Third Man In

Now hopefully JV can get on a roll! Nice to see Maggs start to amp up the power numbers too.

I wish Lilja could play in this series. After that game 5 in 2007, he'd have brought an extra gear this time around.

or they folded up shop

Hey Brian Hayward: Joe Thorton and Ryan Getzlaf are not the two most dominant centers in the West. Two words for ya: Pavel. Datsyuk.

I'm looking forward to this series. The Ducks and Wings always bring it against one another. This series will have the intensity the Columbus series lacked.

Hey Duck Guy: Congrats to your Ducks. See you (in person) in the next round.

That's the only emotion we've seen out of Thorton since the Getzlaf fight.

Bye-bye Sharkies.

Whoda thought the Sharks would morph into the Flames this series--putting up a fight everywhere except on the scoreboard?

Chicago's got a solid top two lines and a solid top two defence pairs, but some question marks in net (and yes, I realize Khabibulin's won a Cup). Vancouver's similar up front, a bit weaker on the back end, but they have a well rested Luongo. Pretty much a wash to me, but Chicago would be a more fun series, for old time's sake. The Wings haven't played that team in the playoffs since 1995. That just isn't right.

Does your hat look like Babs' in your avatar?

They ought to reverse their promotion next year: buy playoff tickets in advance, and it guarantees you get regular season tickets

I love the undisciplined play on both sides. I see many Red Wings PPs potentially in our future.

I agree it's meaningless, but to be accurate, the Wings won the season series 3-2-1. You're letting that one dark, dark day cloud your memory. edit: spelling

lol the Ducks announcers made it sound like JR just hacked Hiller in half there.

I don't think there were many doubters. Pretty much everyone picked them to win that series.

Not after the 2 second mark of the first period.

I think it's because (as Duck Guy pointed out) each sport does it a little different--the NFL has a first round bye, NCAA basketball tournament does a straight bracket, NCAA football has the convoluted and idiotic Bull Crap Series, etc. I think each sport that doesn't do a straight bracket explains the format during the playoffs for the benefit of the casual fans.

Parros still doesn't quite get the basic concept of the game...

To be fair, they've explained this on NBC and Vs. numerous times the past two weeks.

Flames trying to make a game of it. 3-1 early in the 3rd.

He looks tired. You'd think the Flames would learn to not run him into the ground every year and have him play 70+ games. That's what makes Luongo scarier this year--he's been tired out come playoff time in years past, but this year injuries held him to 54 games. He's fresh.

I dunno. Having to go seven games against Anaheim right off the bat has to take a lot out of a team, and the Wings wouldn't play the Sharks until after another series that will likely go at least 6 games (I don't see them rolling Chicago, and they struggled with Calgary last year). I don't think it matters who the Wings play--if they stay healthy and play with heart, they should win. That being said, amongst the remaining teams, there's not an easy out. But I'm with you in that the Wings do have some unfinished business with the Poultry...

Calgary's outshooting Chicago 33-11 thru 2 and is losing 3-0. You can't lay it all on him, but what the hell happened to Kipper? He was so great in 2004, but he's just not been the same at all in the playoffs ever since.