Cleary should have been at least a 2 minute penalty if not 4 or 5. Kopi didn’t touch the puck, so it should have at least been interference and at most a major for a dangerous trip.

Other than that, I thought most everything was a wash.

We lost some key faceoffs. Quick let in a bad goal and could have saved the 4th goal that hit him in the shoulder/arm. Hard to blame him for a point blank shot in the slot, but he looked “small” as he challenged the shot. He needs to come out “tall” and take up as much space as possible. We were also terrible on the PP and PK. The refs may have put us there, but we didn’t execute.

Sure we made mistakes, not gonna say we didn’t, but the calls missed (Kopitar – which by the way, how do 4 striped men miss a play close to the puck on open ice?) and Stoll’s call caused us to miss time for us to get back in the game by having to kill penalties. Even O’ds was suspect, but could go either way. I’m much more pissed about the calls than our play.

I will say that we had a few chances in the third when we made some pretty stupid mistakes like Handzus not holding the puck in the zone when there was nobody around him. The Wings were out of position there and we had people in front of the net. Sad. That was a frustrating game to watch.

Gotta shake it off. Get some rest. Back at it Saturday. Hopefully we win the next 2.

Yes the sky is falling!

I don’t see them winning enough battles during the course of the game. PK has been turned off the last couple of games and that has to be turned around before it becomes a theme for this season. Hopefully they can correct it before the end of the road trip. So far they have been frustrating to watch even in the games they’ve won. I’d be nice to see them have a dominating performance before I can even think about them being a playoff team. It’s early and hopefully they’re just getting the kinks out.

It’s just my age, boys.

Alright. I feel calmer now.

-sigh-

Damn. It didn’t work. The best thing I can come up with is that this is the longest trip of the year, and it’s almost over. 2-1, 2-1, 2-4, 2-5…

I think we need more than two goals, most of the time.

I don’t like blaming the refs. Yeah, they may have blown the call but that happens on the road. Good teams make their own breaks.

The other thing is that I want the Forum crowds to get bigger, and the only way to do that is to win some games. Success breeds excitement, which helps bring more success.