2/18/09 - Nashville at Detroit: L 2-6 Final

Observations:

Jordin Tootoo plays right wing to the Erat-Legwand line. Apparently, Coach Trotz has had enough of Ryan Jones playing with them already.

Radek Bonk came back into the lineup tonight. I was glad to see he wasn't injured too badly because he really does make a difference in the faceoff circle for us.

Way to take the first penalty, Ville Koistinen. You're not going to help us out doing that all night.

Man, can we just be half as good on the power play as Detroit is?

Zanon was the defense guy out of position on both Detroit power play goals in the first. I shouldn't be surprised by that, should I?

Wow, I spoke too soon about Tootoo. With about nine minutes left in the first, Trotz puts him out with Fiddler and Pihlstrom, freeing up a spot on the Erat-Legwand line for Ryan Jones again. Jones is the right fit for that line, Coach. Can we please keep it that way?

It's not good that we didn't generate any real pressure on net until there was about six minutes left in the first. That is not the definition of the "good start" we needed.

Nice sneaky little goal right at the end of the first. I can't believe we scored from a blast at the point. Steve Sullivan finally notched his first official goal of the season.

I didn't realize until the end of the first period that we were wearing our home jerseys, with the Red Wings wearing their travelling whites. I think that I have just been so used to seeing the boys at home here lately that I didn't even realize I was watching an away game.

Okay, now Pihlstrom is on the Erat-Legwand line?! Those two are getting the short end of the stick here. Martin Erat needs consistency. Changing linemates every other shift is not going to cut it.

Wow! Steve Sullivan is all over this game tonight. Those were GREAT passes by Arnott and Dumont. Love it, love it, love it!

Who's fault was goal number four for Detroit?! Yeah, that would be Zanon, AGAIN.

For as good as our penalty kill is, the Detroit power play still makes it look undisciplined.

During the second intermission, Pete and Terry talked a lot about taking short passes. While I completely agree that short, tape-to-tape passes produce goals more often than long ice passes, our problem doesn't always lie in not taking short passes. The bigger issue is that we hesistate to take the passes in the first place.

UUUUUGGGGHHHHH!

Poor Dan Ellis. Like Erat, the man needs consistency in order to stick with his game. With the sporadic starts he's had in the past month or so, consistency is not on his side.

SHUT. YOUR. MOUTH. Ryan Suter fought and took the guy down?! Ryan Suter? RYAN. SUTER.

We can not afford to lose JP. Not that he's been playing extremely well as of late but there is a definite difference in the way we play as a team when he's out of the lineup.

We didn't score on the 5-on-3. How did we not score on the 5-on-3 when Detroit's penalty kill is one of the lowest ranked in the league?

We always take a ton of penalties when we play Detroit. You would think we would have learned how to be better disciplined by now. That's the coach's fault, right?

David Poile would never be as brazen as to fire Trotz at this point in the season, would he?