GoalieManPat

Three game trip and lucky to get two points out of it. Did the Wings outplay themselves the first month and now the true Wings are showing up or is it just a skid? Its frustrating to see the Wings consistently have trouble with line changes. Every game it seems they give 2-3 good chances to the opposition due to poor or slow line changes. Rangers 2nd and 3rd goals were all on bad changes. Its been going on for 2-3 seasons now and how the coaches havnt fixed it yet is a disgrace.

Im assuming you mean Kronner and really he isnt that strong of a PP point man. Average at best. He can setup some plays but when it comes time to shoot hes not that strong. You want your point man on a PP to be able to get shots on net in places they can be deflected or leave a nice rebound. Kronner misses high all the time which leaves no opportunity for deflections or second chances. Think back to Lids and how many time he would miss high. It was rare. If he missed it was to the left or right leaving a chance for a good bounce of the backboards or deflecting off someone and in.

And you can counter that its tough to win when as a goalie you have to be perfect in the shootout to even have a chance.

To be fair most attempts by the opposition are quite a bit better than what Wings forwards. Perfect example were Detroits first and last shots today.

Actually for his career hes been pretty average. Not the best but nowhere near the worst. But hey, lets not let facts get in the way of some good ol goalie hate.

Wow Z that attempt was worse than Nestrasils.

No but you can't set up shop both feet in the blue like he did.

It was the right call. Francine lazily backed into the blue and made no effort to recognize it and get out.

These are the games that have hurt the wings the past couple years. Letting lesser teams get them into OT where they can steal points. Should have been an easy two in regulation.

Put Quincey, Big E, or Dek on the cluster F that is Buffalo and they will look worse.

His contract is better than the 4.25 that both Quincey and Big E are on.

He's not bad. He'd be a 3-4 dman on the wings. For how bad his team is he only came in today at either -2 or -3. That's pretty darn good compared to the rest of his team. He's one of the only Sabres actually playing. He's not an all star but he is more than just average. I think the 5k fans that showed up in Florida a couple weeks ago make more noise than this mostly full arena.

Wasnt it Smiths helmet that snapped into his nose on the hit?

Yes Abs is showing better offensive instincts but time will tell if this is just the stretch of games where he scores a third of his season total goals or if he really can sustain a solid offensive pace all season. I still question whether he has it in him but hopefully he does. I am 100% surprised by Smiths improvement in the defensive game. If he can just somehow start getting some points all that early career hype might be true. As a whole the wings really need to start getting more offensive support from the backline.

Hes Maltby minus the 50 goal junior year offensive game. Always on you during the game with added chirping. Then when you want to bash his face in he frustrates you more by refusing to drop the gloves.

Just watched a recording of the game. My thoughts: 1. Howard was real good again especially the first half of the game. Him and Hank have been the best Wings this month. 2. The recognition of the Wings PK on the stretch pass from the goalie was pretty poor. Washington just missed on it before there first goal and then used it to score 30 seconds later. Then almost had the same thing happen on Dats penalty. 3. Tatar and Jurco have been the biggest disappointments this month. Both seem to be in the sophomore slump. When Franzen comes back the best move might be to send Jurco down. Hes invisible every shift it seems. 4. Smith again showing strong. 5. That phantom goalie interference might be one of the worst calls I've ever seen. 6. Watching Glendening make Ovie throw a tantrum at the end of the game was great. 7. The PP needs to get fixed. An extra goal every night or two from the PP will be the difference from top 3 and top 6 in conference. 8. Entertaining game of hockey. Well Jurco hasnt been that much more effective than Cleary lol

Gonna be a recurring theme this year. Detroit just doesnt have enough proven NHL scoring right now.

2 goals on 10 shots. If Howard was in net people would be trying to crucify him.

There might be more skill in theory (Debatable) but outside of Dats, Hank, and now Nyquist there is no consistant NHL scoring from the young kids right now. The kid line is at best mediocre NHL scorers right now. No true PP qn or big shot hurts the most.

The Wings could have the spawn of Terry Sawchuk and Dominik Hasek in net and there would be those wings fans that would complain that they are terrible. Its called "next goalie up'itis" and it has plagued Wings fans for years despite 4 Stanley Cups. There is no known cure....

Agreed. There is no excuse for an NHL player to not get a shot on net in a shootout. None. Because you said you were wondering why he was even on the team:

If the team can get him some goal support in shootouts then I think you might see him save more. It seems like he feels he has to stop everything to even have the slimmest shot at winning a SO and tightens up. True, but he should have been the first or second regardless. Your first shooter is the most important. They set the tone for the rest of the SO as to whether your playing catchup or trying to finish the game. You need your best player shooting first not a rookie 3 games into his career.

Nes has been solid 5 on 5 for it being his first couple games. As effective as Abs, Miller, and Anderson.

Really. Your going to bag on Howard for the shootout when he was the only reason the Wings got a point. Rremember that you have to score in the shootout to win. The Wings were just as bad at converting in the shootout as Howard was stopping them last year so dont put all those lost points on Howard. Look at the attempts by Boston compared to the attempts by Detroit tonight. Same thing as last year.

I dont see why this is surprising. Florida is notoriously bad at supporting its sports teams. Not just in hockey but in pretty much all major sports. Sure they may sell out when a team is dominating a league or deep in playoffs but if a team is mediocre or bad nobody shows up. Honestly can you blame them though? Would you rather spend your money to go see a mediocre or bad sports team or go to the beach and look at scantily clad woman and enjoy the ocean? Theres just to many other things to do in Florida year round than go to sports games. I believe the high amount of transplants to the state also adds into this. People are loyal to there original teams not adopted florida teams.