stormboy

there are times when he does move it up the ice. i would guess that a lot of the times you're thinking about, the wings were changing their PP unit (as is often the change after a clear) and don't have someone just cherry-picking at the blueline. and i'm sure we'd ALL rather him just leave it behind the net than make a bad pass (i've never been a goalie, but i'm assuming those paddles aren't exactly designed for marskmanship) and give up a shortie. yes, if i was building a super-team made of fake players in a lab with no salary cap, i'd get somebody with better puck-handling skills. for now i'll settle for one that can win us the stanley cup.

i'd say interference, and because - they didn't score on the resultant powerplay - we won the game - salami wasn't hurt more than a li'l cut from his visor well worth it.

i like that "umberger'd" is now a verb. i umberger, you umberger, he, she or it umbergers. we umberger. they umberger. yesterday, i umberger'd. tomorrow, i think i will do some umbergering. got it.

that is rockin'

which is what, exactly? i'm in the same position as OP--if one of the wingers moves into the circle, the center gets kicked out. other than that, half the time i just see two players standing there then suddenly someone (usually zetterberg in this series) gets excused. i never know what's going on.

except that we're divers, obstruct players, cheat at faceoffs, and have an NHL conspiracy on our side..

i guess if they felt that it was something that people could have a legitimate gripe about, they'd release a statement defending themselves. if they don't see a legitimate complaint, they won't bother explaining themselves. *shrug* that's my take, anyway.

i see what you're saying. at the same time, though, it goes without saying that any goal is a goal you don't want to get beat on. if it's a weak wrister from the blueline that finds a corner, that's a terrible non-save to lose on. if it's on a breakaway goal, it's a terrible giveaway that leads to a goal. in those situations, the defending team is to blame. and i think the exact same thing is true here. the difference is that people are looking for an excuse to say that it's not the ducks' fault that they lost/the wings did not deserve to win. if they'd cleared the puck, cleared cleary from the crease, or had hiller frozen the puck, the goal wouldn't have gone in. none of those things happened, and we scored. if duck fans are going to *****, they should ***** about the failure of their team to do any of the things i mentioned above.

see, but the difference is, hiller didn't have the puck. it was loose, there was a scramble, and it went in. i don't understand how the distinction between the two situations is so difficult for people to grasp. goalie has puck and is pushed in: illegal. goalie does not have puck, there is a scramble, goalie's pads are tapped during the scramble: legal.

edzo said something very similar to this on the broadcast of the winter classic. he annoys me at times as much as the next guy, but that's probably because he actually calls the wings out when they f*** up and points out when a bad call or non-call goes against the team we're playing. i honestly think he calls it like he sees it most of the time...though if he's calling the chicago series that will probably be a different story.

i think at some point we have to stop with the super-long-term, front-loaded contracts. while i haven't had any problems with any of the deals thus far, one more 10-year deal worth 6+ million per is going to make it really difficult on us in the future, i think. i'd just hate to see us in a situation in 10 years where we have a bunch of aging vets taking up huge chunks of the salary and then losing our promising young talent because we can't afford to sign the leinos and helms of tomorrow, you know? we are already in danger of that, and i think another huge contract could put us at serious risk. just my humble opinion.

yeah, as long as we're getting goals from the likes of hudler and helm, i'm alright with z being a dominant defensive forward. those PKs were amazing--series saving, one might argue. look for all three of the big guns to light 'er up next series.

i mean, don't get me wrong, i love hossa, but i think the ducks series really showed us that this team thrives off of depth, not having a few really big guns (which is obviously what the ducks are). if keeping hossa means not signing hudler, losing leino, and trading filppula, i just don't think it's a good idea. of course, if hossa has a monster series against chicago, we'll all probably be singing a different tune.

the thing that impressed me the most about the ducks this series was their tight-checking defense. it seemed that the wings rarely if ever had any time or space while controlling the puck in the offensive zone. the ducks, meanwhile, particularly the getzlaf unit, cycled at will with plenty of time and space on multiple occasions. thankfully, ozzie came up huge and we buried our chances when we had them. obviously every goal is key, but if helmet doesn't bury that breakaway goal, it's a totally different game. i think this series perfectly illustrates what a genius ken holland is. all players are going to go through rough spells. getzlaf and perry were "on" nearly this entire series, while datsyuk and hossa were off for most of it (save for one huge game by hossa). nevertheless, it's the clearys, the hudlers, and, yes, the sammys of our team that push us over the edge when we need it most. this series was won by will and great general managing, that put our team in a position to get scoring from every line. looking ahead, the hawks are a much more balanced team than the ducks. despite how great toews and kane are, i don't think they match up as well as the getzlaf unit did. this team has had a tough time with big physical opponents and had an easier time with more skilled players (see rick nash in the first round of this playoff). nevertheless, simply looking at stats, the hawks have ten players with six or more points in the playoffs compared to the ducks' seven. (we have nine, with datsyuk underproducing (only 5 points) and rafalski missing a bunch of games.) as others have stated, they have a more open, run-and-gun system than the ducks, which i think will play to our strengths (but will also make it even *more* key that we limit neutral zone turnovers and make sure dumpins get DEEP on changes).

i'd like to agree with you, but i honestly don't think that that's proof that the right call was made. i've just seen too much other stuff eff'd up by them.

so i just got to change my facebook profile picture to this: ahhhh...that feels good.

so true.

yeah, that bolded part looks pretty clear to me. you can't push the goalie in if he's got the puck secured after a save, which hiller obviously didn't. and *if* it was a bad call, obviously ***-for-tat with hossa's disallowed goal. the bad call on hudler led to a goal, and as far as i see it, a goal is a goal so it doesn't matter that one was late in the game and the other wasn't. if they don't score that PP goal, it's 3-2 at the time that cleary scores, and it doesn't matter what call they make. i thought the reffing was bad, but mostly because it was inconsistent. there were a lot of non-calls that weren't made, but also a lot of ticky-tack stuff that was called...so who knows?

probably franzen or cleary for us...though osgood has been great. i haven't watched the other series quite enough to make a solid prediction...it's hard to say that crosby won't get it if the pens win, and from what i've seen, he deserves it. getzlaf would have probably been the mvp if anaheim had gone all the way, but, well...need i say more?

this.,

i understand the frustration, but i would say that datsyuk, zetterberg, homer, hossa, franzen and even hudler and do a very small degree sammy should be relied on for scoring more than filppula. while it would obviously be nice to see him score, i'd look at any one of these players, especially the first four i mentioned, for improved goal scoring before thinking that the problem lies with filppula. basically, one or two of these guys needs to get it going. if datsyuk and hossa start finishing their chances, we won't have to worry about filppula at all.

who during the regular season would have expected *this* to be our problem? not that i miss getting scored on five times a night, but i do miss scoring six goals. also, this is a bit off topic, but just for the record i wanted to point out how near the end of the regular season a majority (or at the very least an extremely vocal minority) were saying that the wings would be incapable of playing a tight game in the playoffs. if they're giving up four goals a game now, they said, there's absolutely no way they're going to get back to letting in 1-2 goals a game in the playoffs. well, look where we are. we've lost two games 2-1. how the hell did that happen?

i agree with this thread, but i'd be more proud of him if he scored a goal every now and then.

lol @ wizwhatever calling homer gutless. neiderwhatever *clearly* looked at datsyuk before elbowing him in the face. any duck fan that gets their panties in a bind bitching about homers accidental (though certainly penalize-able elbow) have nothing to say after this crap.