OT; Put Osgood in, I have had it

It was a horrible game- and Howard did not play up to his potential. However, the defense hasn't exactly been terrific in front of Howie either- which won't get you anywhere in the postseason. We rode Howie all season long, and I am not ready to give up on him yet.

The Red Wings also didn't pick up the urgency until the last 5 minutes of the game; if they would have played like that all game they would have had a chance.

I guarantee that the Red Wings bounce back on Tuesday- because they know they have to. Howie will play better, the defense will get their act together- they've been here countless times together- take a deep breath and relax.

Just WTF does the statement "Unacceptable effort all around in my opinion" mean? Unless you name is Mike Ilitch, I bet your opinion isn't going to matter much to the Red Wings...but that is just my opinion.

I've wanted Ozzie to start the playoff since the beginning of the season. He has gotten us to the finals the last two years, you know what you're gonna get from him in the playoff! I know this is early, but I feel like Howard is going to be like another legace, stellar in the regular season, and can't take the pressure in the playoffs.

We have to get our swagger back in our steps in game 4 if we dont want to face elimination going into game 5. Being down 3-1 especially going back to Phoenix with a Coyotes team that is energized and has momentum could very well spell our doom for this series. I just can't figure out why we played so sloppy tonight. The passing was off, the shots that should of gone in, didn't, our power play had numerous chances. I just am really frustrated and pissed off right now from this day. I was there today lower bowl behind Bryzgalov and even the crowd in my opnion wasn't in it that well. Down 3-1 it was almost as if you could here a piece of tape touch the ice if it fell off. Phoenix just ate us up all over. Right from the get go they already penetrated through our defense and made Howard scramble and put it in! 4 shots! 29 seconds in a 1-0 lead. Detroit needs to use this home ice in game 4 or they are going to find themselves outside looking in. Because tonight WE were the ones who got dominated. We need that game 2 spirit back and that type of scoring too. I'm hoping to see some better hockey on Tuesday night, because right now Phoenix has the momentum.

Don't remember which goal it was, Lidstrom took away one of the attackers and the puck carrier shot the puck from the far side of the circle.

Plain
Flat
Out
Beat
Howard.

Terrible goal to allow in the playoffs.
Terrible.

Did I mention it was terrible?

No screen.
Long shot.
Terrible.

Howard just plain missed it. Eminently stoppable. Can't do that in the playoffs and advance.

You seem a little angry. Like an old man trying to return soup at a deli.

Have a drink (or stop) and look forward to the game on Tuesday.

no, howard's been playing pretty well. only the last goal was his fault. he was victimized by poor, passive defensive play and turnovers for the others. osgood isnt gonna do it.

the issues we're having are that our best players aren't playing like it. there's no sense of desperation or hunger in this team. our best line has been the draper-abdelkader line. and today, bertuzzi was our best forward. pavs and z have been good defensively but have been very quiet in the offensive zone. and franzen had been an absolute ghost until his goal today.

on defense, lidstrom is the only guy whos playing to his potential. im going to cry when he finally decides to hang up the skates. rafalski is turning the puck over like nobodys business. kronwall and stuart have been mediocre. ericsson and lilja have been serviceable, but theres a reason why they're the 3rd pair.

i dunno what babs is gonna do to light a fire under these guys' asses. honestly, i wouldnt mind seeing hank and pavs being reunited on the top line with homer. then put bert and mule on the 2nd centered by filppula. maybe its time for one of those captains speeches. but unless this team shows a spark, this series might not make it back to the D.

In the first game, all 3 of Phoenix's goals were on the power play. Our PK was awful that game. Phoenix went 3 for 4 on the PP, that is completely unacceptable. I can't remember if any of those were Howard's fault, but I don't think so.

In game 2, everytime we would get a goal, our team would fall asleep and let them get that goal right back. We won, so I'm not going to complain.

Tonight, the only thing that stopped me from saying that Lidstrom was the worst player on the ice was Rafalski. Our defense has been TERRIBLE! I can agree that Howard has let in a few weak goals, but he bails our defense out time after time. It also doesn't help that we only have one line doing all of the scoring. Also, when was Ozzy's last win? October? What happens if we put Ozzy in and he lets in some weak goals? Then we're down 3-1.

That being said, I think we'll win on Tuesday. Babcock is a great coach and we have more talent and experience. We just need to work on fixing our mistakes. This series is still far from over. If we get past Phoenix, I don't see any other team beating us in a 7 game series.

the defense wasn't helping Howie out tonight (or really the whole series) at all, even Lidstrom. But he's let in a couple softies so far this series and they've both been killers. I was thinking about Ozzie, too, but he was NOT good in the regular season. I know he normally picks it way up in the play-offs, but if he doesn't we're staring at down 3-1 with a road game coming up and no confidence in either goalie. I think you go with Howie one more time and if he loses and underwhelms in the loss you have to at least try to switch it up with Ozzie in game 5 in Phoenix. I also think if you put Ozzie in and he wins, he has to become the starter for the rest of the play-offs. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's there. I wouldn't give up on Howie for all play-offs for the rest of forever just yet, after 3 games with limited defensive help, he is a rookie. I do think we're almost to the point where you have to put in Ozzie, but that certainly wouldn't help play-off Howie's confidence, which could lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy of him being a good regular season, poor post-season goalie and since I think we're pretty sold on Howie as our "future" goalie, we have to do everything we can to make sure he can handle the play-offs.

blow on your hankie.

Two waved off goals ala (Michigan hating god in OT).
The wings played solid most of the game.
4 out of 7 - they have two.
Please - did you expect a sweep?

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/detroit-red-wing-fans-do-you-fear-playoffs-2...

Calm down, big fella. 1 of 4 on the power play is all you can expect, first off - only one team was that effective all season and nobody else even came close.

Second, McCreary was correct to blow the whistle when he did, both times. Bryzgalov had the puck covered.

Try calming down with a little Miley to get you through tomorrow's hangover.

Howard has let in some soft goals, but who knows if Osgood will play well? He hasn't all year.

although howard has been pretty average to say the least so far you can't put osgood in. He's been soooo bad the whole season and the next game is a must win. You can't put a goalie that hasn't stopped anything all season in, when it's a must win, you just can't

It's 2-1. Right now we still have a great chance to tie it up with a home win, but here's a question for all of you. What happens if we don't win game 4? Do we come back down 3-1 or was tonight the beginning of the end? This is the playoffs people, weird and amazing things happen. Win or lose, Go Wings always.

We have given up a ton of turnovers in our own zone and our defense in particular has had spurts of total ineffectiveness that resulted in Howard being left out to drive. That said, Howard, like a lot of the Wings, hasn't exactly elevated his game for the playoff. He has not been making many big stuff and has given up his share of soft goals (today's fourth was awful). If the Wings are going to survive this series, then the entire team needs to get their act together, including Howard.

"4 power plays and your telling me they can only get 1 of the 4?!"

What the hell does that mean? Did you mean to bitch that we only scored on 25% of our power plays today? I'm pretty sure that's about on par with the league average, maybe even above.

I wish this website had a feature that would not allow emotional train wrecks to post like this.

You know this guy is passed out right now blaring that Miley Cyrus song he was pretending to hate earlier today.

to get rid of my Rafalski jersey after his piss poor play on the ice. Him, Lilja, and most of the defensemen we have (including Lidstrom) had awful efforts today. But I'm glad that this is a 7 game series. They have no choice but to win Game 4.

The panic level right now is unbelievable.

1) 1 of 4 on the pp, while not good, is not bad.

2) Bryzgalov is actually that good. If you watched him play at all over the season you would know that. He is one of the most underrated goalies in the league, and if he were playing anywhere but Phoenix he would be getting a lot more attention than he is.

3) That's hockey. Deal with it, it sucks but as a Michigan fan we should be used to the quick whistle.

4) Howard is the least of the concerns right now. You're complaining about his GAA? Really? Did you watch the game on Friday night? I have never seen a more up-tempo game in my life, when a game is being played at that pace, goals are going to happen. Yeah, Howard is capable of stepping up his game to another level, but even with Osgood in net, the series would still be 2-1 Phoenix. Howard was the man all season, no need for knee jerk reactions.

5) I think you are drastically under estimating just how good this Phoenix team is. They are a very, very skilled hockey team. They play hard, gritty, and have a lot of speed. Teams like that, combined with great goaltending from Bryzgalov, go very far in the playoffs. Outside of the Wings, Phoenix was the HOTTEST team in the NHL since the Olympic break. Give them some credit.

Thankfully Babcock is the best in the business and won't have the same knee jerk reactions.

Is a leader in the locker-room and just might light a fire under everyone's ass... I don't think that Howard has played terrible this series, but he definitely hasn't played good by any means. A turnover happy defense doesn't help either.

I'm all for the switch to Ozzie; Howard is the goalie of the future, but as always - we want to win NOW in the D.

I would liked to have seen osgood come in after the fourth goal, just to see how he would do and to see how the team would have repsonded. But I would put Howard back in for game 4. They need to go back to playing how they did down the stretch to get into the playoffs. The D has not been good. Datsyuks line needs to get it going or this thing is going to be over quick. Franzen finally put one in but he was out there with Hank and Bert.

Only one you could blame on Howard was #4. I think it may be time to change up the D a little. Put Kronwall or Stuart with Lidstrom, and put Rafalski with the other. I think having a D man on each pair that can check will help. Either way if they don't win, get out the golf clubs.

I don't agree with any of that, but I will say that this Red Wings team is beginning to remind me of the '05/'06 Detroit Pistons. You know, the team that had just made two consecutive trips to the finals, winning it all the first time and coming up just short in game 7 the next...the team with a bunch of veterans that started playing with a sense of entitlement. That team was eliminated in the conference finals; hopefully the Wings can make it that far.

This team has worked it's ass of to get in the playoffs and now we are in I want to see Detroit make it all the way. A veteran team lead by a rookie goaltender winning the cup? Now thats a story for the ages! I guess I was just really pissed off and lashed out at man that has really been the reason we are here. Even though Howard's not here I still apologize to him. God giving my own player hell? I'm like a Buckeye fan boooing their own players. I am going to game 4 and I don't care what happens, I'm standing up, yelling LETS GO RED WINGS and waving the towel! Were still in this thing and we aren't going down without a fight damn it!

Lolololololol.

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