Quick Hits: Above .500 Edition

by JeffHancock41 on Feb 3, 2012 6:17 AM CST in Quick Hits

If Babcock has his death stare, this must be Hudler's "I'ma gonna get me some hookers tonight" stare (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images).

Hockeytown, No Limits

Wings need shootout despite breaking shot clock in regulation " The Production Line - TP:60
Your TPL recap with a "Riggy 'Shitbox' Of the Game" that wasn't Jonathan Ericsson or Todd Bertuzzi.

Detroit Red Wings 4, Edmonton 3 (SO): Danny Cleary scores, assists in Red Wings win after health scare | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
The third line has been nothing but impressive lately. Drew Miller is having a career year, Danny Cleary is re-finding his bottom six grinding game, and Darren Helm is just doing what Darren Helm does. You want to win the Cup? You constant play from your third line and they're providing it right now.

Red Wings improve to 6-0 in shootouts after beating fellow Western Conference power Vancouver | MLive.com
I hate the shootout a whole hell of a lot less when the Wings win all time. In the past, Detroit was awful at the skills competition. This year the Pavel Datsyuk, Jiri Hudler, and Todd Bertuzzi lineup as been pretty damn good (with some Valtteri Filppula and Henrik Zetterberg mixed in). At the end of the day, points are points, and the Wings got two last night.

Miller's redemption in Wings' win - Detroit Red Wings - News
J.J. squealed like a little girl when Miller scored last night. I hear he's going to the hair salon today to get grey highlights.

Notebook: Wings' Danny Cleary to undergo cyst procedure after trip ends | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
The way Cleary is playing, I hope he can hold off a little longer on getting his knee drained. He would only miss a week or so, but the third line is clicked. Hopefully he can gut it out until after the Wings make a move at the deadline and bring in a little forward help.

KuklasKorner : The Malik Report : Wings fans, prepare to say something which rhymes with, "Slow ship" regarding Patrick Eaves
In the not so cool news department, Patrick Eaves is reportedly recovered from his broken jaw, but is experiencing concussion-like symptoms. At this point, no way in hell he should come back until he's 150% better. The team is playing well and a concussion can really screw up someone's career e.g. Crosby, Savard, etc. Yesterday I told J.J., I didn't think we'd see Eaves return until rosters expanded come playoff time, now I'm thinking we might not see him for a long time.

Around the NHL

Wings At Canucks Recap ; Take It Easy ( 4-3Ls/o) - Nucks Misconduct
View from the enemy.

Sam Gagner Scores Four and Assists on Four More, Beats Blackhawks 8-4 - The Copper & Blue
Sam freakin' Gagner, ladies and gentlemen. Tied Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey for the Oilers franchise record for points in a single game. He had four goals and four assists. Hell of a night for the kid.

Compassion Is Broken Now, My Will Is Eroded Now: Hawks 4 - Oilers 39773889308 - Second City Hockey
It should also be mentioned that the Hawks were the team that gave up eight points to Gagner. The Oilers are to the Blackhawks what the Islanders are to the Red Wings.

Patrik Elias checks Michael Blunden from behind | ProHockeyTalk
He definitely pushed him from behind, no doubt. It was a very hard push and was malicious or anything. Not 100% sure how I feel about this. It clearly could have been avoided though.

Thursday’s Three Stars: Gagner’s great 8; Subban destroys Larsson; Dan Boyle’s embarrassing gaffe | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Hahaha Boyle scored on his own team.

J.S. Giguere’s ridiculous glove save after Wild player crashes net (Video) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Hell. Of. A. Save.

Let's Go Red Wings.

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Comments

Elias

Not sure if it should be a fine or 1 game, but it should be something.

Watching the replay, at no time was there a legal check that he just missed, all he had available were the back numbers and he hit them. It wasn’t a hard hit, or particularly dirty, but it wasn’t a clean hit either. And I couldn’t tell from the linked story if he had gotten a penalty on the play.
I guess if boarding was called on the ice, I’d leave it at that. Not every questionable hit needs to have a fine and/or suspension added to it, especially when it was caught by the officials.

Dancing Datsyuk Decidedly Dazzles Dainty Defensemen

by Robocop on Feb 3, 2012 6:49 AM CST reply actions

I haven’t seen replays of either hit yet, but going on what was shown during the game last night, if Elias gets suspended, I think Stuart should as well.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Feb 3, 2012 8:51 AM CST up reply actions

J.J. squealed like a little girl when Miller scored last night. I hear he’s going to the hair salon today to get grey highlights.

It’ll just speed up the process that’s already begun. When I did squeal, my wife told me “ou prematurely gray guys have got to stick together.”

by J.J. from Kansas on Feb 3, 2012 7:14 AM CST reply actions

My wife HATES starting words with the letter y

by J.J. from Kansas on Feb 3, 2012 7:14 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs

the “ou” just made me read the rest of the sentence in Canadian. I think I heard Jgraham in my head.

by SlapshotGoal on Feb 3, 2012 10:12 AM CST up reply actions

One other thing

Can someone please send Kesler video of Emmerton getting hit with a good clean hipcheck?

And make sure to note on it how someone who is not a pussy reacts to getting hit with a clean check. Figure he can use all the help he can get.

Dancing Datsyuk Decidedly Dazzles Dainty Defensemen

by Robocop on Feb 3, 2012 7:19 AM CST reply actions

Yeah

saw that in the highlight real and looked like Emmerton just popped up and kept on a chugging. I’ll say if nothing else, the kid’s got spirit and the will to compete.

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by Josh Howard on Feb 3, 2012 7:21 AM CST up reply actions

Sorry for the lack of a recap

Had it not been a late game last night, I would have stayed up to write something. As it is, here were the bullets I had prepared for discussion:
Have the Wings finally turned things around on the road? That’s 2 fantastic road games in a row, one against a very good Canucks team. If the Wings have figured out their road issues, they might as well just give the division to the Wings now, because no one is going to catch them.

I am not just loving Jiri Hudler’s play this year; I’m officially on the “Re-sign Jiri Hudler” bandwagon.

Did everyone see how Zetterberg played last night? The way he kept on Kesler and made Kesler lose focus? Did you notice Z driving to the net and maintaining solid puck possession? Did you see him play angry, aggressive and unyielding? THAT’S why he will never be traded, and why the Wings don’t have anyone that can do what he does.

While it went to a shootout, the end result was exactly what should have happened: the Wings were the far superior team over the course of 65 minutes and deserved the 2 points. That it got to a shootout speaks to Vancouver’s ability to capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes. The Wings could learn a thing or two about that /cough power play cough.

Winging It In Motown

by Amerinadian on Feb 3, 2012 7:54 AM CST reply actions

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING UP Z!

There were people (not on here) saying how he had an awful game last night. Were they “watching” with their eyes closed? If Flip and Hudler weren’t playing on Z’s line, I honestly don’t think either would be having even close to the year that they are. I’m on the Z train all the way baby!

by SlapshotGoal on Feb 3, 2012 10:15 AM CST up reply actions

Yeah.

This has definitely been the thing that’s been confusing about Z’s negative criticism.
He’s definitely had bad games and even he is understandably bothered by his low point output but, for the most part, he’s been grinding the shit out of guys like Kesler all night long.

"I'll smile in June."

by Lords of Olympia on Feb 3, 2012 11:11 AM CST up reply actions

I'm with you

If not for Z’s play, drawing the D to him, especially last night, Hudler doesn’t score that goal. His defense hasn’t suffered (except for the occasional turnover) while he deals with his lack of offensive output. Would I like him to score more? Hell, yes, especially considering I’ve got him on both of my fantasy league teams. But I’ll take his defensive work in keeping other teams off the scoreboard. His tenacious defense can goad some people into taking stupid penalties.

Follow me on Twitter -- @zfan16

by zfan16 on Feb 3, 2012 12:40 PM CST up reply actions

For those that look at goal scoring....

for whether a player’s season is successful, then “no” Z isn’t having a good season.
But for those who look at his overall contributions, can readily see that he is substantially contributing in so many other ways, including drawing coverage off Filp and Huds so they can score. He hasn’t missed any games due to his back or some other unexpected injury and grinds it out every game.

by wingsluver4ever on Feb 3, 2012 3:26 PM CST up reply actions

Saw that Giguerre save last night on SportsCenter between the ruckus about Sam Gagner and a Tebow sighting. It was absolutely beautiful. Gives me nightmares remembering what he did to us in the playoffs before the lockout.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Feb 3, 2012 8:53 AM CST reply actions