Detroit Red Wings vs. San Jose Sharks 11/18

Overview

Yeah, this team absolutely blows right now. If we lose tonight’s game I will definitely call for Lalonde to be gone. It is glaring how obvious it is that this team just doesn’t respect him and wants to put in effort for a full 60 minutes. Losing Ed for that game was detrimental to the defense, as Mo felt like he had to be on the ice at all times to help out Talbot. Petry is an old man who can barely skate, Holl is a one-game wonder who gets danced like a pilon day in and day out, and Gus is still learning what it’s like to be an NHL defenseman. The Kings absolutely dominated us that whole game, granted we knew they were the better team, but I’m still pissed about that Ducks’ loss. The other part that made me so mad was that we had 0 powerplays. You cannot sit there and tell me the Kings played a perfectly clean game when I saw many instances in which they weren’t. Without the Jon Jones fight, I would have gone to bed so pissed off, but thankfully that calmed me down a bit.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get two of our picks in, so we had to audible a little on the Larkin shots, which I’m also pissed about because Talbot definitely got his saves, but Larkin’s shots didn’t hit. Fortunately, we did get a Larkin goal late in the game so that saved us a little bit, earning us a few units back. He missed his shot mark again by one, which sucks, but shots have been hard to predict in these Wings games, so I am going to leave them alone for a while. The picks were a little last second, which usually doesn’t end well, so I need to be better at going simple when I don’t have a lot of time to properly research. Our total count for the season is around -5 units, which isn’t too bad considering how much the Wings suck right now, but there’s room for improvement.

Prediction

Honestly, I am not looking forward to watching this game. It’s the latest start possible, it’s a lose-lose game, where we either win, and woohoo we beat a bottom 5 team, or we lose and we’re a laughing stock. There will be a lot of bright lights on superstar Macklin Celebrini, who’s looked solid in his NHL debut, so I’m hoping the Wings just stay out of the spotlight tonight and get a clean win. With Ed back in the lineup, I’m much more confident in our defense shutting down this young group, along with Talbot remaining solid in the crease. The Wings must be physical against this young team and get them off their game early, but holy shit they have to win this hockey game. For Lalonde’s sake, he better hope this team actually shows up to play hockey tonight.

With the stakes that are presented for this team tonight, I expect nothing less than a win in regulation. I’m sick of letting these shit teams stay competitive until the final buzzer. They have to smash their faces in if they are going to remain in playoff contention later on. I’ve tried this pick multiple times now, but after a 0 powerplay attempted night, I expect Larkin to get multiple opportunities to get a goal or an assist on the powerplay tonight. Along with Larkin, the third line hasn’t stopped playing well in these past few games, so I like Vladdy to get a point, with his line creeping up the totem pole and even being a part of the second powerplay unit. This is a must-win tonight. That is all.

Picks

Red Wings REG ML (1u) 

Larkin o0.5 PPP +230 (2u)  

Tarasenko o0.5 Points +120 (1u)