Firehawk

I wonder if every game will just be a matter of who gets their chances finished 2-3 times in the game while the other has the puck just jump over its stick? It'll be that tight. Not the kind of hockey that draws fans...

STOP BEING CUTE AND GO TO THE ******* NET MY GOD.

I'm waiting for Bertuzzi to wrap his head around one of the refs. I don't think I'd be upset if someone did that. THe league has to get the message that the referreeing in the NHL is completely unacceptable.

If the wings had some of their size and their tenacity to the puck, we'd be unbeatable. THe 97 and 98 team had that.

And why aren't the refs calling the interference by the Preds constantly here? WTF MAN? We get a bulls*** 5 on 3 called on us and countless penalties and they get away with it? JUST CALL IT FAIR. If you're going to call this ridiculous s***, then call ALL of it, not half of it.

You know if we don't score here with all this pressure, the wings will break down defensively and it's going to end up in our net. You can feel it coming.

My blood perssure is through the roof...it has to be. Pissed off isn't enough of a phrase to describe it. I'm tired of it. THe wings don't try until they're down. Then they try, and sometimes it's too late. WHY? It's the playoffs. The preds are on all cyclinders. This is the best they can play. And we are still right there. Nashville is faster, and bigger, and it's time to get that way. The skill is great on our team but the direction of the league is about hitting and speed now. It's not about skill. They don't call the game for skilled players. It's cute in teh regular season but doesn't get you through the playoffs.

9 times out of 10 he's psasing it, he's useless. Too small, too slow, and rarely shoots.

In this new era of garbage hockey, we need size and we need speed. We don't need high level skill anymore. It's obvious. The skill is pretty but in the playoffs it's all about hitting and speed.

I am highly pissed off at the redwings. With the exception since Datsyuk got the goal, WHY DO WE NEED THAT GOAL TO WAKE THE f*** UP? Stupid penalty a minute in, then CLEARLY the preds controlled the play. Why are we bowing down to that ******* team? Holland better address the defense and the speed problems on this team because we are getting killed by their speed. IT's so ******* irritating. And why do we continuously skate along the boards? DRIVE THE NET! Stop passing it back HUDLER, and drive the ******* net or shoot the ******* puck. I'm highly worked up. This is so frustrating. we only needed a tenth of a second more to tie the game. We really need to tie it on this power play here. And we need to start being rougher. WIth that all said, the refs are the worst in the world. I don't buy the "well they are NHL refs and NHL refs are the best in the world". They don't do their job. Preds pushed one of our guys down from behind, no call, but we do it and we get called. IT's a ******* disgrace. The refing seems to only get worse every year, not better, and not more consistent. PATHETIC.

The western conference series have a ton of pace and tough battles going on. When it's not my team, I love it. I actually think so far out of the 4 western conference series, the Wings/Preds series is the 'calmest'. We had the weber incident with a mild fight in game 2 but that's really been it. It's fun to watch when it ain't your team getting the short end of it... I hope all the other series go 7 and ours goes 5 . Yeah i think both teams are taking liberties with each other. You can really feel the sense of hunger to win from both teams. It's great to watch when it's not your team involved.

Who is scarier? Rinne or Jonathon Quick? Wooo wee. I didn't see this potential upset coming. I expected Vancouver in 5.

Dont confuse the fact that we had 2 goals in the first period and the fact that had the Preds finished, we woulda been down 2-3 goals. They had wayy wayy too many scoring chances. And, in the 2nd, with all those penalties, I don't see how we owned anything. I think we played with the Preds but I am extremely concerned about our defensive coverage. We are fortunate we got bounces. I hope the wings are much smoother in games 3 and 4.

No way. NHLRules is RIGHT. We are weak on the puck in our zone. What in the world is going on? We all of a sudden cannot clear the puck against a Nashville Preds team with, I'm sorry to say, mostly no-name players? Some have some respect, but they don't have Crosby's or Sedins, or even Doans on that team. COME ON guys. Our defense is hanging on by a thread. And I still don't get it how we are giving up odd man rushes when we are supposed to be shutting the game down late in the 3rd. I'm telling you, we should be thanking God WE aren't down 2 games in this series. The preds get the puck on their stick in that first period and they are up by 1-2 goals early, and if they finish at all in the 3rd, we likely have a game stolen from us. I think the wings will play better at home, and God I hope so. Blown defensive assignments, inability to clear the puck, move it from the forecheck, these are real problems. If we were playing a SJ team, Chicago, St. Louis, etc, and played defense like this we'd be getting killed.

I don't think Datsyuk is injured, there's just not much room to move, and the Preds are young and faster than the Wings. That's why Helm is so missed.

I'm glad we won but I am not that happy AT ALL about the Red Wing Defense that has, for the most part, been hanging by a thread. How are we giving up 2 on 1 plays with a 2 goal lead with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? We repeatedly DICK around with the puck in our own zone and turn it over. The preds are immediately on top of our Defense and I don't know what ever happened to chipping the puck out along the boards for the easy out. We got the bounces go our way tonight, mainly becuase the Preds never scored early on us. That's what saved us I think. We played hard, played more scrappy, but I'm pissed off at the ridiculous blown coverage. I don't ever remember the wings breaking down so much in their own zone. They better get that figured out because if the wings get through this series and play a more skilled and experienced team, the wings are going to get killed.

I want to see a Kronwall hit tonight...although I'm sure the refs will construe that as a retaliation and throw him out of the game...go figure. That or Ericcson knock someone out after we are up by 3. Gonna say 4-2 tonight wings.

I have never been one to say "oh we need an enforcer, we need more size and hitting", but I think as this salary cap era goes on, that's exactly what the championship teams will be built on. It's sad. Who wants to watch 4 rounds of the crap we watched last night? I want to see star power on the ice. I don't want to see games grind for 60 minutes and the last flukey goal wins. That's boring. But that's exactly what this league is now. The talent is spread out, and now its' about who has the better 3 and 4 lines. Look at what we were hoping for...HELM to come back and suddenly make this team the TEAM to beat. Come on. In the past a 3rd or 4th line player goes out and its no big deal. Today if one player is out it's a very big deal, no matter where it is in the lineup. I'm losing interest in the NHL. I will always love the Wings, but my enthusiasm has waned since the salary cap. Maybe its because we were spoiled, but I don't think so. I don't like the brand of hockey. On the surface it seems more exciting, but for the wrong reasons. Refs call penalties in favor of the team down 4-1, so those leads are never safe. The top 2 lines on each team usually cancel each otehr out, so it comes down to a grind fest. I hate it. I want to see more flow to games and the more talented team winning. Yesterday was a joke. We should have won 2-1 last night.

I can live with linesmen missing a call once in a great while. Nothing you can do about that, and those things will happen, but 99% of the time those linesman are right. What I cannot live with is the inconsistency with refereeing in this 'minor league'. I don't get the disparity between games and between the regular and playoff seasons. Some of the calls last night were so egregious you can't even find the penalty in slow motion replay. Yet someon gets a stick to the head and its missed 3 times in the game. I'm not talking just the wings, preds too. How come the last several years in round 1 the refs decide to call every little thing imaginable in our series? WIth that said, the pens/flyers game was awesome last night. I'm pulling for the flyers, obviously. s***sburg need not win another playoff series as long as cindy is there.

They don't need to do that. The wings organization is good at pulling out diamonds in lower rounds. THey aren't like s***sburgh, who has no ability to analyze talent and gets gifts from the league. I do feel a little better now than before game 1, but we're still down 1-0 in the series, and their weapons will get some goals sooner or later. What I'm frustrated with is: 1. I have lost confidence in the last couple of years in must-win games with the wings. They don't win many at all anymore, and they used to be money in those kinds of games. 2. They lack speed. Without Helm, they have no speed on their roster. Other teams have been outskating us for the last few months. 3. The referees HAVE GOT to let the teams decide the games. A penalty every 2 or 3 minutes is absurd. Stop calling this chincy crap. If there are obvious penalties, by all means make the call, but stop this crap where you can't even find it on the replay. 4. The bad bounces. The wings on the road have gotten sooo many bad bounces, you have to think it will turn around. 5. The lack of desire to go to the net. How many times on the power play did you see a wings player all the way out by the boards with room to move in but just stand still? MOVE IN!!!!!!! Hudler musta wasted 10-15 seconds standing with the puck where he could have moved toward the net and forced Nashville to react.

I will say this about the wings, their style worked very well for them pre salary cap and for the first couple of years, but now teams have adjusted. Today's hockey is more about speed and grinding games out than high skill talent. I think the wings FINALLY have to go the route of getting bigger and faster. The flashy plays don't work anymore. Teams like nashville clog up everything so those flashy plays only work when the other team breaks down. I never bought into us needing to be bigger and hit more, but I think as this salary cap era goes on, that'll become more and more important. It's sad when getting a 3rd/4th liner back in Helm is sooo crucial to the team. Losing one or two of those guys was never a problem in years past.

My view of the game: Absolutely ridiculous calls BOTH ways by the refs. Some of the penalties weren't even penalties. Why does this stupid ref s*** happen in round one every year? It's like they decide to call every ******* thing in the Wings series (don't know if it goes on in the other round 1 series the past several years). The wings weren't that bad, but they had 1 bad defensive play that cost them the game winner. Otherwise they matched Nashville I thought. The wings still aren't playing like they can. They didn't get much of anything on Rinne. On the rare occasion they got second shots on goal they almost scored or did score. They really have to pressure more. They better steal game 2 otherwise there will be a lot of panic. We are better at home but we have been losing home games as well. Nashville isn't that great of a team in my view. They're scrappy but they aren't a 'great' team by any means. They're no vancouver-like team. It's frustrating to watch every 2 or 3 minutes another penalty being called. The refs have GOT to use discretion. It was ridiulous.

Who plays country music at a hockey game? WTF man? Oh boy...

COME ON

I've got butterflies...ugh. There's nothing like playoff hockey. Not even NFL playoff football is the same...