Aussie_Wing

Very good move by Babs. Filppula and Zetterberg have looked good in the brief moments they've played together. Flip needs to be on a legitimate scoring line so I'm sure he'll start delivering the goods. Bit of a demotion for Kopecky because he worked pretty well with Flip but you can't have Flip on a struggling third line just to lift the play of Kopecky. And it's about time Lebda is benched! Hopefully when Chelios come back and they (most likely) need to move someone on, he is the one to go.

Without wanting to go over the top, he's been pretty incredible so far for LA. Claimed off waivers, he's regulary leading the team in ice-time, he plays in all situations, he's got 5 points in 7 games for a guy who is not meant to be able to put up points. And he's +3 on a very ordinary team.

Well the Griffins lost 5-4 in regulation, first game they go without a point. Griffins concede 5 goals in the opening period! Larsson started in net and gave up 4 goals on 7 shots before being benched. They fought back and got to within 1 but couldn't tie it up. As for our prospects, Leino had 3 assists, Helm had 2 assists and Ritola had a goal.

Tied at 1 with 17 minutes remaining in the 3rd. Wilson the lone goal assisted by Leino and Helm. C'mon Griffins!

Did anyone else see the incident? The game in question was televised live into Australia (on HD no less...) and the incident looked like nothing major at all. I can't believe he suffered a broken leg from something that looked so innocuous. And FWIW, the Thrashers hardly need this, they were an absolute mess as it was.

I think this shows just how important Franzen is to this team. Not just because he's a scoring and hitting machine, but every line (bar the 1st) has become weaker due to his absence.

Put Filppula on a SCORING LINE! Not happy.

What is Lebda's +/- for the season? Terrible I would imagine. Let's get Ericsson up here.

Hits 23-9 in favour of the Sharks. Wow that's quite the differential.

What the heck is wrong with the defence?

They're clearly trying to spread the ice-time around and save the 'go-to' guys for later in this game.

Friday: Dallas @ Chicago Vancouver @ Anaheim Saturday: Edmonton @ Carolina Dallas @ Boston Washington @ Buffalo NY Rangers @ Toronto Atlanta @ New Jersey Montreal @ NY Islanders Chicago @ Columbus Ottawa @ Tampa Bay Florida @ Nashville Pittsburgh @ St Louis Minnesota @ Phoenix Calgary @ Los Angeles Sunday: Edmonton @ Philadelphia Toronto @ Carolina Florida @ Atlanta Calgary @ Anaheim San Jose @ Colorado Detroit @ Vancouver

Syracuse Crunch (5-1-0) @ Grand Rapids Griffins (4-0-1) @ Well this promises to be a blockbuster match between the top two teams in the North Division. Syracuse are occupying first place while the Griffins are right behind in second. The Griffins are at home for the third consecutive game and will be looking to win their 5th straight after losing their season opener in OT. The Griffins are on fire offensively having scored 12 goals in their past 2 outings. Rookie sensation Justin Abdelkader is coming off his first pro hat-trick and Ville Leino continues to put points on the board with ease. The key to victory will be to avoid turnovers and defensive lapses which have hurt the team in recent outings. Probable line-up: Leino - Helm - Haydar Pare - Abdelkader - Tardif Ritola - Emmerton - Wilson Lemieux - Oulahen – Downey Ericsson - Pyett Galvin - Kindl Jozsa - Stafford Howard Larsson Team Leaders: Goals: Abdelkader (6) Assists: Leino (5) Points: Leino (9) Penalty Minutes: Wilson (13) Notes: • After losing their season opener in OT, the Griffins haven’t lost since and have won 4 in a row. A win in regulation would see them go top of their division. • Leino is tied for 11th in scoring whilst Abdelkader is tied for 2nd in rookie scoring. • Darren Helm has 4 points in 3 games and at least 1 in every game. • Jan Mursak was a healthy scratch last game but given the constant rotation of players he could be in the line-up tonight. He is without a point in 4 games and has been playing mainly on the 4th line.

The bottom line is that this organisation has far too much depth to have such a poor 4th line. And Kopecky on a line with Filppula? Goodness me.

Man I'm excited about Kindl! I'm still pretty confident in saying he's our #1 prospect. Helm seems to hit a lot of posts! And I'm pleased to hear that Howard had a real strong game, hopefully he can build on that. How was Kosolov? He was a + tonight which is encouraging. Interesting to note that Pyett got scratched after a few indifferent showings.

What do Kronwall, Rafalski and Lebda have in common? They're all playing like trash on a regular basis. I honestly couldn't give a stuff how many points Rafalski has, he's a liability most of the time.

Getzlaf 5 assists, far out that's insane.

Babcock is awesome, and for 99% of the time I like him, but he's blinded by Samuelsson. Meanwhile Flip and Huds are barely getting a shot. Hudler hasn't played for about 10-15 minutes, and Flip will be lucky to play in OT.

I like everyone on this team, everyone except Samuelsson, absolutely pathetic.

Hudler needs to find another team, Babcock just gives him no time. I feel so sorry for Huds, he loves this team, loves to score, and yet he's always benched. Has he been on the ice in the past 10 minutes?

What is wrong with this picture? Samuelsson 18:15 TOI Hossa 14:59

Really disappointed with the lack of ice-time for Filppula. 9:41. Samuelsson meanwhile has nearly 17 minutes. C'mon Babs...

Filppula and Hudler need to play more. I understand it's hard when we're always on special teams, but they MUST play more.

Kronwall takes a ridiculous amount of minor penalties. His decision making leaves a lot to be desired. Is Flip okay?

This team. I love it.