Who would you most blame for a round 2 loss?

[cboth686 0]

After tonights loss definitely Howard. That 3rd goal was SO deflating. Anyone watch the game on TSN, and see the way Ericcsson, Lidstrom, and Kronwall reacted to him when he came over for a squirt? Pretty awkward.

The 1st goal was pretty weak too, he had plenty of time to push off and slide over, but him being a rookie shows in little misteps (or extra steps) he takes that results in him lifting his pads off the ice.

Don't get me wrong, without his stability down the stretch of the RS we wouldn't have even made the playoffs perhaps, so I'm not tottally throwing him under the bus and saying: "put ozzy in". But defintely, this one sits on Howards shoulders, a goal like that shouldn't ever go in on an NHL goalie, I'd even feel ridiculous giving one up like that in the mens league I play in.

Who knows? Maybe philly will sign Turco, and we will snage Emery for cheap!

But it's like it's been said, 4 goals a game is a little much, and right now Howard isn't stealing or really being solid enough for us to win games.

[stormboy 47]

for those blaming howard...i see your point, to a degree. it's tough to win playoff games when you let in four goals a game. that short-side goal-line shot, for example, should not have been let in tonight. it seems like he's had one of those every game -- one goal that he should have gotten. and we've lost all the games by one goal. so maybe that IS the difference.

at the same time..yeah, so we're probably going to get bounced in the second round this year. it's our 19th straight trip to the playoffs, so we can't be that bummed, can we? maybe this a good learning experience for howie and for the future of the wings. you can't expect a cup every year. i'd rather have howie have a mediocre first playoff experience and keep building on that than have a cam ward AMAZING first playoff experience and then not make the playoffs for a bunch of years in a row afterward. i would say that, in some ways, this a rebuilding year for the wings, but for us, a rebuilding year means only getting to the second round. for most teams, "rebuilding" means a sub .500 record and no playoff berth. so, honestly, i'll take it. don't be too quick to s*** all over howard for one imperfect playoff run.

[ShanahanMan 473]

It's a very strange case with Howard. When I watch him, it seems like he stops all the hard/amazing shots yet the what-should-be gimmie saves are the ones that get by him. Weird.

[stormboy 47]

I think the entire team has failed,after making the hard fought push to make the playoffs since the olympic break the entire team looks gased to me.Also I just don't think Howard has what it takes to make it in the playoffs. He's like Legace,a great season goalie,but come crunch time he just isn't good enough.

We all know at the end of the day it's a team sport,but we just don't have the goaltending this year to get the job done.I had to work tonight and didn't get to see the game,but being up 3-1 midway in the 3rd,there's no excuse for losing this game.We have to find a number one goalie this summer,or next year will be more of the same.

i just don't agree with the bolded part. you're basing a guy's career value on one playoff run. sure, he's an "old" rookie, but dude's still an NHL rookie. like i said before, cam ward had an amazing playoffs in his rookie year, but it's not as if that's led his team to be a perennial cup contender. i just don't want to see howard getting totally thrown under the bus when he's had once chance to prove himself as a playoff goalie. IMO we've seen him improve a lot in the last few years from GR to detroit, and it seems to me that, as of right now, there is no reason to assume that he won't be better in the playoffs next year, assuming we make it.

[Osgood4President 8]

Howard. Not that its his doing..when was the last time we've seen a rookie goaltender carry a team to the finals? I can't remember one. Hopefully he learns from his mistakes and comes back next year knowing what it takes to win in the playoffs. Its been said before, no way you are going to win in the playoffs if you have to score 5+ goals every game to beat the other team. Maybe that worked in GR but this is the NHL. Welcome to the pros, kid! Kudos on a solid rookie year though.

I think Patty Roy went to the finals (and won a cup?) in his rookie year.

I agree with the fact that it's hard to win when you need to score 5 goals, but the blame shouldn't fall solely on the goalie. Howie has been facing a good number of shots per game.

I'm not saying he should have let in all the goals he has, but come on. Goaltending is not our only problem.

Here's hoping Jimmy picks himself up along with the rest of the wings, and we can pull off some amazing stuff to finish this series.

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

In the poll, not a single person put blame on the forwards. Interesting...

[MacAttack25 44]

I voted other. I would have to blame the San Jose Sharks. We aren't going to win if they keep beating us

[Guest Shoreline]

Definitely Crosby.

[EasyMark 8]

I voted other. I would have to blame the San Jose Sharks. We aren't going to win if they keep beating us

Yep, that's my vote as well.

I am curious: would these same "flaws" (goalie, defense, coaching, etc.) have done in the Wings against Vancouver and Chicago?

IMO, the answer is no.

[thegerkin 189]

Defense. The forwards spent more time backchecking because the defense could not get the puck out of the defensive zone to save their lives. WAY too many defensive zone turnovers.

Howard did okay for a rookie, but I think we relied too much on him during the regular season (where he was lights out). By the time the playoffs rolled around, I think he was just mentally spent. A 7 game first round, and the first 3 games of the second round with an approximate GAA of 4.00 or higher, I just think we ran our regular season lucky horse into the ground. I do think he deserves the Calder nod he got, although I don't think he deserves to win it.

[ben_usmc 253]

How about the only players that seem like they've consistently cared: Datsyuk, Helm, Abbystill pisses me off a piece of s*** like Williams had any ice time over him, Lidstrom. The rest of the team can f*** off this round.

[thegerkin 189]

I always get the impression forwards get off a little easy...You'll always hear how it was the defense, or the netminding that led to a lost series, but rarely ever do you see the finger pointed at the guys responsible for scoring goals.

I almost chose Forwards, but as I posted about the defense, the forwards really couldn't get much going because they spent 90% of their shift backchecking. To name names, Datsyuk was MVP at forward. Hank was hit or miss. Bert, Flip, and the rest (especially a vet like Drapes) were terrible. Abby was ok. But, because our defense was so terrible (especially Ericsson, and in my opinion Rafalski), backchecking sapped all the energy from forwards to set up anything remotely respectable in the offensive zone. And some credit has to go to the Sharks for the work they did on the forwards.

[robat 13]

So the Sharks aren't to blame at all?

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

The team, the referees to a degree, and the terrorists definitely 100%.

Terrorists suck.

[pucktividi 472]

I blame mindfly

[Guest Four]

I just expected ALOT more from him. I mean he didn't win us any games in the Phoenix series, he just was OK. He's supposed to be great, he has been great. He has had Halak style performances. But he's just a little mentally weak for some reason. It's not a good sign in my opinion. He's been bad, he's not been himself.

He's been as good as he was in the regular season. It's his first playoffs, which many people seem to forget. Not to mention he'd getting no help for the most part from the team.

[UKWING 8]

there is plenty of blame to go round; it would not be 3-0 if:

- the wings centers hadn't been so awful on faceoffs.

- the defence did not continually turn the puck over like they have done.

- the wings had not spent so much time in the box. equal blame here goes to the whistle happy refs and to to the ill-disciplined wings.

- they had not sat back in the 3rd period last night.

also, if howard had played like ozzie did the past 2 years then the wings would probably be 2-1 or even 3-0 up instead. but i don't want to be too critical of howard because he is the main reason that the wings even made it to the playoffs and it is unfair (and wholly unrealistic) to expect a rookie to perform as well as ozzie did the past 2 years. and whilst i expected him to be better than he has been, if the wings had not hung him out to dry as often as they have, his play would probably have been good enough - it is not like nabby is standing on his head and badly outplaying howard.

overall though, the sharks have just been the better team and deserve to be ahead. there is not much in it but in the end the sharks have just been that little bit better.

[pockets 9]

I dont understand why everyone blames Crosby..... oh wait im not Carman what was i thinking, i do blame crosby, hes behind global warming, hes behind the lead in the stuff made in china and hes behind and most importantly the deficit in the states

[Ozzie30 170]

I blame: Jonathan Ericsson.

Everytime the Sharks have a scoring chance, check the ice for 52 - he's usually standing still somewhere in the corner or laying flat on his face in the slot.

[Nightfall 871]

I blame the following things for being down 3-0.

1. Can't win a key faceoff. When was the last time the Wings got spanked in the faceoff circle in a playoff series. At least they improved last night, but they still lost key faceoffs. San Jose got 2 goals off lost faceoffs by the Wings.

2. No sense of urgency. I have said it before and I will say it again. The Wings needed to come out and play every game like game 7 of the Phoenix series. Where was the fire? Where was the playoff drive? Sure, you saw it for 10, 20, or 40 minutes at a time in this series, with last night being a 40 minute hard fought effort by the Wings. In the end though, the Wings have to play a full 60 minutes of that style of hockey and they didn't. Coasting in the 3rd period two games in a row? Are you serious? We gave up 2 3rd period leads this series.

3. Sub par goaltending in key games. I am a fan of Howards. That being said, his goaltending was shaky at times. He let in a couple stoppable shots in the Phoenix series. The tying goal last night was horrible. I know, its just a couple goals, but he has to stop those. Playoff goalies stop those shots.

4. The Sharks hunger. Unlike last season, the Sharks look like a team ready to erase all their playoff demons and "choker" demons in one run. Like it or not, this team DESERVES to be up 3-0. Coming back from deficits in the 3rd period two games in a row? That takes hard work and they should get high marks for their work ethic. We also chased the sharks around too much in this series. Usually, teams are chasing the Wings. Not this series.

5. The Refs. Yea, they were a factor. The bad calls in game 2 were horrible. You can't discount them entirely. The good teams fight through poor refereeing so I won't put them as the lone scapegoat.

[Grateful Gadsby 10]

I blame: Jonathan Ericsson.

Everytime the Sharks have a scoring chance, check the ice for 52 - he's usually standing still somewhere in the corner or laying flat on his face in the slot.

You can also count on Jason Williams being on the ice, as well. McClellan is a smart guy, and he probably reminded the Sharks at every opportunity to be on the lookout for one of Williams's patented boneheaded plays that no doubt will translate into a great scoring chance. If so, it certainly paid off in OT.

[servo 15]

Since there's a lot of complaining around here with us being down 3-0, I thought it would be interesting to see the way that people are distributing the responsibility for this round.

Without a doubt; Pavelski. Hands down. The guy has done everything.

[bulletoobinary 2]

The reason were down 3-0 is because we as a TEAM lost three games. Screw the refs, screw so-called softies let in by howard, we need to find a way to win and we didnt. Thats it.

[b.shanafan14 733]

As bad as the refs have been, I voted Howard for much the same reason as everyone else who did so. For me, its bad enough to give up 4 goals per game in the playoffs (you're not going to win many games that way) but the way he let in those goals was the real killer for this team. Goals after Red Wings goals, soft goals through the five-hole or being out of position, multiple quick goals against, goals off of poor rebound control, goals at the end of the period. I knew this team was in trouble when after the Cleary goal everyone seemed to KNOW they were going to give up a goal in the less than 90 seconds left in the period and sure enough 2 seconds left and Howard lets in a softy five-hole. It was all down hill from there.

Howard limped through the first series spare a game or two and he has done nothing to help the Wings this series. He is a rookie and its understandable he is getting his first playoff disappointment under his belt hopefully leading to future success with a healthier, more rested team. That doesn't change the fact that with slightly better than mediocre goaltending (and competent officiating) the Wings could be one game down or even up in this series. They haven't gotten that, so they are on the verge of a sweep.

Edited May 5, 2010 by b.shanafan14

[NvrFrgtRussian5 85]

how about the whole team? You can't place the blame on anyone other than the team. They are getting outplayed by a hungrier opponent.