Where's Abby?
Half the team's hurt. We have a journeyman AHL'er in net. Last night, as the Pensblog put it:
Optimist's view: Now's a great chance for our third and fourth liners to step up and show what they have offensively.
I'm usually an optimist about things like this, especially considering the start we had. So I've been pretty intently watching and seeing what our 3rd and 4th liners have been doing the past week.
Patty Eaves on the first line has been wonderful. That pass last night to Johan almost made the game worth watching. Drew Miller was in my doghouse until these past two weeks where he's really turned it on. Helm's been great after what I thought was a terrible start to the season. Kris Draper...well G-D, Draper has scored four goals. On a few of them, he's looked pretty capable doing so. You sand-baggin-son-of-a-b!tch Drapes.
Yet one player who's really not stepped up, and maybe even taken a step back, has been Justin Abdelkader. After his early injury problems, he stepped on the ice with a fury, scoring 7 points in his first ten games and hitting everyone in sight. Since then, he's had four points in his next 28 games and while he does lead the team in hits, he certainly hasn't been as noticeable. He didn't register a hit in the game last night, a night we needed huge shift from the former Spartan.
We expected him to take over the role of third line center this year, until Mike Modano came that is. I questioned his offensive skillset and was very pro-Modano. Well, due to the way that the world works, Mike's in a cast and Abby has his chance. The problem is that since then, he hasn't proven anything other than the fact that maybe he really is only a fourth line grinder at heart.
Yet, I do believe he has more in him than what we've seen lately. With our lineup looking the way it is, the Wings need Abby to come out of his shell sooner rather than later.
At one point during the first period, it was Zetterberg versus the Penguins.
Pessimist's view: Time to add some cyanide to those morning cornflakes. See if we can somehow take out Corey Perry on our way out.Optimist's view: Now's a great chance for our third and fourth liners to step up and show what they have offensively.
I'm usually an optimist about things like this, especially considering the start we had. So I've been pretty intently watching and seeing what our 3rd and 4th liners have been doing the past week.
Patty Eaves on the first line has been wonderful. That pass last night to Johan almost made the game worth watching. Drew Miller was in my doghouse until these past two weeks where he's really turned it on. Helm's been great after what I thought was a terrible start to the season. Kris Draper...well G-D, Draper has scored four goals. On a few of them, he's looked pretty capable doing so. You sand-baggin-son-of-a-b!tch Drapes.
Yet one player who's really not stepped up, and maybe even taken a step back, has been Justin Abdelkader. After his early injury problems, he stepped on the ice with a fury, scoring 7 points in his first ten games and hitting everyone in sight. Since then, he's had four points in his next 28 games and while he does lead the team in hits, he certainly hasn't been as noticeable. He didn't register a hit in the game last night, a night we needed huge shift from the former Spartan.
We expected him to take over the role of third line center this year, until Mike Modano came that is. I questioned his offensive skillset and was very pro-Modano. Well, due to the way that the world works, Mike's in a cast and Abby has his chance. The problem is that since then, he hasn't proven anything other than the fact that maybe he really is only a fourth line grinder at heart.
Yet, I do believe he has more in him than what we've seen lately. With our lineup looking the way it is, the Wings need Abby to come out of his shell sooner rather than later.
