Oilers 4 Red Wings 3 (SO)

Alrighty, I have a big problem with two players who are absolutely killing the Red Wings. That would be Mikael Samuelsson and Andres Lilja. Both players have proven during the absence of many Wings key players that they are only has good as their supporting cast. Sameulsson turned the puck over as many times as he had shots on goal (i think he led the team in shots tonight) and Lilja made another play that cost the Wings the game. It wasn't just their performance tonight that aggravated me, it's the fact that they have done absolutely nothing during this little slump.

At least the Wings got a point tonight. Gotta start worrying about that again as Dallas is catching up.

Trade Deadline

Some thoughts watching the trade deadline throughout the afternoon

The Dallas/Tampa Bay deal for Brad Richards was huge for the Stars. I knew Tampa was going to shift one of their superstars by the deadline. We'll also get to see how good Mike Smith really is in net for Tampa Bay as a potential starter in front of a poor defense.

Colorado's Foote/Forsberg reunion is kind of amusing. Colorado has always been active at the deadline. Both players' contracts expire at the end of the season and Colorado has to give up even more picks if Foote resigns with them for next season, so this might hurt them in the future. But they've always been a team that tries to win through trades rather than their own system. I'm surprised Joel Quennville didn't get traded to Atlanta for Hartley or Los Angeles for Crawford

Thank God Fedorov went to Washington. All the rumors of him coming back to Detroit were scaring me.

I was most surprised by Montreal's trade of Huet to Washington. Not that he's amazing, but do they really think young Carey Price is ready to lead them in the playoffs?

San Jose's acquisition of Brian Campbell continues to prove that the Sabres' front office likes to piss of its fans on a yearly basis (Drury and Briere last year). San Jose is gonna be tough to beat in the playoffs this year.

Wow....the Penguins made a big impact at the last minute by getting Gill from Toronto and Hossa from Atlanta. They will be a dangerous offensive team, but I don't think this move was necessary for them. Armstrong had a great chemistry with Sidney Crosby and they will have a hard time signing Hossa after this season.

Hey, the Wings did make a move! After I turned of the NHL Network coverage at 3:10, I thought they did nothing. But checking back at yahoo sports later on I saw they added Brad Stuart for a 2nd and 4th round pick. I can live with that. Stuart is an excellent defensemen and they didn't give up any players on their current team. Good move Kenny.

Saturday 2/22

It's been a few weeks since I've gone through a fun round of Saturday games! Although it pains me to say this, my NHL Center Ice Online games stream better and smoother since I switch to Comcast internet from WOW last week.

New Jersey 4 Islanders 2: The Devils are by far the quietest good team in the NHL. It was a very sad performance by the Islanders in the third period, allowing 2 goals and 20 shots against. I don't think we'll be seeing hockey in late April on Long Island this year.

Ottawa 4 Pittsburgh 3 (OT): So many comebacks these days. The Pens blew a 3-0 lead and Stillman, Alfredsson and Heatley stepped up and got two big points for the Sens, who have the Canadians breathing down their necks for the division lead.

Chicago 6 Los Angeles 5 (OT): Who would've thought the battle of rejects would be the game of the night. The Hawks had a 5-1 lead in the third and a 5-3 lead with 1:07 left. WHAT'S WITH ALL THE BLOWN LEADS!

Carolina 6 Washington 3: I'm very disappointed with the Caps lately, who are a team I've been touting as a playoff contender. Since my last ass kissing of them they've dropped to 5 points back of a playoff spot. They surrendered 3 power play goals in this one. Not good boys..............

Rangers 4 Buffalo 3: It was the Rangers' role players that scored them this victory. Goals by Dawes, Dubinsky and Avery with the game winner.

Toronto 3 Atlanta 1: Mark Recchi has been absolutely incredible since being signed by the Thrashers. Too bad he had their only goal tonight. These teams aren't going anywhere anyway.

Florida 2 Philadelphia 1 (OT): Craig Andersen was a beast in net tonight for the Panthers and single-handedly won this game for Florida with 40 saves. And it was a big performance to help keep the Panthers' slim playoff hopes alive. As for Philly, I haven't realized until tonight how terrible the Flyers have been playing! 0-8-2 in their last 10 and now in the 9th spot. WOW. They had this game won and then Jay Bouwmeester scores with 4 seconds left. Those sad, sad Flyer fans......They were standing and applauding the potential end to their losing streak when they scored. Hahahaha.......

Columbus 3 Montreal 0: Nice shutout by Leclaire with 31 saves. Nice to see the Jackets hanging around the playoff hunt.

Boston 5 Tampa Bay 3: I'm very interested to see if the Lightning do anything big at the trade deadline. A lot of bad goals allowed by Auld and Holmqvist. Tampa and Boston's jersey on the same ice make for an ugly combination. Can't watch anymore............

Dallas 6 Nashville 3: Man...Dallas is looking good these days. Hell, they could catch the Wings if the Wings aren't careful! Nice 2 goal performance by unknown Loui Eriksson.

Canucks 4 Red Wings 1

All the Wings are doing right now is pissing off the teams on the outside looking in, as they keep losing to teams that are currently 4th through 8th. Not surprised by the loss.......Will they make a deadline move? Not sure....I really don't think it's necessary as long as they get everyone back by April. In the "new NHL" EVERY team has a hole. Wing fans that are calling for a big deal better realize that you have to give to get, and there will never be another team like the 2002 dream team. I say stay put Kenny......unless you're trading Hasek.

UM vs MSU

Friday night's game was disgusting, as Michigan outshot the hell out of MSU but Jeff Lerg kept the door closed again, and Billy Sauer played a less than average game. Thank goodness Michigan got the win Saturday night, and in a big way, to prevent going winless against MSU.

So, in an earlier post, I pinpointed the 4 games against MSU and the 2 against Miami as storytellers as to whether or not Michigan is for real. The result? 2 wins, 2 ties, 2 losses. Nothing solved yet.....

Flames 1 Red Wings 0

Wow. I've never seen a team play so well and not score a goal! You can't be too down about this loss when you're missing Lidstrom, Rafalski, Chelios and Kronwall (our top 4 defensemen!). They completely outplayed the Flames in the 3rd period but kept hitting posts and fanning on opportunities. This team just needs to get healthy by April. That's all I care about at this point.

Historic Comeback

Hats off to the New York Rangers for blowing a 5-goal lead to the Montreal Canadiens en route to a 6-5 shootout loss. It was the biggest comeback in Montreal's history.

Red Wings 4 Avalanche 0

So much to say about this one. I thought it was 1997 for a while there. Laperriere's hit on Lidstrom was clean, but you know that when someone hurts your captain someone is going to go after him. Nice job by the Wings responding to the physical play and nice job by Downey for beating Laperriere's ass. As for Cody McLeod, shut up and put the puck in the net. As for Granato, shut up and tell your team to put the puck in the net.

Stars 1 Red Wings 0

Two things lost this game. First, the fact that the Wings could not score on three great chances in the first. Second, Dallas outplayed them physically. Nice game by Howard. I wish Hasek would go away for good so we can use him more.

Blue Jackets 5 Red Wings 1

All of a sudden goaltending is a big problem. We certainly miss gritty role players like Cleary and Kronwall in times like these. This upcoming road trip should be quite interesting............

Predators 4 Red Wings 2

Well......Ozzie is stumbling statistically obviously, but you can't fault him too much when the defense let Nashville skate around them easily in the first five minutes of the game. Nice job by Howard stepping in and making some huge saves to make the score look respectable. However, the damage was already done. Wings need to step up and get a win against Columbus before this big road trip coming up.

Cleary Out For Season?

If this is true, then this is a big blow for the Wings and changes the entire approach to the trade deadline. He was always there all season to put a puck or two in the net when guys like Zetterberg and Datsyuk were having off nights. I now think the Wings do need to make some kind of move to improve the team. Cleary added a physical aspect as well. It's players like this that have just as much of an impact losing as a star player.

Weekend Recap

LEAFS 3 WINGS 2 (OT): The Wings don't play in Toronto often in the regular season, but when they do they always seem to lose in overtime or tie (before the shootout rule). Toronto with two big wins in a row (Montreal and Detroit). I had a feeling that this would be closer than most think, with the Wings struggling a bit offensively and the Leafs possibly using this as a benchmark game to potentially revive themselves. Cleary's injury is a major tough break. He's expected to be out for 6-8 weeks.

DUCKS 3 WINGS 2: Now it's freakout time for the average Wings fan since the Wings are now winless in three. Relax.....So what if the called goal back at the end of the third was a bad one. Sometime calls aren't going to go your way and sometimes you'll have bad luck. The idea is not to have yourself in position to have a close officiating decision that can go either way affect your chances of winning a game! If these two teams meet again in the playoffs it's going to be a rough, close, exciting series

MICHIGAN HOCKEY: They came to play Friday night, scoring four in the first. They looked like they came to play Saturday night, then blew a two goal lead in the third and settled for a tie. Good news is they're on top of the division by one, and it looks like it may be a two-team race between Michigan and Miami (Ohio) for first with Michigan State losing both weekend games to Northern Michigan. Michigan takes on Lake Superior next weekend and Miami battles Ferris State.

On a side note, Northern Michigan has to be happy going unbeaten in two weekends with two ties against Michigan and two wins against Michigan State.

WINGS HISTORY: Maltby's Hat Trick

In honor of tomorrow's game against the Leafs, and the fact that they recently gave up 8 goals in one game to Florida, I uploaded the highlights of the 8-1 rout of Toronto in Maple Leaf Gardens from December of 1998. Memories from the game include Shanny scoring from center ice to tie the game at one and Kirk Maltby's first (and only?) career hat trick. Enjoy!

Kings 5 Red Wings 3

This game was all kinds of wrong. Kings beat the Wings? That never happens! It was good to see that the Wings are human, allowing 4 goals in the third when they've barely allowed any in the third this year.

Leafs on Saturday. How often do those two teams play meaningful games? Looking forward to it.

Red Wings 3 Wild 2 (OT)

Hasek has been playing great lately. Without him, this game would have been 6-2 Wild. It's just amazing how they keep finding ways to win. This time with a little luck on Cleary's goal. But that's why you shoot the puck!

Saturday 2/2

Ah....the all star break is over and the playoff push has begun. And I'm tired as hell after a long night at work. But not tired enough to watch 90 minutes worth of hockey highlights!!!

Need some Mountain Dew first....................

Montreal 4 Islanders 1: WOW! THE CANADIENS ARE ON FIRE! I didn't even notice. They are now 3 points behind the reeling Senators. This team has a lot of no name offensive talent. That's why I picked them to go to the finals!

San Jose 3 Chicago 2 (SO): Khabibulin earned a point for his team with a fine performance. I like Jody Shelley in a Sharks uniform. His badass attitude fits in well there. How about Roenick getting the shootout winner!

Toronto 4 Ottawa 2: This is the sign that things are turning south for the Sens lately. Toronto looked sharp and outskated Ottawa all third period long.

New Jersey 6 Los Angeles 3: New Jersey is one of those teams who are playing very well, yet when you watch their games, there are more people in the press box than in the seats

Mike Knuble 3 Anaheim 0: Ducks need Selanne back in that lineup soon, or something to get them out of this slump.....

Atlanta 2 Washington 0: Tough loss for my honorary second favorite team of the year. Shots on goal: Washington 36 Atlanta 13.

Pittsburgh 4 Carolina 1: Pens seem just fine without Crosby. They skated well and tore it up in the third with 4 goals.

Florida 3 Tampa Bay 2: 78 total shots in this game led to multiple nice saves on both sides. Zednik nets a big goal with 1 minute left to break the tie. Tampa's hopelessness continues....

Nashville 3 Phoenix 2 (OT): Phoenix hung in there and earned a point after trailing 2-0, but forgot to show up for OT, as the Predators outshot them 7-0.

Colorado 6 St. Louis 4: Nice 2 goal game for Michigan grad TJ Hensick. Very rough game for Manny Legace. The Avs aren't doing too bad despite their injuries and have been hanging in the 6th to 8th spot for a while. They have to keep it up though with Phoenix, Columbus, Nashville and others breathing down their back.

Dallas 2 Calgary 1: Stars needed a win badly and got one with most thanks to Marty Turco. Hagman's game winner was on a beautifully placed bad angle shot.


Bedtime

In A Lull?

Well, Michigan is now winless in four games. But the good news is three of them are ties. An unimpressive weekend for Michigan, as they end up with two 3-3 ties against a crappy Northern Michigan team. Coming out of the weekend, Miami is 1 point ahead of Michigan, who is 2 points ahead of Michigan State, and they are all even in games played now. Next weekends series against Miami is HUUUUUGE. I'm expecting more disappointment.

I know, I'm hard on them. But 10 years without a National Title is unacceptable with the amount of talent they always have, so kiss my @$$....

:)

Red Wings 3 Bruins 1

You know, now that I think of it, I don't remember the last time the Wings lost to Boston.

Red Wings 2 Avalanche 0

Another shutout of the Avs by Hasek. The Wings were dominant from the opening faceoff, but so was Budaj. I kept thinking that this was the kind of game that the Wings lose as the game went on and on with no goals, but Zetterberg put that thought to bed. The Avs goal that was called back was a bad call by the official. However, that was pretty much their only scoring chance of the game, so I don't have too much sympathy.