Wings 5, Oilers 6 (SO)

Posted by on . 6 comments

I’m begging off writing much about this one.

I don’t think I’ve been as embarrassed through 20 minutes of a hockey game as I was last night. The fact that they came back to force overtime and a shootout doesn’t negate that they went down 4-0 to freaking Edmonton. It’s still horrifying and the very fact that it was necessary kinda wipes away the awe I might have had that they were able to come back.

Feel free to vent. At this point, I feel like the team deserves all the flak it gets–maybe it’ll shame them into getting it together.

Also, read this. I can’t find it within myself to disagree.

Filed under: 2009-2010, Game Reports

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  1. Ryan says:
    October 30, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    Pretty much all the blame for this one lies on Howard.  He's just not fast enough to be an NHL goalie.  His reflexes are too slow (which is why Schneider's shot was in the net before Howard even moved and the same with O'Sullivan's in the shootout), and even when he does make the save, that means he doesn't have time to control the rebounds (which resulted in almost all of Vancouver's scoring chances against him, and the first two goals last night).  He also has trouble moving side-to-side–resulting in the third goal last night and the 5-on-3 goal against Vancouver.  He actually tripped over his own feet on the first Hemsky goal.  The fact that Babcock kept Howard in net after pulling Osgood so quickly in Vancouver makes me wonder if Osgood's nursing an injury.  Another possibility is that he wants to build Howard's confidence, but you really wonder if leaving him in all night helped with that.

     

    Yeah, the Wings could have been better defensively, but they were good enough.  Nobody would care about Hemsky's breakaway if the Wings come away with a 5-2 win like they should have last night.

     

    Last night makes the shots over the last three games 136-82.  The Wings' save percentage over those games has been 0.864 (one empty net goal), and their oppositions' save percentage has been 0.919.  The Wings don't need to wake up; they need to find an NHL goalie.

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  2. Garth says:
    October 30, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    "The fact that Babcock kept Howard in net after pulling Osgood so quickly in Vancouver makes me wonder if Osgood’s nursing an injury."

    I'll tell you EXACTLY why he left Howard in net. Chris Osgood is the most confident, unflappable guy I've EVER seen in goalie gear, so pulling him in not going to affect his confidence, but leaving Howard in and giving him the time to recover is important to him, and if they had ended up winning it would've been good for him. As it turns out, well…

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  3. John W. says:
    October 30, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    "Yeah, the Wings could have been better defensively, but they were good enough."

    Are you freaking kidding me? There wasn't a defender to be seen anywhere near an Edmonton player on the first 2 goals. I mean 3 different Oilers were wide open in point blank range for the first goal. Howard didn't start well, but to say it was all on him is a complete joke. The Wings playerd zero defense in the entire first period, and they really didn't look like they were trying to. I don't think Jimmy is the answer either, but to say it's all his fault is masking what's really wrong with this team, the fact that they can't get themselves to play an entire game for the last 2 years.

    We started out the year playing well early in games and then falling apart in the 3rd, now we start like crap and turn it on in the third. Can we try to put it all together for once? Why is it that this team can never seem to figure out that when they are attacking, the opposing team can do nothing to stop them. It's when they sit back and play cautious that they get burned. They had no energy in the first period at all.

    As for Fil being out, that sucks, but IMO that's the one position that doesn't kill us, we have Centers. This just means the twins get split up, and maybe Helm will FINALLY get to play on the 3rd line, where he belongs. I'm thinking:

    Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Bertuzzi (I thought Pav and Bert showed great chemistry last night)

    Cleary/Zetterberg/Williams (Cleary finally looked like playoff Cleary in the 3rd last night)

    Leino/Helm/Eaves (I say we give Eaves a shot at some real minutes, this line combo has me excited if they would do it)

    Maltby/Draper/May

    Abdelkader subing in when needed.

    I know our first line has 2 RW on it, but we don't really have enough LW to go around with Hank and Pav both playing C.

    Reply
  4. Andre says:
    October 30, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    Ryan,

    "Last night makes the shots over the last three games 136-82.  The Wings’ save percentage over those games has been 0.864 (one empty net goal), and their oppositions’ save percentage has been 0.919.  The Wings don’t need to wake up; they need to find an NHL goalie."

     

    Sorry to disagree, but those numbers don't really flatter the Wings defense 82/3 = ~27/game. That's not terrible, but its not what we're used to either. I'm not saying that the goaltending isn't an issue, in and of itself, but I'll agree with John that there were a few goals where Howard didn't have the support he should have had.

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  5. Megan Saler says:
    October 31, 2009 at 6:21 am

    That game was also a good chance for Babs and Holland to see what Jimmy's got. It was not looking good for that game pretty quick. So they leave Jimmy in to see if he can overcome it. They're still trying to see if he can be an NHL goaltender, so there's a situation we hopefully won't have often and they took the opportunity to give Howard a test. What did we learn? Howard can make saves after he gives up 3 or 4 goals, though he looks like a fish out of water doing it; the Wings offense is apparently not what we should be worried about; and Howard and shoot-outs, not so much. Ok, that last one we didn't actually learn last night. I was, quite frankly, surprised to see him make two saves. I haven't seen him make that many in a SO since the Griffins went 13 rounds.

     

    The good news? McCollum is freaking awesome. This year and next in the AHL, and he'll be ready. He has the confidence and positioning that Jimmy lacks. And Larsson is looking really good.

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  6. Waltdetroit says:
    October 31, 2009 at 9:08 am

    John W you hit it right, our D has NOBODY to keep ANYBODY out of the crease. We have "skill" defencemen but this is 1 skill they lack. I wish someone (Abie) would step up as I wish we had Draper/Helm/Maltby on the 4th line as I feel that could be dangerous

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