Third Man In

Let's Go Red Wings! :clap: :clap:

Oh good, Pierre is giving the Avs advice. Let's hope they have NBC on in the locker room!

Hah! Uncanny!

Drapes' playoff beard coming along nicely!

Huh. Strange that Hannan is sitting, since he came back in game 1. His foot must have really swollen up after he took his skate off.

Pierre McGuire just hinted that Floppa isn't playing after all.

Both teams will play more consistent games today. The Wings need to play their game and take advantage of the Avs' depleted lineup. An early goal or two to make sure they are firmly implanted in Theo's head would be good. :octo: *splat* :octo: *splat* Let's Go Red Wings!

I don't think Franzen will quite be what Bert was in his prime (although that's not a bad thing in all respects). But if he can perform consistently, then as Cicada says, he's got all the tools to be very, very good. His two goals in game one were very different--a booming low hard shot and a deft deflection. That impressed me.

Yeah, I had the same problem. I'm watching a TSN feed here, but it's fairly choppy. Cheers to that! Nothing like an epically long OT game to start the other semi-final!

Campbell, for all that you do well, that was a very ill-advised penalty. The Sharks had the Stars contained along the boards, nothing very dangerous, and yet you go and interfere

Hey all, I just joined this game at the start of the third, but it looks like both teams are very tentative. Which is very surprising, even though this is a game 1, since they play in the same division.

I'll be in for the late game. The Pens-Rangers series is kinda tough to call. I expect the Pens to win, but it's a battle of two teams that I'm not sure of how good they are. Even though both teams swore it wouldn't be, I hope the Stars-Sharks series is a 7-game version of the goonfest that was there last regular season matchup.

What is wrong with some of you? The Wings have a great 25 min when the Avs have a terrible 25 min and you start calling for a sweep? Not only is this a jinx, but it's unrealistic. It's as bad as the Avs fans who look at the last half of the game (when the Wings obviously weren't on their game, either) and start calling the Wings weak. You know nothing about how a series will go after one game. Remember the Wings absolutely blitzing the Flamers in games 1 and 2 last year? No sweep there. Or here. I do think that if the Wings play their system, keep the puck, and pound their defence, Colorado will have a tough time the way Nashville did in games 5 and 6. But the Avs have a lot of talent, and they're gonna carry the play at times. This isn't going to be an easy series.

I felt the same way.One of my few complaints about Babcock is that he seems more hesitant to roll 4 lines than Scotty. On one hand, the fourth line isn't as deep as it was a few years ago. But you always read Babcock in the papers wondering aloud why he doesn't play the fourth line more. The playoffs are a long grind, and you need everyone to play. I thought they should have especially played more when the game was 4-1. The third and fourth lines are less likely to let up in that situation because they crave the ice time. ZDH spent a lot of the second half (until the 16:00 mark of the 3rd) skating around in their own end. At least Zion admitted the mistake. This one doesn't seem to realize that part of being a fan is supporting your team...

Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde game. The Wings responded amazingly well early and dominated the first half of the game. But we all knew that it wouldn't be that easy. But the Wings looked like the Sharks trying to protect a lead out there. I'm stating the obvious, but they need to not sit back next time. The middle of the third was particularly brutal. But I thought the last four minutes the Wings did a great shutdown job--except that blow coverage with 10 secs left, and Ozzie was there to bail them out. But the important thing is that the Wings did hang on, and they'll come back with a much better effort for game 2. Speaking of which, I expect much more complete efforts from both teams Saturday. Especially if Floppa is back for the Avs (and Hannan and Wolski return), and if the Wings get Stuart and perhaps Malts back. That was a fun game, Wingies. Don't do that to me again!

Let's Go Red Wings! :clap: :clap:

I'm pumped for this series. That being said, the Wings need to forget about the past and focus on the task at hand when the puck drops tonight. But let's hope that we don't revisit the past, but that this begins a new chapter in the rivalry. Great GDT, as always, aflac. But who the hell is that "Forsberg" character on the second line for Colorado? I haven't heard him called his proper name here in years... Go Wings! :octo: *splat*

Welcome to the boards, bestkeeper! Here's to a series of great hockey, honest discussion, and no personal attacks aimed at posters--going either way. Players and coaches, as always, are fair game. But I don't think anyone here really thinks Ryan Smyth sucks, at least in the way you mean it. He sucks in the way that Avs fans think the Wings suck, and in the way that the Avs (and yes, Ryan Smyth) do indeed suck. It is a versatile word. Go Wings!

Hockey wasn't Paul Stastny's first choice...

To be fair, if the Caps had won, it would have been more like "and that's why you play in the Southeast division"

Then there was game 4 of the second round last year when three friends and I were about the only ones making noise at the end of the game

For the record, SJ has three game 7 wins, each in the first round: 4.30.1994 @ Detroit: Sharks 3, Wings 2 5.19.1995 @ Calgary: Sharks 5, Flames 4, 2 OT 4.25.2000 @ St. Louis: Sharks 3, Blues 1

No sense of urgency from Calgary considering how big this PP is for them.

Nope. Never happened. The Wings won that game with rookie goaltending sensation Osgood in net, and he's never taken s*** from Wings fans since.

all right! Speaking of which...it begins?