clutchngrab

You can see why the wings have not given up on Howard. He's big in net, has good pad coverage down low, and, tonight at least, challenged the shooters. He reminds me of a raw Gigueire. His weaknesses are rebounds and puck handling. Regardless, tonight he outplayed Luongo

good stuff... Doesn't Scottie work for Chicago?

WTF - nothing at all

Bert is gripping his stick tighter than a convicted cops sphincter in a federal pen.

One over the hill power forward who cannot finish is enough thank you very much.

Yes, he does have rebound issues as opposed to Osgood who usually doesn't have to worry about the puck hitting him.

When it comes to goalies I say burn thru 'em like cord wood. The reason being that so very few of them are on top of their game for more that a 3 - 5 years or so. Goalies are notoriously streaky, and there is not a one I would give more than a 5 year contract ever.

WTF - Pavel and Hank w/ no moves? That would have been a great extra point.

Cleary went invisible for long stretches of the season last year - but showed up in the playoffs.

The oilers want to lose this game - they really do.

Holland needs to rethink some personnel

Both late hits and not enough heads up by the smurf.

Right, except that when your defense is average or slightly above and your offense is average or slightly above - then your goalie actually is important.

I don't know - Scuderi's hit was low, but it was slightly above the knees. Jeez I remember when that was considered a good check. Hockey really has become pussified. I've seen alot worse knee on knee, headhunting and hitting from behind - none of which was tolerated in the old days. I miss the 70's

The only thing you didn't touch on was goaltending - which is elevated in importance minus the offensive juggernaut of the past.

One of the reasons we are feeling a little pain right now is that the wings have been overly conservative in bringing in younger players in deference to the vets. The cap era has changed the dynamics of how your roster should be built. It's almost imperative that there are a few good 20 yr old+ players that don't hammer your cap and allow you to build around your core. The Wings are doing the right thing now, it will just take a little time. It will be interesting to see how the long term contracts for Dats, Z and Franzen ultimately work out.

I'm not really sure what home-town discount you all are talking about. Yes, Yzerman at the end of his career and Hossa last year - but who else? Maybe Franzen could have played the market and made more - but look at Sammie, Hudler and even Kopecky. We've lost our fair share of players due to cash over the years. Datz and Z negotiated great long-term deals for themselves. Lids will sign for less if he continues to play basically on a year-to-year basis. Lids and Yzerman don't really count though. $$$ count the most in modern sports. Good teams and management are a factor, but to lesser extent.

Red wing defense since the scottie modern era has never been able to play in their own zone.

You know its bad when you watch a game and swear Lebda is getting more ice time than Lidstrom. Then you look at the minutes and realize the guys is ******* time bomb and everyone notices the time bomb.

I don't know what game you watched. The wings carried the play both offensively and defensively except for the bad line change that cost a goal. Each of the few legit chances for the Avs ended up in the back of our net. I was happy with the type of game they skated last night given injuries and lack of offensive firepower. The problem was really only at one position.

Scrapping is in effect. Tonight was very disappointing. We cannot win consistently with this goaltending situation regardless of how focused the team is on defense. There is no offensive padding for the goalie this year unlike last year.

They were defensively responsible overall and outplayed the avs 80% of the game. Our goalie decided to take a night off or we have 2 points.

At first I thought it was the opposition... St. Louis looks better this year, Buffalo is on track. But it is evident this team is going to struggle this year. Our offense is now average and our defense, goaltending and PK are below average right now.

Nice game.. The kind of game that the wings will need to stay on the plus side of the ledger. Our top 2 lines outplayed the caps top 2 lines and Ozzie rebounded despite a poor first goal. Bertuzzi looks almost nimble out there and seems to be skating well and back-checking. I like that line alot. Flip and Leino look great together and if Flip decides to take a bag of pucks and learn how to shoot he could be a bona-fide star. The team skated well and seemed first to the puck more often than not. Defense was pretty solidly in front of Osgood. Perhaps with the Mule going down, they will double their commitment to keeping the puck out of the net..