VM1138

Meh, exhibition games? No one is going to risk their top line players for this, won't be fun to watch.

How bizarre, because that 3rd line was fantastic tonight, too. Just goes to show stats sometimes can be misleading.

THis game is going to give me a heart attack. Exciting though! Go Wings, you can do this!

The Wings can do this. They are picking up steam. Frustrating as hell with the officiating though, per usual. Once again I have fears that missed calls and phantom calls will cost the Wings. However, it's nice to see them hitting, I just wish they wouldn't be chasing the puck so much. And how is it that Phoenix always seems to intercept the puck and coming flying into our zone? I have faith, the Wings will win tonight!

Yeah, not sure I understand this move, seems like it really wouldn't matter. I guess it gives the 4th line a bit of scoring ability while giving the 3rd a bit more grit.

Screw that I want them to score so many goals Phoenix forfeits.

Slightly off-topic, but seeing all these arena pictures makes me wonder: Does it bother anyone else that Jobing.com isn't spelled the way it probably should be spelled? That seems like it'd be pronounced "joe-bing." If it's "jobbing" it should be spelled that way. One would think.

I have a good feeling tonight. In the playoffs the past 3 years the Wings generally respond when a team suckerpunches them (metaphorically of course), and with Abdelkader coming in I think the Wings will have the jump, added with their usual skill level, and maybe Abdelkader will inspire some of the other guys to equal Phoenix and neutralize the effect of their play. The only thing that really, truly worries me is the penalty kill. I just hope that was a fluky bad night. They just have to avoid getting back on their heels (which Abdelkader should help with, along with Stuart on the powerplay) and they should be fine.

Tomorrow night will be awesome. I think not only will 'Kader knock some people around but his physical play will excite the Wings and make them more likely to hit, meaning Bertuzzi, Stuart, Kronwall and Ericcson.

Williams is playing himself out of a job. My God he never looks like he cares. Abdelkader will not only provide the jump he lacks but Abdelkader can lay out a few Phoenix players to level the playing field. He wasn't the only one, though. Everyone was invisible except for Lidstrom, Datsyuk and maybe Helm. Filpulla was especially brutal.

People need to chill. This is a 7 game series. Phoenix is going to be harder than some people thought, that's all. Phoenix manhandled Detroit the 2nd and 3d period, but obviously the 1st showed that Detroit can dominate Phoenix, too. I think only the biggest optimists thought that we would sweep Phoenix.

I can't say that the refs unfairly sided with Phoenix. Detroit had many more penalties. It's not the refs fault that Detroit forgot to put players on the ice for their penalty kill. They should have called 4 minutes on the spear against Lidstrom but let's face it, they miss things. I do however join some of the conspiracy theories. The NHL in general is poorly officiated and disciplined. I do think the league owning Phoenix creates a conflict of interest but we have yet to really see it. Wait until the series is on the line and then we'll get the phantom calls against us and goals disallowed.

The bright side is: There is no way the Wings penalty kill can be THAT bad two games in a row. What a clusterf****. But we've been here before, just one game, no worries. Despite how well Phoenix smothered the Wings, they still only scored on the powerplay. Wings now know what players to defend against and they will get their crap together. Phoenix came out excited and physical, but experience (as we've seen as Wings fans), usually wins out. We just have to be patient, as frustrating as that was.

Yes. Pretty much all sports talk is generic and meaningless. "Well, we just have to shoot the puck/ball more." "We just have to want it more." "We just have to keep pushing and not let up." Doesn't that about sum up all commentary on all sports?

It's things like this that make me glad there are other huge fans like me. Can't wait for tomorrow night!

Oh man, work is going to be rough tomorrow. I can't believe it's that time of year already. Go Wings! EDIT: I love how the picture of Byrz shows him allowing a goal. It's the subtle, little things in life that add the flavor.

Just joined the group (actually, both of the larger ones by accident), definitely looks like this thread gave it a surge in activity, haha.

I'm going to go out on a crazy limb and say that Miller is going to tear it up. I'm going to go with: Franzen Zetterberg Datsyuk Lidstrom Kronwall Filpulla Rafalski Miller

This had me chuckling. I think we all feel this way, too. It's just more fun to beat some teams. I really hope the Wings win this series, getting beat by Phoenix would just be too much, I think.

Man, is it too greedy to hope that not only will the Wings beat Phoenix but we would have more fans than them, too? Seeing a Red out in Phoenix in the playoffs would be legendary.

I haven't been reading around lately, are all the hockey pundits still calling for Pittsburgh or Chicago to win it all? It seems like this year the Cup is up in the air more than usual. Like the guy wrote, the Wings don't have an obvious weakness, but other teams do and it seems like it's anyone's Cup this year more than usual. Though I have a really good feeling the Wings have gotten on the right track and are playing like they did in '08. I see the energy and passion that was lacking last season.

Last season the Pens beat a completely injured and tired Red Wings team that wasn't even trying to win games only by a single goal in a Game 7. Somehow I think a healthy and motivated Wings team (like we have now) would close out that series in 6 or less.

This is what I don't understand. Why don't players realize that by overstating their worth to such a huge degree they are actually hurting their future prospects? If I were a player and I was after money I'd take short contracts. If I wanted to stay in a team (obviously a successful franchise where I'm happy) I take a reasonable amount for a longer term in case I ever want to be traded it would actually be feasible.

Exactly. And what's worse is that they just simply copy ours. Their "tradition" doesn't even mean anything, they just think we throw dead animals so they should too.

Fixed. Williams will be lazy and ineffective as always and won't see past the 3rd game.