Crymson

Horrible coverage by Detroit, and stellar goaltending again  

We were speculating in the BC as to when this would happen. Apparently being scored on by a deflected, fluttering puck while screened serves as poor goaltending these days.

I thus hereby declare that every goalie ever scored on by Tomas Holmstrom sucks.

Definitely. I don't see Heatley getting any "star player" discount, because he doesn't have that good of a reputation himself.

It kept him out of prison.

On the ice, Mario was an extremely talented player. In the owner's box, he's a little b*tch, with little b*tch suggestions, leading a team that includes such upstanding individuals as Matt Cooke. Somehow I doubt Mario has ever ventured down to give Mr. Cooke a good talking-to. He only gets ticked when one of his own players gets hurt; he couldn't care less when a goon on his own team brains someone else.

Piss off, Mario. I'm starting to like the other Lemieux more than I like you.

I don't know about Finnish players but I'd take Leino nine out of ten times over Filppula.

Filppula was an important part of a Stanley Cup win, plays hard every game, and is a good two-way player. Leino played himself off the team. That's the way the cookie crumbled.

Actually you could count it on two hands.  He did well but I felt like pointing out the bad goal because it bugged me for the next 30 minutes to see the Wings down by a goal simply because of something like that.

Deal with it.

Yeah, and the lack of offense was his fault also?

Howard let in a terrible goal.  Wow.

And then he saved the game for the Wings too many times to count.

I just got back from the game as well.  I must say this was probably one of the most boring and painful games to watch that I've been to, barring a few minutes in the second and the last four minutes in the third + overtime.  The wings really skated like they didn't care for the most part.  And Howard letting in a very soft goal from the start didn't help.  

Again... he was quite possibly the Wings` best player. Perhaps this was harder to see in person.

Having seen the goal, yes, it was soft.

That said, he has made some excellent saves, and he has gotten no scoring support.

figures...not gonna win this one now

Do you plan, then, to stop watching? Or have you simply given up hope so you won't be disappointed?

• SV% .908
• GAA 2.80

Yup, I snapped.

I'm sorry, but how does the quoting of stats justify your constant screaming like a madman?

It's not the fact he let in two goals, it's the first softy he let in because his rebound control is like a ping pong ball bouncing off a ping pong table. That soft goal he let in changed the game. Wings were playing like a team on a mission, then his weak goal changed the momentum of the game.

We'll just have to accept the fact that Red wings wont be winning the cup the next two years unless Kenny gets rid of him or finds a real #1 goalie. Howard isn't a goalie that can get it done. He's the Bret Lebda of goalies...

I think Heaten has finally snapped, everyone.

This team is 2nd in the West for a reason and it is not by pure, blind luck.  Did the team look bad tonight and show just about nothing on offense?  Yes, but we still have the highest scoring offense in the league.  

I have a feeling that this team gets chewed out and devastates the Oilers come Friday.

Unfortunately, there's no way we can win; Howard just doesn't score enough goals. Hell, it seems like the guy never spends any time in the offensive zone. What's up with that?

Straw-man, and ad hominem to boot.

Are you saying these aren't mediocre numbers?

Big words.

I'm saying that these numbers are taken far out of context, and are not true reflections of how well Howard has played. It's all well and good for people like you to point at stats and say "Wow, that's bad!" But do the stats reflect Howard's play if he stops 18 shots out of 21 (.857) but was left out to dry on two of the three goals that went in? No, they don't. And though Howard has had some bad games (just as any goalie in the league)--and some great ones as well, mind you--that's how it has been in far too much of the season so far.

ACtually Ozzie only gave up 1 bad goal that game (the 2nd one) and it was his 400th win...  how about you at least get the 400th part right and show him some respect. Secondly, Ozzie also made 46 saves that night and was the ONLY reason they won that game. Howard consistantly lets in weak goals at bad times (how many times have we had bad goals scored against us in say the final minute of a period this year). People are just nieve to beleive that Howard is still the answer... even in the playoffs last year, Howard was not that good and was largely inconsistent. Goaltending is NOT the only problem for this team; that would be an unfair judgement. We have lines that are not working, Rafi out of the line-up, messed up D pairings, etc. BUT, we have to ask when does Howard ever really make saves to keep us in games? Too often is he letting in weak goals, and usually 3 or 4 goals a game at that... I am not saying Ozzie is the answer, but is it not worth a try? Try to shake things up... losing 4 in a row, we got nothing to lose here especially if he is able to get going.

Whoops, 400. Right. Regardless, my point is that the goalie giving up a soft goal does not "deflate" the team and cause it to lose. Teams come back. To  imply that Howard "sucked all the energy out of the team" by giving up one soft goal tonight is to imply that Howard was responsible for the lack of offense, and that is beyond unfair to him.

Howard in 2011....

11-6-2 with 2 no decisions.

.858 sv pct and 3.05 gaa.

That's pretty damn mediocre, right there.

This is before tonight.

So says the guy who criticized Howard for giving up a rebound on a wraparound shot--i.e. a shot impossible to NOT give a rebound up on--just before a Bruins goal. I believe you called it a "brutal rebound," which was a senseless comment entirely based on Howard's troubles at times at stopping rebounds.

Are you sure you actually know what you're talking about, or are you citing stats with an absolute lack of context?

I see that people like dirtydanglez and Heaten believe that the team is made up of weak-minded imbeciles whose emotional stability is entirely dependent upon their goalie. They must really think poorly of their team, as the average team can easily rebound from one weak goal. So I guess they think the team will simply sit down and die if the goalie ever gives up a bad one. You know, like when they lost to Colorado in Ozzy's 300th win (whoops) after he gave up two horrible goals. Oh, wait, no... the team was able to score and win that game.

With the offensive talent on this team, Howard should not be required to keep the score low in every game. There is no excuse for this roster to only put up one goal in a game. Further, with the defensive talent on this team, Howard should be getting laid out to dry so often. This is all the point of not spending $4m on a goaltender; the defense and the offense should be able to balance it out. But they're not getting the job done.

He works harder than Helm? News to me.