MabusIncarnate

It all starts with the defense. He's had some good games, but the numbers won't show that when he's getting peppered every night and so many odd man rushes are being allowed to break through.

Vanek out at least another 2-3 weeks with a hip muscle strain unfortunately.

Glad to see Sheahan out of the top 6, still not excited about Tatar with Zetterberg, if it doesn't click, don't force it.

Mrazek confirmed, need a good night all around and get a full 2 points out of this winnable game. Welcome back Kronwall. LGW

This is exactly where i'm at. I don't think anyone is saying Howard should be the starter over Mrazek, that isn't even really a debate. But the primary point that most of us are trying to get across is Mrazek is not ready to take on the workload of a seasoned established veteran starter when he is still young and trying to establish himself and has the veteran support of another goaltender that is being paid to play more than 12-15 games per season. With our defense in it's current condition, regardless of his play, if Mrazek is thrown to the wolves and given a tremendous workload, the defense will play a large role in inevitably destroying his confidence. A lot of losses are on the D, and not the goaltending, but if he's allowing 3, 4, or 5 goals a night because he's facing 40+ shots, it will reflect in his numbers.

Surely we can a win in Philly after 19 years. Wings win 4-1, Mrazek bounces back, Goals from Ericsson, Ott, and a pair from Larkin. LGW!

In that 5 game stretch from 3/26 to 4/6 when we secured the playoffs, Howard went 4-1-0, allowed in this order 2, 2, 2, 2, and 0 goals against. I guess if you round up it's sorta close to 3 goals.

We are going to be a bit more open to leaving more specific threads as their own this season to broaden different conversations and not have them all merged into one large bulk one. The Howard thread is primarily about his individual play and whether or not he has a place here or should be dealt, trade options, possibilities, etc.

The nerd is strong in this thread. Pulks never got claimed, of the two, i'm kinda glad we got Frk back. Who knows if he will ever play at the NHL level but it's nice to know that the option is there.

Being this is the GDT intended for discussion solely of this particular game, and a heavy discussion going on about our goaltending situation, i'm going to go ahead and make a new thread in General Discussion for this to carry over to.

Price games started during the 3 seasons Halak played for Montreal,40, 49, 39. That's basically half starts except the '08 - '09 season, where Halak still started 33 games. It's pretty much exactly on pace for what's going on between Howard and Mrazek here. Montreal didn't hand the net to Price over Halak, it only worked out that way once Halak went to the Blues. Had Howard been dealt this offseason, maybe the scenario would be different.

That's how I see it, the only goaltenders in the league that get 65-70 starts per season are the established veterans like Price, Lundqvist, those guy who have many seasons on their resume as #1 starters. Mrazek essentially played 2 months of great hockey last season, he's not cemented in as the clear, undeniable #1 on this team. He needs to get to that point before he starts playing back to backs and 65+ per season. I think it's being handled how it should be right now.

Refs got a Halloween party to go to, down 5-1 in the game, why slow it down now and call a penalty for boarding Helms face into the boards? That's fine.

Well, positive note, our PK usually looks good this year so this may be 4 minutes of good hockey.

Two on one and the one is Smith. Worst case Ontario.

Just a friendly refresher as it's early in the season. Per forum guidelines... · DON'T incite flame wars by purposely baiting ("trolling") other members into an online flame war. Members caught doing so will be disciplined appropriately. Baiting, trashing the team with no intent other than to get a rise out of others after a loss, and trolling is against forum rules. I don't want to hand out warnings tonight after it's been such a pleasant start to the season. Thanks.

Welcome to the site and the discussion!

We are on a back to back, Mrazek will be in tomorrow i'm sure.

Is Vanek this important to our offensive success? They seem lost without him.

Recap - YAAAAWWWWNNN

This is the longest 0-0 first period in recent memory.

I wanna see Ott and that giraffe swing fists and put some energy into this game, very slow start.

Real subtle chop there Otter, lol.

My nephew is temporarily living with me and he watched his first ever hockey/Red Wings game with me against Nashville, he's 4. He asked me if their mom is gonna put them in timeout after Larkin and Weber fought, Why the goalies are cheaters because their stick is much bigger, and what happens if the ice melts, lol. The minds of children.

Bruins are about in the same goaltending misery as the Kings right now, should be able to put up some offense. I think Howard may come crashing back down to earth tonight a bit and we see a higher scoring game like 5-4. Hoping for 7 straight out of our young squad. LGW!