GMRwings1983

I haven't seen any intensity from the team so far. Nashville is outhitting us and keeping the puck deep in our zone. Hopefully, we can come out here in the 3rd and dictate the tempo. And Hasek has to outplay Ellis, no matter how few shots he faces.

Why would anyone care? It's Disneyland for crying out loud. Putting an NHL team in a non-hockey market, in a country that for the most part hates hockey is never a good idea. I'm surprised when any of these southern teams have any fans.

Chelli could destroy Tootoo? You're either joking, or you've turned your dislike for Downey into making foolish posts. D-Mac isn't anywhere near the fighter Downey is at this point in his career. Also, Nashille will probably play Hordichuk in this series, which is further reason to have Downey out there. They're going to try to muscle us around, and not try to match us skill for skill. They're not stupid, they know what our strengths and weaknesses are. Other teams around the league are dressing enforcers for the playoffs, so apparently they didn't get your message that there's no need for them in playoff hockey.

That was hilarious. I wonder who put that together?

That was a fun read. I miss the good old days, even though those guys are still here.

Downey should be in for Hartigan. There's nothing Hartigan can do that Downey can't. Sammy and Hudler on the same line? That line could be ugly to watch.

That would tie Chelli for 1st, meaning that the next game he'd break the record.

Ask your boss if he knows how to get the video to work.

The team that wins the President's Trophy each year should get 5 home games per series. There has to be some reward for finishing first overall, right? As for starting on the road, it wouldn't be fair to give the team with the worst record the upperhand on going up 2-0 in the series. It's difficult to come back from deficits like that, so you'd be punishing the team with the better record.

It's ridiculous. They might as well put pictures of Gary Bettman smiling all over the ice.

Except this one can't dance or sing, as well as not being able to contribute on the ice.

I'm not a Sammy fan, but I want someone to explain to me why he should be scratched instead of Hudler?

Yes, Hudler has made some boneheaded mistakes in his own zone that have cost us goals. I believe that's what you were worried about with Downey right? Stupid penalties and defensive mistakes? Well, then Hudler is your man. And don't bother telling me about his offensive skills, because he went ice cold the last part of the season, and has no confidence right now.

He has neither. I love Mac, but at this point he hasn't proven anything. By the way, the real useless hack who is being lost in all this is Hudler? What about that hobbit? He's the one who should be scratched.

If he plays, then Nashville is bound to forfeit the series, giving our guys two more weeks of rest.

That's true, but that shouldn't even be the point. The point is he's a real member of this team, and has been throughout the season. Some posters here treat him as some mascot who just happens to play every now and then, and I assure you that's not how his teammates see him. I wish the person who started this thread would ask Datsyuk and Zetterberg if they'd rather have Downey out there to watch their backs, or Hartigan and Abdelkalder? And no, McCarty is not good enough as an enforcer, since we haven't even come close to seeing him do anything physical since he's come back.

You guys are lucky. I stay up late, and still wake up at six the next day to go to school, sometimes to take a final, as happened last year when we played those late night games.

This is what happens when you have the pussiest team in the league year after year. Our fans have become so conditioned to having a soft team with no fighters, that the moment one fighter joins the team, he's being accused of being a talentless goon who takes stupid penalties, even though he's done nothing of the sort. Downey is a regular on this team. He has been all season, and definitely should be now with the injuries. It's tiring to keep explaining what the need for an enforcer is over and over, so I'm not even going to bother. Someone else will do it on my behalf.

Hopefully one of those guys has the balls to call Forsberg for diving each time he does it, instead of penalizing the other player for being within 5 feet of Floppa. Also, expect Homer to keep getting treated unfairly by the refs each time he's anywhere near the crease, which is something he better be aware of.

That'd be great if they played that song whenever he dropped the gloves. I don't know why, but for some reason I'd think it would be cool.

I see all the higher seeds winning, with the exception of the Wild, which I wouldn't really consider an upset.

I can't believe people would ever put stock into nonsense like this, or even give it airtime. Geez, I wonder who Patrick Swayze thinks will win the Stanley Cup? That might affect whether I watch the playoffs or not.

If Calgary was such a good team, they would have finished higher than 7th. They've lost in the first round of the playoffs 2 straight years, and I see it being 3 straight years. People still think of them as being playoff tested because they made the finals in 2004. That was yesterday's news, and the fascination with them needs to stop.

The way some of you talk about our 4th line, I'm beginning to think that Larionov or Robitaille are losing their roster spot to Downey. I've been worried all year about our 2nd line scoring, and right now I'm worried about Homer picking up his scoring being away so long from the 1st line. Instead, some of you are here debating that Downey can't score on the 4th line. Seriously, do you expect teams to get lots of offensive production from their 4th line? Do you think Nashville's 4th line is that much better than ours? Downey has a role on this team that is unique, since no one else seems willing to fill it, if necessary. You know Tootoo and Hordichuk are going to be out there trying to bully us around in a 7 game series. That's what the playoffs are all about. I'm sure you all remember what kind of crap Nashville tried to pull on San Jose's skilled players last year in the playoffs with cheap hits. Downey is absolutelly necessary to be there when that goes down.

That avatar will carry us to the Cup! I also wish we had a few more fights, since we finished just one fight behind L.A. Someone should have said this to Downey or McCarty, so that they could do something about it that final game of the season. Oh well, at least we doubled our fight output from last year, whatever that's worth.