Wings_Fan_In_Exile

Nice link, thanks! That is one man's opinion on hockey that I absolutely respect. Will be reading it later.

When was Yzerman in Moscow? I kind of figured he'd be over here for the playoffs. Have the games been good? I'd love to watch them but playoff hockey here has all the attention- which is OK by me since I LOVE this time of year. By the way, I am always impressed with people who speak both Russian and English. My girlfriend is currently learning Russian and man! Those are two very different languages!

It definately was a flukey goal that I wouldn't expect him to stop- like you said by the time he saw the puck it was too late. But in one of the replays of that goal he does look to be ducking. It doesn't matter since that goal was beyond his control, it was just an odd sight. Another 2 games by Hasek like last night and the Wings have a great chance to advance..... as long as we get some offense going- which I think just might happen after last night.

That entire play was great. From Lidstrom forcing Cheechoo or whoever to the outside, Schneider stopping the puck from going in the empty net, Flip battling for the puck on the boards and feeding Lang, who beautifully found the back of the net. Lang executed perfectly but thank god his teamates did too. Great play. I can watch that over and over. It will be remembered for years to come (especially if they keep winning like I think they will).

I'm sticking with my original prediction of 7 games as well, with the Wings taking it!

Lesson learned indeed. Patience, patience. Mountain Standard Time here. And I have work to do at my job, can't post every 2 minutes. As I said in another thread. Hasek played well last night. The bonehead plays by Hasek in Game 3 - that lead me to start this dorky thread- didn't happen last night. He still flopped around in a way only Hasek can, but he didn't stick with the paralysis. When he sprawled out in his little snow angel, he actually got back up and into position. What really pissed me off in Game 3 was he would do his flop, lay on his back and just look around. Game 4 he didn't do that. In fact the only criticism I have of Hasek in last night's win (and it's pretty weak criticism) was it looked like he may have ducked away from the puck on the Sharks 2nd goal. It was a weird flukey goal where he probably never saw the puck coming, but seeing a goalie duck is kind of strange. Hell I'd duck away from a puck too, but I never signed up to be a goalie whose sole job is to get in front of the puck. I still dislike Hasek, I still dislike his floppy style but as long as he doesn't flop on the ice and act PARALYZED, I will admit he can be a pretty decent goalie. My main argument in this thread beyond his motionless style of goaltending he sometimes displays is that he hasn't been as STELLAR as some people have been claiming. His GAA is as much a credit to the defensive game we've been playing. But last night he did play well. Kudos to the floppy bastard.

Man what a game. I've never been so quiet during the first 59 minutes of a game before. When they were down 0-2 I remember thinking "they've gotta come back but it might take a miracle". A few clutch goals later and I was able to go to sleep one happy man. Hopefully I didn't wake up my girlfriend's roomate, but I kinda doubt that is possible. And I will happily admit Hasek played a solid game. Neither goal he could do much about in this one. Although it kinda looked like he ducked away from the second goal- but it was just a fluke play and he probably never saw the puck. What made me happy about his perfomance was that there was no paralysis when he used the snow angel, he spread out then got back into position. After his game last night the move should be known as the Snow Angel of Doom. I still don't love the guy, but last night he played just as all the Dom backers said he could. Anyway, what a game. What a win! 2-2 series I love it! Wings in 7 was my original prediction and they look to be on pace.

Holy Jumpin that was nice. I went from grave concern to massive relief. They somehow pulled it off. Praise the lord!

Even though we've kind of butted heads in this thread I totally agree with you there (and this could be directed at me for all I know, haha). Growing up in Arizona I became a Coyotes fan in '96 when we inherited the Jets from Winnipeg. A successful year for the Coyotes is being above .500 and even that is a rare thing these days. Why am I a Wings fan you ask? (since I'd probably be accused of being a fair weather fan) Parents are from Kalamazoo so since I was a lil one I've been a Lions and Red Wings fan. Luckily the Wings and Coyotes rarely meet in the playoffs. Now being a Lions fan isn't so glamorous either.

Haha. My thoughts exactly. Hopefully the series will manage to drag on to 7 games and wear out the winner the the Wings hopefully play next round.

Here you go putting words in my mouth again. If you READ all of the posts you would see that I posted the Save % info in response to somebody posting his GAA. My point was that both stats should be used in judging a goalie. Again putting words in my mouth I never said, and top it off with some grade school name calling. Nice. I stand my ground on my opinion while 90% of this thread jumps on the "if you dislike Hasek you are a bad fan and don't understand hockey" bandwagon. I don't feel like the coward in that scenario. Just the minority opinion. My one regret with starting this thread was my overdramatic thread description "could his flopping be any less effective". I was disappointed with the loss and I've never liked Hasek at any point in his career despite how good he has been through the years. It takes more than pure talent for me to like a player. It was a stupid title for a thread. I acknowledge that and would be fine with a moderator making it less "Anti-Hasek" When he got burned by Cheechoo his snow angel didn't work for him but that was also a really nice play by Cheechoo with no defensive help. The other instance that really pissed me off Lidstrom came to his rescue as he lay there on his back motionless. Beyond that, despite his out of position play, he's done decently well for us. But the times his unorthodox play burns us it drives me insane. I don't think he has been as good in this series as some of you are saying, but I NEVER said he was the reason we've lost twice. We're all Wings fans here cheering on the same side so I don't see what name calling and personal attacks accomplish here.

Well said sir. In my opinion you nailed it.

That's a fine lookin room.

Yeah I understand and respect defending your favorite player or whatever. But I don't think everybody actually reads what is said in previous posts. It's kinda funny to see the mob mentality in action though Funny avatar by the way.

OK- the one thing I will concede to those of you with your holier than thou attitutude towards people with a different opinion on your perfect Hasek... The title of my thread is overdramatic and sends off a vibe that people would think I said Hasek sucks and is to blame for everything wrong in the world. I titled this thread after being pissed off with two specific plays, neither of which directly led to the game three loss, but nevertheless pissed me off enough to ***** about it. Never once did I "scapegoat" Hasek for the Wings losing. Do you guys read previous posts at all? I did state that I don't like Hasek or his style of play, and that I never have. He has been one of those guys I love to hate, and now he's on the Wings so I actually root for him to succeed. Obviously criticizing a Red Wing on a Red Wings forum is a bad idea (some people can't seem to handle it without getting their panties up in a bunch). It leads to negative conversations such as this, which nobody needs. Anyway, as I have said many times before- I DONT BLAME HASEK FOR LOSING ANY OF THE GAMES. He is a good goalie and has helped the Wings with pretty solid play. Like any player he makes some bonehead plays and his are magnified because of his position. And because I have always disliked him, his screwups piss me off more than the next guy. He is by no means the best goalie in the playoffs this year but he's been good enough to help the Wings win 5 games so far. And since he's a Red Wing I'll be cheering for him and the Wings to take the Sharks down and a get a big win tonight. *edit* And it is possible to carry on a conversation without threats and name calling.......

I'm cautiously optimistic about this one. Tomorrow at the office is going to DRAG, waiting to leave to eventually catch puck drop. I really like those projected lines. Offense 1: HENRIK ZETTERBERG - PAVEL DATSYUK - TOMAS HOLMSTROM 2: JOHAN FRANZEN - VALTTERI FILPPULA - TODD BERTUZZI 3: DAN CLEARY - KRIS DRAPER - KIRK MALTBY 4: JIRI HUDLER - ROBERT LANG - MIKAEL SAMUELSSON While it's been a pretty even series and the Sharks have done a good job slowing down our offense and keeping play in our end of the rink for chunks of time- I really think we haven't seen the best outta the Wings yet. And I think tomorrow we will. No predicitons out of me, but if they head back to The Joe tied up at 2-2 I will have a very good feeling about this series. aflac9262, thanks for the comprehensive rundown.

Good point. Screw ESPN.

In reading this thread almost everybody including the person who started this thread stated benching Bertuzzi is a bad idea. Yet just about everybody is talking s***e about this board being "panic stricken" for suggesting Bert be benched. Did I miss something here? Shouldn't ESPN get the wrath of some of you guys, not this board for being "ridiculous"?

Aw snap! Good news!

haha indeed. Going straight by stats, that means allow no more than 20 shots then too. I'm holding out hope that Game 4 is where the Wings get their offense going.

Like previously said we need some big bodies out there. Our finesse guys are getting pushed around. Hudler seems to get bullied every time he's on the ice. Maybe Burt needs a little arse chewing from Babcock, but not a benching.

I think any time GAA is used to judge a goalie, so should SP. While Hasek's GAA is at the top of the remaining goalies, his SP is not. Again, I am not saying he sucks or is to blame for a single loss. Just food for thought. Giguere .955 Luongo .941 Miller .931 Lundqvist .927 Nabokov .922 Broduer .919 Hasek .918 Emery .914 (data from TSN) And just to point out, even though he annoys me, I'd rather have a goalie with a save percentage of .918 than some hack in the 80's percentile. But man does he make me nervous.

8pm MST here too. So it wasn't any kind of challenge for me. However I would stay up as late as necessary to catch a Wings playoff game. Heck I was up for the Vancouver/Dallas marathon and I don't especially care for either team.

I wouldn't call my strong dislike for Hasek "panic mode". He's been one of those players that I love to hate. It worked well when he played for the Sabres and Ottawa. Not so much now. I need to get better about biting my toungue.

Good stuff. I agree. This being a 7 game series we aren't out by a long shot. What gives me optimisim is that while we have lost two of the three, we haven't really played all that well either. A lot of that is due credit to San Jose, but I think there is a lot more the Red Wings can bring to Game 4 then they have so far. And getting Holmstrom back is a very nice boost that should get us back to some good chemistry/more balanced lines again. And I'll make sure to take some deep breaths next time before I post pissed off after a game. Here's to spiltting the series tomorrow.