b.shanafan14

Yes, please. I like the way you think.

This. 20 minutes a night on Datsyuk's wing and PP time with 1 point through 21 games. I don't care how much better you're looking, no one should have that statline under those circumstances. Period. Tootoo has more of everything and doing so with much less. Franzen hasn't had to earn ice time in years.

Haha Cleary fits one more garbage play into the period.

Franzen sucks. I present Exhibit S.

Cradle the balls, Pierre.... Tool.

About time they call something against Blackhawks. Great work single handedly by Pavel. Need to get some momentum!

Great game thus far from Zetterberg and Brunner, no help from Franzen.

Wings need to wake up. Howard keeping them in. Franzen, Cleary, and Abdelkader wasting work by Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Brunner.

Another great sequence of 3 easy penalties let go. Must mute Edzo and Pierre...

Refs see no-zing

Franzen blows Brunner's work...

We need Howard on his game today. Good saves so far, but rebounds atrocious. Need to take care of it. Listening to Edzo and Pierre playing Hawks homer is making me ill. "Penalty, right Edzo?"

Watching Pavel continue to be wasted with s*** linemates is gonna give me a stroke....

Ugh... Second PK early...

Please win. I'm in Chicago area staying with fiance's folks. Her mom is classic Blackhawk bandwagoner, doesn't understand the rules but that don't stop her from being an obnoxious slappy. I can't stand watching this game on Bettman's station with the Hawks retarded color guy complaining the whole time. What can be less impartial? Please win... Please...

Can't wait to see Cleary and Abdelkader bumping into each other and skating right next to Pavel as he tries to create instead of getting open. Please, oh please let them play 21 minutes each!

I agree on both waiting on Cleary, but I think Abdelkader has been the more useless one. At least the last two games before last night Cleary was screening the goaltender pretty well. The only time I see Abdelkader go to the goal he is immediately knocked down. They are both garbage and don't belong anywhere near His Pashaness, but Cleary looks much worse while contributing slightly more. Either way, Abdelkader has 1 assist, and Cleary has 7 points playing 20 minutes a night with one of the best ever; pathetic failed experiment that won't end.

The Wings definitely didn't capitalize on the huge rebounds Bernier was knocking out left, right, and center last night. As shaky as the guy looked, he did keep the puck out, so mission accomplished. As far as the officiating: The initial Abdelkader penalty to put them on the initial PP was a bit soft the way the defenseman put himself in the position and sold it heavy. The Ericsson trip penalty, while close to being a good hip check was earned with the stick between the legs and was legit. The Datsyuk "hook" to extend the first PP was extremely soft, and even looked like the Kings player felt stick and sold it big time. Either way, nothing comes from the sequence, but it does set up two soft penalties. Fast forward to the 2nd string of penalties, the one the ended up in the goal, the Quincey roughing was slightly earned, albeit probably also a bit of "manufactured drama" the league has become known for. The Datsyuk faceoff violation was legit, or at least as legit as such a stupid rule can be (its one thing to box out and use a free hand, its another to be in a pile with your hand on your stick and your glove touches the puck; Mickey Mouse crap). The problem with officiating whenever it is a problem doesn't come down to how much a penalty is earned, but rather the consistency with which calls are made. A penalty in the first should be a penalty in the third, no matter what color the team is wearing. In the final 6 minutes or so last night there were easily 2 hook/trips equally/more egregious than the Abdelkader boarding or the Datsyuk hook from earlier, the high hit on Cleary was easily worse than the Quincey roughing, and the elbow cheapshot to the back of Smith's head away from the play was apparently there to troll us fans, because it was a great cherry on top of the sh** pie we all got to take a bite out of. While the Wings didn't convert on the 3 PP they did get (or the last 30 or so on the road), it was seeing lots of success and quality chances. At the end of the day, the Wings did lose the game at even strength, the coaching staff continues to play players like Cleary and Abdelkader where they don't belong, and you could at least call them breaking through on their third 5-on-3 evens up the 'luck' from the Quincey goal in the first. However, to say that the officiating wasn't atrocious and inconsistent in the crucial moments of the game, or that the lack of late powerplays for the Wings didn't contribute to the loss is not accurate.

You make a valid point, except for one problem, there was no effort and that is nothing new. The guy looked like his usual disinterested self out there, and the plays he made over and over again (which I called out) were not the result of being rusty or not being up to speed, or not being at 100% physically, they were just laziness. I didn't expect him to light the world on fire by any means, and in a way, it should have been completely expected since that has been his game the past few seasons, injury or no. Every other player when returning to the lineup can at least show some effort, at least the amount required to make a play when you have the time and opportunity; its not like we're talking about a hobbled Yzerman struggling to do what his body is unable to do, we're talking about the basic effort any player could and should put forth in every game. If he was really so injured that he could barely skate or even look to pass before dumping and changing mid-shift then he shouldn't have been on the ice. That wasn't the case. The fact remains: 1) he made lazy, sloppy plays all night, and 2) injury or no, Franzen and the string of penalties are what threw off the Z-Brunner combo last night (which is what my post was responding to).

Franzen's only move tonight: float, get the puck, turn your back to the play, backhand no-look dump to opposition, check your watch, sigh, head for the bench, repeat. Franzen was garbage, bogged down the line with Z and Brunner. Z was great all night, especially on PK. Brunner didn't get much ice because of penalties and the apparent need to get Abdelkader and Cleary 20 minutes each.

This. It's all focus-group, casual fan pandering. More powerplay, more goals, and whoever has the bigger TV market has a leg up. Bad enough it's a late game, now I'm so irritated I can't get my ass to sleep.

Abdelkader and Cleary have a combined 8 points, playing 20 minutes a night with the best player in the world. Abdelkader has a single point, an assist. What are we thinking?!

I can't wait for realignment. At least then I don't have to stay up until midnight to watch the refs ruin the competition.

F***ing gift wrapped by the stripes. Nothing worse. Though at least Franzen didn't "miss a step"... still a lazy, sloppy waste of space.

Bad enough to watch the calls going the other way, before you add the blatant missed calls our way. What a joke. Gary must want his LA market to get a do-over after the lockout fizzled their championship.