Third Man In

And Tootoo! Let's not forget Too--oh wait, nevermind...he's still useless even if he did fluke in a goal...

Rangers-Devils game is really tight, just like the first one. Even when teams have the puck in the zone they're confined to the outside the whole time.

1-0 Pens. Nice while it lasted for the Sens.

Good afternoon/evening everyone! Ottawa's not losing yet. But 5-3 for Pens coming up.

As a follow-up to edicius' thread about the lack of passion amongst the Ducks' fans, here's an article that suggests that apathy exists in the locker room as well: Ducks don't appear to be on track to repeat "I think last year we had more of that eye of the tiger, 'We need to do this,' " defenseman Chris Pronger said. "Going into this year it was, 'Man, it's here already?' "

I thought the same thing earlier in the day. The Wings beat the Ducks in their most dominating game of the playoffs and then don't win another game. I expect the Ducks to bounce back like SJ did last night. But Pronger's comments made me wonder a bit about the attitude in the locker room. If the Ducks do fall behind in the series 2-0 or 3-1 (again, not saying it's likely) it will be interesting to see how they respond. But the key for them, again, is discipline.

The point of the thread, and what I should have been clearer about in opening it, is not Helene Elliot (though it is unfortunate that she's what passes as a hockey columnist for the Times). It should also be noted that this was written before the game and wasn't a hockey writer jumping off the bandwagon after one poor showing. This also wasn't intended as a 'let's dump on the Ducks' thread. The point was the locker room attitude of Chrissy Pronger et al, which doesn't bode well for the team and showed up on the ice last night. Edit: What BlueMonk says in his second post is spot on btw--you expect better from your captain (imagine an Yzerman or a Messier coming out and saying this).

I'm willing to give Selanne a pass because he wasn't under contract, but the Niedermayer fiasco really took something out of the team that they're going to have to get back to advance in the playoffs. It forced them to trade Andy McDonald for Dougie Weight, who's currently riding the bench and likely headed into retirement or back to St. Louis (again) at the end of the year.

Sorry, Zeke, but I disagree with all three. No way do you take out Cheli for Lebs--though Lebs needs to be ready because he's gonna play these playoffs. Mac's done alright so far, was standing up to Tootoo, and brings more offensively and defensively than Downey as long as he doesn't start looking slow. I like Abdelkader, but no way do you throw a kid with a couple games of NHL experience into the playoffs unless you really have to. Opie's right: if Hartigan isn't drawing attention he's doing his job perfectly in place of Malts.

Yes, it came through loud and clear! I was glad to see this cheer revived. One of my favorite JLA crowd moments was in the last minute of regulation of game 7 against St. Louis in 1996. The Wings had an offensive zone faceoff and the crowd got this chant going. I rewatched this game a year ago (on the A Celebration of Champions dvd) and this moment still gave me chills, even though I knew the game went on for another two periods. Very cool. And very intimidating for the other team for sure. HockeyCrazy3033--are you going to game 2? If so, you should help revive something else I miss at the Joe: rhythmic clapping!

C'mon Stars! Sharks will probably come back tonight.

4-0 final in Anaheim. The few remaining fans booing away. Thanks for watching with me tonight everyone. Cheers and goodnight!

Calgary got done what it needed in SJ, despite the poor showing tonight. Anaheim has until Saturday to think about their epic failure. They don't get right back at it like the Sharks got to. Interesting to see how this plays out.

I don't know that missing Zubov creates that many problems for Dallas in this series. Anaheim can't score now, so Zubov's defensive liabilities outweigh his offensive assets here. If Dallas scores 2-3 per game and Turco plays well, Anaheim is in trouble. No shootouts here.

ND wins!

And we were fortunate against the Sharks..

I suppose. But I've always thought green and white was a better color scheme... Sour grapes, sour grapes...Good luck to Michigan in OT!

The colored boards at the Frozen Four are really weirding me out.

Randy Carlyle looks absolutely dumbfounded. Amazing how crappy his team looks if the refs don't give in and stop calling penalties on Anaheim every time they break a rule just because it would be a constant parade to the penalty box.

Hey, I'm happy with the Star's performance in Anaheim so far. There's still time for them to play the Sharks in Rd 2/

Another high sticking penalty. "Ref you suck!" chant again. As if this were a penalty at the ref's discretion. AAAANNNDDD into the wide open net. Too easy! 4-0 Stars. Goodnight, Ducks!

Turco's playing really well. But I'm nervous about how the Stars aren't quite putting this game away. Case in point.

Oh man Bert was trying to dig a puck out of somebody's face in front of the net.

Wow BlueMonk, except for the Erat bit your prediction was way off. Better try again Saturday!

'Flames are coming completely unglued' is far from insane, if by insane you mean unexpected.