this stretch against the Central with a win. Osgood is in net, which means victory. Go Wings.

That was a nice post from Jeff. I agree with almost all of it, Ohio State love notwithstanding (Go Spartans), especially the stuff about Babcock and the coaching staff's inability to adjust. It's been obvious in the past three games against Chicago and it was evident again tonight. The Blackhawks have the Red Wings figured out, especially on the power play, and they know that pressuring them is the way to go. They did a superb job of that tonight. They were also fantastic in getting down and blocking shots and taking away shooting lanes. I hate to bring this up, but it's a possibility that we might face Chicago in the first-round of the playoffs. And, right now, that's just too much to think about.

Yeah, I hear you. Anybody that wants to dump Dom is silly, in my opinion. First of all, it will never happen. And secondly, it shouldn't. I feel like a broken record tonight, but he needs to have the pressure off of him for a while and given some time to find his game again. We have the best back-up in the league, in Chris Osgood, that can step in and do the job for the time being.

Again, numbers don't tell the story. You have to look at the goals that Dom is giving up. To be honest, they aren't stellar chances. A starting goaltender in the NHL needs to stop weak breakway shots like the 'Hawks put on Hasek tonight. And, like I keep saying, it's not just one game. It's a series of them like this. Put Ozzie in, let Hasek back-up for about a month, work him hard in practice and see what happens. It's not the end of the world if Chris Osgood is our starting goalie. My goodness, he's won a Stanley Cup. He's an elite netminder.

Nobody is saying to dump Hasek. You make him the back-up, essentially switching roles with Osgood. If Osgood gets hurt, Hasek steps in. Just reverse how it is now.

This is true. But, with that being said, the breakaways were shots that should have been saved. I'm certainly not blaming the entire loss on Hasek, as the defensive corps has to do a much better job of stopping odd-man rushes. It's becoming a disturbing trend. It's just hard to ignore the big picture, though. I think that's the hardest thing to get by. This wasn't just one game, it's a string of games and a string of sub-par performances. I'm coming across as so incredibly anti-Hasek, and it's not that, it's just that there shouldn't be ANY question that Osgood should be starting.

I really do admire your loyalty, but there just comes a point when you have go give it up, right? It's alright to admit that Hasek just doesn't cut it right now. Like I was saying earlier, I'm not a Hasek basher, but it's just blatantly obvious that Chris Osgood should be starting in net on a nightly basis. Maybe Ozzie hits a cold stretch and you stick Dom back in and the tide turns, but you have to go with the hot goalie. And, right now, the hot goalie is not Dominik Hasek.

There really aren't any words to described what happened tonight. It was just a case of every single break going Chicago's way. I hate to put it so bluntly, but it's fact. Three short-handed goals in one game is just unfathomable. When you out-shoot a team like the Wings did tonight, you win the game. That's just how it's supposed to go. The fact that it didn't is just unreal. Not to add fuel to the fire, but the Red Wings win this game if Chris Osgood is in net. Sorry, folks. It's true. Hasek was just awful. I have preached patience all season, but I think I'm finally done with that chain of thought. He doesn't deserve it anymore. Chris Osgood should be the starting goaltender, and that's all there is to it. Losing four in a row to any team hurts a lot, and this certainly does. No bright spots. No nothing. Pick it up, move on and hope for things go our way tomorrow in Columbus. If we're looking for something to get excited about, the game was sold out. So I guess we can take some solace in that.

Mats Sundin - Yes Eric Lindros - No Peter Forsberg - Yes Jeremy Roenick - No Rod Brind'Amour - Yes Mark Recchi - No Mike Modano - Yes Keith Tkachuk - No Chris Osgood - No Scott Niedermayer - No Brendan Shanahan - Yes Sergei Fedorov - No Rob Blake - No Alexander Mogilny - No Curtis Joseph - No Teemu Selanne - No Gary Roberts - No Nikolai Khabibulin - No

Man, I really can't see the Wings trading Hasek. That's just weird to think about. And, to tell you the truth, I don't think many teams would want him. He was a gamble to begin with, and now he isn't playing very well, and I don't think there's a big market for a goalie like that. With that being said, let's not too far ahead of ourselves here. We're still just getting started. He was a long time to improve. I'm the biggest Chris Osgood supporter in the world, but even I think we afford Dom some more patience.

All of the odd-man rushes can really be attributed to a poor game from the Wings' defense. They were beat to a lot of pucks and looked silly on numerous occasions. I mean, what do you expect when Andreas Lilja is out of the line-up?

It's troubling that we are off to such a nice start, but struggling against the teams in our division. Granted, it's still very early and we have picked up a couple of victories, but we haven't really played up to our standards in any of them. Just something to think about. It will be very interesting to see what happens with the goalie situation over these next few days. Another three days off for the Wings before we play the 'Hawks again on Saturday, and you'd think they would go with Osgood. Dom has to be slightly worried. Anyway, a terrible second period doomed us tonight. Let's hope for a better effort against than darn Chicago team on Saturday. Until then, everybody. Cheers.

Man, I'm struggling to figure out what just happened. That was awfully quick. It's going to be very tough for the Wings to come back in the third period, I think. When did the Scottrade Center become a difficult place to play?

Dennis Miller? Really?

I notice it says that the game will be broadcast on Versus as well as FSN Detroit. That is not true, unfortunately. Anybody know of a way for us non-Versus folks to catch the game, or will we will KalWoods'ing it tonight?

There is a very real chance that the Wings could face the Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs, which is incredibly frightening.

A tough loss to be sure. It's unfortunate that we can't seem to play better against Chicago. It's also unfortunate that both the team's winning streak and Ozzie's winning streak come to an end tonight. We get another crack at them on Saturday, which is the bright side to this. Anyway, not a very inspired effort from the guys tonight. Hank was able to extend his point streak, which is really the lone bright spot. There just wasn't any sort of flow at all to the Wings' game tonight. Like I kept saying, the Blackhawks have become very good at neutralizing the Red Wings offensive attack. It will be interesting to see how they adjust for Saturday. Until Tuesday night, gang.

The thing that makes the Hawks so tough is that they really play a different game than any other team we have played. They are so incredibly aggressive and we aren't used to it. We don't have our usual time and space to make passes and gets things set up, particularly on the power play. The Blackhawks are doing a really nice job of getting up in our faces and stopping things before they can start.

The Blackhawks are playing really well and the Red Wings aren't. That's sort of it. The 'Hawks are a really aggressive team, particularly defensively, and it's thrown off our entire game. We thrive on having space to put things together and they aren't giving us any. Their penalty kill is a great example of this. It's just really thrown our game into a tizzy.

This makes no sense and is untrue.

This makes no sense and is untrue.

The Blackhawks just really know how to shut down the Wings. They aren't letting them get anything going, and they have been particularly good at shutting down ZDH in front of the net. They're young and feisty and they certainly get excited for games against Detroit, so we're going to need to get something figured out. With that being said, I think it's a bit extreme that we've resorted to changing up the lines. You go on a nine-game winning streak and then have one sub-par period and you throw everything out the window? It might just be a result of all the penalty-killing, but it's something to at least keep an eye on. It's hard to believe that the Wings are on the brink of losing three straight to Chicago. They are obviously a much better, much grittier team than they have been in the past. Here's to a Red Wings comeback!

This is probably the most anxious I've been for a game this season. The prospect of losing three straight, and our current winning streak, to the Blackhawks doesn't sit well with me. It should be a fun one. It's also worth noting that this is the first Blackhawks home game in a LONG time that will be broadcast on TV.

I don't have the exact number in front of me, but the attendance tonight was just shy of 19,000, which I think is good for the highest of the year.