Stuart

Grading The Wings

April 25, 2012

It's the time of year where General Managers that are not in the playoffs assess their team's talent and see what needs to be done. Writers can do that too! The Checking Line - Red Wings Edition team of Kyle Busch, Rachel Bellono, Eric Huffman, A.K Bennett, Robert D'Aurelio and Justin Doddie gave every player on the Red Wings a grade and what they thought of their seasons

Typical Wings Loss at Home

April 15, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

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That just happened. You've seen it before, just in different styles, but Game 3 in Detroit was a typical playoff home loss for the Red Wings. The Nashville Predators came into the building and took a 2-1 series lead with a 3-2 win.

The fact of the matter is the Wings played another incomplete game. They were lackluster the first half and dynamite the second half. For those who are wondering what a 'typical Red Wings playoff home loss' is, here it is, step by step, and most Wings fans will concur with this.

Wings Can't Afford To Lose

April 13, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

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Call it a prediction, a guess or a feeling, but if the Detroit Red Wings go down tonight in Game 2 in Nashville, they'll be hard pressed to win the series.

Following a 3-2 loss in Game 1, Detroit is looking for answers, some that might be answered with a net front presence and a better finishing touch. Henrik Zetterberg missed two empty nets and two Predators goals were lucky defelcetions and one on a bad giveaway by Brad Stuart. Jimmy Howard was solid in net, going toe to toe with Pekka Rinne.

Wings Win Despite Inconsistent Effort

April 4, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

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I thought this would be a recap that highlighted what the heck is wrong with the Detroit Red Wings. It still will be, but more importantly, they still control their own fate after a 3-2 shootout win in St. Louis tonight. Johan Franzen showed up for his last two shifts and scored twice and Todd Bertuzzi won it in the shootout. David Perron and Andy McDonald scored for the Blues.

The Wings now sit 4th in the West with 101 points, one up on Nashville. Noth teams have two games left.

The game was a chess match until the third period, where things got weird. Jimmy Howard and Brian Elliott were both spectacular in net, but in the third, both were solved twice.

Ryan Reaves...

The Ericsson Solution

March 11, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

3 Comments

Everyone that reads my stuff knows of my need to vent about Jonathan Ericsson. Just look down all of the columns I've ever written and you'll find some. I'm not going to reiterate why I dislike him (basically he's 27 making $3.25 million a year to score one goal and play on the third pair as a fringe defenceman/make amazingly bad decisions with the puck from time to time/always). Instead, I want to offer my solution of what I would do with him.

Ericsson is out with a broken wrist for a few weeks, and with any luck I won't have to sit through the Capitals game at the Joe and hold my breath every time he touches the puck; he'll probably still be out.

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Depleted Wings Beat Lowly Jackets

February 28, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

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The Detroit Red Wings started slow and ended strong in a 5-2 victory over the last place Columbus Blue Jackets tonight.

Johan Franzen got his first point in five games on a first period goal, which was quickly followed by a tally by Rick Nash, who by the way still plays for the Jackets.

The Red Wings played a sloppy second period and the score remained 1-1. Although they were missing Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Kyle Quincey (Ericsson doesn't count), the players that replaced them were very good in this game, most notably Brendan Smith. More on that in a bit.

The Blue Jackets scored a shorthanded breakaway goal due to the fact that Jiri Hudler sucked tonight a...

MacDonald to Start in Phoenix

February 6, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

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When Jimmy Howard broke his index finger of his blocker hand, Detroit fans panicked as if it was signs of the apocalypse. It might not be that bad.

With a healthy lead in the Western Conference standings, a few losses won't drop them out of playoff contention. If the Wings are sitting anywhere in the top four and get home ice advantage it's a plus, especially because of their mind boggling 17 game home winning streak at the Joe Louis Arena.

What should be concerning is the play in front of the goaltenders when someone other than Howard is in net. For example, Ty Conklin is playing like a bag of flaming dog feces. No one can help that and I didn't see th...

Howard Scraps, Wins 30th

January 23, 2012

Kyle Andrew Busch

6 Comments

Jimmy Howard won his 30th game of the year, played a little feisty and the Detroit Red Wings powered their way to a 3-1 victory over the red hot St. Louis Blues for their 17th consecutive home win which puts them at 4th all time for longest winning streak in a team's own building.

Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Niklas Kronwall scored for the Wings. Scott Nichol scored the lone goal for the Blues in only his second game of the year.

Nichol got on the gamesheet first when the Blues took advantage of a terrible line change by Brad Stuart and Jonathan Ericsson. The ensuing three on one was converted on a pass by B.J Crombeen to Nichol.

In the second period, Datsyuk got...

Why Wings Fans Should Want Pronger Healthy

January 13, 2012

A.K. Bennett

5 Comments

Adam Foote might be the only NHL defenseman more despised by Wings faithful than Chris Pronger over the past 15 seasons. That's a big might. Pronger is strong, mean and skilled; he's a player you hate for your squad to play against but would love to have him on your team. Whether it was with St. Louis, Edmonton or Anaheim, Pronger gave the Wings trouble in the postseason with crunching hits and booming point shots. His battles with Tomas Holmstrom were epic and memorable.

Unfortunately the concussion epidemic sweeping the league also struck Pronger who is shut down for the remainder of the season with post-concussion syndrome. It's a detriment to the league when any play...

Detroit Demolishes Kings

December 18, 2011

Kyle Andrew Busch

0 Comments

When TCL Predators writer Greg Duley stated that the Red Wings would come back from their 4-3 loss to Nashville with a better effort, he wasn't kidding.

The Wings blasted the Los Angeles Kings 8-2 in a game where they were outshot. The scoring basically came from the bottom two lines. Cory Emmerton had two goals as did Drew Miller. Niklas Kronwall, Brad Stuart, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings and Dan Cleary had three assists. Jimmy Howard picked up his 19th win of the year.

Detroit has won 10 straight games at Joe Louis Arena.

Having production from everyone on the team is a great way for teams to continue streaks. With Detroit...