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Official Game Day Thread - - Tonights's Matchup - - VS. Start time: 7:30 EST Joe Louis Arena - Detroit, MI Available On: Tonight's Stream http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php/user/15741-drumnj/ (Directions in profile) Official Game Preview: Joey MacDonald to make 2nd consecutive start - *Opposition GDT* From StLouisBlues.com - - News from around the NHL Crosby cleared for practice Neal adjusts to Eastern play Blackhawks facing questions Western Conference Standings BLUES 76 GP, 34-32-10, 78 pts Last Game: Lost to MIN 3-2 (SO) RED WINGS 76 GP, 44-22-10, 98 pts Last Game: Lost to CHI 3-2 (OT) Last DET-STL Meeting: 3/12, DET 5 at STL 3 Recap - "'>LGW GDT Highlights Goals STL David Backes: 27 DET Johan Franzen: 27 Assists STL Alexander Steen: 30 DET Henrik Zetterberg: 53 Plus/Minus STL David Backes: +25 DET Justin Abdelkader: +13 ---- STL B.J. Crombeen: -19 DET Todd Bertuzzi: -7 PIM STL B.J. Crombeen: 125 DET Jonathan Ericsson: 81 Hudler-Zetterberg-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi Holmstrom-Modano-Abdelkader Miller-Helm-Eaves Lidstrom-Stuart Ericsson-Kronwall Kindl-Rafalski Projected STL Lines McDonald-Backes-D'Agostini Berglund-Stewart Porter-Cracknell-Crombeen Janssen-McRae-Reaves Shattenkirk-Cole Colaiocovo-Pietrangelo Polak-Nikitin Ty Conklin Record: 8-8-3, 3.19 GAA, .880 SV%, 2 SO ---- versus. ---- Joey MacDonald Record: 5-4-3, 2.13 GAA, .928 SV%, 1 SO BLUES T.J. Oshie (suspension) out, Barret Jackman (finger) out, Alexander Steen (ankle) out, David Perron (concussion) out ---- RED WINGS Jimmy Howard (shoulder) will not play, Pavel Datsyuk (lower body) will not play, Chris Osgood (groin) out On Deck 3/30, Red Wings at Predators ; 3:00 EST

F*ck the Blues. Hockeytown001 is a BAMF.

My rendition of this year's HWBM commercials.

Ken Daniels sounded pretty excited when Boston scored for some reason this announcing crew doesnt think Toews is god and duncan keith is the best dman ever

Okay gang, I've been reading a lot of comments about how the Wings truly lost this series through their inability to win faceoffs, their terrible defensive zone turnovers, and their inability to get to the dirty areas to score goals. I agree 100% with this assessment. The Wings were not even near their best for 4 of the 5 games in this series and, as such, their losses COULD simply be chalked up to that. However, to nullify the refs of any responsibility in the outcome of this series because of the fact that the Wings were not playing as well as they should seems to me to be simply insufficient. In fact, I would say that such a claim does a disservice to the game of hockey in general. The fact of the matter is that the Wings lost all four of their games in this series by one goal, and in three of the four games the refereeing had a direct influence on the end results. For me, tonight was the most painful example of this. A disgustingly obvious interference penalty on Murray was missed about 20 seconds prior to the eventual game winning goal. We can all argue that it was Rafalski's fault for coughing the puck up behind the net as he seemed to do far too often throughout the year; AND IT WAS. However, that does not excuse the FACT that the faceoff should have been at the other end of the rink and that the Wings should have had a man advantage. Do I think that the Wings would have scored on that powerplay? Probably not. The powerplay was incredibly weak tonight and that was another reason that we lost. But this game, like the entire series, was decided by inches and, like every other close game in this series, the opportunities that the Sharks capitalized upon were provided to them by the referees. The Wings sloppy play was the killer, but I will am infuriated that the refs gave the Sharks far too much to run on. Now, at this point I realize that I sound like a sore loser, and I'm sure that there are some on this board who will write me off as just that. By no means am I a conspiracy theorist; I am not deluded enough to think that the league was hellbent on keeping the Wings out of their fourth straight conference finals. I have watched enough hockey this season to realize that the refereeing in this entire league is pathetic. Standards change from game to game (or period to period) and calls are made and missed on the excuse that, "It's such a fast game". Refs are never held accountable for their terrible calls and no improvements are made for the betterment of the NHL experience. This phenomenon is not confined to a single team or conference, but rather serves to degrade the reputation of the league as a whole. Unfortunately, in this series, the NHL's terrible refereeing was against the Wings far more than it was for them. While I realize that it is simply an unfortunate coincidence, I think that it is reasonable for us to be disappointed/mad. I have known a number of die-hard hockey fans to stop watching games because the refereeing simply reduced the sport to near-WWE levels, and I am now on the verge of doing so myself. I sincerely hope that this is a series that is watched over and over again as a tutorial of how NOT to ref in the playoffs so that a series like this is never duplicated in the future. PS - I know that there have been a number of awesome, insightful Sharks fans posting on this board throughout the series, and I would really appreciate hearing your input. In the end, the Sharks certainly played well; as much as it pains me to say it, guys like Thornton and Marleau actually carried their weight. I try to be as unbiased as I can in looking at such issues, and I hope that was reflected in this post.

I'm assuming they'd have to be on an Olympic roster to qualify... Parise-Modano(A)-Hull Amonte-Roenick-Kane Tkachuk-Weight-Guerin Eruzione©-LaFontaine-Backes Chelios(A)-Rafalski Hatcher-Leetch Schneider-G. Suter Miller Craig Stastney J. Johnson Brooks Flame away! This is the result of a bottle of Absolut, so I feel no shame. Edit- I'll include LaFontaine because, well, I have to. But really, I can't knock down Modano, the all-time US scorer or Roenick, and I love Tkachuk-Weight paired together... Guerin or Drury? I'll take Guerin, I suppose. Yeah, LaFontaine was really really good but... I dunno. I'm not getting that vibe.

I'm guessing even if Howard dresses, that he wont start right? I think Joey deserves another start anyways. Rest up Howard and get him in there against Nashville. As for this game, the Blues played tonight so we need to put the pressure on them early. 5-3 Wings. Hank x2, Mule, Abdelkader, and Raffy

As far as notable pre-Lillehammer players for Czechoslovakia break down, here's a few. Stastny brothers >>> Slovakia. Vladimir Ruzicka, Jan Suchy, Vaclav Nedomansky, Jiri Hrdina, Ivan Hlinka, Vladimir Martinec, Frantisek Kaberle, Sr. >>> Czech Republic.

I liked the comment the announcers had for when Toews was giving Chara lip, "Johnny there is about a foot and a few pounds too short to even think of giving Chara the business."

Elbowing is not worth an automatic suspension. Relative to some of the decisions, Bert probably should have gotten a game or two. But with the Chara decision, it's shocking they even called a penalty. That said, the elbowing major and game misconduct was probably the correct call.

Great coaching. Empty the tank to squeak out an OT win on the first night of back-to-backs and get shut out on the second night. Brilliant!

If Turco was your backup... would you start him?

Um what? His rookie year he played 80 games. Every season after that, minus his big injury year he has average around 71 games. He's use to playing a full season. If he can play 80 games his rookie year, then he is use to playing. plus, that argument doesn't make any sense when you factor in he excels in the post season when most players are mentally and physically spent. He's use to playing a full season, he just coasts in the regular season and saves it for the postseason is all.

Oh how I love to watch the Hawks and the Pens lose.

He has been playing lights out and the D hung him out to dry a few times last night.

Aside from it affecting the vision of the player and also not always preventing injury but causing some you mean?

I've been a sports official for basketball and soccer for collegiate intramural leagues when I was back in college. Obviously not as talented as professional sports or even college varisty sports, but still a lot of these guys are competent athletically, played sports at competitive levels in high school, whatever. Last night I went beserk on the officials on almost every call. And I'm not one that likes to go off on games or yell and hollar. The first basketball game I officiated, if I was a player in the game, I'd punch myself for the retarded job I did. One of the players at the end of the game wanted to rip my head off, and I don't blame him. I was terrible. I tried to let things go and made up my own rules to be as fair as I could (there was no bias or being afraid of other players or whatever, I just did what I thought was best, and my judgment long/short was just flat out awful). Eventually I got over that and just called games by the rules as best I could. And I think I got pretty good at it. I messed up plenty of calls over those few years, yes, but everything was by the rules of those games, I never got reprimanded by people in charge, got a good job here and there for games, and so forth. I have no doubt that NHL officials have a hard job. I don't expect perfection. I just expect them to follow the rules, like I officiated with as little grey area as possible, and like many people have stated, those rules are just so absurdly grey from game to game, player to player, it is impossible for officials not to look like a bunch of idiots. Back when phantom interference started or people were bitter on here blaming officials for the Wings losing a few years ago against the Ducks in the playoffs or whatever, I'd be one of the first to rail on people saying they were nuts, the Red Wings lose games by themselves. If you don't see though that some of the things that are called just reek of inconsistency and bias towards some players (i.e. Holmstrom phantom interference), inconsistencies of player suspensions, and basically you have to treat the officials with kiddie gloves or they'll cry and you'll be fined money, I don't know what to tell you. EDIT: I recently went to a basketball playoff game for the high school I went to. The team they were playing was winning most of the game, until my school fought back to tie the game up. The other school took the ball out with about 20 seconds left, and the guy dribbling the ball got called for palming/carrying the ball. We got the ball back one more time, made a layup with about 4 seconds left, and their desperation shot fell well short. While I'm glad my school won, you realize how chicken s**t of a way it is to lose a game on a call like that when it wasn't being called at all the whole game and he really wasn't palming the ball? The other school didn't deserve to lose, at least that way. Just like Zetterberg's phantom hook call late in the game? Kudos to the 'Hawks for taking advantage but that's just a piss-poor way to determine the outcome of a game. Ticky-tacky stuff and what other people have stated already as loose rule interpretation and legitmate arguments of bias towards certain players is what annoys the crap out of everybody, not them not being 100% perfect. And it's getting worse and worse each season. The officials overall stink for all teams across the board, and the rules are way too inconsistent.

Look at it this way - before last night's game, Joey Mac hadn't given up a goal in regulation in the past four games he played. The only goals he did allow? Shootout. That's it.

Another hilarious Pasha interview, from tonight's HNIC. Best parts at 3:50 and 4:20-4:30.

He wasn't that great on the PK in overtime last night.....just sayin'.......I think Helm would have been a better option with the open ice of 4 on 3. I think Flip is NOT worth his salary...too soft & always iinjured for long periods of time. I'm not saying he isn't valuable.....just not 3M valuable!

Nice to see that Milbury's started blogging.

Franzen has been suspect all season. He doesn't skate, he doesn't drive the net, if he doesn't have a shot at a high-slot wrister he seems not to care at all and gives up on the play. He has been the biggest disappointment this season by far, in my opinion. This is a guy who has the job security of an elite 40+ goal, 70+ point power-forward, but until this season he has relied on potential, the what-if of a full, healthy season. Well here we are, full healthy season, and he phones it in. I say it as much as anyone, regular season is nothing compared to the playoffs, and we've yet to see how he'll play this season, but the trend doesn't look good. Coming into this season I was a huge Mule fan, thought it was really his time to shine and he has played completely dull. He tends to score his goals 2+ at a time and then drop off the map for a chunk of the schedule. I can't say he has really helped the Wings win many at all this season. Also remember that he had a huge 5-goal night - which was equal parts skill, luck, and "wow, I scored, maybe I should play like I actually give a damn" - and without that he is sitting at 22 goals on the season. When 18% of your total goals are scored in one game of an 82 game schedule, and you don't have the playmaking and defensive ability/effort of Zetterberg or Datsyuk, you might be playing below your pay-grade. Something has got to change pretty quick, and stay that way, or else this is going to be a long 12 years. If he is phoning it in during his prime, what happens in 3 or 4 years?

Your troll is showing.

Don't see why not. Solid and cheap, exactly what a backup should be

The 'Mess' one was neat, though I fail to see why they had to show the 2009 Penguins three times in the first 15 seconds.