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Abel to Yzerman

Twin Killing? Probably Not

by IwoCPO on 11/18/08 at 08:17 AM ET
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Dammit.  I held my breath as I looked at the schedule this morning, hoping Edmonton wouldn’t be playing again for a few more days.  I guess, in the excitement of all those Rahmani commercials last night, I forgot about the consistent “Hitchcock scouting the Oil” references from Ken and Mick.

My point?  They’re anxious in Alberta, and it would appear Craig MacTavish may be on the outs.

Why does that matter to you and me?  Because how strange would it have been that the Wings were the final nail in two coach’s coffins…in less than a week? Well, doesn’t look we’ll have that claim unless the Oil management moves fast in the middle of a road trip.  Damn. Would have been fun.

And worthy of plenty of high-level discussion here where we stay well above the gutter.

Meanwhile, back in Edmonton?  They’re not thrilled.  Not one bit.  Jim Matheson, beat writer/columnist for the Edmonton Journal, obviously has no personal stake in the matter.

Obviously, the Oilers didn’t get the memo, didn’t read the league stats, or what MacTavish said went in one ear and out the other. Before the game was 5 1/2 minutes old, they were down two men with Ethan Moreau off for a hook on Zetterberg and Souray for a slash on Tomas Holmstrom’s leg in front of Roloson.

“You take one penalty and you’re already down a third of a goal to that team,” said MacTavish, who obviously was a math major in college.

Obviously, I have great respect for the “math major” comment.  Well done, sir.

Head to the comment section of that story and you’ll find far less sarcasm and a lot more burning torches. 

Enough about them.  No sympathy.  2006 still haunts me and leaves me with bad thoughts on otherwise cheerful days.

On to the Wings?  Alrighty.  How’s this?  Last three games, and our favorite stat: shot totals.  18, 27, 21.  I’m no math major (sorry Jim), but that’s a bit lower than we’ve gratingly become accustomed to.  An average of a very pleasing 22 shots/game.  Ahhhh.  So easy to type.  Two 2’s, back to back.  Tap…tap.  Try it with me. 22. Fun, huh?  One more time.  22.

The Mike Babcock Consolidated Quote of the Day (MBCQOTD)
“How many shots against tonite Ansar? Check your stat sheet.  Check it…Jesus Ansar. You don’t have it?  Teddy? Teddy?  Gotta get you seeing again. How’s the eye?  Scratched it?  No PK for you.  Seriously.  Paulie, take Kulfan off the PK until his eye clears up.  Mule scored again tonite Paulie.  Did you see that?  He scored again. He keeps shooting and scoring and then he dances.  Amazing stuff.  Sure would like to keep him.  I’ll hide him in my basement if I have to. Just tuck him away with my Stretch Armstrong and all my Evil Knievel ramps.  Just keep him down there until the bad man forgets we ever had him.  Down in the basement…Happy, get me a sandwich.”

Thanks Mike.  Good points all around.

They did look good though didn’t they?  They do look good.  It seems that Teddy Kulfan, former Deep Digger Captain and now part-time shoveler, may have been on track the other day when he said the Wings have “righted themselves.”  Too early to say?  Oh yes.  But there are signs that the Hasek may be staying closed for at least a few more weeks.

Kulfan

“We’re coming together here as a group,” Babcock said. “We weren’t pretty early on but we’re limiting shots and that’s a positive.”

A few positives from last night.  Speed and lots of it.  Aggression from all four lines.  Great back checking.  All the things we’ve taken for granted and have been there for the most part all season.  But last night we saw it, as Uncle Mike will tell us the next twenty hours or so, for sixty full minutes.

Better, we saw a total team defensive effort.  But, the Wings aren’t out of the woods yet.  And neither are you.  None of you have failed to notice the fact that there have been consistent lapses and breakdowns, up to last night.  And one game doesn’t erase the bad thoughts.  Hell, Anaheim had an entire year of it last season and expected to turn things around in the playoffs.  Wrong.

The Wings can do this again Thursday and even Saturday.  But Edmonton and Calgary aren’t San Jose.  And, yeah, that’s the team on our scope this year…in case you haven’t figured that out yet.  The Wings need a measuring stick and little Toddy’s boys will be it.  Limit them to 22 shots?  Now we’re talking.

In the meantime, keep on keepin’ on.  Pad that lead in the Central* (automatic asterisk for “Wings clinch division”) and keep working on what went well last night.

Oh, hey.  Back to Happy Jim Matheson for a minute.  Is this the stupidest lead in newspaper history?

Ty Conklin now has three kids after he and wife Erika welcomed a bouncing baby boy to the family roster Saturday but, so far, Ty hasn’t named any of them Win.

I’m no Ed Murrow…but that’s just idiotic.

And to all the ships at sea…keep it dry.  Or don’t.

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977.  No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y.  Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation.  There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature.  Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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