Taking a break from watching this joy that is the Wings’ thus-far losing effort to the Wild (2-5 as we speak, 7:00 left in period) to note that FS D recently broke this to us: Stuart has left the game with an upper body injury and will not return. No idea what happened yet. I’m guessing they’ll come up with a likely replay, though.
Here’s hoping it’s just precautionary and nothing major. But you know in your heart it’s probably not.
Trying to fight off the pessimism.
Update (2:09 PM): Khan confirms Osgood, and says May remains in for Leino.
Also, Lebda’s out and Meech is in, which means those two now need to duke it out for the 6th spot (or 7th if Lilja returns). Make a case for yourself, guys.
In the good news department, Franzen may be a mere two weeks away. And Williams may be back Friday. Better: Holmstrom may be back Sunday. - Matt
Update (1:35 PM): Per an official Wild Twitter feed, Osgood’s in net. Thanks for letting us know, Detroit media. – Matt
Last Nite: Yeah, it sucked. But 14 hours on, I’m not as pissed as I was then. They played well overall up to the meltdown and the thing to remember is Phoenix is no powder puff team any more. There’ve been worse losses this season. So, shocker, I’m with Kyle on this at least: there’s some cause for optimism to counter the pessimism.
That said, the playoffs are for closers. We and the team need to have that in front of us, before we get to Voox’s “The Stanley Cup is for closers.” So there’s plenty of negative to go through without hitting superlatives.
Hard to Explain: How can this team go from the all-cylinders-firing squad that made it 4-2 to a bantam-class group of kids caught standing around while the one kid who’s ahead of them all in development skates circles around them? The eventual tying goal was just sad, on everyone’s parts, from the defense to the goalie’s. I feel a good sound track for the final 2:30 of this game would have been “Yakety Sax.”
In spite of my trying to take an optimstic view today, this team’s Jekyll and Hyde thing’s depressing.
You Talk Way Too Much: No comment. (or more specifically, I have nothing to add.)
You Only Live Once: Seems to be the attitude the third line lives by. Too bad the rest of the team doesn’t seem to right now. I’m with Kris: put them out there after every opposition goal.
Under Control: Nick had it so for that awesome stretch of the game before Death. His play on his first was incredible and his hockey sense on his second was impeccable. Great game for him. Despite what happened on the tying goal. We need more of that from you, Nick.
Heart In A Cage: Can’t say that applies to Jimmy on this one. He was far from the reason the Wings lost, but he’s had better games. He made some great saves, but didn’t win the game in spite of his teammates’ collapse. I’d be curious to see the response had Osgood been in net and the same crap had gone down. I’ve seen mostly measured and fair responses with regard to Howard (i.e. admitting it wasn’t his best), but I tend to think Osgood’s head’d be on a figurative pole at the city gates today.
Try Your Luck: So, let’s see Osgood in net tonight, eh Babcock? I know you’re probably itching to give Howard a chance at a followup, but don’t fall for that temptation. Put Osgood in.
The Way It Is: Last night was a must-win, but not taken as such by a too-casual Wings team. They can’t do that again tonight. They need a win in Minnesota. That’s how it is.
Razorblade: Back to last night for a minute. How great was it to have Kronwall back? He was obviously in need of getting his game legs back, but even so looked strong. He and Stuart may need to regain some chemistry as Brad had a rough night, but it’s good to see Nik out there again.
Someday: One of these nights, the Wings’ll get fully back on track. Let’s make it tonight, okay?
Like every game this week, and every game through the rest of the season, really, this is a must-win. The Coyotes have five points on the Wings right now, no one who can overtake the Wings in the standings (read: Calgary) is playing tonight, and there’s no potential for moving up from 8th, so you could argue this isn’t a critical win.
But that’s not the attitude the Wings need. Gaining two points on the Flames is reason enough to take this game seriously. The Coyotes haven’t been as hot lately, but any team with Bryzgalov in net is dangerous if taken lightly. The Wings’ll need to be at their best offensively.
Ansar Khan has the roster update from this morning: Brad May in, Ville Leino out. Of greater importance, obviously, is yesterday’s news on Niklas Kronwall, who will be in for Derek Meech. I hope we can expect him to shake off any return jitters quickly and hit full stride soon.
Khan says that’s the extent of the roster changes for tonight, which means Jimmy Howard is in net again. I hope that means Osgood will get to go tomorrow night, but Babs’ decision in that matter remains unknown.
Take this one, Wings. This is a big week. Start it off well.
Big news: The team has confirmed media reports that Niklas Kronwall will return tomorrow night against Phoenix. The injury excuse weakens…
Also, Andreas Lilja may actually be closer than Ken Holland led on in the wake of Redmond’s supposedly ill-conceived comments on Lils’ status. Khan claims he’s gone 13 days without headaches and unless he has one in the next day or two, he could be cleared to play relatively soon.
Tomas Holmstrom is telling the media he plans to be back Sunday against Pittsburgh, but include some salt when you ingest that one. Same deal with Johan Franzen, who’s trying his hardest to be back before the Olympic break. We can only hope, but I’d be surprised if the Wings don’t take the full break to be sure he’s set to go.
Oh, and Jason Williams may be back Friday. Before you say you don’t care, remember would need to happen if he and Homer are healthy this weekend: no more Justin Abdelkader thanks to roster size limitations (for once, not the cap).
On the bright side, if we’re we’re also looking at the “best” case scenario (a healthy Lilja, Williams and Holmstrom by the weekend), we face the forced ditching of Meech or Leino.
Blown: We got home to watch the game on about an hour lag on DVR. It didn’t take too long to know where it was going to go. Early two goal lead, a weak second period… this one had blown lead written all over it, visible from a mile away. Ugh. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being able to correctly assume the worst about this team. For once, I’d like to be able to think “Huh, maybe they’ll hold this lead or play a complete game and win without making it an unnecessary struggle,” without immediately having to follow it up with “Who am I kidding?!”
Urgency: This was a game the Wings needed to win as much as any regular season game can be must-win. Of course they can make it up later in the season, but if they keep having this apparent cavalier attitude about points and doing what it takes to finish games, they’re going to run out of games they can use to make it up. It’s only the end of January, but it’s time for a little urgency, I think.
No: I hate to give this guy any publicity, but no:
Hopefully, we’ll have a new coach by Tuesday night’s game against Phoenix.
– Our resident troll, Richter, from the comments.
It is frustrating that this team is playing beneath itself lately, but without Babcock, they’d be in a lot worse shape. He is the best coach in hockey.
Richter, I hope you’ll have found a new team to trash while pretending to be a fan by Tuesday.
Jimmy: Go ahead and castigate me for this, but I didn’t think this was Jimmy’s greatest game. Horrible rebound control on the first goal, slowish side-to-side movement on the other two. Granted, the third was a great play and the second was a great shot from short range, but he’s been making this saves.
Filppula: More of that, please.
Stuart: Thanks for stopping that puck on the goalline, but let’s try to prevent those situations in the future, okay?
Review: Would have been nice to have had that play involving Pavel and the net coming off reviewed, eh? Probably wouldn’t have come up a goal, but they could have at least pretended to look at it longer than 15 seconds.
Back-to-back: A stupid random back-to-back this week, but one the Wings need to come out of with four points. You have Phoenix, a team higher in the standings but only five points up, and Minnesota, a team just four points back. The Wings can’t be giving up points to those guys.
I would expect split duties for the goalies on those two, but given the Dallas/Chicago combo, that may not be happening. Either way, the Wings need to play complete games in front of the net. And get four points. And another two on Friday.
Then there’s a game against this stupid team from Pennsylvania on Sunday on the No Balance Corporation. Big week, Wings.
We’re Up North for the day, so no notes post this time. Unfortunate timing, I know, given the nature of this game, but we do have it set to record on the DVR so I should have a reaction post, at least.
Twitter folks, this means no joining in on tweeting the game live.
I will say the obvious: this is a must-win game, big time. Do it, Detroit.