Nightfall

You aren't alone. Many "fans" have jumped off the bandwagon a couple losses ago.

What a snipe

Conklin?

I like what I see from Conklin. He has played well.

You have to admit, the Wings are playing with heart tonight.

Give him a few seasons in the AHL. He will be a good player for the wings for many years.

FIFY Richards had all day and the whole ice to make it happen. Look at all that space he had.

IMHO, to have any feelings about a game like this would be crazy. With so many youngsters in the game, and the chemistry off, anything can happen. I had some positive feelings about this game, but they weren't overwhelming. I was asking just merely because the Wings took the lead and seeing if anyone is feeling better about the game by what they have seen so far. It wasn't a mocking question. As you said, its all about heart, and the heart of this team is shining through so far with their effort.

What about now? Any positive feelings? Hey, just asking since so many people, including the OP, were so down about the game.

I agree. Maturation takes time. I would rather Smith get through these growing pains in the minors than in the NHL. Case in point, the two turnovers in the defensive zone that resulted in goals a few games back. People here on LGW and other forums I have read gave him a lot of flak. You can bet Smith was giving himself a lot of flak for those plays. That is how you learn in hockey though. Lids was never the perfect human at the start of his career. At the same time though, if he has an opportunity to learn from Lids next year, I say he should be brought up. I just don't like him playing 3rd line minutes when he can get top line minutes in the AHL.

Being as that Holland as built 4 cars that have won championships in the last 15 years, and playoff teams the last 20 years, I will be happy to back the cars he builds.

Its a bummer, but Helm could be back in round 1 or round 2 of the playoffs. Thats good news. Its better than an MCL or ACL tear thats for sure.

I say don't worry about winning the division. Get healthy, work on the special teams, and get ready for a playoff run.

I have to agree. Winning the Stanley Cup takes a healthy squad. It looks like we were going to get everyone back by the playoffs. If Helm is out, that hurts.

You may have thought they had a better likelihood of winning the cup, but the simple fact of the matter is that you are only saying that in hindsight. There are 16 teams that have a likelihood of winning the cup when the playoffs come around. Maybe the top team in the division has a little more of a likelihood. Only 7 teams that won the presidents trophy have won the stanley cup that season. Vancouver thought that they were the team to beat last year, and their fans thought they had more of a likelihood to win the cup. Yet, they didn't win the cup. Oh, and that hunger you talk about isn't evident during the regular season in game 60 and 70. It is evident in the 2nd and 3rd round of the playoffs. I will give you this, I haven't been impressed with the play of this team the last two seasons. Seems that they have made some poor decisions defensively. I like this team this year, when healthy.

He is a rookie, thats for sure. I think he has the capability to be a first or second pairing defenseman. This is why, if he got called up, I would have played him with Lids the entire season. He needs that veteran leadership. What he doesn't need is 9 minutes of ice time per night in the NHL when he can get 22 minutes per night in the AHL. Give him time to develop. That has gone so well in the past with players like Flip, Kronwall, Howard, and so on.

I have no issues calling the team out for lack of hustle. That is what we saw yesterday. When you look at Pittsburgh, who was missing Crosby, Letang, and Staal for a bit earlier this year, you didn't see their other guys slacking. Their callups have been super, and if they aren't scoring, they are hustling. I believe that the Wings callups should be doing the same thing, but they are not. Every team is going to go through a tough spell. The Wings have had a couple cold stretches where they haven't been very good. Injuries or not, the team has to weather the storm and come out of it for the better. Go ahead, call out the players. I believe that when the Wings get healthy and their chemistry back, the wins will come. In order to win the Stanley cup, a team has to have good goaltending, be healthy, and have some puck luck. I think this team will be healthy come playoff time, and that will be a huge factor.

Personally, it seems like this team is mailing it in without them in the lineup. They could play harder, but its readily apparent that they don't want to. They didn't even start playing until the second period. When you look at Pittsburgh, they aren't mailing it in with their stars out of the lineup. I find it disgusting that we don't bring up our level of play when our stars are out but other teams do. Thats my only complaint.

There is a value to not being exhausted at work tomorrow. Going to give the Wings a little more time though.

Well, it looks like I may be able to go to bed early.

Yea, sad panda.

I get negged by some moron for pointing that out. Pathetic......

Puck was off to the left of Jimmy and not covered. Watch the replay.

Puck was never covered.

My prediction? 4-3 Wings!