17 replies to this topic

[YzerFan19]

The Red Wings look to rebound from a poor showing in Columbus as they face the San Jose Sharks Friday night.

The Sharks bounced the Wings from the playoffs in a seven-game series last spring and this is their first meeting since. While Detroit has been slumping, San Jose has been on a three-game winning streak.

Jimmy Howard returns to the Wings' crease. Justin Abdelkader shifts back to center, dropping to the fourth line between Drew Miller and Tomas Holmstrom. Patrick Eaves jumps up to the third line. Cory Emmerton and Fabian Brunnstrom are the healthy scratches up front. Mike Commodore has been cleared to play on the blueline but sits tonight.

I know I've said I don't want the Wings to forget either of their two losses but the positive is that they've still won five of seven games. That's still a good start, winning at a rate that would put them at 58 wins on the season (not that I realistically expect them to keep that pace up).

[YzerFan19]

Good penalty to take. Weird bounce, better to take away the big scoring chance.

[YzerFan19]

Jimmy's awake.

[Mathieu_Datsyuk132351]

LOL @ Mickey and snakes on a bus. Oh my lord.

[YzerFan19]

First line breaking out the circus moves again. No goals though.

[YzerFan19]

Fantastic bank off the back boards by Lidstrom. And Zata buries it.

[YzerFan19]

Fantastic play by Homer to get his stick on the puck there, bullsh*t call.

[YzerFan19]

Can't really fault anyone there, looked like everyone had someone but there's gonna be a man open on the power play. Duh.

[DetroitRiver]

i just wish clowe would get hit by a car...

[DetroitRiver]

flukie goal...

[YzerFan19]

Had to run for a second, missed the Sharks goal. Ugh.

[DetroitRiver]

there ya go! 2-2!

[YzerFan19]

Wow, he was actually in the crease there. We've seen those called back. But what haven't we seen called back?

Great tip.

[DetroitRiver]

Wow, he was actually in the crease there. We've seen those called back. But what haven't we seen called back?

Great tip.

It's the Homer Rule...

[YzerFan19]

Both Cleary and Lidstrom behind the play there. Ugly.

[YzerFan19]

Still not used to this look for the Wings' power play. Can't tell if it's different because of coaching or that White is more mobile than Rafalski.

[YzerFan19]

Ericsson pinched and had his shot blocked, got caught up. Could have been bad there.

[YzerFan19]

Okay, let's get the caveat out of the way: The refs did not cause the Red Wings to lose tonight. That said, I feel like every game between the Detroit and San Jose can be summed up by two calls tonight.

For the Wings, it's Holmstrom's no-goal in the first period. We've seen worse allowed around the crease (and cleaner plays called back) but that doesn't make any of it right. It's a reputation call and it's a play that I am just f*cking tired of seeing.

For the Sharks, it's Brent Burns in the final minutes. In a scrum around and behind the San Jose net, Burns throws a closed-fist, gloved punch to Holmstrom's face. No call.

It's not okay to get bumped by the goalie but it is okay to punch someone in the face. I can handle one or the other but when it's both, it just sits wrong with me.

As for the parts of the game that didn't have to do with officiating... The goat tonight is former Shark Ian White. He got burned on one goal and jumped out of position on another. The second one (third San Jose goal) wasn't as bad because, really, Lidstrom or Cleary should have been with Thornton, but White has to know where they are and that he has to be available to cut off the pass.

There were a lot of positives to take from the game, though. Jimmy Howard looked solid, even with allowing three goals. He kept the Wings in it early.

As much as I liked the Abdelkader / Helm / Bertuzzi line, Abdelkader looked good back at center on the fourth line. I feel like I didn't hear Eaves' or Miller's name much.

In all, it was a much better effort than the previous two losses. Pretty easily could have been a different game, which you can't say about Washington or Columbus. Malik just called it a "template game" and he's right, there's a lot done right and a lot left to learn from on that game tape.