Nightfall

Are you serious?  Watch Thomas on Sunday when he plays the Wings, count how many times he gets caught way out of position like that.  I'm not saying Howard needs to play like Thomas, but my god, his positioning has been HORRIBLE the past two months.

I guess to most wings fans, if the goalie isn't centered to the shot, even on a nifty passing play to an uncovered player, its failure on the goalie.  Maybe Howard should call Nicholas Cage and ask him how he got that nifty power in the movie "Next".  I guess being able to see the future is the key.  

Howard out of the net again... how many times.

Wow, you are going to blame that on the goalie?  Seriously?  That has to be the dumbest post in this thread so far.

Howard needs to think the defense for cleaning up a lot of the rebounds he let happen. Some plays he didn't even have the puck and had no idea where it was.

Welcome to the world of goaltending.  In every game, there are rebounds where you have no idea where they went, and your defense has to be there for you in critical situations.  The one thing I noticed about this game is that the defense did a good job at making the game predictable for Jimmy.  Keep the shots to the outside, cover the man on the opposite side, the Wings did a pretty good job all night.  The first goal was an uncovered player on the far side.  Second goal was a perfect top corner shot.  Otherwise, Jimmy did his job by keeping his team in the game and his D did a good job as well.

Good win by the Wings.  

Just based on reading these posts, I am glad that Ken Holland is in charge.

I started watching hockey back in 1995.  I watched a few classic games, but I really cannot say that I like the 80's style of hockey because I haven't seen enough of it.  I prefer the post lockout hockey over the clutching and grabbing hockey in the mid 90s-2004.

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.

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.

Long deflection, Ozzie should have had that me thinks.

You obviously haven't played goal before, or even listen to Mickey when he explains it.  That puck was going to Ozzie's left, and he was centered to that.  The puck changing direction on a 80mph shot is a bad break, not a goaltending flub.

seriously when was the last game the wings played good? Devils? No, outshot and outplayed most of the game ozzie saved us. Habs? No habs controlled play 5 on 5, PP time saved us. 3 losses before that. wings just have to play better as a team. the 2nd line needs to do something and howard needs to make somef****** saves. start ozzie next game, huds or cleary to the 2nd line bert or franzen to the 3rd line. change is needed

Wow.  I am glad that the collective LGW forum members are not in charge of the team.  The Wings are 1st in the West.  1st fricking place.  Yet, they get no credit.  Zippo.  3rd in goals per game.  11th in goals against.  10th in power play.  9th in penalty killing.  6-3-1 in their last 10 games.  Room for improvement?  Yup.  Time to hit the panic button?  No.

I know a lot of people think about 2002 when we had that star studded lineup, but many people forget that that same star studded lineup went 1-5-1 at one point in December.  They also went 0-3-2-2 in the month of April.  The point here is that every team is going to have ups and downs through the course of the season.

The Wings are going to have good and bad games.  So far, they have won far more than they have lost.  They are your leaders in the Western Conference.  Yet, the LGW forum members cannot back them as a whole.  We still have a deep division of people who like to play the blame game.  True fans of a team I must say.  /sarcasm

Would love to see Osgood learn some of Jimmie's strengths, like not letting in s***ty goals.

You have seen him let in a s***ty goal tonight?  Please point it out because all I have seen are 2 deflections he had zero chance to stop.

Ozzie is playing great.  Every shot that is coming straight at him he is stopping.

What it comes down to for me with Ozzie is that he is not as good as Howard at this point in their careers...Period.

As long as Ozzie plays like a capable back-up and get wins I don't really care about anything else.

I agree.  Ozzie knows he won't get a starting gig with the Wings.  At the same time though, I think he is a very capable backup.

Of course it's never Ozzie's fault when the other team scores lol

I could see you saying that if it was even remotely a stoppable shot.  Off a redirection?  Thats an ignorant statement.

Osgood is hopeless on long, screened shots, in any event. He's just not big enough.

Yea, a 3 time cup winner who has won almost 400 games and made it to 4 cup finals.  He sucks.  

Dumbest post ever

I know everyone has an opinion about what the goal music should be.  Lets be honest here, every rink has their goal song(s) that adds to the atmosphere of being there.  I like Chelsea's Dagger at the Hawks arena.  That place is a madhouse when they score and that song comes up, and I have just been there 2 times in the last two years.  Even the Dallas Stars arena has some great goal scoring music and other rink music that makes going there a lot of fun.  Especially the end music when they win the game (Stevie Ray Vaughn who is a Dallas native).

As for Detroit's music, I feel that everything from the Irish Gig when Shanny played for us, to Hey Hey Hockeytown, to the final horn when they play "The good ole hockey game....." all add to the atmosphere of the game.  From a personal standpoint, I would prefer to hear the Hey Hey Hockeytown song after the first goal, and then the ole 2 Unlimited song they played back in the day after every goal after that.  Just my preference, but I also enjoy them adding a few different goal songs for a few different players.