Echolalia

I'm feeling a big night for Franzen. Goal and two assists!

Toronto Montreal Columbus and Tampa are all teams the Wings are competing for to get a playoff spot. Those are all potential 4 point swings. They'll be tough games but wins in any of them will be huge.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/03/red_wings_look_to_snap_two-gam.html Sounds like Babs is ready to promote the kid to a more substantial role if Pulkinen shows he can handle it.

According to nhl.com the Wings have a 66.6% win rate when leading after two. Somehow the Islanders are below us (the only team) with 45%, which is truly astonishing.

I want to know this also

Have you guys seen the schedule the Wings have? Besides the one we are currently in, there is only one more 2 day break between games for the Wings. Meanwhile we have two (maybe even three, I can't remember) back-to-backs, and everything else is game every other day. Not to mention the quality of the opposition, and the fact that the Wings are decimated with injuries, which makes this last month chock full of adversity. I'm worried that if the Wings get into the playoffs they'll be too burned out to make a run!

I'm liking the recent years too. It's exciting to be battling for survival.

The lightning have been dropping. They might be a more accessible team to leapfrog than Columbus.

He does have a suspension history due to his charging tendencies

I think between Tatar, Nyqvuist, Sheahan, and Jurco, the Wings' organization should have enough evidence to loosen the leash a bit on our prospects. I fully understand starting Pulkinen on the fourth because we frankly know nothing about his NHL game, but if he is demonstrating solid play in the first period on the fourth line, Babs needs to be ready to shuffle him up and see what happens.

That shot is awesome. I'm worried that he won't have the time or space to tee it up in the NHL as frequently as he's used to, but I definitely could see him being an impact player on the power play, if nothing else.

Sooooooo you're saying E is our number 1 defensman?

Mrazek looked foolish there

I walked in right before Columbus scored, saw them score, then heard about how the Wings have been dominating. All I've seen is Columbus dominating...

What else do they have to hang up?

Good lord. Every center we have is injured (beside the one we just traded for), as well as every NHL goalie. These injuries are so devastatingly specific.

This is a big opportunity! Let's win this one in regulation and leapfrog Columbus into a playoff spot!

you know hes a hockey player when...

You gotta problem with donuts?

Thanks for digging that up. Normally I'm on Holland's side and prefer kids to log big minutes in every situation in lesser leagues than have them working 5 minutes/night on the fourth line, but at Mantha's level I'm not sure that a deep playoff run will do him much good in a league he has clearly already mastered. In this case I think I'd rather him practicing as a black ace with the Wings (and just maybe getting 4 min a night on the fourth line) than making a deep playoff run in the Q. He needs to develop alongside men, now.

Gus has the same plate of food in front of him every dinner, yet he's able to stay slim. Gus should be our number one eater.

When do the playoffs end?

Smith is an offensive defensman; I think we can all see that in his game. I agree with Kip though, that Babs cares about defense before offense, so Smith needs to learn to take care of things on the defensive side of the puck, and adapt his offensive game without sacrificing scoring opportunities against us. He's getting better every week at this. Last year most of LGW wanted him off the team, earlier this year more folks started believing that he could be solid for us, and now we have a thread dedicated to "the real Brendan Smith" finally showing up. I still believe he has a ways to go, and ultimately see him being the Brian Rafalski that we've been missing in a couple years. Time will tell if he reaches that potential or not, but he's trending in the right direction.

I'm sure Emmerton will take full advantage of the opportunity

lol