Firehawk

So far wings playing very sound, very smart. Not sure if Nashville is having a little letdown right now or if the Wings are just playing that desperate. All I know is we better get something out of it becuase if not, it'll be like last time...they get one chance and score.

I've tried to detach myself from the playoff run this year expecting nothing. But I've bought in after game 2, then let down again after game 3. I have little faith in us pulling this game out. I hope we do. Nervous.

Do you think anyone's messing with the thermostat in the Pred's room? Remember hearing those classic tricks that Bowman pulled? WE should be doing everything humanly possible and within the rules to make it absolutely miserable on the opponent.

You know what, I want the refs to stay out of it. I want the games to be high scoring and to have fighting in them. The more the merrier. This series without a doubt has been the most exciting playoff series in a long, long time. The NHL should model itself after this kind of hockey. Fans would come back to watching it. The Vancouver/LA game was boring as F*ck...and it ended 1-0. Nobody wants to watch 1-0, 2-0 games...and the goals that go in are garbage, grinder goals. The super star players in the league are getting shut down and mucked up by this crap playoff hockey and it's 3rd/4th line garbage goals winning games. The league doesn't get it. AT ALL. The players did fine policing themselves, but now with the meddling of the league management thinking they can do better than the players, we get this garbage. Players running at stars who aren't able to fight, the enforcers are removed, there's no fear that a player like Probert is going to come off the bench and beat your ass for running at Crosby, or Datsyuk, or whatever. This league is killing itself.

This game was AWESOME. Did you guys see malkin and crosby stirring the pot and then letting their teamates do their dirty work? I was laughing. What a bunch of chumps. I'm goad the Flyers are up 3-0. WOOHOOO

Yeah it was definitely a tease. I had no confidence we'd come back after they went up by 2 late. No way. We spent over a period trying to get 1 and couldn't. Anything can happen, I know that, but the way the preds get in the lanes, and beat us to pucks, win the battles, etc, I have just gotten very discouraged. This has gone on all 3 games. We just finished one more time than they did in game 2, and were very lucky the puck jumped their stick blades a few times early in that 2nd period in game 2, otherwise we would be down 3 games now. In my view, game 4 is must win. Let's see what kind of effort the wings come out with. Maybe as wings fans it's just that the other teams have caught up in overall ability (whetehr it's skill, or speed and size, etc) and it's hard for us to swallow that one...becuase for many years it's been all about the red wings. They've been better than their opponents for years and it's been all about them controlling their destiny. Not that way anymore maybe.

I think it's becuase people feel that Datsyuk goal was a lucky 'bounce'. It wasn't scored in the sense that the team got it done. The pred screwed up, Datsyuk caused it, Rinne wasn't paying attention, and we scored it. The 2nd goal was the result of team effort. Just offering a view. Had we won, it would be viewed different of course, but becuase we lost, I think that's how people are viewing it.

You hit the nail on the head. Remember Curtis Joseph ran out of town because he lost a bunch of 2-1 games? I think fans that look at it that way are just not that knowledgeable. You have to look at the shots the wings got on goal and realize that it wasn't Rinne that stole this game, and it wasn't Howard that lost this game. The wings mustered 1 goal this game, and it was in a moment of desperation. The goal by Datsyuk was a GIFT...granted, it took that skilled player to get it, but it was a gift mistake from the Preds. Let's be honest here. I've been bitching about our defensive play for months, and it shows a lot more in the playoffs when the opponent is good, is focused only on playing you, and has size and speed to exploit your holes. When you have defensive breakdowns, you'll pay, and the wings have. It's my opinion that if the preds finish their great opportunities in game 2, we're down 3 games to NOTHING people! We should actually be fortunate to be down only 1 game. I keep complaining about this wings team, but it may be that they just don't have an answer this year for the speed and size they're playing against. The preds can't out 'skill' us, but they can out hustle us, out hit us, and they're hungrier. Those 3 things can trump skill. Look at the Preds forecheck. TENACIOUS!

WOW look at the flyers, holy s***...down 1-0 now up 3-1 lol. Good, knock out baby Crosby.

I don't think we outplayed them most of the game. We outplayed them after we got a goal, which was what, with 5 minutes or something like that left in the 2nd? The 3rd period was mostly us becuase they were sitting back. If the game had been tied or they had been down, it wouldn't have looked that way. So I am looking for that kind of play out of them when the wings are even or ahead in the game, not trailing. Game 4 better be ALL like that or we are going out of the playoffs in 5, and it will rudely awaken a lot of fans who think this team is good.

I am not in love with the league either like I was. It's hard as a fan that's been a fan for 20+ years to enjoy this kind of hockey when it was much better 10 years ago. I'm a HOCKEY fan, not just a Wings fan, so the game itself, encompassing all teams, is a disgraace. The talent is watered down on every team, the refereeing is brutal in the regular season, and completely unacceptable in the playoffs, and it's only getting worse. You know how you get divers to stop? Call diving penalties...and don't send 2 players. Embarrass the player and tell him if he does it again he's getting thrown out of the game. THEN DO IT. Make an example! As a ref, everybody hates you anyway, so what difference does it make? I didn't expect the wings to win this series either really. In the playoff game on this board I did pick the wings in 6 (becuase i did'nt think they'd win in 7) because I just can't bet against them against an expansion team with little talent and experience on it. But I really don't think the wings have what it takes to beat size and speed. The past 2-3 years they've been worn down and beaten by bigger and faster teams...and Holland hasn't adjusted the team for that.

I think babs is ok still, but I would fire whomever is running the special teams on this team. How can the Preds, who clearly are not as talented as the wings, have a power play that looks THAT good? Yet the wings struggle to get a shot on goal with more talented players...

It makes me sad to say it becuase I love this team, but maybe that needs to happen. To me that should be viewed as an embarrassment, but maybe the short term pain will be better for longer term success. Maybe it forces the wings to make some bigger moves and change up some personnel. Hudler disgusts me. Small, slow, unwilling to hit, rarely shoots...he represents everything that's wrong with this team as far as the playoffs are concerned. Gets you through the regular season, but not the playoffs...

Mike Valente said it best, it's a minor league organization, the NHL is. It's unfortunate. I followed the game back when all the clutching and grabbing happened....and a lot of us used to pull our hair out wondering why more calls weren't made. But it seems like the league took the other extreme...except that they are so inconsistent, I'd rather they go back to giving teams 1-2 power plays a game and let the better teams decide the game. Even though the refing was absurd YET AGAIN, that's not why we lost. We lost because we started slow, were out hustled to pucks (probably not our fault, we don't have the speed), and they clearly look hungrier to me. The wings have won so much for 21 years, maybe it's just time for a big change...let the old players go (lids, homer, bert, etc), and go buy some size, some speed, and rely on draft picks. It's hard to move on, but maybe that's what probably needs to happen. This small, highly skilled team is made for the regular season, not the playoffs. I think that's why we've lost the past couple of years against SJ. Too slow, not big enough, can't take the beating. The regular season is nowhere near this intense and nowhere near this hard on the body... Howard is not our problem. He's good enough. The old norm was 2 goals per game, today is 3 goals per game.

I agree 100% with you. read my previous post. The league is screwed up, and not just because of the wings getting the short end of the stick on most nights. Other series as well...no consistency, phantom calls, blatent non-calls...frustrating. The league management got ahold of the game and thought they could 'fix it', when nothing was wrong to begin with. Yeah, their idea of fixing it, a MAXIMUM fine of 2500 bucks LOL...in a league of millions...

It's just so frustrating that we as fans watch this team get away with a lack of speed because they have skill during the regular season. Then the palyoffs come, the game gets tighter, faster, and we have a lack of desire until we need to have the desire because we are down in the game. We don't have speed, and we don't have size on this team. I was never an advocate for having to be tough and big, but I think that's the way the league wants it to win a cup. That's how the games are called now. If you don't have size and you don't have speed, you get beat. There's no protection for your star players so everybody runs at the star players today. This is the league's doing, the bureaucracy, the brass thinking they can fix it, when the players had it under control just fine. Anybody that works for a big corporation knows how management loves to interfere with stuff. Well, they usually screw it up worse than it was... I'm so frustrated with the Wings. So frustrated.

Maybe if we had started on time tonight this wouldn't have been the case. Oh well. This detroit team has been frustrating since early March, and continues to be. Very little size, the one speedy player is out, and that's the story. The refs, that's another story.

They haven't had an odd man rush THE ENTIRE SERIES! I'm not talking about this game, I'm talking about the entire series. But defensive breakdowns by the Wings have resulted in several in game 1, 2 and this game. My point is we don't have our heads screwed on straight and they do. That goal is a cocktease. EDIT: You're right, we had 1 with Emmerton. Miller's wasn't really. He was pestered. It wasn't a clear break, and their speed bailed them out.

Maybe the wings will be ready to start in game 4 at the opening faceoff...maybe.

This penalty call on the Preds is like a middle finger to the fans if you ask me. They let it all go in the 3rd LOL, the game is in hand, and they call something. Hilarious.

This is NOTHING like that. Rinne isn't stealing this series. Look beyond the surface. I don't know how the wings have 40+ shots. Most of them have been easy saves. The wings have not finished and have had wide open nets, and the Preds are out hustling and faster. That wasn't the case in those years.

Well, I called that about 2 pages ago. All that pressure and we don't get a goal, and that's what happens. Hey, here's a trivia for ya, when was the last time the Wings had an odd man break on the Preds in this series? I don't think they have... Size and speed...

You don't have to be an NHL player to realize by watching the games that that's the Preds game plan. pay attention. The wings have been trying to get that done for 3 games now and it's almost never there. There in the regular season, not in the playoffs.

I don't know why the wings keep waiting for the centering pass? It's not going to be there. The preds are taking the middle of the ice away. Take the puck, put your head down, and drive into the net. WTF man?

A c*** hair from scoring...i'm getting nautious.