OT-Red Wings
Ok i have to vent. This has to be one of the most frustrating regular season games i have ever watched. Detroit had a considerable amount of shots on net (42 to be accurate) and all were stopped, plus some that were off the post (last count was four).
I find it so frustrating when offensively you put up over 40 shots and yet fail to score. I just heard Mickey say that he thinks Detroit had nearly 75 shots towards the net and yet we were unable to get one damn rebound goal. I have to give credit to the Blues, as Conklin made some great save. But still it is St. Louis, they are not that good, decent at best.Face offs were not good either, 34-28. This sounds closer than it looked, Detroit was getting destroyed on the face offs.
I know injuries are a main factor in the lack of offense, but Pav and Hank should at least be able to get one together.
Anyone else this frustrated?
December 9th, 2009 at 10:15 PM ^
is it me or do they look slower than every team they play against?
December 9th, 2009 at 10:19 PM ^
I did not notice it till the game at NY. I know the ice sucked there but tonight i saw it again. The Blue beat us to a lot of pucks and their PK cleared it easily. Damn this is frustrating.
Good news is i heard Fippula should be back by th end of the month.
http://onthewingsblog.com/2009/12/08/leino-to-sit-again-abdelkader-asce…
December 9th, 2009 at 10:23 PM ^
It's even more frustrating when they shot on Conklin in practice for an entire year. I don't play hockey at the NHL level but either way it still makes a difference.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:48 PM ^
That game was awful. Woeful. Hideous. Terrible.
I know the Wings outshot them by a large margin, but it was obvious nobody wanted to work hard enough to win that game tonight. One player meeting his potential would have won that game tonight.
Except Lebda. The more I watch him, the more I think he doesn't have any potential. The same thing for Meech. Eaves maybe as well. I haven't been too impressed by him this year either. Lidstrom hitting the goal post twice didn't help a whole lot.
And Bertuzzi absolutely failing on that breakaway after he came out of the box? A peewee player should have been able to score a goal there.
Horribulous from beginning to end.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:49 PM ^
I can't disagree with anything you've said, they definitely need to be scoring more goals. Pierre LeBrun over at ESPN answered a mailbag question (from wingsfan4013) about it, giving the Wings' offensive ranks in terms of goals per game:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=lebrun_pierre
That being said, goals aren't their only problem. I just took a look at their defensive ranks in GAA the last 9 years (I could only find stats back to 2000-2001):
00-01 2.46 (8th)
01-02 2.28 (3rd) Stanley Cup
02-03 2.48 (8th)
03-04 2.30 (8th)
04-05 (Lockout, duh)
05-06 2.50 (2nd)
06-07 2.33 (2nd)
07-08 2.18 (1st, and WOW) Stanley Cup
08-09 2.93 (19th!!!)
09-10 2.72 (13th)
The defensive numbers are equally as impressive, if not more, than the offensive numbers the last 9 years (with the exception of the current season and last season). It's not just that the Red Wings aren't scoring goals, there is a defensive lapse that has taken place, as well. Not many noticed it last season because the offense was so outstanding. There is more than one problem here. Bottom line: they need to be better at both ends of the ice. I very much hope that Jimmy Howard is the answer in net and that he turns into the player they drafted him to be.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:03 PM ^
if you think nobody noticed the defensive lapse last year.
Everyone who follows the wings noticed the lapse.
But they also noticed the phenomenal number of goals scored.
This year, they appear to be all dysfunctional. And it frequently looks more like effort than skill. However, they are a little short handed right now. When they get Filppula and Franzen back, things should improve. Even Williams would be better than much of what they've got.
And getting Kronwall back and getting Lebda on the bench would help as well. Not even going to mention Lilja. I like him and think he's a good stay-at-home even if most people don't.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:13 PM ^
I meant to say that it just didn't get a lot of attention, considering they were in the bottom third of the league. Usually if the Red Wings are in the bottom third of the league in anything, we hear all about it. I just don't think it was as pronounced. All I am saying is that it's not just one thing that needs to be fixed, that's all. All we ever hear about these days is that we need to be scoring more goals. I just think that it's equally important we don't give as many up.
Totally agree on Lilja, he gets bashed a lot (I used to do so) but I think he is a very valuable defenseman, especially on the penalty kill. He's one of the best penalty killers we have. The PK, at least, has been showing some signs of strength, I think they have killed like 17 in a row or something.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:22 PM ^
but if we don't have the Wings what do we have? Granderson is a Yankee. UM football is 8-16 the past two seasons. UM basketball has lost to four teams who they probably would have competed with for bubble spots in what was supposed to be their best season since 1998. The Lions are still the Lions and the Pistons play in the NBA(which is only better than one sports league in the world, the WNBA). Lets hope the Wings to turn this around and for the MNT to have a strong showing in the World Cup.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:43 PM ^
Softball! The entire team from last year, which won the Big Ten and made a quite respectable showing in the post-season, is back, save for one player (and both our pitchers - Nemitz and Taylor - will be returning!).
Is it a sad world when I'm getting jacked up for Michigan softball? Yeah, kinda. But are we going to dominate regardless? Yeah, definitely!
December 10th, 2009 at 12:57 AM ^
Is it just me or does it seem like the Wings have had a tendency to out-shoot their opponents and lose games over the past few years?
At least I recall seeing a number of times in the playoffs stats showing the wings out-shooting but losing, and watching the game the shots were usually much lower quality.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:47 AM ^
Yes, out shooting teams by 15 or 20 and losing is nothing new to the Wings (and Michigan hockey to some extent).
December 10th, 2009 at 4:56 AM ^
the shots are coming from the outside and have no chance of going in because they're all 60-90' shots. There aren't any shots from the front of the net. There is no rebounding. Even Homer isn't pushing to get to the front of the net as hard.
They're taking shots, but it's like a BB team taking shots from half court because they don't feel like trying to get to the basket.....
December 10th, 2009 at 10:34 AM ^
exactly, its the quality of shots that count, not the quantity. It was even worse a few years ago with Schnieder at the point taking slapper after slapper. Goalies have gotten better while slapshots have stayed the same (or gotten worse, there is nobody that has a huge slapper like Macinnis or Iafrate in the league anymore)
December 10th, 2009 at 11:33 AM ^
BAM, the Wings are stuck in their old ways. Teams are just clogging the the front of the net and blocking point shots. If the the Wings wanna score more even strength goals they need to crash the net more often. It hurts to crash the net but that's where the garbage goals get scored.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:41 AM ^
Dastsyk and Zetterberg aren't dominating anything like what they did in the Stanley Cup year. This year Datsyuk is on pace for only 20 goals and 60 points. The last two years, he had 97 points. 20 goals would be his lowest total since his sophomore year. Last night he launched one over the goal when they had Conklin badly out of position. Zetterberg is on pace for 27 goals, which would be his lowest post-lockout total. In the Stanley Cup year, he had 43 goals and 49 assists and he ended up a +30. Two years ago at this time lots of people believed that they were the two best players in the league. Nobody thinks that now. That top line of Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Zetterberg was absolutely unstoppable. They would rip teams apart on a nightly basis. It's like I'm watching a different team nowadays. They are still great players, but not the type that we saw two years ago who could destroy any defensive pairing and any goaltender. And on the other three lines, there are so many injuries that nobody is left to pick up the slack. Last night's second power play unit was Abdelkader, Bertuzzi, Cleary, Meech, and Stuart. Ouch. No wonder our PP was 0 for 5. Leino has been a huge bust this year and Bertuzzi looks like a waste of money. The only guys who I think have exceeded expectations this year are Holmstrom, Howard, and Draper. Howard especially has been a nice surprise. He actually looks like a competent average NHL goaltender.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:10 PM ^
I think that the problem with Zetterberg and Datsyuk is that they are pressing. They know that their line is the only one capable of dominating the game with the injuries of Franzen, Kronwall, Filppula, and Lilja.
So far this year Zetterberg scoring on 8.1% of his shots compared to 10% last season.
This season Datsyuk is scoring on 9.2% of his shots compared with 12.9% last season.
Assuming that if they would score on the same shots this year as last year, they are taking lower quality shots because they feel the need to do a large part of the scoring.
Also, I find it humorous that you mentioned that it is a nice surprise that Howard is a "competent average NHL goaltender."
December 10th, 2009 at 12:11 PM ^
3 strait years to the conference finals or better may be finally taking it's toll. Dats and Z are young in hockey years but they are no spring chickens. Homer has been on his last legs for 2 seasons. This should be Homer's last season with the Wings. His contract is up anyways. The young guys like Helm Abdelsparty and Leino just aren't good enough to pick up the slack right now.
Despite all these woes. The Wings are still in great position to make a run and get into the playoffs. Everything is still within reach for them. The supposedly "great,up and coming,ooo so young and fast" division leading Chicago Blackhawks are only 8 points ahead in the standings and have only scored 4 more goals than the Wings thus far LOL. But if somehow the Wings fail to make the playoffs this season. A full offseason with loads of rest, loads of cap space from expiring contracts and a possible high lottery pick will surely help them reload.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:05 PM ^
I think you're right about all the games taking their toll. All of those playoff games, plus the All Star games and the Olympics. Lots of Red Wings have essentially played five seasons in the last four years. I thought Homer was on his last legs too but this year he is enjoying somewhat of a revival. He's on pace for 30 goals. Maybe his injuries last year were more than we knew.
Datsyuk hasn't been the same ever since the ending of the last regular season (only 8 goals in his last 48 games incl. playoffs). He might have some kind of long term injury too.
I'll still be surprised though if the Wings don't make the playoffs. When Filppula, Williams, Kronwall, and Franzen get back this will be a totally different team.
December 10th, 2009 at 11:38 AM ^
Since the evil Mr. Scrooge-Wirtz died and his son took over Wirtz junior is turning the Blackhawks into something very different then what once was. I fear that these new Blackhawks and the organization in general will be quite a problem in this division for some time.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:11 PM ^
Danny Cleary to miss a month with separated shoulder.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091210/SPORTS0103/912100474/Wings--Dan…
December 10th, 2009 at 3:58 PM ^
Yeah it's annoying, but we can't take the Wings for granted either. I've learned my lesson with Michigan football.