1515 replies to this topic

[Doc Holliday]

Howard is getting a lot of undue flak.


You know who else got a lot of undue flak? Osgood. Let's hope that Howard proves the haters wrong like he did.

[The Greek]

You gotta wonder how different things would have been if George Parros was on this roster.

Sadly, we'll never know.

I'm not an enforcer fan by any means, but I'd welcome Parros with open arms.

[redwashington2000]

I JUST SENT A MESSAGE TO KELVIN KLEIN TELLING HIM THAT I WENT TO THE STORE AND PURCHASED KELVIN KLEIN UNDERWARE, THE GUY IS JUST GOING STRICTLY ABOUT BUSINESS, HE WANTS THE ENTIRE WINGS TEAM TO BUY HIS PRODUCT, GET IT DONE BOYS AND WE HAVE THE NEXT GAME SECURED

[GoalieManPat]

I JUST SENT A MESSAGE TO KELVIN KLEIN TELLING HIM THAT I WENT TO THE STORE AND PURCHASED KELVIN KLEIN UNDERWARE, THE GUY IS JUST GOING STRICTLY ABOUT BUSINESS, HE WANTS THE ENTIRE WINGS TEAM TO BUY HIS PRODUCT, GET IT DONE BOYS AND WE HAVE THE NEXT GAME SECURED

Hopefully he gave Stuart a free pair as Klein made him lose his in Game 3.

[joesuffP]

I believe the foundation for a Stanley Cup winning team is here but certain players are being forced into roles that they just aren't cut out for. Flippula is not a scoring winger to be counted on to get goals, you just can't expect him to. It's not from lack of effort, it's his playing style and skill set. He is a very good 3rd line centre though, and centring our 3rd line he would be a big part of our success as well. Franzen should be used as a secondary scorer. Depending on Franzen to score for you to win games is just asking for trouble. He is one of the streakiest goal scorers in the league, no wonder the team is inconsistent.

Parise should be our number one priority this offseason I believe. It doesn't bring us into contention immediately but having him would be a crucial piece on our top line and allows the team to not count on Franzen every night. It doesn't solve all our problems but I believe it solves a lot and gives our lines a lot more structure. If you start from signing him and look at our lines there is still work to do but it makes it clear to see where our holes are.

Defense is a mess I guess but I think having all the cornerstone peices for a great offence would help on the teams overall game. Last offseason all we did is sign Ian White and our team defence went way up. It's all about having a team commitment to defence

[wingsfan4795]

The wings played great. They lost because of 3 mistakes that ended up in their own net.

And blame rinne, not Howard. Howard played well tonight, but was a victim of being left out to dry a couple times.
- goal 1 was not his fault at all
- he was out of position on goal 2 but someone should have covered Klein
- goal 3 (which didn't really have an affect on the game) was all clearys fault


If they can solve rinne and gain some momentum, they can pull out of this hole

Edit: that's what she said on the second half of that last sentence

Edited by wingsfan4795, 18 April 2012 - 12:42 AM.

[Yzermania]

Howard is getting a lot of undue flak.


You know who else got a lot of undue flak? Osgood. Let's hope that Howard proves the haters wrong like he did.

Osgood also had a cup as a starter already at this age.

I don't think Jimmy is horrible or anything but he just doesn't seem to have that knack for good timing. He's given up bad goals at TERRIBLE times in the last two games. Sure, the defense hasn't been great at all times but that's why we have a goalie behind them.

Edited by Yzermania, 18 April 2012 - 12:53 AM.

[b.shanafan14]

To clarify my position on Howard: Hardly the worst part of the Wings game right now, but expected to be MUCH better. Half of the goals against could definitely be blamed on the defensive lapsed, and were results of legitimate scoring chances. However, Howard has looked shaky handling the puck since Game 1. He hasn't made the save the Wings really need, and its made all the worse by the scoring woes on the opposite end.

Howard is not to blame for the Wings not being able to score. He should not be replaced with a higher-cap-hit goaltender. He is not a bad goaltender. He is a good goaltender having a poor/mediocre series. We don't need a different goaltender, just for our current one to play better (which he is more than capable of). I'm not trying to bag on Howard completely, but in a series expected to be a goaltending duel, our goaltender has not competed sufficiently, and shouldn't be let off the hook due to the problems on the other side of the rink.

THAT SAID, you could replace Howard's name with anyone not named Datsyuk or Zetterberg for the most part. Like I've said all season, too many passengers, not enough any finishers.

[haroldsnepsts]

In 3 games Johan Franzen has one point, the goal that bounced off him into the net.

9 Shots on goal. 8 penalty minutes. -1.

Where's the playoff beast that's the justifies tolerating his half-assed regular season play?

[GoWings1905]

They've had four games to solve Rinne and build momentum. Rinne is too damn good, even better when your strategy to beat him is focused on shots from the perimeter and lots of passing. The Predators don't care if they get outplayed -- they have in three games and are about to advance. Babcock made the perfect observation in his presser: the Red Wings make mistakes in this series and it goes in the net; the Predators make mistakes and you don't notice because Rinne bails them out. I'm not really mad at Jimmy with the lack of goal-scoring, but he's let in some deflators in the past two games. The Red Wings control the puck an entire shift, Hudler hits the post, the Predators come down ice and Howard badly overplays Erat and kills all of the momentum.

The Red Wings have no margin for error against Rinne and the Predators know it and have implemented their style of play accordingly. Props to them for executing and equally disappointing the Red Wings haven't taken advantage and forced them to open the game up.

Edited by GoWings1905, 18 April 2012 - 01:01 AM.

[haroldsnepsts]

They've had four games to solve Rinne and build momentum. Rinne is too damn good, even better when your strategy to beat him is focused on shots from the perimeter and lots of passing. The Predators don't care if they get outplayed --they have in three games and are about to advance. Babcock made the perfect observation in his presser: the Red Wings make mistakes in this series and it goes in the net; the Predators make mistakes and you don't notice because Rinne bails them out. I'm not really mad at Jimmy with the lack of goal-scoring, but he's let in some deflators in the past two games. The Red Wings control the puck an entire shift, Hudler hits the post, the Predators come down ice and Howard badly overplays Erat and kills all of the momentum.

The Red Wings have no margin for error against Rinne and the Predators know it and have implemented their style of play accordingly. Props to them for executing and equally disappointing the Red Wings haven't taken advantage and forced them to open the game up.

It's not all Rinne though. His defense has bailed him out and made some huge saves too. Neil, Fisher. Then he's gotten a couple fortunate bounces. Don't get me wrong he's very good for sure but it's team defense. They collapse down low and push the Wings to the perimeter. There were juicy rebounds today but the Wings don't have enough speed, size or fortitude to go to those hard areas of the ice to get the dirty goals.

It's great that so many goals came from our defense in the regular season, but it was probably also a sign that we needed more ugly goals around the net. Because in the playoffs guys are blocking those shooting lanes from the point.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros]

In 3 games Johan Franzen has one point, the goal that bounced off him into the net.

9 Shots on goal. 8 penalty minutes. -1.

Where's the playoff beast that's the justifies tolerating his half-assed regular season play?

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Edited by Bring Back The Bruise Bros, 18 April 2012 - 01:10 AM.

[joesuffP]

After Howard got gifted that no goal call then he goes and let's one in less than a minute after I knew the game was over. Wings can't capitalize when the hockey gods did everything they could for them to win. But oh boy did they ever dominate by cycling the puck for two whole periods. The wings haven't shown any skill the whole series other than Datsyuk's steal behind the net goal... cycle, cycle, cycle.... throw it at the net... cycle, cycle, cycle ... point shot.. blocked. That's bad coaching. They're doing the same thing on the power play that's how you know nobody is coaching this team. Nashville is giving them the boards it's not like they're getting frustrated cause Detroit keeps cycling. They let Datsyuk sit there on the half boards and just stand still acting like he's gonna do something crazy but then all he does is pass to the point or swing it behind the net. This team isn't being coached. Nashville will take that offensive pressure all day.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros]

I blame this loss on the lack of chicks on this website.

[GoWings1905]

It's not all Rinne though. His defense has bailed him out and made some huge saves too. Neil, Fisher. Then he's gotten a couple fortunate bounces. Don't get me wrong he's very good for sure but it's team defense. They collapse down low and push the Wings to the perimeter. There were juicy rebounds today but the Wings don't have enough speed, size or fortitude to go to those hard areas of the ice to get the dirty goals.

It's great that so many goals came from our defense in the regular season, but it was probably also a sign that we needed more ugly goals around the net. Because in the playoffs guys are blocking those shooting lanes from the point.

Very true, good points all the way around. I think you are right in saying the combination of the Predators team defense and the Red Wings lack of forwards able to score ugly goals is a major contributing factor to Rinne's success. I hate to harp too much, but this is a spot where you would expect Franzen to be a difference maker. Hudler is small and always gets knocked off the puck, but I've seen him go into those hard areas/front of the net more than Franzen this series.

Edited by GoWings1905, 18 April 2012 - 01:18 AM.

[joesuffP]

And it doesn't help that there isn't anybody on this team that can shoot the puck without handling it for a good 3 seconds first. How many one timers have the wings taken? I say stop trying to screen the goalie it's just bringing their defensemen right over to make it easier to block the shot. All those empty net chances wouldn't be deflected if both their defensemen were chasing their man instead of using the good ole' three man goalie defence.

[b.shanafan14]

In 3 games Johan Franzen has one point, the goal that bounced off him into the net.

9 Shots on goal. 8 penalty minutes. -1.

Where's the playoff beast that's the justifies tolerating his half-assed regular season play?

He's so clutch. I've only noticed him when he is taking stupid penalties and watching puck battles from the faceoff dot. Sounds like regular season Franzen to me.

[Yzerman19]

Although I'm agreeing on most of what has been said in all those long 74pages....
Aren't you all sure that the luck is a huge factor in this series? sure we also have to admitt Rinne has played stellar, but in game 3 for instance, how saves have been made by D-men or else....

To me now, backock should remodel his line-up.... and make something about that second line which is the worst of all 4.

Is it just me or we've been better 4-on-4 than on the powerplay?
Maybe the strategy would be to create those situation more often

The Huge Factor in this series still is goaltending.... Howard since his injury haven't been playing Vezina style like he has been in the beginning of the season.

[brett]

didnt the wings just get zetterberg back last season against the sharks to win 3 straight? who are we getting back this year that is going to make that difference?

i think im taking this loss harder then game 7 both last year and 09. cause wings had every bit of control and opportunity. refs were in wings favor all night even called back a sure goal for them. they simply choked.

[Super Wing]

I think some people are forgetting that Howard has been superb for most of the regular season. He was a big part of the streak, and he's kept us in some vital games. Now I'll be the first to admit he's not had the greatest end to the season or start of the Playoffs, but since the Canucks beat us at home, we've been a poor team. It's not just Jimmy Howard - it's the entire team.

In Howard we trust.