Rinne has gone into 2012 playoff mode.
imo, rinne was not great in 2012 playoffs.
was that pass shot off the boards done on purpose?
i don't think so.
dekeyser seems to lack offensive skills, but when he becomes bigger and stronger and more experienced, he could be a very good defensive player. he already seems better defensively than the other young d-men.
Dan Cleary - the king of falling down and losing puck battles.
the poor plays i most associate with cleary are carrying the puck into the offensive zone, but then stopping on the boards and getting trapped; and taking dumb long shots on the rush, which he did again in late 2nd period.
Good stop by Jimmy. Brunner cannot run the PP point on an NHL team. He's proven that time and time again this year.
i don't know why babcock uses him on the point. i can't remember any goal or assist by brunner on point of PP, whereas i can remember poor defensive plays and missed shots.
Smith really suck at defensive positioning.
Hopefully he will get better next year.
he does not play like a F as he did early this season, but his D is still not good enough. his offensive game is also not apparent.
if i knew nothing about smith before 2012, i would not see anything special at all about him.
Geez, Datsyuk.... don't just leave your man and give them a 2-on-1
that was a terrible play. focusing on the puck too much is his main weakness on D.
LOL, Weber there on the Franzen goal.
F passed it to weber's wrong side. would have been a good pass if weber were a left shot.
It'd be a Crosby special if he does...
that's dumb. it was clearly an unassisted goal.
So, I think both Abs and Cleary are tied for 3rd on the Wings in goals scored this year now? lol
with zetterberg and franzen
cleary has 3g at ES, 5 on PP and 1 SH. abdelkader's are all ES.
abdelkader and brunner are tied for the team lead in ES goals.
It's the slow defense that causes the slow breakout. They are S...L....O....W.....
Our defense is horrible at generating offense. they just can't consistently move the puck if their lives depended on it, and most of the vets are under producing compared to their career averages. I'm so hoping the Wings do something about this over the summer. Let White go, move Q, maybe move CC, and bring in someone who can move the puck.
their weakness against forechecking also keeps them in the defensive zone too much.
What a big win and a solid show by Howie.
I hope Babcock keeps Nyquist, Brunner and Andersson together for the next game. They looked great tonight; Gus especially had some really strong shifts.
nyquist has been really impressive recently, and one of the best F's.