Wednesday Wrapup

General notes from Wednesday about the Red Wings…

Jakub Kindl was sent to Grand Rapids on a conditioning assignment, having not played in a game since November 3. He immediately entered the Griffins lineup, playing 19:48 in a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Admirals.

Kindl had two shots and finished with an even plus/minus rating.

On the other side of the state, the Red Wings hosted the Nashville Predators, dropping a 3-2 decision.

If you’re looking for positives, both Detroit goals were highlights in different ways. Pavel Datsyuk batting the puck out of mid-air was pure circus, a fun goal to see. Johan Franzen pulling the Wings to within one in the final minutes was a goal-scorer’s goal, a great shot finding its way through a mass of bodies in front.

Unfortunately, there were more negatives.

A two-on-one and a flukey goal gave Nashville a 2-0 lead. The back-breaker was another two-on-one in the third that put the Predators up 3-1.

As I said in the GDT, I put that one on Jimmy Howard. I thought at the time that he maybe cheated to cover the pass and then got beat on the shot. Ken and Mickey later pointed out that after getting beat by not covering the pass on the first goal he may have been respecting that option a bit too much.

Either way, Howard has to make that save and he didn’t. He’s not playing poorly lately but he’s getting outplayed. If the Wings are going to rely on him the way they are (and I’m not saying that’s right), he has to be better than he was last night.