That goalie standing on his head plays for Detroit?
Detroit 4, Nashville 2
If you’ve followed the Red Wings for any length of time you’re used to the phenomena where Detroit puts up 40 or 50 shots, hits a few goalposts, and ends up losing the game 4-2. The reason why? The opposing goaltender stood on his head. Well last night - like three weeks ago in Los Angeles - Jimmy Howard was the goalie who played out of his mind, helping the Red Wings win a game where they probably should have given up at least 5 or 6 goals. It’s nice to finally be able to experience that phenomena from the opposite side.
The concern of course is that the Red Wings are giving up shots on goal like the prez is throwing dollar bills at anything and everything to try and jumpstart the economy. By and large though, Howard has been up to the task. My guess is that as long as the team is so generous about giving up shots on goal then Howard will be the clear #1, as Chris Osgood has struggled while facing the firing squad. Ozzie seems about as comfortable in net these days as CBS does about the prospect of running that Mancrunch gay dating ad during the Super Bowl.
While you couldn’t tell it from the performance on the ice, Detroit is about as healthy as they’ve been all year. Tomas Holmstrom will be back tomorrow, Andreas Lilja is going to Grand Rapids for a condtioning stint (he’s so slow they’ll have to track his conditioning with a sun dial - all kidding aside I’m happy for him), and Johan Franzen appears to be ahead of schedule. So why the crappy play last night?
My guess would be that when you add a bunch of rusty players to the lineup it has to throw off the timing of everything. The breakouts and line changes in particular were horrific and resulted in numerous high-quality scoring chances for the Preds. Those both seem like aspects of the game that require the timing to be very solid and that just isn’t the case right now. The team also didn’t skate very well until Hank Zetterberg scored Detroit’s 4th goal. That could be the result of players continuing to round back into shape as they regain their conditioning.
The positives:
1. Jimmy Howard. Howard was very inconsistent in Grand Rapids but since he has acclimated himself to the NHL game he’s been brilliant. It makes me wonder if the franchise needs a full-time goaltender coach in Grand Rapids as Thomas McCollum has really struggled after a fantastic start for the Griffins. Howard was seen as a high end prospect when he was drafted in the second round but we hadn’t previously seen a consistent stretch of high quality goaltending from him like we’ve witnessed since the beginning of November. Jim Bedard has his detractors but it’s impossible to complain about Howard’s play as he’s probably the team’s MVP right now and is a legitimate Calder trophy candidate as the NHL’s best rookie.
2. Nicklas Lidstrom. The captain got off to his usual slow start but his plus minus has been a rock solid +20 and he’s just started to elevate his offensive game. He has points in four straight games (3 goals in the last three games) and points in seven of the last nine games. Brad Stuart has received a lot of attention this season with his physical play and ability to save a puck every couple games that would otherwise be a sure goal. Lidstrom’s offensive production should put him back in the spotlight as one of the best defensemen in the game.
3. The offense. While the team has been terrible in their own end, at least they’ve been able to offset that a bit by upping their goal scoring. The team has put up 4 goals in three of their last five games. They only scored 4 goals once in December (a 4-2 victory over the Avs on new year’s eve).
Andreas Lilja Brad Stuart Chris Osgood hank zetterberg Jimmy Howard Nicklas Lidstrom Red Wings thomas mccollum Tomas HolmstromNo Comments
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