I like Burnside’s work, and this article is generally right on...but to call Jimmy Howard “much heralded” is a bit of a stretch.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 10/04/09 at 12:32 AM ET

Hilarious...Osgood lost the night before but gave up 1 fewer goal.  To me, it seems like the team was out late last night drinking or banging swedish chicks or both. 

Every time a team phones it in for more than one game they assume “the sky is falling chicken little”.  Thankfully the season doesn’t end with 2 games otherwise the Colorado Avalanche would be the stanley cup champions and Andersen the Mvp.

Posted by stoneman from Vegas on 10/04/09 at 06:51 AM ET

Nuh-uh.  Colorado would totally lose in the Finals to Washington with Ovechkin as the MVP. 

(Extrapolating small sample sizes is funny.  Reminds me of the beginning of baseball season where you see so many guys with an ERA of 81.00.)

St. Louis benefited from being completely under the radar as well as their own efforts, because they were getting very little attention as they had so many fewer Swedes.  Probably a more distracting environment than they anticipated.  It’s two games.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 10/04/09 at 07:43 AM ET

Wow...It was ONE game. Lets talk after Howard has a minimum of 5 games played this year (and lets all stop bringing up his spot appearances prior to this season when half the team was usually dead).

I’ll be honest, I’ve been a fan of Howard since his Maine days so I really want him to succeed, but I had forgotten what it’s like for a young goalie to come up through the system in Detroit and the expectations that the fans have. Maybe he should call up Tim Cheveldae.

Posted by moocat on 10/04/09 at 10:50 AM ET

Moocat, I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment, however I am disappointed with Howard’s play to date.  I agree we need to give him 10 games to show us if he can be a quality NHL goalie.  If, after 10 games, he has played no better than yesterday then the Wings need to send him to GR and give Larsson a chance.  The Wings have to have a quality back-up this year.  30 games for the back-up will go a long way in determining where the Wings finish.  Ozzie will not carry the team very far in the playoffs if he has to play over 60 games in the regular season.  I too like Howard but the time has come to show he belongs.  We have other goalies in the system (Larsson, McCollum and Pearce (?) who also deserve a shot.  Just my .02

Posted by calquake on 10/04/09 at 12:04 PM ET

Two regular season games in two years does not a career make.

Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 10/04/09 at 01:35 PM ET

Two regular season games in two years does not a career make.
Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 10/04/09 at 02:35 PM ET

No, but 10-12 games has been a career for some goalies.

Posted by calquake on 10/04/09 at 02:27 PM ET

Moocat, I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment, however I am disappointed with Howard’s play to date.

True, but he wasn’t really much worse than Osgood was either.

I’m all for giving Howard a chance, let him get comfortable in the net before passing judgement but you’re right, we DO need a quality backup, so if after 10 games or so Howard isn’t pulling his weight then I have no problem discarding him bringing up Larsson.

Posted by Garth on 10/05/09 at 10:48 AM ET