Monday, May 09, 2011

The Red Wings showed their true colors - and so did Joe Thornton

My latest column for The Oakland Press: http://bit.ly/lD1WjF

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, Book, looks like the Howard bashers are gonna have to quiet down for now. Howard "stole" that game. The Sharks woulda had at least 5 goals in that game, if he'd faltered.

And the Wings never quit. Kudos to them. If they were gonna die yesterday, they were determined they were gonna die with their boots on.

It's a series now. And if the Wings win tomorrow, it's a coin flip, with an outside chance that the Sharks might revert to form and dry up and blow away again, although I doubt their quality players and McLellan will allow that, even if Thornton plays soft again.

Niemmi was good again, but not good enough to match Howard. If that continues on, it's to the Wings' advantage.

Good call on the Konstantinov/Kronwall comparison. I always think of Vladdy whenever I see a good open ice hitter. He was one of the best at that.

Still not sure about the Wings chances though. The Sharks put on a lot of pressure, and the Wings' penalty killing is still suspect. And with Franzen, Datsyuk and Rafalski hurting, they're nowhere near full strength. Datsyuk was heroic yesterday, and Zetterburg was a stud, too.

They need to score early and roll the lines and then get into the forecheck and start hitting hard. They need Helm, Cleary, Miller, Abdelkader, Draper, Bertuzzi and the other grinders to control the game and lock the Sharks out, and we'll have a chance in a Game 7.

4:51 PM 
Blogger Pat Caputo said...

Anonymous,
Good points. Howard has won over this town, I think. He shown a lot of mental toughness and I think people here respect that.
Caputo

1:05 PM 

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