Goalie Battle

[Hockeymom1960 5,107]

King Henrik had an unreal rookie season, Mrazek sucked since coming back from the injury. Yet he is getting more starts than Howard who has played better

Mrazek has been sick so that's what I'm attributing to his play so far and being he's better, he's a little rusty. I'm not so sure if it would have mattered if they put Howard in, because our defense has been awful no matter who they play in front of.

[DRW Dominance 255]

Maybe i'm way off when it comes to Mrazek and his contract when compared to King Henrik.

http://www.nysun.com/sports/lundqvist-avoids-arbitration-agrees-to-one-year/58335/

the biggest difference is the games played and the fact that Lundqvist was clearly the #1 at this point after playing 70 games.

Mrazek is not quite there yet.

Edited March 25, 2016 by DRW Dominance

[kickazz 5,459]

Mrazek has not been consistent since the beginning of February. That's almost two months.

There's some games where he played really well but there others where he let in 5 goals. Got pulled twice etc.

It all started going downhill since his birthday. Remember when everyone thought he was hung over?

[gcom007 1,465]

Mrazek has not been consistent since the beginning of February. That's almost two months.

There's some games where he played really well but there others where he let in 5 goals. Got pulled twice etc.

It all started going downhill since his birthday. Remember when everyone thought he was hung over?

Ha. I was just thinking yesterday that it feels like that birthday hangover never ended. But neither goalie has gotten help from this abysmal defense we employ.

[marcaractac 3,963]

Mrazek has to get back to form tonight. If the team depends on Howard going forward, Holland won't have the guts to move him in the off-season. Meaning more of the same roster next season.

[Hockeymom1960 5,107]

You can do this Petr! Turn on your beast mode!

[DRW Dominance 255]

petr's gotta get back to the fight that he used to have. trust your game and instincts.

[NerveDamage 4,176]

petr's gotta get back to the fight that he used to have. trust your game and instincts.

haha you sounded like Obi-Wan. Petr use the force!

[chaps80 1,591]

Mrazek has to get back to form tonight. If the team depends on Howard going forward, Holland won't have the guts to move him in the off-season. Meaning more of the same roster next season.

I was thinking about that earlier when I saw Mrazek was pulled tonight. Fun stuff.

[xtrememachine1 795]

It should be noted that Mrazek has now played in more games this season than he has in any single season at any level. Rookies, in pretty much every sport, have trouble with fatigue creeping in during the second half of the season. Larkin is experiencing a bit of a slump himself. I'm not ready to give up on Mrazek, however, all this getting chased from net business can't be good for his confidence and confidence is why Howard is playing so poorly.

[VM1138 1,921]

Blashill has mishandled Meazek for sure. He needs to play it out to give Meazek a chance to get back to form, not shatter him.

[RedWingsRox 614]

Blashill has mishandled Meazek for sure. He needs to play it out to give Meazek a chance to get back to form, not shatter him.

This might be Captain obvious but not enough time for Mrazek to 'play it out'. Although putting Howie in there last night did diddly squat.

The battle of the goalie is who is the worst.

[kickazz 5,459]

Blashill has mishandled Meazek for sure. He needs to play it out to give Meazek a chance to get back to form, not shatter him.

It's not the right time of the season to do that. Besides, he's tried to give Mrazek opportunities but almost everytime he does 2-3 goals go in right off the bat.. As a coach, with the streak on the line and 5 or 6 games left what else would you do besides pull the goalie? Goals Against is an important tie breaker and it might come down to it..

No way would "i was letting him play it out with 5 games left" work as an excuse to the GM or the entire fan base that's aware of whats on the line.

Edited March 30, 2016 by kickazz

[kickazz 5,459]

This might be Captain obvious but not enough time for Mrazek to 'play it out'. Although putting Howie in there last night did diddly squat.

The battle of the goalie is who is the worst.

If you watched the game then you would have seen that Howie was a much better goalie. We basically lost because the team left Pacioretty wide open with zero defensive coverage. Not to mention Glendening put the puck over the glass like an idiot and got a delay of game penalty and they scored on PP. Edited March 30, 2016 by kickazz

[Echolalia 2,961]

Yeah.... Since Meazek's birthday I feel Howard has been the better of the two. It will be an unpopular opinion here but with only a handful of games left that we absolutely need to win I'd be more comfortable with Howard closing the season out. Right now he gives the Wings the best chance.

[DickieDunn 2,571]

If Howard had a 6 week stretch like Mrazek has had, there would be fans out in front of his house with burning torches ready to tar and feather him before running him out of town. He's been bad and there's no other way to say it. He was sick a month and a half ago, there's no way he should still be recovering from that.

[BottleOfSmoke 5,965]

If Howard had a 6 week stretch like Mrazek has had, there would be fans out in front of his house with burning torches ready to tar and feather him before running him out of town. He's been bad and there's no other way to say it. He was sick a month and a half ago, there's no way he should still be recovering from that.

It's almost as if people have different standards for a veteran goalie as opposed to a youngin...

*spooky*

[canadian wings fan 305]

f*** who do we go with from this point forward to finish the season?

I'm a huge Mrazek supporter but he has been dogs*** since the Feb 14th game vs Boston. With Howard, he has played a bit better than Mrazek lately but with Howard I think we all feel no lead is safe...his tendency to let in a backbreaking late goal and/or give up leads is astounding. I'm actually lost

[NerveDamage 4,176]

This is what I wanted to address yesterday. If Petr hasn't been playing well wouldn't it make sense, or is it possible, to send him down for conditioning to GR and bring up Coreau maybe as a backup and leave Jimmy (Howard) as the starter for now. There's no denying he's been solid lately and I'd rather give Petr some time and get his mojo back.

[canadian wings fan 305]

That's not a terrible idea but at the same time if Jimmy get's shelled (which is a likely possibility) then we put Coreau in with zero experience to keep our playoff hopes alive? It's a bad situation we're in right now and its to bad because even a month ago things looked on the up and the playoffs looked easily attainable...

[NerveDamage 4,176]

I know, Coreau has no NHL experience yet, but he'd be backing up Jimmy whilst Mrazek gets his game back on track. It all feels like Blash is trying not to show any preference for any of our goalies, still alternating them like he did earlier on the season, when we all know that at least for this stretch 35 should be the starter.

[canadian wings fan 305]

I think he's only been alternating the goalies because of all the back to backs. Neither goalie has played so good lately that they derserve the #1 label.

[VM1138 1,921]

Howard really hasn't been that much better. Not terrible but he's still giving up two or three.

I think we all know on any given night it's a fifty fifty flip as to who wins, so Blashill needs to stick with Mrazek. Or at least not pull him and split the games instead.

I don't know why people want to crucify Mrazek and suddenly love Howard. We shouldn't judge Mrazek as badly as we do Howard because he's only had two months of sub par play. Howard has had years of pissing us off and we know with his track record he's not the guy for this team.

[NerveDamage 4,176]

Totally agree (Canadian Wings Fan), I don't mean the starter as being our #1, although that might be a conundrum.

I get Blash's ideology with the back to backs and resting the goalies, but, didn't Howard ended up playing back to back last night? Something's off with Mrazek, I say it's the lack of D help our goalies are getting and Mrazek overcomitting to the puck.

Edited March 30, 2016 by NerveDamage

[kickazz 5,459]

Howard really hasn't been that much better. Not terrible but he's still giving up two or three.

I think we all know on any given night it's a fifty fifty flip as to who wins, so Blashill needs to stick with Mrazek. Or at least not pull him and split the games instead.

I don't know why people want to crucify Mrazek and suddenly love Howard. We shouldn't judge Mrazek as badly as we do Howard because he's only had two months of sub par play. Howard has had years of pissing us off and we know with his track record he's not the guy for this team.

He isn't being crucified. Calling it like it is - he simply sucks right now. We have 5 games and need to win. Do you really think Mrazek is more likely to give us the wins we need more than Howard is? If so, what makes you think that? Because Mrazek has a GAA of 3.81 ish in March while Howard has 2.8 ish - that's a huge difference using a month long data set (not just one or two games). Even with "eye ball tests" you could tell Mrazek is off. I mean his form is completely different than it was in January. He's been playing way out, he simply can't move as quick as he used to post to post. He's been giving a crap ton of rebounds (something we rarely saw in January).

Even if Howard is say only a "tiny bit better" I'd go with a "tiny bit better" with 5 games left. This isn't a time to gamble with our chances and hope Mrazek somehow pulls out of it.

Edited March 30, 2016 by kickazz