Heroes of Hockeytown

Man, that was close. Great stop.

Great play by Franzen.

Too bad Train didn't get the goal. So far they're having their best first period they've managed against the Oilers this year.

He had a great game. Probably his best play wasn't on his goal, but Bert's. Stepping around the defenseman, getting the puck to the net with traffic in front, that's how you create goals for your team (also a great pass by Ericsson to set Flip up, too bad he won't get a point for that).

He's the team's number one center so he has the puck all the time, and he prefers to pass the puck so it's more likely to get picked off. It's up there but other top line players are in the same orbit (Thornton, Crosby, Ovechkin, etc.). Most of his giveaways aren't of the killer variety like the above mentioned and his net giveaways/takeaways is through the roof. He's definitely not the Wings go-to guy defensively but I don't think the giveaways in particular reflect badly on his defensive prowess.

You had a good thing going Jimmy, but now you've gone and done it. You're back on Carman's s***-list: Said Howard of Crosby: “He does that stuff all the time. Somehow he gets away with it.’’

He wouldn't say anything cross about Crosby or anyone else, he's the consummate professional. Even when Malkin went after him last summer he was interviewed moments after it happened, when all that adrenaline would still be flowing, and he was totally calm and shrugged it off. Anyways, when he had that good game against Minnesota I was kind of skeptical about him being "back," but these last two games have been classic Hank. He's killing it on the backhand, driving to the net, finally being Zetterberg again. Maybe his shoulder finally feels all better now?

I think it's unlikely he'll ever find that dominant physical game again because he has a bad back. He's played every game this year though, much to his credit, I considered his health one of the cons when he was brought on board, but obviously he's still limited by his condition. He's far from perfect, but I was hoping for 20ish goals and 40-50 points out of him when he was signed and he's delivered on my expectations.

Heh, I know I sometimes feel frustrated that the Flames and Preds seem to do nothing but win all the time, but lately Flames fans must feel like the hockey gods have abandoned them: Wings scoring the tiebreaking goal with a minute left in their game, and two buzzer beaters to secure at least 2 extra points these last two nights.

That no-look backhand pass from behind the goal line to a Canuck late in the third still has me sweating bullets, though. Holy moly E, get it together brother.

Hank's goal was more of the classic Zetterberg we're used to, and he always seems to score on Luongo to boot so the timing was good in more ways than one. Though I'm sure he was cognizant of the fact that he was on the clock with his OT winner, I wonder if he would have shot the puck when he did if the period wasn't about to end?

00.3 must be their lucky number.

I don't think it really matters who he puts in that third spot, the options aren't very good. Pavel and Willy are both shootout aces but they always seem to alternate shootouts that they actually score in, so after Jimmy lets a couple in and the third shooter is stopped it's over. Bert was good for a while when he was hot, but as soon as everyone (including Willy) got healthy he went back to being ice cold. I'm fine with the pick, couldn't be any worse than Hank or Bert in lazy and sucks mode, although I would like to see Franzen get a go at it.

No, if he were Steve he'd be better than ever. I would say it's got nothing to do with Flip because Hank hasn't had mojo with anybody this season, not even when he was playing with Pavel and Homer.

So very strange that the one team the Wings can't beat just so happens to be the worst team in the NHL. No surprise that they lost in the shootout though; Jimmy is no good at it and even though the Wings have two good shooters, Pavel and Willy never score in the same game. I'm sure starting Dubnyk was a calculated move by Quinn though, he knows terrible no-name goalies always go Vezina-mode on the Wings. Even though they managed to squeak a miracle point out of this one, it was a pretty lousy game. They'll have to do a lot better against the Canucks.

Edmonton's doing as poorly as anyone: 2-7-1 in their last ten and losers of three straight. There's been such a long layoff since the last game Jimmy should be good to go, but on the other hand there's a game the next day and it would be good to give Ozzie a start now and again.

Yes, one of the wins and the loss were the result of shootouts, though. I seem to remember the Wings outplaying the Sharks in both of those games anyways, for what it's worth.

My guess is he'll try to get him into a couple games against Edmonton/Columbus, which the Wings have in abundance in the last few weeks, which should supposedly be "easy" wins.

Ay Dios mio, dem eyez. He is staring down into the deepest chasms of my soul.

It's been worn occasionally but only briefly in other recent cases... Jamie Rivers, the legendary Cory Cross, Kyle Quincey. Generally not a very popular number among Detroit skaters, but probably just coincidence.

It's certainly been a long time since the Wings gave anybody a good ol' fashioned beatdown. I could get used to this.

I don't like the idea, it's fundamentally not hockey. And for as much as the NHL likes to change the rules to increase scoring, that would probably increase it by the most. It can be hard and awkward to maneuver a big, unwieldy stick around your own and other players' feet in a way that kicking would not; you can tie up a player's stick, you can't tie up his feet.

Good point. Desperate GM + team with lots of cap room = you never know. Those kind of moves never make much rational sense but they do happen from time to time. Risky strategy to try and bank on, though. I guess they can always waive them if they really have to.

I'd be very surprised if Chicago could get out of the Huet or Campbell contract; too much money, too many years for players so aggressively mediocre. On the other hand, I'd be surprised if Chicago's management went out of their way to give Hossa a big contract last summer, completely aware of the cap crunch, and didn't have some sort of plan to maneuver out of trouble.

They don't have a very high bar set ahead of them, considering the normal contributions of the Wings' 2nd/3rd lines. If it gets Hank going it'll be worth it.