FunkedUp

Holmstrom scores more goals then Zetterberg We have no 30 goal scorers Pavel has more goals than Hank, and Hank has more helpers than Pavel Howard would have a stellar year Ozzie won't start the playoffs Lilja would return share some of your UN-expectations this season.

Who is Ovenchicken?

I personally would want Phoenix. Wings will probably need to win out for this to happen. This way, at least we would have home ice advantage, and play an inexperienced playoff team. Thoughts?

Chicago is now eliminated as a playoff opponent. I'm willing to put money on the fact that we will be facing Vancouver is the first round. Western Conference Team GP Pts 1. San Jose 81 111 2. Chicago 81 111 3. Vancouver 81 101 4. Phoenix 81 106 5. Detroit 81 100 6. LA 80 98 7. Nashville 81 98 8. Colorado 81 94

The 8 western conference playoff teams are set and nearly all the seedings are toss ups. Though, I'd say 3. Vancouver and 4. Phoneix are locks. Anyone particularly excited for any potential rounds? A Wings/Chicago matchup is going to be great...I know it will happen at some point. As for the east, I'm hoping Philly and Pit end up meeting again. Maybe Hartnell will bite Crosby.

Is this a sneaky way of Babcock saying that he wants Chicago, or is this him saying that he doesn't care?

I don't think I've ever seen LGW split on a playoff opponent like this. Lot's of good arguments for/against each team. It's really a crapshoot at this point, and our opponent has just as much to do with other teams performances as ours. We probably won't know until the last game of the season.

2 points = wings clinch.

The sight of Crosby lifting the cup at the Joe will haunt me forever (didn't see it till the following year on VS). I turned off the game right after time ended and avoided all things NHL for months. Definitely the worst moment for me as a wings fan, I don't know how it couldn't be for anyone. It can't get worst then losing a title deciding game 7 at home.

Wow this "history will be made" thing has excellent potential, from both a serious and parody perspective. NHL marketing, although possibly inadvertently, composed the best pre-post season TV ads ever. Every single one I've seen is either really good or really funny.

Goalies in the playoff hunt and number of playoff games played Goalie GP 1.Evgeni Nabokov - 65 2.Antti Niemi - 0 3.Roberto Luongo - 22 4.Ilya Bryzgalov - 18 5.Pekka Rinne - 0 6.Jimmy Howard - 0 7.Jonathan Quick - 0 8.Craig Anderson - 0 This is actually really incredible. 5/8 goalies have ZERO playoff experience. Nabokov and Luongo aren't exactly proven warriors either.

I'm pretty sure that Bryz, Nabby, and Lu all have records under .500

I think Ozzy will get the start in Philly next week. I'd like to think Jimmy will get a rest after playing all these games, since we're not playing a conference opponent, and we're playing an early game on the road. I'd put my money on Ozzy making his last start on this game.

I hope that there is a Pens vs. Caps WC match-up and that Sid and AO both miss the game due to short term injuries.

Kinda stupid to feature a team twice, within a couple of years. The NHL screwed up with the match-ups big-time. The only good venue/match-up was the Wings and Hawks. The Buffalo one should not have featured Pitt, it could have been Buffalo and New Jersey or something. Also, the Bruins and Flyers was a bad call too. Fenway is a great venue, but they should have put New York there instead. Although confined to one state, a Philly/Pitt match-up at Beaver Stadium would have been good. For 2011, I agree with many posters about the Colorado vs. Minnesota. This whole Ovechkin vs. Crosby crap is over rated and worthless anyways.

Coyotes tie it up. There's a chance Nashville could leave their building with no points. Phoenix is outplaying them now.

Haven't seen this before. One of the more creative shootout moves that I've seen.

I agree that Z and Flip have been a disappointment this year, but you can say that about the whole team in general. As for lines, I'm not sure what to think anymore. Seems that chemistry is short lived or non-existent. Maybe try Pav-Z-Mule together? I don't know, maybe that's first line overkill, but that's about the only combo we haven't seen yet.

Terrible. I don't know how we got a point out of this. The whole team was awful tonight. The worst part is that it won't matter when we're tied for 8th place, because we have much fewer wins then anyone else. Zetterberg needs to be better, I know he got his big pay-day, but damn...he needs to play like a 7 million dollar player.

Link Great! When Holmstrom is healthy he is ultra-effective. It would be great to have him signed to a 1 or 2 year deal before the playoffs. Get er done Kenny!

UPDATE Wow. Homer contemplating 3 more years! I thought he would be playing 2 more, at the most.

I would love to get Kesler, but I know he's an RFA and it would never happen. There's probably a better chance that Toronto wins the cup this year. but imagine... Pav Kesler Filppula Helm That's depth at center, and Z is in the fold too!

I disagree, and don't think that there are any games that we will "have no problem winning." Every game is going to be a tough one. Furthermore, the blue jackets haven't been very motivated lately, and you can bet they will be up for Detroit. We swept them last year, and there is nothing that the Blue Jackets would like better then to play the role of spoiler, especially against Detroit. I agree, though, we should "theoretically" have no problem beating Edmonton, but since we always play lower tier teams badly, I think it'll be a good game. Overall though, I think our schedule is reasonably favorable. It all depends on which version of the 2010 Detroit Red Wings shows up game in and game out.

Alright. Calgary loses. This put us in 8th place, uncontested. The only bad thing about this is that we've won fewer games then both Calgary and Nashville. It would be a shame to be tied in points, but have fewer wins. Well this upcoming game is the definition of a "must win".