Red Wings

[jaadam4]

I'm def feeling the love..

[chemiclord]

No love. No hate.

I fully suspect that I would get along just fine (if not quite well) with CGVT if we were to meet in person. I'm actually a much brighter person in real life than probably projects here, although I am told I can be painfully boring.

I really need to get around to making the effort to attend one of these forum games just so people can see for themselves how dreadfully boring and quiet I am.

[FVD]

Chemi has valid points. Howard has been giving up some big juicy rebounds in the first game and the beginning of the second game. You gotta absorb those shots or else they'll get put past you. The end of the second game he played better, I think it just was him needed to get more comfortable in his role. I'm sure being that Game 1 was his first playoff start there were a lot of nerves and jitters that shone through.

Also, the defense, especially on the penalty kill in game 1, left him out there to twist in the wind. Its not like Howard gave up a real softy in any of those goals, but damn it was maddening watching the Wings score just to give up a goal moments later.

Mission accomplished though. We split in Phoenix and got the home ice advantage in the series. Just hold serve at home and Round 2 here we come.

[chemiclord]

Chemi has valid points. Howard has been giving up some big juicy rebounds in the first game and the beginning of the second game. You gotta absorb those shots or else they'll get put past you. The end of the second game he played better, I think it just was him needed to get more comfortable in his role. I'm sure being that Game 1 was his first playoff start there were a lot of nerves and jitters that shone through.

Also, the defense, especially on the penalty kill in game 1, left him out there to twist in the wind. Its not like Howard gave up a real softy in any of those goals, but damn it was maddening watching the Wings score just to give up a goal moments later.

Mission accomplished though. We split in Phoenix and got the home ice advantage in the series. Just hold serve at home and Round 2 here we come.

I really can only fault Howard for one goal (maybe two if I want to be mean). The rest were either good plays for Phoenix or some horrible defensive lapses hanging him out to dry. Did he seem to be fighting off the puck? Sure... but hey, he's never been in this situation. You could also probably claim the poor ice made it harder to keep the puck under control. And he really looked like he had settled in for that third period. He made three stops that were really tough and kept Phoenix from tying the game.

I'm not that worried about Howard... I'm more concerned with the defense that is playing like its goddamned Brodeur behind them. They have to have this guy's back, because he is going to make some mistakes.

[chex]

Unfortunately you do need to worry about the goalie...The further we go in this thing the more it falls directly on his shoulders.

I'm an optimist...you know that. I don't expect to clear the second round personally...

[chemiclord]

If the Wings can win a Cup (twice!) with the bastion of consistency that is Chris Osgood in goal, they should be able to manage with Howard between the pipes.

[chex]

Yes and no.

Yes I think he is as good, even better, than Osgood

No in that our team isn't as good and he is just too green to cope with what will come his way

[chemiclord]

Yes and no.

Yes I think he is as good, even better, than Osgood

No in that our team isn't as good and he is just too green to cope with what will come his way

And now it's my turn to say yes and no.

Osgood, when he was on, was on par with the truly elite goaltenders in the league. He could makes saves that only one or two of his peers could manage.

Hell, you look at Osgood's numbers and accomplishments alone, and you see why some pundits are astounded that a lot of Wings fans scoff at the idea of Chris Osgood possibly being Hall of Fame caliber.

But when Osgood was off... hoo boy... was he off. He could steal a game for you one day, then come back in the next game and give up three soft goals en route to a loss.

[Darl McrBride]

I know I'm a softie but I think Osgood gets a bad rap. Just because he frequently played behind a great team doesn't mean he wasn't a damn good goal tender (I know you didn't say he wasn't). I followed him for a long time and even saw him play in a couple of playoff games and he more than once put the team on his shoulders and more than once played behind the likes of a crippled Chelios or an idiot 'Satan' Lapointe.

Besides his good stats I think he's hard not to like when you also factor in his ass kicking of Roy (a draw there = ass kicking IMO) and his taking the Islanders to the playoffs.

[chex]

Always a soft spot in my heart for Ozzie...Those DET/COL games were epic.

I'm not trying to diminish him at all...I'm just saying Howard has a better skillset.

We can't compare todays Wings w/ a rookie in net to the teams of the past. Not fair at all.

[Kstat]

Ozzie at his best was one of the best goalies in the entire league. His problem was he could never sustain it.

[chemiclord]

Always a soft spot in my heart for Ozzie...Those DET/COL games were epic.

I'm not trying to diminish him at all...I'm just saying Howard has a better skillset.

We can't compare todays Wings w/ a rookie in net to the teams of the past. Not fair at all.

The past?

What... are we talking about the 1950's or something? I'm talking about 2 damned years ago.

[Drew]

I wonder if Babs is willing to die with Howard, or if he's got it in the back of his mind that if he gets in trouble, he might send in Ozzie.

[Malto Marko]

Yeah yeah...

I know how much people hate reading what happened. Gee, I'm such an awful, terrible person. How can I possibly live with myself?

Christ.

Let's ask here; did the bad things not happen? Fuck, judging from the way people bitch, they should leave game threads with the feeling that the Detroit team won in a shutout every fucking time.

There are plenty of people here who can give you every good thing that happened in every game. Why the fuck does it bother people so damn much that I don't bother piling on in that case?

I'm going to continue to point out things that I see that I find worth noting; good and bad, and contrary to all the bitching, I have said plenty good. Deal with it.

The real question here is have you ever competed in an athletic event and understood how your performance might be affected by an official that is calling a game on their own terms so they might be able to increase the numbers they need to continue their career despite what really happened?

Point being made is that Officials that get elevated to Playoff status in the NHL realize they have to call the game differently than the regular season.

I suggest this is bullshit, but this is the way the NHL has always been and more importantly, become even worse, a way for Asshat Bettman to be able to control the outcome of contests.

Chemi has valid points. Howard has been giving up some big juicy rebounds in the first game and the beginning of the second game. You gotta absorb those shots or else they'll get put past you. The end of the second game he played better, I think it just was him needed to get more comfortable in his role. I'm sure being that Game 1 was his first playoff start there were a lot of nerves and jitters that shone through.

Also, the defense, especially on the penalty kill in game 1, left him out there to twist in the wind. Its not like Howard gave up a real softy in any of those goals, but damn it was maddening watching the Wings score just to give up a goal moments later.

Mission accomplished though. We split in Phoenix and got the home ice advantage in the series. Just hold serve at home and Round 2 here we come.

Hmmmm. Are we talking about both game one and game 2?

My comments came from Game 2.

I do not see many valid points he had in his comments from Game 2. While I will agree there were breakdowns in assignments, fact is, in game two, Wings played better and scored better than the Cyotes.

People that have played or have been involved with a sporting event realize that there will be good things and bad things that happen. A W means that a team has overcome the bad things that happen.

I understand that Chemi can not take back things that were said other than to delete the comment, my problem is that his posts attack with venom but does not understand the dynamics of the contest, and the ability of the athletes to correct and prevail.

[chemiclord]

Perhaps I am missing something here... but I guess I don't understand what the officiating had to do with my comments.

I didn't say anything about the officiating. It was actually fairly even. The only bad calls I could think of were at the beginning, and those happened pretty much one to each side.

Sure, officials call the game differently in the playoffs, the NHL tried to enforce more consistent calling, and it never really happened. This has been an issue (if you really want to call it that) for decades.

What the hell does an official have to do with (for example) Howard and Kronwall miscommunicating on an exchange that leads to a goal? Or Rafalski losing his mind and jumping into press on an opponent who already has control of the puck and has two attackers already breaking into the neutral zone?

Sure they won. Yes, they played better than the Coyotes. And I also have a wart on my right shoulder right now that looks hideous. All three of those facts have about as much impact on the posts I made during the game.

If you want to argue that my takes are inaccurate, then that's your right to do so, and we can probably have a nice back and forth about it. But just because they won doesn't mean the mistakes didn't happen, and that they shouldn't have been pointed out as they happened. If you don't like it, do what CGVT claims to do and scroll on past.

I try to be more positive after the game if the opportunity arises (not that it would be obvious considering I usually make such commentary during Lions games, which 9 times out of 10 don't end well), and I've already admitted that during the game, I tend to focus on the mistakes because that's usually what goes unsaid more often than what happens well.

Or I'm completely gleaning the wrong issue here. *shrug*