Nabokov

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

I gotta say, Im a little suprised by the play of Nobokov in game 1. I mean I know we weren't busting out flurries left and right or anything, but we did have a good handfull of ligitiment scoring chances. And he was extremely sharp on every one. I know hes a good tender and all, but to be honest I wasn't expecting him to be that great. In fact, most would say this teams weakness is goaltending. So In my eyes this is the x-factor in us winning this series. We need to throw as many pucks to the net as possible, with plenty of traffic in front of Nabby. And I think its crucial that we get the first goal tomorrow. And with Homer coming back tomorrow, we should be looking ALOT better. Missing a 30-goal scorer definitely hurts in the playoffs. Homer needs to get in his head, throw him off his game a little. And we all know Homer is a God at doing that, lol. So as long as we keep Nabokov consistantly busy with traffic we will be fine. But if we don't, this could be a longer series than many of us thought. Or shorter, which ever way you wanna look at it. All I know is, I can't wait to be at the Joe tomorrow to watch us tie this thing up.

*edit* - Looks like Homer will not be back for tomorrow's game...But still, everything I said about Homer still applies, just not till game 5, lol.

Edited April 27, 2007 by GodofHockeyStevieY19

[Inultus 12]

I gotta say, Im a little suprised by the play of Nobokov in game 1. I mean I know we weren't busting out flurries left and right or anything, but we did have a good handfull of ligitiment scoring chances. And he was extremely sharp on every one. I know hes a good tender and all, but to be honest I wasn't expecting him to be that great. In fact, most would say this teams weakness is goaltending. So In my eyes this is the x-factor in us winning this series. We need to throw as many pucks to the net as possible, with plenty of traffic in front of Nabby. And I think its crucial that we get the first goal tomorrow. And with Homer coming back tomorrow, we should be looking ALOT better. Missing a 30-goal scorer definitely hurts in the playoffs. Homer needs to get in his head, throw him off his game a little. And we all know Homer is a God at doing that, lol. So as long as we keep Nabokov consistantly busy with traffic we will be fine. But if we don't, this could be a longer series than many of us thought. Or shorter, which ever way you wanna look at it. All I know is, I can't wait to be at the Joe tomorrow to watch us tie this thing up.

I agree with everything you said, except what makes you think Homer is coming back tomorrow?

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

And with Homer coming back tomorrow,

Homer is not coming back tomorrow. In fact, from what I've heard, he might not make it back before we're out.

[OsGOD 3]

We need to throw quality... and quality being the key word here shots on goal. Enough with the twisted wristers from 60ft out or the unscreened shots to the logo on the jersey.... any goalie can save those ALL NIGHT long. We NEED to get traffic in front and Nabokov will once again join the human race as beatable. If not, then well the Wings will once again succeed at promoting a mere human to GOD LIKE status.

Edited April 27, 2007 by OsGOD

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

I agree with everything you said, except what makes you think Homer is coming back tomorrow?

Well since he was only day-to-day as of wednesday I assume he will be ready by saturday. Especially the magnitude of tomorrow's game. They would probably have to strap him down to keep him off the ice tomorrow. I'll be shocked if he doesn't play.

[spaMgobLiN 0]

The game starts 12 noon my time =[, no time to setup BBQ and it's a little to early (for me lol) to start drinking. I have to roll out of bed and turn on the game it's hard to get excited in the morning/early afternoon. Personally I can't wait for the games to shift back to san jose so I can do my proper pre-game routine. :-D

[motorcitykid 42]

Not sure what game the thread starter was watching, but the one I watched had a Detroit shooting a ton of outside shots. Any goalie would've "looked" decent last night to a casual observer.

[lets go pavel 2]

I agree, Nabokov played well , when you get a shutout what else can you say ... BUT ... I don't know that he had to make all that many tough saves, wristers from the blue line and all, and he also gave up a lot of rebounds that we didn't get to, either because we were tired or the D had great positioning ... either way, had we reached a couple of those rebounds it would have been a different game and Nabokov might not look so good ... I agree Homer could be a huge difference-maker, but things aren't sounding so good there ...

Edited April 27, 2007 by lets go pavel

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

Not sure what game the thread starter was watching, but the one I watched had a Detroit shooting a ton of outside shots. Any goalie would've "looked" decent last night to a casual observer.

As the thread starter, and a fan of the Red Wings since 1986, I think Its pretty easy to tell that even though we did have alot of outside shots(with little to NO TRAFFIC in front of him), we also had a decent amount of legit scoring chances. And guess what, Nabby stoned us in every way. So Im not sure what game you were watching, but Nabby was alot better then "decent" on every single one of our scoring chances. And without traffic we can shoot all night and its not gonna matter.

[Inultus 12]

Yeah, as you said, we weren't there for the rebounds, and also anytime a team has 18 friggin blocked shots you know that you need to be making better passes and taking better shots.

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

and he also gave up a lot of rebounds that we didn't get to, either because we were tired or the D had great positioning ... either way, had we reached a couple of those rebounds it would have been a different game and Nabokov might not look so good .

Very true. If we would have got a lucky bounce on any of those rebounds(just like Grier's goal) we defiintely would have put those pucks in the back of the net. But unfortunately for us, we just didnt get any lucky breaks or bounces. Which makes Nabokov look even better. But all I know is, every time we had a good scoring chance(even though it wasnt that many) we got stoned. So hopefully we learn from game 1. Traffic traffic traffic. Thats all the Wings need to be thinking about.

[lets go pavel 2]

As the thread starter, and a fan of the Red Wings since 1986, I think Its pretty easy to tell that even though we did have alot of outside shots(with little to NO TRAFFIC in front of him), we also had a decent amount of legit scoring chances. And guess what, Nabby stoned us in every way. So Im not sure what game you were watching, but Nabby was alot better then "decent" on every single one of our scoring chances. And without traffic we can shoot all night and its not gonna matter.

We did have some scoring chances, but it seemed like a lot of them never made it on net because we didn't get the shot off fast enough (Dats coming across the middle). I don't know that I ever said to myself, "damn, that was a nice save, we should have had that one, we were robbed", maybe once or twice.

Edited April 27, 2007 by lets go pavel

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

Yeah its looking like Homer won't be in tomorrow....damn....But still, with or without Homer, if we get more traffic with those shots we will be sittin pretty.

[lets go pavel 2]

Yeah its looking like Homer won't be in tomorrow....damn....But still, with or without Homer, if we get more traffic with those shots we will be sittin pretty.

I say send the Pain Train to the front of the net!!

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

I say send the Pain Train to the front of the net!!

lol CHOOO CHOOO!!! Sharks better stay off the tracks. Cause Lilja will be steaming ahead!

[Samadelphia 0]

Mentioned this in another thread but I think it's worth mentioning in here.

I'm not sure why Wings fans dismissed Nabokov so easily. He's a former Calder winner who took a pre-Thornton Sharks team to game 6 of the WCF a few years back. He's an oustanding positional goaltender with a quick glove hand and was second in the league in shutouts despite sharing the duties with Toskala for most of the year.

Expect more of the same.

Sharks in 5...

[motorcitykid 42]

I don't know that I ever said to myself, "damn, that was a nice save, we should have had that one, we were robbed", maybe once or twice.

I couldn't say that once. And I got zero problem in passing on praise when it's due. We beat ourselves last night. San Jose you're welcome.

[lets go pavel 2]

Mentioned this in another thread but I think it's worth mentioning in here.

I'm not sure why Wings fans dismissed Nabokov so easily. He's a former Calder winner who took a pre-Thornton Sharks team to game 6 of the WCF a few years back. He's an oustanding positional goaltender with a quick glove hand and was second in the league in shutouts despite sharing the duties with Toskala for most of the year.

Expect more of the same.

Sharks in 5...

Not sure anyone's dismissing him ... simply commenting that his performance yesterday was good but that he wasn't tested too much, and he gave up lots of rebounds ... so we'll be happy to expect more of those!

Edited April 27, 2007 by lets go pavel

[Covenant 0]

with a quick glove hand

If Kirk Maltby blows one by your glove hand, it ain't quick.

[motorcitykid 42]

If Kirk Maltby blows one by your glove hand, it ain't quick.

[Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19]

Not sure anyone's dismissing him ... simply commenting that his performance yesterday was good but that he wasn't tested too much, and he gave up lots of rebounds ... so we'll be happy to expect more of those!

Haha Damn right. If we would have got to just one of those MANY rebounds, game 1 would have been a completely different story. Nabokov was really good saving the initial shot. But giving up multiple rebounds to this Red Wings squad is just what Im hoping for, for the rest of the series.

Edited April 27, 2007 by GodofHockeyStevieY19

[BBQWings 0]

We did have some scoring chances, but it seemed like a lot of them never made it on net because we didn't get the shot off fast enough (Dats coming across the middle). I don't know that I ever said to myself, "damn, that was a nice save, we should have had that one, we were robbed", maybe once or twice.

Datsyuk's shot in the 1st made me think that, when he waited 12 years to shoot the puck, like you said. Regardless of how long he took to shoot it, it was still a golden opportunity, and Nabokov answered the bell. Zetterberg had a bunch of good chances as well.

Bottom line is, Nabby had a great game. Was it the toughest shutout in the world? No. But did he have to make several solid saves, and a couple of great ones? Yes.

Zetterberg man...that guy scares me. If he keeps playing like he did in Game 1, he's going to give the Sharks some problems.

[4th line grinder 0]

If Kirk Maltby blows one by your glove hand, it ain't quick.

Agreed about Maltby's shot but not Nabby's glove. If you look at the replay the shot was off a deflection so it kind of handcuffed him.

[BringHomeTheCup! 0]

Looking at this game with the homer glasses on, San Jose was out played in the first 10 minutes of game one. Once San Jose got the first goal, Detroit cooled off. After the second goal, Detroit looked like they had decided San Jose had won. San Jose outplayed Detroit, Nabby outplayed Dom. Bottom line is Detroit must play better if they hope to win even a game in this series. I am confident in Babs, he will get the boys going. From what I read in the Freep, they had a very no-nonsense practice today, and I am looking forward to a great game on Saturday.

BTW, I am glad to see that no one is in panic mode, yet. No one picked either team to sweep, so that means both teams should win at least one game. I for one, am hoping Detroit can rattle off 4 in a row, but I'm not gunna hold my breath.

Agreed about Maltby's shot but not Nabby's glove. If you look at the replay the shot was off a deflection so it kind of handcuffed him.

Maltby has a very underrated slapshot. It's not the most accurate, but it's pretty hard.

Edited April 27, 2007 by BringHomeTheCup!

[wingslogo19 281]

In my opinion i don't think that Nabby was that great really, our shots weren't really that hard to stop.. but what needs to change for game 2 is the Wings to drive to the net hard because the rebounds that are coming out, would be goals if someone would just crash the net hard