Echolalia

I wouldn't say they're fast-tracking him. He played a year at college and absolutely dominated there, so he's definitely ready for a more challenging level, and that next step happens to be at Grand Rapids. It also doesn't hurt that he didn't look out of place at the Worlds over the past few weeks. I'm expecting he'll be at least a couple years with the Griffins, while he continues to adjust to playing with men instead of boys, and against people who are battling for jobs and their livelihoods. The schedule of the AHL is more demanding as well, and I expect that will also take some getting used to.

That's Weiss alright

Well deserved. Its an amazing testament, not only to the compassion and class that the organization has, but particularly to the impact and dedication that Matt had on the sport. I think Kip articulated it as good as anyone. Matt's work was a game-changer on multiple levels.

No one is struggling to understand the significance, or lack thereof, of local heroes. People are saying it doesn't matter. We'd much rather go with the best player available, and the one that will help us win a Cup. Where they're from is irrelevant. As I already mentioned, the Wings aren't exactly short on North American players. Taking a quick look at the Wings roster from their website, the Wings have more Canadians than any other nationality with seven. Second place is a tie with six a piece from USA and Sweden. Three guys from USA are also from Michigan. There are already plenty of local heroes for people to cheer for right now, and the three Michigan players are pretty damn good at their roles with bright futures ahead of each of them as well. With the Wings getting knocked out of a tight playoff race, the conversation shouldn't be "lets get more good ol' NA boys and homegrown talent". It should be "lets get the pieces that will put this team over the top and help us get deep into the playoffs". If that's a kid from the suburbs of Detroit, awesome. If that's a kid from Brazil, just as cool. And just a side note: the players I enjoy cheering for the most right now are Datsyuk, Helm, and Mrazek. Datsyuk because he is an absolute wizard. Helm because he is fast and tenacious as hell, and its fun watching his create chaos. Mrazek because he's an exciting goalie with a bright future. Only one of those three guys is a North American, and like I said, the reason why I like him so much has nothing to do with where he was born. Its exclusively to do with what they do on the ice.

Not to mention almost half our roster is currently NA players already, including three from Michigan. There should be no issue even for xenophobes with identifying with this team.

Bert scored both goals? Whenever highlights pop up, could someone kindly post here?

I may be misremembering, but I think all around the Wings' stats were pretty solid until Howard got injured, and that's about the time things went South.

So is he scoring at higher than a point per game so far in the AHL?

Bertuzzi seems like he came out of nowhere. I remember when the Wings drafted him most folks on LGW looked at it as a throw-away pick, or a favor to Todd Bertuzzi or something along those lines. Ever since he was drafted, though, the kid has been exceeding everyone's expectations (except perhaps the Wings' organization, who may have knows the potential this kid had the whole time (?)). Now he is on my list of most anticipated players to see in a Wings' uniform, along with Athanasiou, Larkin, and Mantha.

Actually I'm going to disagree with this. The majority of his shots he takes just after crossing the blue-line have resulted in turnovers (at least in the NHL). Goalie makes the easy save, directs it to one of his defensman, and out they go. It was something that frustrated me pretty regularly when he was with the Wings. Even if he's hell-bent on shooting the puck, at the very least I would like to see Pulkkinen buy an extra second or two before shooting it so his linemates can get deeper into the zone for a screen, or rebound, or just to apply a little pressure to their D and maybe regain possession. Unfortunately for Pullks that extra second is real hard to come by at this level.

I don't think it's fair to make any conclusions about the NHL career of a 20 year old who is still playing in his first year in the minors, especially after missing the first couple months with a broken leg.

Luke Glendening lead all forwards in ice time with 18:11 and Drew Miller was second of all forwards with 17:47, in a 4-0 victory. Absolutely phenominal.

Helm turned the puck over, but the Wings were all in good position to handle the rush. The breakdown happened the moment Ericsson abandoned the right side to cover the slot and pass the goal scorer off to Helm, who wasn't in good position to box him out. We had two defensman back, and two forwards backchecking with the play. There's no reason why Johnson should have a clear path to the net, and if Ericsson read the play correctly, Johnson would have been boxed out.

The more I look at that first goal the more I blame Ericsson. That should have been Ericsson's man but he passed it off to Helm, who was chasing from behind. Ericsson for some reason thought covering the slot, where a couple other Wings were already holding down, was more important. He practically rolled the red carpet to the net out for that goal.

Zetterberg just isn't playing smart anymore

Someone needs to photoshop the Iron throne with "In the Game of Inches, you win.... ...or you lose"

Nyquist uses his speed and look what happens

Nyquist really made that powerplay struggle.

The shaft of that shovel was a hockey stick

Both teams just playing to clog up the neutral zone here.

Who knew Gus could hang onto the puck like that in the offensive zone? I kid I kid

http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/750800

Zidlicky's post I believe came on the powerplay, a couple minutes before Hedman hit the post on the other end of the ice. Datsyuk threw the puck across the ice, and Zid got it behind him, spun around and just fired a shot that ripped off the iron. Anyway, not to take anything away from Tampa, because they certainly had their chances, but I feel like Detroit was controlling the pace of the game until they got into trouble with penalties. And most of the penalties called against us weren't the result of Tampa pushing the play on the Wings. They were stupid offensive holding, puck-over-the-glass, idiotic unforced errors on the powerplay that result in a penalty kind of stuff. Things that can easily be avoided if the Wings play more disciplined. Take away those brain-fart penalties, and I think this game looks decidedly one-sided in score, scoring chances, possession, posts, open nets missed, inches, and whatever other metric people are using. And I believe more discipline should be the focus for game 4, and I look forward to seeing whether the Wings can deliver in that regard.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Wings hit just as many posts as the Lightning? Helm and Zidlicky, Hedman and Johnson each hit a post.

He's playoff hockey personified. I'm so glad he was able to get past those injuries and become a regular in the lineup again.