WingNut722

Of course! How many of you can there possibly be?

Absolutely. Boston fans are great. We went up a few years ago with a friend of mine (Rangers fan) for a game against the Rags. We borrowed some sweaters from him and headed on out. Even in the blue shirts we met some pretty great people at the bars before and after the game. Can't wait to go back sometime

And the Bruins still managed to get 31 pieces of rubber into Gustavsson. By the way, did you head out to bars after the game? I find there's no better place to hang out and talk hockey over a few beers than Boston, just outside the "Gahden", no matter who's jersey you have on!

Slick...........!

I had the pleasure of taking an extended lunch break to watch the first two periods of this contest. I loved it. The Wings looked real sharp. By the way, before I go any further... Be It Remembered Among All Members Herewith - I declare henceforward to never to refer to Johan Franzen as "The Mule". he will now be referred to as "The Dump Truck". Why? Because he's big, ugly, and slow. And he serves no purpose other than to haul dead weight around. Now that that's settled... The Wings looked very sharp, other than The Dump Truck. All three goals were executed perfectly (yes, even The Dump Truck's pass to Weiss was right on the tape). The penalty killing unit was perfect again tonight, even taking on nearly two minutes of 5-on-3 early in the third. The Bruins managed to spend a lot of time in the zone on these power plays, but the Wings kept the shots on goal to a minimum, which is a positive. However, you can't go to the well too many times, and asking for 5 successful kills is a lot. I realize the Wings had no power play opportunities, and I would have liked to see how they would have fared, but Boston's PK is also one of the best in the league, and I think we would have been disappointed with the results. Even Monster was a monster this afternoon. He had a little trouble with the rebounds but that has to be a sigh of relieve for Jimmy Howard. He needn't rush his return from a bruised hand as long as Gustavsson plays like that. I wouldn't be surprised if Gustavsson gets the nod for the game against Columbus and leave Jimmy to take on the Avs. I agree with @yave1964 that Luke Glendening has made a huge impact on the Wings' lineup. He brings a lot of energy and speed to that fourth line. I think it will be a long time before we see Corey Whats-his-name again. It's all starting to come together now. A quick rest on the plane and then we'll meet the Blue Jackets tomorrow evening. The Jackets are 2-2 after dropping their most recent contest to the Bruins Saturday afternoon. They'll be hungry...

@sarsippius Courtesy of @flyercanuck. He gets a quarter from the tooth fairy every time that particular phrase is used, or when @ruxpin loses his lunch...i mean lunchbox

Can't argue with that logic...

Ya know, I never thought to ask. Is that what happened to yours, ore you just a conspiracy theorist? It's a safe assumption. I've found that Philly fans in general, regardless of sport, more often than not are delusional psychotic wackjobs. Nobody on this site of course qualifies for that moniker. No, you guys are all straight up regular folks. Really.......I mean it......................really...............................................................................really?

@yave1964 Glad to see Babcock wasn't afraid to shuffle the lines. Was widely impressed to see he brought in a call-up too in Luke Glendening (who had a helluva night too). I know we had a discussion about this last season...Babcock needing to show his players that poor play gets you a seat on the bench. There's still some work to be done. Detroit was better in the faceoff circle than they were against Phoenix, but there's still room for improvement. Still allowing a few too many shot. But this was a fun game to watch. Datsyuk and Zetterberg were their old selves again. Just plain pretty...Gives you the giggles watching them...... I'm not going to comment really on Newberry's thwack at Tootoo, however I will say that it looks like Tootoo gave Newberry the evil eye from center ice, and Newberry looked like he realized he just made a terrible mistake. Look for Tootoo to go after this kid the next time these two teams meet. I talked with guy a few months ago who STILL believes the Flyers could have, and should have, won the cup in 1997, and that despite being swept, he felt that Lindros and the Legion of Doom were just going easy because they wanted to play a "real" opponent. So no, no sympathy

Wasn't trying to salt the wound..just to mention that Filppula has apparantly learned how to shoot. Thanks for throwin' me under the bus!

For what it's worth, Valtteri Filppula has 3G/1A and is +3 in four games with Tampa Bay. Just sayin'...

@Haliax They all need to keep their sticks on the ice. I'm tired of seeing these guys carrying their stick at their waist. Keep it on the ice where it belongs!

It was just obnoxious watching them play. Who was that??? Howard just looked lost. Alfie...I hope you're right @yave1964, and that he's just trying too hard. That was just sorry... On the other hand, I used to see this kind of play from the Red Wings at least once a year. Whenever they played the Islanders, the Red Wings threw a half-dead effort at them and took the loss so they could rest up and avoid injuries. It's embarrassing to think that a club as respected around the league as the Red Wings has gotten snobby, and feel they don't have to give 100% all the time. Sincere apologies to the Coyotes on behalf of the Red Wings.

@SpikeDDS Agreed, the power play needs work. I've been a little leery about Renney, the same way I've been leery about Franzen. We're just not seeing the results. The PP is forever trying to get the puck inside of the defense when the opposing PK is collapsing around the goaltender. We have Alfredsson, Kronwall, Ericsson, and Samuelsson....a bunch of Swedes with a powerful point shot. Let's use it again! Stick Franzen/Cleary in front of the net, and smart puck-handling forwards in the slot to shag rebounds.

Call me a traitor, but I honestly didn't think they'd win that game. Coming off a game in Carolina, then a 3 hour flight for a game against the Bruins...? However, they looked sloppier than even I had expected. And to think, my wife and I were considering a weekend trip to Boston centered around that game, along with the fall foliage. Good thing we decided to stay home! Now they get a few extra days to rest up and work on that power play. Oh-fer!

Actually, as far as locations in Newark, it's about as good as it gets. Real close to the train station.

@yave1964 Visit Scenic Newark, New Jersey!!

@Commander Clueless No not at all. Plus the interference call on Cleary (upon replay) turned out to be bupkis as well. Although I do understand why they called it. I suppose it's a new season and everyone needs time to break into the game again. The players, the refs...even Doc Emrick got a couple names wrong!

Obviously the amount of penalties is an issue, but a fair bit of those calls were questionable. Still that's uber-confidence in the PK not letting a goal in. Buffalo never even got any decent chances or setup at all in the zone. Overall, outstanding play from the Red Wings. All the lines looked real good last night. They meshed well. The sat back on their heals a bit in the third, and Buffalo was able to get a bit of momentum. Solid effort and a win to show for it. Boston next......

@yave1964 Pav and Z will not be broken up. That was the whole idea behind getting Alfie and Weiss on a line. Yes, Helm has to sit for a bit, but when he returns, I still think they'll ease him in with a on/off rotation schedule. Inevitably, there will be injuries and Nyquist will be the first one called up. The other two lines are centered with Emmerton and Andersson. I agree with your assessment of Emmerton. He's just about useless. I haven't really seen any noteworthy play out of him. Of course, once Helm comes back, he'll be rotated out.

I'll guess we'll have to see.....

Today's the deadline, and Ken Holland answered... Gustav Nyquist and Petr Mrazek have been assigned to Grand Rapids. Darren Helm has been put in long-term injured reserve (along with Patrick Eaves). So we're under the cap and ready to start the season. I doubt very much that Helm will spend a lot of time on LTIR, and he'll begin to rotate back into action slowly until he's 100%.

@Haliax If I may interject... Though it may be unclear to us, there obviously is some kind of inherent value in keeping Dan Cleary. Ken Holland signed him while already having 16 forwards and already being over the salary cap. So there must be something, but it may not be just in the numbers. The press has always heralded his leadership and locker room skills as reason to keep him, and obviously we can't prove/disprove that. On the ice though, I can say that Cleary is a workhorse. He may not have super numbers, but he's always in there digging. He's excellent in board battles, and along with Johan Franzen, brings another net-front presence during the power play. He may have taken a paycut to stick around this year, but Holland obviously did him a favor, so it's time for Dan Cleary to really shine. Look for that this season.

I wonder if that's "Paid Attendance" or just tickets sold. They can sell all the tickets they want but if nobody goes to the game, they're just down on their beer sales at the venue itself.

Ever see Major League? Maybe if they tank the season they'll be allowed to move based on rock-bottom attendance!