haroldsnepsts

Some of them called are pretty friggin weak. The main thing I'd like is just some consistency throughout a game from the refs. They'll call a guy for tapping a player around the hands, then later Hossa can get nearly yanked off his feet (and that's hard to do) but the refs don't call it because it's late in the game and he's trying to score an empty netter. Honestly I'm okay with this, and they actually are calling it relatively consistently. If you take your hand off your stick to grab a guy, they should call it. The simple way to avoid a penalty is not to take your hand off your stick and grab. Simple. Otherwise it's probably a slow creep back to the clutch and grab days. This one is interesting. I can't remember what former hockey player I saw talking about it and said it shouldn't be a penalty. It's a tough call though. There's times when a guy is really just trying to play the puck, and there's times where a guy definitely seems to be turning his back so a player can't hit him. Along the lines of diving, I would love for the league to review footage and give players fines for diving, regardless of how it was called in the game. Tucker had a couple doozies in the last Toronto game I saw, both of which were called penalties. But it's pretty easy when you see the replay that he jumped off his feet. Players are embarrassing the refs and embarrassing the league by doing it. Obvious dives should be called out by the league to embarrass that player, and slap them with a fine. but I'm getting off topic, I guess.

that's the crux of it. Lilja barely tapped the guys stick and it fell out of his hands. Yes it was a slash, but guys give each other little slashes like that all the time that never get called. The guy just wasn't hanging on to his stick. I think the refs should use more discretion. If you give a guy a pretty good two-hander and knock the stick out, it should be a penalty, if you give it a tap like Lilja did, they should let it go. It's not like it happened in front of the net on a scoring chance.

I'm pretty sure Cheli is still at least a couple weeks away.

Tootoo is a joke. He's a spectacle, not a hockey player. Good for the fans in Nashville, not so good for the game. I didn't see the fight in question but he definitely is known for mugging guys before they can even get their gloves off. Half the time the opponent doesn't even know he's in a fight until Tootoo's already wailed on him 3 or 4 times. I'd like to think Nashville is the only team stupid enough to keep him in the lineup, but who knows. When his contract ends next year if he doesn't get re-signed, sadly someone else will probably take him. The only good thing about Tootoo is that when he's on the ice, there's a decent chance Nashville will get scored on.

Z rocks. What a monster on the PK.

how did that 2 on 1 develop? or this one??

He must've got confused and stopped the play assuming the penalty was on the Wings since they're in the lead.

I don't want to jinx it, but I'll say that the Wings are up by a couple goals. I'm guessing the refs already have the whistle in their mouth.

In Sammy's defense, I think it was going to miss the net until it deflected off the defenseman's skate. He tried, but accidentally scored.

Nice play by Lebda there.

If you don't play on the PK or PP these days, you might as well not even dress for the game.

The main thing I want from refs is consistency. We'll see what happens this game, but they call this ticky tacky b.s., then they let someone get mugged later in the game if the score is tight.

As tired as I am of these penalties, eventually players need to figure out you can't have your stick parallel to the ice like that and be hitting a guy around the hands or waist. The penalty is pretty weak, but you gotta draw the line somewhere or it's a slow creep to the clutch and grab days.

Because both penalties were on kind of flukey plays. the slash on the stick and an inadvertent slash that rode up the guy's stick. That doesn't mean Lilja sucks. It means that stuff happens when you play hockey. Funny how everyone was silent when Zetterberg took the bad penalty that put them on 5 on 3. And on the replay I thought that puck hit behind the second post. Guess not.

To Oilers in the corner and somehow Lids comes out with it. He makes it look easy. Z has gotten really good at splitting the defense.

Obviously they were both penalties. I just meant the first one is a marginal call. He hardly tapped the guy's stick, and I've always thought calling a slash just because you knock a guy's stick out is kind of a bs call. Zetterberg's penalty was the most deliberate of the calls on the Wings so far. He clearly took his hand off and grabbed the guy's arm.

Zetterberg you suck! Trade him! that was a much worse penalty than anything Lillypads has done.

Holy overreaction! The first penalty was a ridiculously weak call. This slash rode up the guys stick and hit him in the face. Definitely a penalty, but a fluke play.

Wow. What a weak, weak call. Lilja did a nice job standing him up at the blueline. It's not his fault the guy's barely holding onto his stick.

This season Mickey has made a lot of really good points by illustrating on the instant replays. Did he stop drinking ginger ales during the game or something?

Is that what he's saying? Thanks for the translation.

Great pass! Wings power play is ridiculous. 33%?! I think the next nearest team is around 25%.

Not a great fight, but I'd give Mac the slight edge. Mainly I just like how he dropped the gloves and got into it right away. when a tough guy is coming at you like that for basically a nothing play, come out swinging.

I have been surprised at how many one goal games there've been, and how many have gone to a shootout this early in the season. I'd be curious to see the number of shootouts so far this year compared to previous seasons. Because the other night, something like 4 out of 10 games were decided by shootout. If that continues, honestly it will affect my interest in the game. Why bother watching when the biggest determining factors in a game are the refs and an arbitrary spectacle like the shootout.

Usually there's some thread around here where people are clamoring for Avery and laugh at his antics. The other night the Kings played the Stars and it went to a shootout. Ribeiro made a nice move and scored, then proceeded to take off his glove and go "shhh," taunting the Kings bench and fans. On the bench you could see he and Avery were so giddy they looked like they wanted to make out. (The Stars lost the game on the next goal, by the way). They're a match made in heaven. Diving, taunting, shooting off their mouth... But that's not why I never want Avery back on the Wings. In spite of all the good qualities he has as a player, the guy is an ass and a lockerroom cancer. From a recent article about Dustin Brown and what it was like coming to the Kings as a young, quiet player: Class act. He mocks his own teammate to the point of it coming to blows. Deciding between Avery and Brown must've been an easy choice for the Kings. http://www.latimes.com/sports/hockey/nhl/k...8451,full.story