Bliz

The Avs: No goaltending, no defense, one scoring line. How is a rookie coach what that team needs?

Did anyone catch if Luongo took part in the postgame handshake? I caught a glimpse of him leaving the bench for the lockerroom but didn't see him on the ice.

Nice move. I liked that he didn't go berzerk with his celebration too.

What, Ovechkin hams it up for a quick buck but shouldn't have to be the butt of a mild joke? Beaudreau should lighten up. Ovie's bad english aside, he's probably had meaner things shouted at him at your average road game in Philly. Was that our old pal Kozlov at the very end?

Yeah, and Burke said "Who's Bozak?" on HNiC last week. Good for Thomas. He deserved it.

Missed this game...Woulda been great to watch Ozzie chalk up a shutout. According to the game log I saw Meech played only a couple of minutes. Was that by design or did another injury strike?

A top three defenseman with a $3 mil cap hit gets the Pens Chris Kunitz? They must be expecting some fireworks between him and Crosby.

I'll chalk up his firing as punishment from the hockey gods for all the whining he did during the finals.

Nice goal! Judging from the comments, I take it that Edmonton have been taking cheap shots? This could be the kind of game you'd want Downey keeping order in if it gets ugly.

When am I going to learn that January/February games are s*** sandwiches? They always go mental this time of year.

Back to the drawing board for the D pairings.

Of course the right point was completely empty....

Dunno what to think of that interview. Ozzie's even-keeled from what I've seen and he sounded genuinely pissed, so that's a little cause for concern for him to come off that irritable. It's to his credit that he hasn't lost his game Tommy Salo-style with all the high profile mistakes he's made over the years. Maybe the media got to him. For sure, he's getting it from Babcock and now Conklin is starting again tonight. Babcock avoids starting goalies twice in a row. Three in a row for Conklin looks like serious cage-rattling is going on.

I thought Mike Grier was a no-brainer when he hit FA a couple years ago. Detroit native and he fit a need for a big, mobile checker.

Should be a great deal for everyone. Chelly gets his timing back and the Griffins get to rub elbows with a HOFer for a weekend.

Good god. Even if that's not a goal they can't let Montreal freaking stand there and take six chances to score. Awful.

There's your highlight!

Honestly, Meech looks better to me as a forward than a defenseman.

So the Wings trail by three halfway through the third and Babcock put Meech and Maltby on the ice? What does rolling four lines get you at that point?

Wow, even the powerplay looks utterly out of sync. If the Wings go on to lose, we'll undoubtedly hear crap about how hard the first game back froma road trip can be.

I'm all for Helm being on the roster. He should've been in Detroit all along but having Downey and Mac in GR is cause for concern. It's risky with so many cheap shot artists around the league. Last season managment built the most complete team they've put together in years--Downey, Drake, and Mac (to a a lesser extent) played tough and kept the opposition accountable. The lesson seems to have been lost already, and now we're facing Boston, Anaheim, Calgary and Dallas in the next couple weeks and our most physical player may be Andreas Lilja.

Good for Wellwood. Imagine what he might do if he were in prime condition. As it is, I doubt he'll have much left come playoff time.

I think it's time to shuffle defense pairings. Kronwall/Lidstrom and Stuart/Rafalski might work just fine for the top two. Lebda might have his head straight after sitting for a couple games but Meech has looked good enough to get a shot. Under no circumstances should there ever, ever be a pairing of Meech and Lebda.

Wow, stick a fork in the Devils. I can't think of many options as a stopgap, just assuming that Weekes won't cut it. Maybe Atlanta would part with Hedberg?

That's a bad move. With the progress made by the Hawks last season, Savard looked like the right guy for the job. And how does Quenneville keep getting gigs anyway? Hiring him has become the textbook first step in building second-tier teams. I expect at least a half dozen vintage Quenneville moments when the Wings and Hawks face off: random shuffling of goalies and general brain freeze in high-pressure moments.