Game Two - Honest Discussion

[wings7 62]

Let's talk honest.

What do the Wings need to do in Game 2 if they want to come home up 2-0.

I know I'll get flamed for this, because that's what ppl do, but benching either Tatar or Nyquist, who were both basically benched in the third last night, would maybe help light a spark. Bring in Cleary. We need someone who is not afraid to get hit and can clear the puck out of our zone.

I'd play Kindl over Marchenko at this point. He's more offensive.

What are your thoughts?

My lines for Game 2.

Z - Pav - Helm

Nyq - Sheahan - Jurko

Miller - Glendening - Andersson

Cleary - Weiss - Ferraro

Kronwall - E

Kindl - Quincey

Dekeyser - Zids

M

H

[canadian wings fan 305]

We definitely need to play better but swapping Kindl and Cleary in for Marchenko and Tatar/Nyquist?

Hell no

[wings7 62]

We definitely need to play better but swapping Kindl and Cleary in for Marchenko and Tatar/Nyquist?

Hell no

Ha. I told you it was crazy. It's just a thought.

I don't know. Maybe the Kindl thing is a bit off. I'll be the first to say I wanted Marchenko in and the first to say he looked iffy at best.

Tatar or Nyquist need to be taught accountability. In my opinion.

[canadian wings fan 305]

I get what you're saying on the Tatar/Nyquist thing, they both were useless last year versus Boston and were invisible yet again last night. It's frustrating because everyone here knows how good they can be. But still I wouldn't sit them when the alternative is Cleary...

As for Marchenko, I thought he looked fine. He didn't make any Smith level gaffes and that is OK by me.

[wings7 62]

I get what you're saying on the Tatar/Nyquist thing, they both were useless last year versus Boston and were invisible yet again last night. It's frustrating because everyone here knows how good they can be. But still I wouldn't sit them when the alternative is Cleary...

As for Marchenko, I thought he looked fine. He didn't make any Smith level gaffes and that is OK by me.

He didn't. He made a couple mistakes, one I think lead to a great scoring chance, but don't quote me on that.

He played fine. Maybe you're right. Leave the winning team as is.

But I think we agree, that formula from last night is not going to win us a series.

[brett 1,029]

Honestly the thought about playing cleary crossed my mind last night. You know he's itching to play and might be good for a few hits. At this point I'd take him over jurco. I don't even know how jurco is still on the team.

I could see smith or kindl being effective against the hard forechecking. Zids was terrible last night. Idk if it was jitters or what but if he keeps it up id take kindl over him

[nawein 324]

Ha. I told you it was crazy. It's just a thought.

I don't know. Maybe the Kindl thing is a bit off. I'll be the first to say I wanted Marchenko in and the first to say he looked iffy at best.

Tatar or Nyquist need to be taught accountability. In my opinion.

Ahh yes. Because benching our 2 leading goal scorers after one game of the playoffs for not scoring makes a ton of sense. Also, they didn't play a lot on the third because we were short handed for most of it.

[wings7 62]

Ahh yes. Because benching our 2 leading goal scorers after one game of the playoffs for not scoring makes a ton of sense. Also, they didn't play a lot on the third because we were short handed for most of it.

They have been terrible for over a month now. Agree or disagree?

And no, that's not why. Go look at everyone's ice time. Jurko got about as many minutes in THE GAME as them. Same with Weiss. Don't kid yourself. Babcock chose not to play them.

Honestly the thought about playing cleary crossed my mind last night. You know he's itching to play and might be good for a few hits. At this point I'd take him over jurco. I don't even know how jurco is still on the team. I could see smith or kindl being effective against the hard forechecking. Zids was terrible last night. Idk if it was jitters or what but if he keeps it up id take kindl over him

Jurko's screen on Datsyuk's second goal was great. Just saying

[canadian wings fan 305]

Jurco has to be willing to crash and the net and hit everything in sight if he's going to be worth anything these playoffs.

Guy can't score

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

They have been terrible for over a month now. Agree or disagree?

And no, that's not why. Go look at everyone's ice time. Jurko got about as many minutes in THE GAME as them. Same with Weiss. Don't kid yourself. Babcock chose not to play them.

Jurko's screen on Datsyuk's second goal was great. Just saying

Regular Season average even strength min/game:

Tatar: 13:43

Nyquist: 13:37

First game of the playoffs:

Tatar: 12:59

Nyquist: 11:07

It's really not as big a deal as you're making it out to be...

Helm also played the most of any forward (20min) and Glendening played 18min.

It was pretty clear the minutes for our forwards were heavily influenced by match-ups.

[Jersey Wing 1,521]

Leave it the way it is as far as the lineup goes. Lather rinse repeat on the "compete level" and "starting on time" cliches. Demand better as a coach. I don't think you need bench anyone, they all see who is playing goalie and know results will dictate the lineup.

Let's see what they have to punch back with. Tampa said they played as well as they could last night. Stamkos said is was their best team game all year. Sobeit. If that's the case it's going to be a looooonnnnnggggg series.

[Echolalia 2,961]

Regular Season average even strength min/game:

Tatar: 13:43

Nyquist: 13:37

First game of the playoffs:

Tatar: 12:59

Nyquist: 11:07

It's really not as big a deal as you're making it out to be...

Helm also played the most of any forward (20min) and Glendening played 18min.

It was pretty clear the minutes for our forwards were heavily influenced by match-ups.

I think Helm was our strongest player out there, and Glendening not far behind him, so I don't mind their ice time, although some of that elevation is due to all the penalties the Wings had to kill. Tatar and Nyquist aren't on the PK unit so that's what, 10 minutes or so of ice time they are ineligible for?

When Abdelkader comes back I think we will see a lot more options become available from a lineup point of view. Babcock will also have the advantage of icing his squad last when the series shifts to Detroit so Tatar and Nyquist can match up against Tampa's third line. But really, I just want to see them (and everyone else) play harder and smarter.

[wings7 62]

Regular Season average even strength min/game:

Tatar: 13:43

Nyquist: 13:37

First game of the playoffs:

Tatar: 12:59

Nyquist: 11:07

It's really not as big a deal as you're making it out to be...

Helm also played the most of any forward (20min) and Glendening played 18min.

It was pretty clear the minutes for our forwards were heavily influenced by match-ups.

So you thought Tatar and Nyquist looked good. They just didn't play because of match ups?

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

So you thought Tatar and Nyquist looked good. They just didn't play because of match ups?

Did any forwards look good aside from Datsyuk, Helm and Glendening?

[wings7 62]

The idea that we should say "No one played good at forward" does not excuse Tatar and Nyquist…That's crazy.

[kipwinger 8,756]

In a game with 7 penalties for Tampa, I wouldn't read too much into ice time. It's going to heavily skew toward players who contribute to the pk (hence why Tatar, Nyquist, Weiss, Jurco didn't get much).

Otherwise, I'd say we're all better off just sitting down and enjoying the ride. There's not magical set of line combinations that's going to make us play like Tampa did last night. It's a system thing. If we're going to win this series, we're going to win it on the back of our goalie, huge individual efforts by our stars, and flukey garbage goals. And that's fine. New Jersey did it successfully. Babcock has done it successfully in the past. Just don't start thinking that we're going to dominate teams in the offensive zone. We aren't.

Look at Babcock's successful seasons in the past. They've all had the same characteristics. Giguere played out of his mind to get to the finals and Osgood played out of his mind to get to the finals. In Anaheim's case they came up short because they had no offense (they got shut out in three of the four games they lost in the finals), while in Detroit's case they had Dats, Z, and Franzen all in their primes, and all on fire, at the right time.

To win, we need Peter Mrazek to play INSANE, and two or three offensive players to carry the load. We're not going to win this with dominating puck possession. It's not in the game plan.

[wings7 62]

In a game with 7 penalties for Tampa, I wouldn't read too much into ice time. It's going to heavily skew toward players who contribute to the pk (hence why Tatar, Nyquist, Weiss, Jurco didn't get much).

Otherwise, I'd say we're all better off just sitting down and enjoying the ride. There's not magical set of line combinations that's going to make us play like Tampa did last night. It's a system thing. If we're going to win this series, we're going to win it on the back of our goalie, huge individual efforts by our stars, and flukey garbage goals. And that's fine. New Jersey did it successfully. Babcock has done it successfully in the past. Just don't start thinking that we're going to dominate teams in the offensive zone. We aren't.

Look at Babcock's successful seasons in the past. They've all had the same characteristics. Giguere played out of his mind to get to the finals and Osgood played out of his mind to get to the finals. In Anaheim's case they came up short because they had no offense (they got shut out in three of the four games they lost in the finals), while in Detroit's case they had Dats, Z, and Franzen all in their primes, and all on fire, at the right time.

To win, we need Peter Mrazek to play INSANE, and two or three offensive players to carry the load. We're not going to win this with dominating puck possession. It's not in the game plan.

Interesting thinking. I dig this post.

Strong points.

[vladdy16 2,154]

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[kipwinger 8,756]

Fun fact: Detroit ended the season 25th in the league in even strength goals. We were better than Edomonton, Carolina, New Jersey, Buffalo, and Arizona. We were just worse than Boston, San Jose, Toronto, and Philadelphia.

Unreal.

[wings87 1,290]

Fun fact: Detroit ended the season 25th in the league in even strength goals. We were better than Edomonton, Carolina, New Jersey, Buffalo, and Arizona. We were just worse than Boston, San Jose, Toronto, and Philadelphia.

Unreal.

Define fun?

[VM1138 1,921]

Good thing Bishop isn't great, and neither is their defense. I don't think offense will be a problem for us. Keeping leads will be.

[kipwinger 8,756]

Good thing Bishop isn't great, and neither is their defense. I don't think offense will be a problem for us. Keeping leads will be.

I understand what you're saying, but it's less imperative for them to have a good defense and good goalie, because they've got the puck all the time. They don't play in their own end.

Don't let last night fool you, if we continue to play that way we're going to lose badly. We need to figure out a way to play with the puck, or else we're going to be putting an awful lot of pressure on our rookie goalie. We simply won't win too many games getting out shot 50 to 15.

Our offense HAS to show up.

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk 1,935]

Let's talk honest.

What do the Wings need to do in Game 2 if they want to come home up 2-0.

I know I'll get flamed for this, because that's what ppl do, but benching either Tatar or Nyquist, who were both basically benched in the third last night, would maybe help light a spark. Bring in Cleary. We need someone who is not afraid to get hit and can clear the puck out of our zone.

I'd play Kindl over Marchenko at this point. He's more offensive.

What kept us alive in that game was a solid Defensive coverage in our own end. To me, Kindl would compromise that so I say no to him. Marchenko played well and I like the defensive pairings when he's in - It allows Quincey to be on the 3rd pairing and cover for Zidlicky.

Tats and Nyquist didn't bring their game, but they need to be in. They are the secondary scoring that didn't show up. I think the kid line works as the 3rd line, but they were clearly outmatched against the Stamkos line. Z and Datsyuk together gives us 1 line that will surely work.

I'd like:

Tatar-Dats-Helm

Nyquist-Z-Abby/Jurco for now

Weiss-Sheahan-Ferrarro (or Pulkkinen)

Miller-Glendening-Andersson

[T.Low 1,011]

Clearly Weiss Ferraro...

Why would you do that to Ferraro?!!

Edited April 17, 2015 by T.Low

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

I would put Nyquist or Tatar with Datsyuk and Zetterberg. No reason why our three best defensive forwards should all play on the same line. Along with that, I like Helm, but he seems to be Datsyuk's conjoined twin. He shouldn't be leading all forwards in ice time. Don't put him on the top line.

Kindl for Marchenko I'm fine with. I though Marchenko was a train wreck last night. Constantly out of position which resulted in several odd man breaks against. The slip was a bad break, but that happened also. He looked unprepared for the moment.