haroldsnepsts

I was just thinking that. Now that we have a two goal lead he actually went to the net. Also there was no one in his way.

That pretty much says it.

ABBY! Nice feed from Kronwall.

Pavel f-ing Datsyuk. Wow. I'll hit the brakes and he'll fly right by!

Was it a crosscheck? Wasn't sure. But Cleary sure got rocked.

He was moving out and up ice to give Z someone to outlet too. Then Z threw it off the glass and turned it over, and Ericsson got caught out there and played essentially as a forward.

The Bert Cleary Zetterberg line is soft?

Like that Kronwall! Man, Datsyuk just saved your ass. Then another good scoring chance by the Blues.

He's had great puck control these last few games, buzzing around the ice. not a lot of chance off it though.

Wings have control and they stop the play for a penalty on the blues. Makes sense. Kronner! I forgive you for some of your questionable play tonight.

is it too early to give Helm the #1 star?

Another good shift by the ZBC line, and another good scoring chance for Cleary. Hope he gets one too.

Great shift by the Cleary-Z-Bert line. I want to see how Bert's shot didn't go in. What're they calling?? EDIT: oh my god. I'm speechless about that call.

Thats' how you do it Ericsson. knock him on his ass.

Let me see what I've got on me. *checking my wallet.* Wait, does that share of the Leafs include waffles?

Those pretty much are the highlights. I was gonna give Kronwall crap for a couple questionable pinches, but Babs must have some instructions about the D jumping in the play. Because they're really being active so far, like on Salei's goal. It's probably going to cause some scary moments, but has worked overall in the first. Oh and Howard with a great save at the very end of the period.

2 minutes on Stuart for pulling up on a hit. Nice save by Jimmy.

what has Helm been putting in his oatmeal? He's a beast out there.

Franzen should watch some game tape on Helm. Skate hard. Go to the net. Shoot the puck.

It's maybe a little bit of that. But like I said, Hudler's been playing well, so the whipping boy has shifted to Howard and Ericsson. Once it gets rolling, it snowballs. E will make one awful turnover and that's how people remember him playing all game. And I think Kindl's getting too much love because of all the Ericsson hate, but I still wouldn't call him worse than Lebda, especially considering his inexperience. Keep in mind Lebda's the dude who coudln't hold the bottom pairing spot in friggin Toronto!

If were talking about last season, I agree. He was awful. He took a major step backward last season, and now some steps forward, but is not where I had hoped. He kills penalties, plays a lot of minutes with mostly solid defense. It's just then he makes this incredibly stupid decision, like the backhand pass, that overshadows his good play. And as I mentioned, he seems to do it more as the game wears on. So I worry about his focus and hockey IQ. Right now I think he's an acceptable bottom pairing guy. He doesn't look much different than Salei out there, who is a 13 year veteran and an okay bottom pairing d-man. Actually Ericsson reminds me of Lilja when he first got to Detroit. Decent on the PK, but not physical enough, and can ruin a solid performance with an unbelievably stupid play. Much like Lilja, I don't know what Babs needs to get it through his skull, but Ericsson plays better when he plays simple. Lidstrom didn't win 6 Norris trophies by being flashy. He just makes the right, simple play almost every time. I'd love for Ericsson to use his size and start punishing guys, but even if he can just consistently play a simple game, he can be a solid 4-6 Dman.

I remember him being surprisingly solid then too. But now I have to wonder if some of that was colored by my expectation at the time, and the company he kept. He hadn't even played a full season, and the other bottom guy was Lebda (and to a lesser extent Meech and a very slow Cheli). I still hold out hope he can be a solid bottom pairing guy and maybe even be a #4 Dman one day.

With Lebda gone and hudler turning his game around, we're back to the scapegoat that was predicted at the beginning of the season. Last night's game was a shaky defensive showing by just about any Dman not named Lidstrom. Ericsson, Kindl, and Kronwall all had brutal turnovers. Kindl got lost around his own net several times. And no one clears the crease but Stuart. It's not that I even think Ericsson is particularly good. He's just not as awful as people make him out to be. For how you feel about people focusing on every Jimmy Howard rebound, that's exactly what you're doing with Ericsson. My main complaints with him (as always) are he's not physical enough for his size. He doesn't know how to pin a guy to the boards properly. And he seems to lose focus as the game wears on, at least lately. He'll start strong but then make a boneheaded play. Like a no-look backhand pass to no one behind his own net. I'm happy he's not as awful as he was last season, but his development seems to have slowed. His upside is when he's playing confident he's got a great first pass, can jump into the play and be effective, and has a pretty good stick.

You must be new there. hfboards has some great posters and it does give you a decent view of perspectives around the league. But the idiot factor is also a thousand times higher there than here. As someone else put it, if not for an incredibly lucky deflection off an Oilers player the Wings would've lost to the worst team in the NHL because of an awful goal by Howard. It's great that they pulled this out and stole two points. But as I said in my other post, it's not just about this game. It's about this team getting its s*** together for the postseason. And we've been saying for 60+ games how there's still time for that to happen. Well, now is that time.

Howard let in one awful goal to start things off. But recovered and made some big saves the rest of the game. All in all I think people are complaining about Howard and the Wings in general because it's not just about this game. It's about the playoffs. I'm looking for some semblance of consistency and hard work from this team as it heads into the playoffs and they really haven't shown it. Overall Howard played well, but let in an awful goal. The Wings got two points, but it required a really fortunate bounce and last minute heroics, all against the lowly Oilers who have injury problems to boot. Those are things you definitely don't want to see in the playoffs, and I keep waiting for this Wings team to get it dialed in.