Two Polls.

[RedBengals 27]

I think Howard's play yesterday wasn't his best performance. Even though one goal was screened and the other was Emmerton's fault, the third goal and the OT goal were saves I think he should have made. He also doesn't make the best saves at times and gives some rebounds out that he could have controlled better. He makes the easy and medium saves, but it seems he has some moments where he's not on his A game. I haven't seen enough of Conklin yet to decide who I think should be starting though. I'm gonna keep a close eye on him tonight.

Pick: Howard, I just haven't seen enough of Conklin yet and Howard admitted he wasn't at his best and wants to step it up.

Bertuzzi showed alot of focus on his goal, that's the kind of goal he's good for. Wasn't very skillful, but it's a nice goal regardless to be in the right spot at the right time and to get those easy ones. Emmerton's on there as a joke obviously, I have no idea what the hell he was thinking on that one. I imagine he wanted to catch that shot or block it with his stick, but he lifts it right over Howard's shoulder. It's almost as if he forgot whose goal he was in front of. Nyqust's goal was great placement and he worked for it. Zetterberg's pass was great (If lucky) and Franzen was right where he needed to be and had great placement.

Pick: Nyquist's goal wins this for me, Bertuzzi's and Franzen's goals were good positioning but were the sort of goals that need to be getting past the goalie every time.

[MacAttack25 44]

Howard has had a bit of a rough preseason and Conklin has looked pretty solid from what I've seen, but I'd still go with Howard. I think he'll be okay, he knows he needs to step it up. Conklin is a really good fit here though. I hope we don't have to see him step in as the starter, but if he has to, I think he can hold his own. But for now, despite the preseason record, it's Howard's job.

Loved seeing Bert go to the net and get one in, but Nyquist's goal was very nice. He's a really impressive player, especially for his age. I'm excited to see him in the future.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

I'm willing to give Jimmy the benefit of the doubt because it's only the preseason and second he earned some major respect from me for his playoff performance.

That being said, the Red Wings need to clean it up defensively starting next Friday including Howard. Jimmy just needs to find a level of consistency -- the Wings don't need him to steal games like Lundqvist, but he needs to be sharper than last regular season. Conklin is a more than adequate backup, but he's not a guy that's going to get the Red Wings a championship. We need Jimmy to pick up where he left off in the Sharks series.

[eva unit zero 271]

Howard is the starter, and should be. Conklin is a reliable backup, but even though Howard has shown he can be inconsistent and not play to his best, he's still significantly better than Conklin. Conklin himself has had major consistency issues both within season and from year to year. For example, Conklin has played 16+ games the last seven seasons. Three times he has posted a save percentage of .881 or worse. Twice he posted a save percentage of .921 or better. He also posted .909 and .912. There appears to be no correlation between team strength and Conklin's performance; he played 26 games in 2009-10 and 25 games in 2010-11 for St.Louis, playing the same style. The shots against improved by a small margin in his second year, but the defense was basically the same. His save percentage shifted downwards from .921 to .881, a drastic - and unexplained - decrease.

Howard also suffered a large drop in save percentage over the past two seasons, but that is common with a young goaltender from his rookie year to his second season. Howard also went from one of the best seasons in the league to simply a "good" season, while Conklin dropped from "very good" to "bottom of the barrel" statistically. Conklin is also less likely to remain with the team for an extended period, and has never been a starter. Howard has the advantage in every conceivable category one would use to establish this situation. Only two goalies had a chance to take Howard's position; Chris Osgood and Tomas Vokoun. Osgood retired, and Vokoun chose to sign in Washington. Osgood likely would not have beaten out Howard either; so realistically only Vokoun. Howard has the spot locked up against anyone unless that person were to forcibly remove him, as Howard did Osgood. It's not going to be "Conklin is a little better than Howard right now, let's make him the starter" the way it was with Stefan and Hanlon. The closest Howard has come to losing his job was when Osgood came back early last year because Howie was struggling; and had Ozzie not done that he'd probably be on the team right now.