742 replies to this topic

[titanium2]

If the call is that Howard had the puck under him and was pushed into the net, it's a terrible call because that didn't happen. If the call is that Pollock intended to blow the whistle before the puck crossed the line, it's a terrible call because the puck wasn't frozen (Howard never had control of it before it crossed the line). And if he lost sight of the puck ... well, isn't that why we have a multitude of cameras pointed at the cage?

All that said: It is refreshing to see the Red Wings get the benefit of one of these situations for once, as they're usually the ones getting screwed.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Most-terrible-call-of-the-night-in-Red-Wi?urn=nhl-316185

[titanium2]

Everybody sucked at defense last night.

1st Period 8:40 - Ottawa Goal: Peter Regin (tip in) from Alexei Kovalev and Chris Campoli
The Senators get the puck into the zone about 30 seconds before they score and the entire play that leads to the goal stems from an early failure. Regin brings in and fires a cross-ice pass high in the zone that misses Michalek and bounces off the boards. As Rafalski and Helm converge, Michalek turns around and drags the puck past both of them on a pretty spin move that should have ended when either of the two dips***s standing near him planted his ass in the Scotiabank ice. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and he got a good shot off that led to a keep in and a dump low in the zone. Regin and Kovalev work together to outmuscle Rafalski behind the net and to screen Helm from coming in to help. Regin brings it out to one side as he switches spots with Campoli while handing off the puck to him. Kovalev runs another screen to keep Helm off Campoli and Rafalski is nice enough to not try to pin him to the boards. With a step on Rafalski, Campoli comes out the other side and takes advantage of Regin cutting through the middle to take Eaves' stick out of the cross-ice passing lane, where he finds Kovalev. With Michalek in the play, always moving around the center of the ice, the Senators now have two players on Jonathan Ericsson in front of the net. Ericsson doesn't recognize in time that Regin is behind him and the Senators make Detroit pay with a cross-ice pass back over to Regin for an easy tip-in behind Howard. Knee-jerk reaction was to wonder why Ericsson lost this coverage so badly, but the replay of how the entire thing set up shows that Ericsson had to respect Michalek's positioning through the slot the entire play. His only mistake was to recognize that he needs to cover the lower man of the two he was left to defend. I'm not clearing anything, but Ericsson will only keep his official minus. Rafalski isn't so lucky as he had two opportunities to at least try to muscle a guy on the boards to close the highway that was running behind howard and he failed both times. For this and for the screw up on Michalek to start the play, Rafalski gets two extra minuses. Eaves makes a sloppy handoff as Regin cuts down through the zone and Kovalev is Helm's man on this play right before he makes the shot-pass that Regin tips, so both Eaves gets extra minus while Helm's combined mistakes here are good for an extra minus and a half. Finally, Kris Draper never gets into a defensive position. He needs to be the guy coming down to take Michalek from Ericsson in this situation and he's never below the hash marks. Draper gets an extra minus as well.

1st Period 11:12 - Ottawa Goal: Chris Campoli (snap shot) from Daniel Alfredsson and Nick Foligno
Some very aggressive forechecking and neutral zone play by Ottawa forces the puck off Bertuzzi's stick at center ice and back into the corner for Lidstrom on a long shift to fight with Nick Foligno for the puck in the corner. Zetterberg comes in to help, but Foligno holds them off long enough for Daniel Alfredsson to swoop in and take it. Alfreddson carries around behind the net and finds Campoli standing out front on the other side wide open for a quick snap shot over Jimmy's shoulder. The forechecking is great and the shift was long, but Lidstrom and Zetterberg combined need to either win this board battle or not lose it so cleanly. Both Zetterberg and Lidstrom will get extra half-minuses. As Alfredsson comes behind the net, Kronwall needs to pick him up and stop the pass to Campoli, but doesn't. Kronwall gets an extra half-minus. Bertuzzi is standing at the top of the zone in front of Gonchar, but behind Fisher, earning Bert an extra half-minus as a couple steps deeper in the zone are enough to cut off the passing lane to both of them and to free Franzen. Franzen is standing in the passing lane from Alfreddson to Fisher, but is slow to react to Alfreddson coming behind the net, and never reacts to Campoli coming low. Franzen will pick up a half-minus.

2nd Period 11:18 - Ottawa Goal: Milan Michalek (wrist shot) from Peter Regin and Chris Campoli
Of course, the Wings can't let us enjoy this league for more than a full minute before giving it back. Campoli throws a two-line pass that bounces off of Regin and into the Wings zone. Lidstrom beats Regin to the puck, but can only manage to weakly poke it around him where Michalek beats Filppula to it. The Senators forward carries along the boards to the inside of Regin as he prevents Filppula from making the defensive play. This catches Lidstrom flat-footed and gives Michalek room to take it to the front of the net out of the corner. Howard stops the first shot and the rebound, but Michalek is able to get it again unimpeded and puts it behind him to tie it up again. Lidstrom gets an extra minus for losing his positioning while Filppula gets an extra minus for both failing to stop the Campoli outlet and for failing to prevent Michalek from getting the puck in the first place.

3rd Period 00:50 - Ottawa Goal: Milan Michalek (wrist shot) from Alexei Kovalev and Peter Regin
Aaaaand 29 seconds later we're back to square because your blood pressure wasn't high enough already. By this point in the game, the Wings are still somehow unaware that Michalek is a speedy skater and he's able to step around Kronwall to the outside to get a shot on Howard from a Sharp angle as Regin crashes the crease. The puck caroms off the Regin and the post before heading to the top of the zone on the far side where Gonchar bodies off Hudler to make sure Kovalev gets to it unmolested. Kovalev throws a wrister through traffic that lightly brushes Michalek on its way straight through Jimmy Howard, who realizes far too late that the shot is coming. The slow reaction by Howard makes this goal half-weak. Elsewhere, Lidstrom and Filppula are cleared of their minuses for being in position, but on the other side of the play here. Kronwall gets the extra half-minus for getting walked around. I feel Hudler could have skated harder into Gonchar to try to draw an interference penalty and that Cleary could have blocked the shot from the point to prevent this goal, so they will both keep their ratings.

http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2011/2/3/1971528/cssi-analysis-red-wings-7-senators-5

But a win is a win is a win.

[Nightfall]

Howard with a .853 save percentage for the night...
VEZINA! VEZINA! VEZINA!

When 4 of the 5 goals were scored due to defensive breakdowns and blown coverages, its hard to fault Howard. Speaking from experience, when my team plays well in front of me and keeps the shots to the outside, I can pitch a shutout or keep them to 1 or 2 goals scored. When my team plays poorly, it can be 6 goals allowed easy. This is why Ken Holland invests so much into his defensive core. The goaltender is the last line of defense. The defense is there to make sure it doesn't come to that.

The armchair fans in this forum and other hockey boards really have got to get out there and play the game.

Aside from that, the Wings didn't play their best game. Big deal. In the course of a season, teams are going to go through highs and lows. The Wings are solid at the top of the division and with an injured group of players that are coming back now. Be patient. Give it time. Still 32 games to go until playoffs.

Edited by Nightfall, 03 February 2011 - 11:28 AM.

[lookalive07]

Love the thread title

[Konnan511]

It was good to see Franzen try for once this season. Hopefully he plays like this the majority of the rest of this season and postseason.

[NeverForgetMac25]

If the call is that Howard had the puck under him and was pushed into the net, it's a terrible call because that didn't happen. If the call is that Pollock intended to blow the whistle before the puck crossed the line, it's a terrible call because the puck wasn't frozen (Howard never had control of it before it crossed the line). And if he lost sight of the puck ... well, isn't that why we have a multitude of cameras pointed at the cage?

All that said: It is refreshing to see the Red Wings get the benefit of one of these situations for once, as they're usually the ones getting screwed.

http://sports.yahoo....?urn=nhl-316185

All that's fine and dandy, but what this writer fails to mention is the fact that clearly the referee lost sight of the puck, hence he blew his whistle or was intending too when the puck crossed the line. There's a ton of instances where the puck clearly isn't frozen by the goaltender but there's so many bodies in front of the net that the ref simply loses sight of it and has no other option but to blow the whistle.

That's what happened in this case and it most certainly doesn't make it wrong, just unfortunate for Senators fans. It happens all the time though.

On top of all that, you can say what you want but the puck absolutely gets lost in the overhead view which is why the non-goal was likely upheld.

[chrisdetroit]

It was good to see Franzen try for once this season. Hopefully he plays like this the majority of the rest of this season and postseason.

Yea. Because he hasn't been trying all year.

For Christ's sake, the guy scores 5 goals in a game and is on pace for 43 and you rag on him.

[GMRwings1983]

When 4 of the 5 goals were scored due to defensive breakdowns and blown coverages, its hard to fault Howard. Speaking from experience, when my team plays well in front of me and keeps the shots to the outside, I can pitch a shutout or keep them to 1 or 2 goals scored. When my team plays poorly, it can be 6 goals allowed easy. This is why Ken Holland invests so much into his defensive core. The goaltender is the last line of defense. The defense is there to make sure it doesn't come to that.

The armchair fans in this forum and other hockey boards really have got to get out there and play the game.

Aside from that, the Wings didn't play their best game. Big deal. In the course of a season, teams are going to go through highs and lows. The Wings are solid at the top of the division and with an injured group of players that are coming back now. Be patient. Give it time. Still 32 games to go until playoffs.

Manny Legace, is that you?

[Konnan511]

Yea. Because he hasn't been trying all year.

For Christ's sake, the guy scores 5 goals in a game and is on pace for 43 and you rag on him.

So you're denying that he hasn't been floating the majority of the season?

[gcom007]

When 4 of the 5 goals were scored due to defensive breakdowns and blown coverages, its hard to fault Howard. Speaking from experience, when my team plays well in front of me and keeps the shots to the outside, I can pitch a shutout or keep them to 1 or 2 goals scored. When my team plays poorly, it can be 6 goals allowed easy. This is why Ken Holland invests so much into his defensive core. The goaltender is the last line of defense. The defense is there to make sure it doesn't come to that.

The armchair fans in this forum and other hockey boards really have got to get out there and play the game.

Aside from that, the Wings didn't play their best game. Big deal. In the course of a season, teams are going to go through highs and lows. The Wings are solid at the top of the division and with an injured group of players that are coming back now. Be patient. Give it time. Still 32 games to go until playoffs.

I spent more time on skates growing up then in shoes. Plenty have. But this is the NHL. If you're a goalie in the NHL, let alone a starting goalie on one of the top teams, it is reasonable to expect a goalie to be better than Howard has been this year. I don't care what team you're playing for, what injuries said team may have and what defensive issues may exist, when you have to go into a game expecting that 4 goals will be scored against you, there's a real problem.

That said, the defense has been terrible, sure, but the reality of the matter is that we are not the only team that has defensive issues. Plenty of other teams struggle far more than we do with the stupid mistakes and they don't have the talent to at times compensate for it. Yet somehow, even the terrible teams seem to have goalies outplaying Howard more often than not lately. I'm not one of the one's calling for his head, and I've got faith that he'll recover in due time, but let's be honest here...defensive breakdowns or not, Howard's had a rough year, and if he can't get it going, unless Babcock goes with Osgood, we're toast come playoff time.

It is stupid to blame every goal on him, and he isn't getting much help, but any way you shake it, he hasn't played well and he's absolutely got to play a lot better. You need your goalie to compensate for some of the inevitable defensive breakdowns. Again, I really like the guy and I'm not throwing in the towel by any means, but this year, he's simply not playing well at all.

[Nightfall]

I spent more time on skates growing up then in shoes. Plenty have. But this is the NHL. If you're a goalie in the NHL, let alone a starting goalie on one of the top teams, it is reasonable to expect a goalie to be better than Howard has been this year. I don't care what team you're playing for, what injuries said team may have and what defensive issues may exist, when you have to go into a game expecting that 4 goals will be scored against you, there's a real problem.

That said, the defense has been terrible, sure, but the reality of the matter is that we are not the only team that has defensive issues. Plenty of other teams struggle far more than we do with the stupid mistakes and they don't have the talent to at times compensate for it. Yet somehow, even the terrible teams seem to have goalies outplaying Howard more often than not lately. I'm not one of the one's calling for his head, and I've got faith that he'll recover in due time, but let's be honest here...defensive breakdowns or not, Howard's had a rough year, and if he can't get it going, unless Babcock goes with Osgood, we're toast come playoff time.

It is stupid to blame every goal on him, and he isn't getting much help, but any way you shake it, he hasn't played well and he's absolutely got to play a lot better. You need your goalie to compensate for some of the inevitable defensive breakdowns. Again, I really like the guy and I'm not throwing in the towel by any means, but this year, he's simply not playing well at all.

Goalies on terrible teams are going to shine more than goalies on great teams because of the sheer amount of chances they have against them. I have made more highlight reel saves against awesome teams because of all the chances they get to score. It doesn't make me superhuman though.

I do have to admit that you are right on one count though. Howard does have to make a big save or two in every game. Yes, blown coverages are going to happen. Its the goaltender that can make that big save or two that bolsters the confidence of the team in front of him.

Howard was lights out last season in the last 25 games. He needed to be and the Wings rallied around that. In the playoffs though, he didn't deliver his best games which was concerning. As you say before, I am not blaming every goal on Howard like 75% of the LGW forum members do, but that is what I tire of to be honest.

The LGW members are considered to be true fans of the Wings and the game of hockey. In the last few years, this has not been my experience. Most of them are quick to jump all over the players if they make a mistake or the goaltender for every goal that goes in. Be damned if the goal was scored by an uncovered player on the other side of the net, a tip, or a deflection he had no chance to stop.

Excellent analogy though. Thanks for your well thought out response.

Edited by Nightfall, 03 February 2011 - 02:26 PM.

[jeff48109]

Like you wouldn't like seeing Carrie Underwood at the Joe.

if that means giving Fil and a 2nd rounder away, no. But if she decided to divorce Fisher and marry one of the wings that'll be fine with me

[HankthaTank]

X 5

Way to go Jo-Jo!!!!! Save some for the playoffs my friend.

[puckbags]

So you're denying that he hasn't been floating the majority of the season?

Pure floater ...... The Mule

on a side note in the user comments for this story if you scroll down you will see a comment from a user named Mindfly, I'm assuming this would be our very own LGW Mindfly and if you read his comments it will further convince you that he is lost:

mindfly
1 hour ago

I just wished he showed up for every game, became more of a consistent scorer, he's awesome when he gets the hat-tricks, 4goal games here and there but i would take consistency over streakyness. But at 3.9M it's a win-win even though the contract is long, not many teams would get a franzen for that money.

Where does he come up with this stuff, it was the Mule's first career regular season hatty.

[cusimano_brothers]

An opinion is like a Mindfly, everyone has one.

[HOCKEY MATTERS]

An opinion is like a Mindfly, everyone has one.

well.....we used to have one.....

[wingslogo19]

The Mule is loose.... Be nice to tighten up on D though

[Konnan511]

Pure floater ...... The Mule

on a side note in the user comments for this story if you scroll down you will see a comment from a user named Mindfly, I'm assuming this would be our very own LGW Mindfly and if you read his comments it will further convince you that he is lost:

mindfly
1 hour ago

I just wished he showed up for every game, became more of a consistent scorer, he's awesome when he gets the hat-tricks, 4goal games here and there but i would take consistency over streakyness. But at 3.9M it's a win-win even though the contract is long, not many teams would get a franzen for that money.

Where does he come up with this stuff, it was the Mule's first career regular season hatty.

Again... this season. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

[chrisdetroit]

So you're denying that he hasn't been floating the majority of the season?

He scores on average 1 goal every other game. If that's what you call floating, then I wish the other guys would start floating.

[HankthaTank]

I wish the other guys would start floating.

"Got that covered, slick"

Edited by HankthaTank, 03 February 2011 - 05:12 PM.