UKWING

no way was that too many men. awful play by williams and rafalski. i did think that the 3rd goal looked offside at first viewing though. but howard should still have never let it in anyway.

there is plenty of blame to go round; it would not be 3-0 if: - the wings centers hadn't been so awful on faceoffs. - the defence did not continually turn the puck over like they have done. - the wings had not spent so much time in the box. equal blame here goes to the whistle happy refs and to to the ill-disciplined wings. - they had not sat back in the 3rd period last night. also, if howard had played like ozzie did the past 2 years then the wings would probably be 2-1 or even 3-0 up instead. but i don't want to be too critical of howard because he is the main reason that the wings even made it to the playoffs and it is unfair (and wholly unrealistic) to expect a rookie to perform as well as ozzie did the past 2 years. and whilst i expected him to be better than he has been, if the wings had not hung him out to dry as often as they have, his play would probably have been good enough - it is not like nabby is standing on his head and badly outplaying howard. overall though, the sharks have just been the better team and deserve to be ahead. there is not much in it but in the end the sharks have just been that little bit better.

QFT!! even though there were some horrible calls, the wings were still 3-2 ahead in the 3rd period and were on the PP. the bert call was soft to negate it but the calls on kronwall, cleary, flip and the too many men were all legit. it was stupid and naive play by some very experienced players that cost the wings this game (and awful luck with the broken stick).

i guess the 1 consolation is that even though the wings have played 2 very poor games, the sharks only just beat them both times. if the wings can stay out of the box and maybe get a few breaks go their way then this series is still very much there to be won IMO.

this has been a shocking 3rd period from the wings. they have so much experience but you would not know it with the level of ill-discipline and sheer stupidity they have shown here.

to be fair, the last 3 calls on the wings were all legit.

there have certainly been some bad calls but the wings have not helped themselves either. they have been bloody stupid at times!!

the refs need to realize that the game is not about them; it is about the players. just let them play FFS!!

wow

another good sell from nabakov there

the sharks PP has looked great tonight. gotta stay out the box in this series.

this is the most imcompetent officiating i have seen for a long time. if (and its a big if) the wings can manage to kill these penalties off, you gotta think the refs will throw some make-up calls our way.

wtf!?!

hope cleary is ok - has been our best player tonight.

unbelievably stupid ain't it? whoever the f*ck thought it would be a good idea needs to be fired

long, but great, shift from stuart there

this is the dan cleary we know and love!

depends on the start time for me. if it is 7-8 EST (12-1am UK time) then i just stay up and watch it. if it is later than that then i have a nap first and set my alarm for game time. it is tough getting up for work after the 3am games though!

strange period really. the wings started brightly and controlled the play early until a terrible pass by kronwall forced flip to take a penalty. after conceding on that PP the wings were rattled and before you knew it they were 3-0 down. they are back in it now though and if howard can shut the door the wings will have a great chance of winning this one as they are generating enough chances. need a far better effort on the PP though

huge PP here

it's called a needless icing by helm. gotta think helm is playing hurt - he has been a very pale shadow of the player he has been the past 2 years so far.

SJS/DET:4-2 CHI/VAN:4-3 PIT/MTL:4-1 BOS/PHI:4-3

thanks for doing this again mac SJS/COL: 4-1 CHI/NSH: 4-2 VAN/LAK: 4-2 PHX/DET: 4-2 WAS/MTL: 4-0 NJD/PHI: 4-3 BUF/BOS: 4-3 PIT/OTT: 4-2 WC Champion: Detroit EC Champion: Washington SCF Champion: Detroit

$2.5m for jason f*cking williams!?!

indeed. they will be tough to beat but they will have a target on their back all year as everyone wants to beat the champs. they won't have the same hunger as last year either and so it will be difficult to reach the SCF 3 straight years. they have a great chance of doing it though