My thoughts on the Blues-Wings Game 4

[Lerxst]

-Not saying that Detroit may not have come back and won anyway, but Pronger's injury was the biggest reason the Blues lost. The Blues were dominating the game when Pronger left the game. Once he left, the Blues were clearly deflated and it took them nearly 2 periods to recover.

 

-Detroit still does not impress me that much. They clearly have the most talent in the NHL, but where is the killer instinct? Truly great teams get a team down like that and they keep them down. Detroit kept taking penalties and let the Blues get back within a goal. But, Detroit is one game away from the conference finals and you cannot argue with that, I suppose.

 

-Al MacInnis is about finished. He almost never scores anymore and he is slowing down. Shanahan was a clear step or two ahead of him on his goal in the first period and I have notice numerous plays where MacInnis is simply beaten to loose pucks or forwards skate by him, where in years past, that never would have happened.

 

-Both goalies deserved a better fate than to give up a combined 7 goals. Hasek was spectacular for the most part and gave up 2 late goals because of his teammates boneheaded play and Johnson was hung out to dry on 2 of Detroit's goals. Yzerman's goal was not a bright spot for Johnson, but, by my count, that is only the 3rd weak goal he has let in in the playoffs. Johnson, while not on the level of the elite goalies yet, has a bright career ahead of him. Unlike the Blues last goalie, Roman Turek, Johnson is a confident goalie who doesn't let bad plays or bad goals affect his game.

[Foosball God]

Lerxst:

-Not saying that Detroit may not have come back and won anyway, but Pronger's injury was the biggest reason the Blues lost. The Blues were dominating the game when Pronger left the game. Once he left, the Blues were clearly deflated and it took them nearly 2 periods to recover.

 

-Detroit still does not impress me that much. They clearly have the most talent in the NHL, but where is the killer instinct? Truly great teams get a team down like that and they keep them down. Detroit kept taking penalties and let the Blues get back within a goal. But, Detroit is one game away from the conference finals and you cannot argue with that, I suppose.

 

-Al MacInnis is about finished. He almost never scores anymore and he is slowing down. Shanahan was a clear step or two ahead of him on his goal in the first period and I have notice numerous plays where MacInnis is simply beaten to loose pucks or forwards skate by him, where in years past, that never would have happened.

 

-Both goalies deserved a better fate than to give up a combined 7 goals. Hasek was spectacular for the most part and gave up 2 late goals because of his teammates boneheaded play and Johnson was hung out to dry on 2 of Detroit's goals. Yzerman's goal was not a bright spot for Johnson, but, by my count, that is only the 3rd weak goal he has let in in the playoffs. Johnson, while not on the level of the elite goalies yet, has a bright career ahead of him. Unlike the Blues last goalie, Roman Turek, Johnson is a confident goalie who doesn't let bad plays or bad goals affect his game.

Part of the reason they were in control was that they were on the power play for much of the first part of the period.

 

The Wings are winning without going for the throat this is good and bad. Good that they can still win in that situation, but bad in that they would make things a lot easier on themselves if they just put the hammer down. I think this is where not having another big tough defenseman hurts them the most.

 

Brent Johnson is young still but what your calling weak goals I call bad, maybe even back breaking, goals. He's let in some others that he probably should have stopped, but Blues fans should be happy that at least it seems like their goalie controversy is over.

 

MacInnis is another story. He's definitly a step behind lately. I think the Blues rode him to hard during the regular season and it's coming back to haunt them now. The Wings got a chance to rest their older defenseman while the Blues were fighting for home ice and didn't have the luxury of giving MacInnis a rest.

[redwings.cup]

i agree with most of what you said, except i don't see Johnson as that solid a goalie yet. the goal that the Captain trickled in should have been stopped. Johnson misplayed the puck to begin with. Big Al does look done. The bottom line? The wings have not played as well as they can and will and they're still in a commanding position. The blues have been the Bee-ach of the wings for years now.....this year is no different. see you at the draft.

[Lerxst]

Foosball God

[QB Part of the reason they were in control was that they were on the power play for much of the first part of the period.

 

Brent Johnson is young still but what your calling weak goals I call bad, maybe even back breaking, goals.  He's let in some others that he probably should have stopped, but Blues fans should be happy that at least it seems like their goalie controversy is over.

 

[/QB]

I just wanted to address these 2 points of your post.

 

First, the reason the Blues were in control WAS because of the power plays, but that was because the Blues were dominating play and Detroit was forced to take some penalties in attempts to slow the Blues down. Incidentally, Detroit caught a break on Chelios's penalty. That should have been a penalty shot for Tkachuk, since he would have had a breakaway. Whether he would have scored or not on the breakaway we will never know, but that should have been a breakaway.

 

Yes, Johnson let in what turned out to be a back-breaking goal, but he is still a young goalie and every goalie is going to let in a bad goal here and there, but against a team like Detroit, you usually cannot afford those types of mistakes. Say what you what about Johnson, but he has been one of the best goalies in the playoffs this year and has let in fewer bad goals than top-notch goalies like Roy, Hasek and Joseph, so I think he will be just fine in the years to come.