Compare Wednesday's game against Vancouver and tonight's matchup vs. Nashville and it'd be tough to believe they featured the same Red Wings team.
Jimmy Howard looked sharp, the forecheck was strong and the defense was sound positionally for most of the night against the Predators.
Negatives? Three of the four goals (not counting the ENG) were on amazing individual efforts rather than great team play and the fourth included a lucky bounce. Of course, as Mickey Redmond is fond of saying, "They don't ask 'How?' just 'How many?'"
The Nashville goals came on mental lapses and on most nights the Wings can't afford that. Tonight they could but it's something to be concerned about.
The two points are huge no matter what led to them. Detroit now sits three points back of Nashville with two games to play between the teams. No matter what else happens tonight, the Red Wings won't drop out of eighth spot in the Western Conference. That's a successful night.
A four-point swing tonight, with Nashville five points up on the Red Wings in the standings. Brett Lebda comes in for Jonathan Ericsson. Jimmy Howard gets another start.
Wings in white, as they should be at home.
Oh my.
It's like he heard them talking about Russia loosing.
Helm taking shooting lessons from Draper.
Highly fortunate deflection. I'll take it.
No goal but really good power play. Even for Williams, despite the broken stick.
Hell of a shot by Helm. Fantastic.
Helm's been hanging out with Datsyuk.
f*ck. Stupid-ass defense leads to stupid-ass goals against.
Holy sh*t, Howie stops the breakaway.
Uh-oh. Defensive breakdowns continue.
Zata fought kinda hard for that ENG. For emphasis, bitch.
Zata fought kinda hard for that ENG. For emphasis, bitch.
Ok...Babcock can stay...for now....(I just have trouble with a coach, any coach, speaking to his team through the media.) What did we think of the lines tonight? I like Bertuzzi better on the 3rd line...I know he's made valuable contributions during this most trying season, but he just seems too slow both on his skates and with his hands to contribute anything to a Zetterberg line...this has to be such a frustrating season for Z. The Helm/Eaves line was alive and well, eh? Good to see....
Ok...Babcock can stay...for now....(I just have trouble with a coach, any coach, speaking to his team through the media.) What did we think of the lines tonight? I like Bertuzzi better on the 3rd line...I know he's made valuable contributions during this most trying season, but he just seems too slow both on his skates and with his hands to contribute anything to a Zetterberg line...this has to be such a frustrating season for Z. The Helm/Eaves line was alive and well, eh? Good to see....
I'd rather see Bertuzzi on the Datsyuk line, they were clicking really well earlier this year. Put Franzen on Zetterberg's line. That said, the lines worked pretty well tonight and I'm a big proponent of going with what works, especially since the Wings don't really have time to experiment right now.
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