vladdy16

For a nice change of pace, today I swim with the tide and hop on the Howie Bandwagon. Not only has he been consistently playing lights out, he has a fire in his belly. It's a spark the Wings desperately need. Can't wait to see the pugilist in him come out again, preferrably against HWSNBN. No offense to Nick - he certainly helps Howie greatly to perform his job and I will take to my bed and weep inconsolably for weeks on end upon his retirement, but at this moment in time, Jimmah is the man.

Sssssshhhhhhhh. It was sarcasm.

That was indeed epic. Mad, mad scramble in the Wings' zone those last 23 seconds. Great D by Lids as usual - he kept two pucks from getting to Howie. End of game notes: * Hitchcock should take some blood pressure medication - he looked apoplectic the last 6 minutes of the game. * St. Louis played a spectacular game, albeit cheap. Their double standard is mind-blowing. * Arnott can kiss my lily white ass. He's as big a ****** as Jackman. GO WINGS!

Empty net!

No doubt, but it sure would be nice if they would motivate themselves before the 3rd.

That was not a "throw it at the net and see what happens" goal; he picked his spot. Beautiful!

The next and ONLY goal!

Hudler just scored two games ago, so he's not due for another couple of games. For Franzen, it's not San Jose or the playoffs, so if he hasn't scored 3 goals by now, he's not going to, unfortunately.

Dear Pavel, I'd like to see more of that, please. Thank you. PS - Don't get hurt!

They're trying to kill me. Some excellent chances, but no cigar. Franzen, really? You couldn't bury that puck? 18 seconds left and the Wings keep pluggin'.

And the Wings decide to play finally. Several great chances thus far, but Calgary's goaltending is up to the challenge. $*%@ Kipper.

You're a third of the way there!

I can't decide if I should be upset about the non-call on Boumeister for interfering with Pavel; we wouldn't have done anything with the PP anyway, but it would have been nice to be a man up for a change. We do seem to be spending quite a bit more time in their zone for a change though.

Conklin isn't lighting the hockey world on fire, but he hasn't played in forever. The D should have given him a little breathing room; instead, our D is s***ting the bed. No checking of any kind, missed assignments, dubious judgement calls (I'm looking at you, Homer.) It's going to be a long night.

Another 2 on 1? A little agressive forecheck on the part of the Flames and the Wings can't handle it.

Insult to injury - goal waived off AND we're 4 on 4 now.

Helm draws the hooking call. Can we double our SOG here, please?

Gee, I'm so glad I took vacation days yesterday and today in part to not have to drag my overly tired ass into work at 8am after watching our West Coast trip. Not as bad a start as last night to be sure, but I'm not very happy with our whole 4 SOG. We can only hope the Wings come out fighting in the second.

I don't hate the Nucks, nor have I jumped on any hate bandwagon. I watched the WCF with my own two eyes. IMO it was a pitiful display. The Nucks have their rep for a reason. I hope it changes soon. And yes, people dive on all teams, even ours. The difference is that I actually call out the Wings when they do it, I don't giggle because they got away with it or got a call because of it. I consider it disgraceful and wish the refs would call it. And try not to get so defensive. Yes, you're in enemy territory, but I never even hinted that you should switch allegiances, nor was I holding Detroit up as some paragon. I didn't have to - we all know it already!

Sorry, Chairman, but I lost a lot of respect for the Nucks after the WCF last year. Not only was it a pitiful display, but so very unnecessary. Vancouver was too talented for that crap. Not that the Sharks weren't just as pathetic, but who gives a rats ass about them right now? I hope to see a good game by both teams, with the Wings never letting the Nucks get even a whiff of a win.

What would possess a grown man to put his hands on someone else's kid? And with witnesses?? Plus with all the Sandusky scandal, this is really, really bad timing. It will go much harder on him with this issue in the forefront of people's minds. Idiot.

At least we know it's not authentic; most sanctioned suppliers won't put names of retired players on jerseys. Still, whoever did this should have said "HELL no" when asked to make it; I don't care who they're a fan of. This is unnatural at best. I liken this to seeing Gordie in a Whalers jersey. Uh. A knife to the heart. O, Stevie, why have you forsaken us?

It's ESPN - no one there knows anything about hockey. They don't even know who Howard is. Basketball is going to beat hockey any day of the week there. Sorry, Jimmah! It was a great save.

Isn't it amazing? They played very, very well last year without him along with several other players, proving they can get it done without him, but if they lose, it just HAS to be because HWSNBN was unable to play.

Probably zero. Who would have the guts to ring Gordie's bell?