Howard Saves the Day
I friggin love our goalie. Games like this were ones we would lose last year. Big lead, start sleeping, blow it. But not this time. Howard made huge save after huge save. He's the reason the Red Wings were able to play 40 minutes and win.
More Howard man-crush after the jump
Remember when Osgood or Hasek would get bumped and they'd go down trying to draw a penalty? It rarely worked and we usually just got scored on. You get in Howard's space and he'll chop your leg like he's Paul-freaking-Bunyan.
And you have an open net and you think you have an easy one? Nope! Denied!
I no longer freak out when the other team has pressure. I've gotten to the point where I know Jimmah has it. And when he does get scored on, it's a surprise and usually the result of an amazing play by the bad guys or a fluke.
You see how he just flicked the puck away like it was trash after making the save on the penalty shot in LA? He has so much swagger right now. That was such a terrible call, too. The kind that usually burns Detroit. But not this time. Not anymore. Jim Howard is for real and he's ours.
I said on twitter that the NHL doesn't want Howard at the All-Star Game because that game is supposed to be about goals, not shutouts. I think I'm on to something.
Remember to vote for him anyways. 30 times. #VoteJimmah
Other than Howard, who did you guys see that played great? Seemed to me that most of the team was good today. Hank looked like himself again. Bert played smart. Pavel was dangling. Hudler was shooting a lot. Smith is awesome. Who else?
You also mentioned on the old tweet machine the other day, sharks game to be exact... "oh my gosh. we have no backup goalie." Why this isn't being recognized or alarming more people is terrifying, where are the trade talks for a backup netminder so Howard doesn't have to play 68 games this year???
Stuart obviously. He goes unnoticed alot of the time, good to see him net a couple tonight.
Huddles played the point pretty well on the PP tonight, as much as I dislike having him there. See Sharks SH goal for reason why.
First off, Sh!tbox has now achieved Samuelsson like ire from me. That being said, his outlet pass to Bert was fantastic. If he could just play consistently I wouldn't hate him. Other than the Jimminator no one really stuck out to me for amazing play. Everyone pretty much played up to expectations.
Ericsson with his patented turnover in his own zone. ugh. Fun game to be at though. I was about 8 rows up from the circle near where Z scored. Everyone was up and cheering for that empty bank shot to go in at the end. Both games were a lot of fun.
