GMRwings1983

The Finals for the 2 leagues won't likely be played on the same night. They usually aren't. And Bettman making decisions is exactly why people are upset and claiming a conspiracy. This man can't make proper decisions.

I doubt they'd be playing on the same night. If the NHL really wants to get the Finals over with in order to not compete with the NBA, they should just play the entire series in 7 days. This league is stupid, and can't pick the medium between extremes. If they didn't want to wait 9 days, they could have at least waited just around 4 or 5 days like I suggested in my above post. The back to back games is something neither you nor the NHL can justify as being fair.

Then you're not a Wings fan. The break should be about 5 days, plus no back to back games. How do you justify the back to back games? Doing it this way and changing the schedule in the last minute just begs for conspiracy talk.

LOL. Next week at this time the Finals could already be over, when originally they weren't supposed to start till June 5th.

Your last sentence makes no sense at all. Other sports leagues don't normally move the schedules up at the last minute, nor do they try to end a Finals series as soon as possible.

If not for the injuries, the Finals wouldn't start so early in the first place.

Is that Joel Quenneville on NHL.com? He looks different without the stache.

Does anyone know why the NHL can't do anything right? The other sports leagues purposely drag on their finals for suspense, but this dumb ass league doesn't know how.

To help Bettman's team. Is it really that hard to figure out? Expect to see some interesting officiating in this series.

That Ducks jersey is outdated, although I still prefer it to the current version.

Thumbs up for the Hawks fans who actually had the balls to post here after their team lost. The others have probably crawled back into the molehole that they were hiding in for the last 15 years.

My sources tell me the Finals could start as early as tomorrow, providing that Lidstrom and Datsyuk don't play. The NHL = worst league in professional sports. This finals schedule is a joke.

f*** the NHL for the schedule they've set up for the Finals. They know our guys are hurt, so they make a schedule favorable for the Pens. I hope Cindy Crosby breaks his leg the first shift he has Saturday night.

Hey, that's a great point! Franzen is our Kozlov.

That might be the save of the year. Not many goalies would have ever raised their pads there. I don't like our chances in a long OT or for that matter a short OT. Our defense has been horrible all game giving up chances left and right, with constant defensive breakdowns occurring. Also, the Wings just look gassed. Last game was great, but it's only a matter of time before the injuries combined with a tired defense makes a difference.

Zetterberg and Franzen haven't created much offensively in this game. So far it's been all Hossa and Helm. Looks like I was right earlier in saying that Ozzie would have to steal this game for us. Expect our tired defense to look more tired in the 3rd. Hopefully, we'll score a fluke goal somewhere and finish this series.

Lots of good chances, but no goals despite having 2 PP's. Also, we gave Huet lots of confidence in that period coming off the last game where he sucked. I just hope we can sustain the pressure and score some goals, since there's no bonus points for puck control and scoring chances. I still feel like Ozzie will have to win this game for us with all the injuries, especially when our terrible PK hits the ice at some point.

What can I say? I plan on becoming an ambulance chaser.

Ozzie will have to steal it for us with the injuries. BTW, without Lidstrom, who will touch the Campbell trophy?

How do you know? Nobody ever misses only one game for us, even if it appears that way at the beginning.

Draper should be dressed on defense (if he's playing).

Are Zetterberg, Hossa, Franzen, Rafalski and Osgood playing?

No.

Lilja should call him out for making that comment. Probert was way more of a Wing than a Hawk, so I'm surprised he'd even make that joke just to please a little punk like Toews.

I blame all this on the team doctors. Don't know why, I just figured that since they're doctors, they must be to blame. Amazing how other teams' players look hurt (or in Havlat's case dead) and then play in the next game. Our guys look fine, finish the game, and next thing we know they miss the rest of the series. I'm tired of this pattern. Knowing Lidstrom's threshold of pain and competitiveness, his injury must be a serious one. He wouldn't sit out for a minor injury just because we're up 3-1. I know people want to remain optimistic, but there is no good news in this case.