UKWING

no-one deserved that goal more than helm. what a player!!!!!

f*cking 'ave it!!!!!!!!!!

yeah but he was pretty anonymous for his next few shifts which is worrying. he did set up a great chance right at the end for franzen though

great game of hockey played by both teams tonight so far.

f*cking hell ozzie!!!! i hope cleary and hossa are ok

get in there!!!!!

thank f*ck i aint stuck with versus - they barely even mentioned the pens on CBC

pretty good 2 periods. the hawks pushed back strongly in the 1st half of the second but the wings, in particularly ozzie, held on well. the wings then took over again at the end of the period. and helm and hossa have been outstanding tonight

soft call the other way this time

i was thinking the exact same thing!!! PP coming up

gotta love helm!!

i don't like seeing lebda getting this many minutes

um...he had to wait and stay onside

great play by sammy to start that rush

how did hudler miss franzen with that pass back there?!? would have been a huge chance

great forecheck from helm there to force a few turnovers and create some good chances

their slow starts are indeed frustrating but what is of greater concern to me is the way they finished the last 2 games. before game 2, the wings had owned the 3rd period all playoffs long but in the past 2 games they did not seem to have any jump whatsoever and have looked very tired. last night the game (and series) was there for the taking in the 3rd after a great 2nd period but the wings just did not seem to have anything left and it allowed the hawks back in. i am hoping that last night's fatigue was due to being without their best forward, being down a d-man for virtually the whole game and also due to the amount of energy they spent killing those 1st period penalties. however, i worry that the ducks series might have taken too much out of them - especially the defence who played most of that series without rafalski. tomorrow's game should provide the answer.

very passive start to the period from the wings. really need to step it up here

game on!!!

man i wish we had datsyuk out there now

i love helmer

you are having a laugh!!! the best hit of the playoffs and they throw him out out?!?

IMO the ducks are not just the toughest matchup for the wings but also the best team they will face - i don't think any other team would have eliminated the ducks. remember they dumped the sharks out who are way better than any eastern team. yes i know they are perennial chokers but i think this year they were just unfortunate to run into the ducks and their smothering defence - it would have been interesting (and quite scary) to see what the sharks would have done if they had played the blues or jackets in the 1st round as they would have surely made short work of them and might have gotten on a roll. anyway back on topic - there is no doubt that the pens have had tougher matchups this year than last but the caps and flyers are still pretty average teams and they struggled against both of them. furthermore, the ease with which they reached the finals last year meant that they were healthy and well-rested entering the SCF. this year they will be more fatigued and banged up - just look at the state of gonchar at the moment!! crosby and malkin will be better than last year and guys like kunitz, fedotenko and guerin bring much needed experience so even though they no longer have hossa, their forward group will be stronger than last year. however, without whitney and with gonchar struggling, their D is a lot worse. they certainly won't be easy to beat but i don't think they will be any tougher than last year either.

i am not sure i would say the pens look better than last year - IIRC they breezed through the east last year with a 12-2 record and won every home game. this year they struggled to get past the flyers and capitals and now they are just feasting on a fatigued and beat up canes team. their defence looked a helluva lot better last year too. as for saying the series was airtight after the first 2 games - 3 of those 4 were in pittsburgh where they had won something like 18 straight games before playing the wings so you would expect those games to be tight. and in the other game at the joe the wings came out nervous as the Cup was within reach and fell behind 2-0 early before completely dominating the rest of the way. it certainly won't be an easy series but i would be very confident of beating them again. the only thing that would scare me about the pens (much like the hawks) is their PP against our struggling PK. i have said it before and i will say it again - the ducks are the best team the wings will play.

i like this move. even though they won the wings lacked energy last night so it is good that babs is not content merely with the win. i am also hoping he mixes the lines up a bit as none of our forward lines really clicked last night. and abdelkader has been fine but no better than maltby IMO and hopefully this will help the PK a little. as Matt said in another thread it could also help keep the star players a bit fresher if it means they are spending less time killing penalties.