Grypho

UN BE EFFING LIEVABLE!!!

I hate to say it, but I think I'll throw up if the Wings go into full-on lead protect mode. Too defensively tight, and they're playing not to lose...which I think Anaheim is hoping will happen. Puck possession, puck possession, keep it in their zone, have to keep the Ducks frustrated, on the defense and prone to discipline breakdowns to the very bloody end.

Another four more Wings goals, which I think they can get, and I'll feel much, much better. #keepyourfootonthepedal

Flip for the Gorgeousness and Gorgosity!

Your wish... ...my command. Yeah, he was pretty good as the Fat Bastard stunt double as well.

Yeah, I think it will be A Very Bloodied Pens in 6. If they go 7, I'm thinking An Equally Bloodied Sens. It's going to be vicious no matter what.

I'm in Saigon, so no choice but NHL GameCenter Live. But it was cheap ($20), and if you get Kepard or some other VPN that shows you coming from somewhere else, you can escape the blackout restrictions and you can watch pretty much anything from anywhere. EDIT: The nice thing about GameCenter -- if you cancel within five days there's no charge.

Say what you will about Bruce Boudreau, nobody can deny his greatness as The Floating Fat Man in Dune. Hollywood needs him, and I really hope he goes back to his acting career after today.

I was served roasted duck for breakfast this morning in Saigon (and as luck would have it, the duck on my plate was dead). I think that's a sign, hope that helps. Go Wings! Take this Mickey Mouse club out of the picture already.

Late to the thread, sorry, but I did want to say that's the lone reason I hate the Stars more than any other team in the NHL. That was quite a few years ago, and it happened to a family member, not me, but I never let it go. Every time the Stars die the death I dance on their grave. Have to confess that seeing Vancouver out early was a little Schadenfreude for me, but only because of the riots. Seeing San Jose and Detroit (my two personal favs, sorry) both peeping over the fence from the outside? That was two rugs yanked out from under me, and I don't know why but that actually struck me as funny! So many fans talking about whether those two would face each other in the playoffs this year, and then BAM! Both out. Seeing Pittsburgh, Detroit, Vancouver and San Jose all early dust in the first round made it the strangest playoff season yet for me. Wonder what shakeups are on the horizon all around...

No doubt, that has to be the most bitter of all, the mother of all disappointments in hockey.

That's true, but I'm glad I don't have any say in it. Thornton, Marleau and Heatley got their contracts based on past laurels, while Seto, Clowe and Couture are in the process of building theirs. If they play their cards right, they might do as so many others have done, and get juicy contracts from other teams that they won't have to actually perform for.

For the record, I am NOT a Sharks fan who thought all the "f*** the chokes/sharks" was over the top - even 'a bit'. It was right after a bitter loss, for f***'s sake. I understood, and was disappointed that any of the Sharks fans responded to any of it negatively (let alone posted salt-in-the-wound images). I wanted to reply last night, but could see it was too soon - pointless to get into a flame war with Sharks fans, which would again make it more about their feelings and points of views, which I didn't think needed to be considered in the midst of a few Wings who were venting. All that to say, a heartfelt thank you to the OP, and all others who offered their congratulations.

I get lambasted for this a lot, especially by Sharks fans, who just want to play the mindless we-were-simply-the-better-team card, but I'm going to say it anyway. Despite several games where the score did not reflect the shots, scoring chances, or superior performance by one team over the other, everyone knows our series was a virtual coin-flip throughout, right down to the final seconds of last night's game. (and I agree with those who called it a 1 game edge to the Wings) I think the Wings were victims of their early success against Phoenix, as they were forced to ramp their playoff intensity and stamina back up (as they definitely did) from their extended rest period after sweeping the Yotes. That rest obviously helped injured players like Z and Mule, but I think it hurt the overall team far more than helped, and made all the difference in a series that I thought should otherwise have gone convincingly to the Wings in 5 or 6. The Wings had 9 days off, the Sharks had only 4, but I predicted that the Wings would bring an increased level of intensity to each successive game in the series, which reached an astonishing peak in Game 7, which finally revealed the intense Wings seen in all four games against Phoenix. I'm still compiling playoff history data to see if there's anything statistically meaningful, but looking only in terms of the level of intensity and stamina each team brought to each game, relative to themselves and their previous games only, and not the scoreboard or the other team, this series went the way I thought it would. Yeah, I don't think that the Sharks could have been swept by Chicago last year if the Sharks had not had 8 days rest. At best we would have given them a run for their money, and a longer series at least. The Sharks were on a too-little-too-late ramp as well. But I don't think the Sharks would even be facing the Nucks now if the teams had both had 4 days of rest, because I thought the Wings were the better team this year overall. Oh, wow, I posted but missed this, sorry. Yes, with 4-5 days off, I absolutely believe that the Wings would have been an unstoppable juggernaut against the Sharks. FINAL EDIT: I think it's fortunate for the Nucks that the Preds gave them a harder time than they expected. By Sunday, the Nucks will have had 6 days rest. The Sharks will have had 3. Not a big difference, but I consider 4 days the maximum before "rust" (a steady bleeding decrease in playoff stamina and intensity) starts to set in. Small advantage to the Sharks for at least Game 1. And again, I'm not talking about what happens on the scoreboard, but in how well these teams skate against one another over 60 minutes of play, and then comparing that to what each team brings to the next game relative to their prior capacity.