Boucher lets in a long bomb
by James Mirtle on Mar 6, 2009 1:56 PM CST
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This was a big goal, too. San Jose was up 3-2 with time winding down, and generally has been air tight when it comes to holding a lead that late in a game. The Wild ended up winning in overtime.
The Sharks have been showing some real chinks in the armour lately, and we haven't heard any more talk about their record-breaking points pace. San Jose was 36-6-5 in late January but has gone only 6-5-5 since that point and has been caught by Detroit in the standings.
Given their lead, it's not really realistic to think they could fall beyond the top two spots in the West, but lately they haven't been very impressive.
I'm starting to think we could see a weird Cup winner this season.
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On a nearly parallel trend, the Bruins have tapered off as well lately… I guess it’s not really possible to totally dominate for 82 games.
I’m going to call Devils/Flames finals the “Brimstone Series.” You heard it here first.
That said, Go Bruins!
Join me on the Hockey Blog Adventure!
by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Mar 6, 2009 5:19 PM CST up reply actions
One of my classmates in high school was a big sports nut, but wasn’t quite sold on hockey. I would wear hockey jerseys to school every once in a while, and we’d debate the game’s merits.
“They should just call the game ‘goalie’ because that’s all it is,” he said. “Whoever has the best goalie wins.”
The more I follow the game, the more level-headed that otherwise crazy statement seems. In a seven-game series, if your tender is playing lights out every night, you’re probably advancing. That’s why I never try to predict the Stanley Cup playoffs. There’s always another J-S Giguere or Cam Ward waiting to happen.
A “weird” Cup winner? Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
"Sweet Zarley Zalapski, Batman!"
Where's the review from the trip to Nashville?
Welcome to Smashville, Tennessee.
by Aditya T (smashville) on Mar 6, 2009 3:03 PM CST reply actions
I wouldn't count out the RedWings just yet...
yes, they got demolished by Nashville, but they came back to dominate a St Louis team that had been playing pretty well, in their building…granted, not the same as beating Boston or Chicago or Calgary, but these guys never seem to let a bad game get them down…they never fell too far behind the Sharks, and now they may be the odds on favorite for the Presidents’ Cup…whoever wins the Cup, safe to say, it goes through Detroit.
In a league where 7 of 16 playoff teams are commonly considered “elite teams”, you gotta think there’s almost no chance of a Cindarella Cup winner.
Analysts like to talk about teams that are playing well at the end of the season as “getting hot at the right time”, but they’re way off. The right time to get hot is in the playoffs, and there just isn’t much carryover from the regular season. Detroit had a lousy February last year, too.
Detroit didn’t even have a lousy February; they went 10-3-1. They had one bad game. I’m not worried yet.
by J. Michael Neal on Mar 6, 2009 7:16 PM CST up reply actions
He meant last February. When they were 4-8-2. And I tend to feel that having some adversity in Jan/Feb/early March is a good thing. You gotta get humbled a bit at some point. Can’t let yourself get complacent or into that mindset that no matter what, things will go your way. Hitting a rough patch right now will ultimately help a team come April, May, and June.
My guess is that how the Red Wings are playing now has almost zero relevance to how they’ll play in the playoffs. This isn’t a team that needs to learn “how to win” or “how to deal with adversity.” I think that they are capable of turning their game up whenever they want to. Which isn’t to say that they necessarily will turn it up, given that “want to” is a pretty amorphous concept in sports. Get back to me the first week in April.
by J. Michael Neal on Mar 6, 2009 10:15 PM CST up reply actions
Maybe Detroit’s the favourite this year, but at the moment I wouldn’t pick them again. An injury to a guy like Hossa could throw things out of whack and Osgood’s been brutal almost all season.
It’s an interesting year so far. I don’t think the top seven are as safe as you’d think.
The Wings have as good a chance as anyone, which means I think that they’re about 1 in 6 or 1 in 7 to win the Cup.
by J. Michael Neal on Mar 6, 2009 10:16 PM CST up reply actions
If I have to pick “Detroit” or “not Detroit” to win the Cup, of course I pick “not Detroit”. But if I have to pick any single team, I pick Detroit. They have the most talent, and most of the time, talent is what wins hockey games.
Given that, statistically, any one of eight random teams should be expected to have a 50% of winning the Cup, it’s hard for me to believe that there’s less than a, say, 85% chance of one of the top seven teams winning it all. For any other team to win is gonna take a lot of upsets. It’s like the playoff race—when you’re chasing one team, anything can happen; but when you’re chasing five or six teams, it’s going to take a lot of luck.
If I had to bet, I’d still take Detroit over the field. Forget anyone in the East except maybe New Jersey. I could see Calgary causing problems out West if they figure things out….but San Jose in my mind has to prove they’re for real before I think they are. Thornton has been a brutal playoff player over the last few seasons…and Detroit simply has the most talent.
I’m not a Wings fan, but the forwards they had in the playoffs last year and this year are almost the same (what’s the difference- Hossa and Kopecky vs McCarty and Helm?). And that group last year was the best set of defensive forwards I’ve ever seen on an NHL team…not accounting for the system, just intelligence and backchecking. If they can get that back, they’ll be fine.
by Make a play Whitner on Mar 8, 2009 11:17 PM CDT up reply actions
The problem with Detroit remains the goaltending. Osgood dug his own hole a few feet deeper against Columbus and I don’t think he has his coach’s trust anymore.
So Detroit is putting their playoffs hopes on Ty Conklin, and that can’t be reassuring for any Wings fans.
Conklin isn’t the same guy who invented a new Oilers playoff gaffe three years ago. After some time in the AHL, he’s rediscovered the game he had back in ‘04, and he’s been a solid goalie ever since, and that’s probably all a team like Detroit needs. The Nashville game was bad timing, but otherwise, I really think Conklin is/should be The Guy, going forward.
Yeah, I agree. I’m not sure why they’ve been so hellbent on playing Osgood this much, to tell you the truth.
by James Mirtle on Mar 9, 2009 12:21 PM CDT up reply actions
The reason I have no problem with playing Osgood right now is because, as I said in a different thread, I think that how the Red Wings are playing in early March really has no effect on how they play once the playoffs start. Unless you care about the President’s Trophy*, these are meaningless games. Play Conklin some. Play Osgood some. At this point, I don’t think that Ozzie can put it back together and be a useful player in the playoffs, but there’s no harm in letting him try to work it out.
by J. Michael Neal on Mar 9, 2009 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions
*I care about the President’s Trophy, but so few other people do that it cheapens it even for me. I wish the regular season was more important in all sports, but I lost that battle.
by J. Michael Neal on Mar 9, 2009 4:28 PM CDT up reply actions
You get what you pay for. The Red Wings went cheap in goal, and expensive in front. I think that this is a perfectly sensible choice, and probably the right one for this team. As a consequence, you don’t get to blame goaltending if you fail in the playoffs. If the Red Wings don’t win, it will be because the rest of the team didn’t play up to what they needed to. The goaltending will have to be really bad in order to justify pinning the blame there.
So, I’m not nervous about the goaltending, because I don’t think it needs to be anything better than average for the team to win the Cup. It also shouldn’t need to be better than average. I think Conklin can deliver mediocrity.
by J. Michael Neal on Mar 9, 2009 4:24 PM CDT up reply actions
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