Firehawk

The older I get and the more I see manipulation in many sports, not just NHL...NBA, NFL, etc, the less I want to even watch sports anymore. Yes this is sour grapes. It's aggravating. And we still haven't had a power play. DISALLOW IT REFS I DARE YOU YESSSS

It was'nt a trip, it was an aggressive forecheck. LMAO

It is SOOOO easy for the Hawks to get the puck on a dump in and even carry it out with not so much as even getting bumped. It's ridiculous. How is it that easy for them yet we can't get it out every time?

Its workin fine for me in HD. I have comcast.

And.....2 power plays for Chi and 0 for us.

Ref is sure taking his sweet time blowing the whistle for Howard. HOw is that an icing when the blackhawk player wa sright there and the puck jumped over his stick on the boards? ***

Thought the same thing. We will not get any help today from the refs. I think we're reacting rather than controlling. That looks like it to me.

A obvious trip at center ice and no call...

Howard has been much better in the last, oh, 4-5 games. I owe him that after doing my 180 on him.

we really gotta learn how to get the puck out of our zone under forechecking pressure. I swear we have to be the worst team at it. Good PK.

well this is fun...

Guys, be prepared for a frustrating day regarding the refs. I firmly believe they want Chicago in. I think they'll get some calls today.

Thank God we won't see Chicago in round 1. I'm very happy about this. Now my ideal situation is we win in regulation and Chicago gets knocked out because dallas wins. Second ideal situation is we win in regulation, Dallas loses, and Chi plays Van.

My reasons for being negative are valid. We will agree to disagree I suppose. But I will tell you one thing, if the wings do well in the playoffs, I am a stand-up person and will definitely be here stating I was harping heavily on them at the end of the season but they have shown me otherwise. Hell, even if I feel the refs cost them a series but they play well, I will STILL come here and state I was wrong, because I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. We'll see if you're man enough to admit if the wings decide to continue this nuttieness into the playoffs and get bounced because of it, that you were wrong. And, for the billionth time, I will say it again: I HOPE I AM WRONG!!!!!!! I HOPE MY TEAM THAT I LOVE DOES WELL!!!! I'm just calling it as I see it. I'll end this post by saying I am very happy we have the wings, because it has been a great run, and I hope it continues.

So please again explain why we are 23rd in defense this year if we have an older but yet better defense? Offense not working hard enough on the defensive end? Because if you say it's team work ethic, it disproves exactly what you just stated to back your point up. The defense has not been there to clear rebounds. Ericcson forgets he plays defense 3 times a game and leaves players WIDE OPEN regularly. Lately lidstrom has been getting just plain beat. Kronwall has been 'ok' but I don't think spectacular. Raffy has been injured significant numbers of games this year, and is now injury prone. I think he plays with constant nagging injuries at this point. Our good defensemen are all substantially aging! We have been injured some this season but nowhere near what we were last season when 10 starters were out for a long period. Where did we have that kind of injury bug going on this year? I just don't buy it. It's rather amazing how we see this thing on completely different ends of the spectrum...really.

Here's the defensive rank with goals allowed/game and offensive rank and goals per game scored, comparison. YEAR // Def Rank & GA/G // OFF Rank & G/G 1997-1998: 7th 2.39 // 2nd 3.05 won the cup 1998-1999: 10th 2.46 // 3rd 2.99 1999-2000: 11th 2.56 // 2nd 3.39 2000-2001: 8th 2.46 // 5th 3.08 2001-2002: 4th 2.28 // 2nd 3.06 won the cup 2002-2003: 8th 2.48 // 1st 3.28 2003-2004: 9th 2.30 // 2nd 3.11 2005-2006: 3rd 2.51 // 2nd 3.67 2006-2007: 2nd 2.33 // 10th 3.07 2007-2008: 1st 2.18 // 3rd 3.07 won the cup 2008-2009: 21st 2.93 // 1st 3.52 2009-2010: 7th 2.52 // 14th 2.72 2010-2011: 23rd 2.89 // 2nd 3.12 As you can see, having a fantastic offense as we have in all but maybe 2 of the past 12 years means s***. It's about defense. And, we don't have it this year. And Lidstrom was 2 years younger, and we had other much better defensemen than we do now. You're nuts man. The wings were banged up all year last year and were still 7th in the league in defense. We aren't going ANYWHERE this year. Lidstrom has looked very human lately. He's been getting beat and this never happened in previous years. With him goes our defense in my opinion. I hope I'm wrong and I hope you're right, but I just don't see it, not this year. This lackluster performance problem has been going on far too many games now for it to just be a lack of motivation until the playoffs. Again, I really hope I'm wrong.

Here's the Wings Team Defense ranking since 1998 season from NHL.com website. 1997-1998: 7th 2.39 won the cup 1998-1999: 10th 2.46 1999-2000: 11th 2.56 2000-2001: 8th 2.46 2001-2002: 4th 2.28 won the cup 2002-2003: 8th 2.48 2003-2004: 9th 2.30 2005-2006: 3rd 2.51 2006-2007: 2nd 2.33 2007-2008: 1st 2.18 won the cup 2008-2009: 21st 2.93 2009-2010: 7th 2.52 2010-2011: 23rd 2.89 NOT GOOD

So you guys honestly are not worried in the slightest? Or let me rephrase a bit more fairly: You guys are not worried any more than usual this time of year going into the playoffs? Because, i find that very hard to believe. Look at the defensive ranking for the wings over the last 10 years. This is the worst defensively they have been in a very long time. I will agree that sometimes fans around here go a little nuts, even when they win if they don't win by dominating, it isn't that exciting. First I think that's not really the truth but, more importantly, with winning comes expectation. The wings have been the premier NHL team for 20 years. So, naturally, there will be the highest expectations all the time. If you don't understand this, then you don't understand winning sports teams. That being said, I'm far more worried this year than in previous years, because our team defense is the worst it's been in previous years.

Yeah, and in most of the previous seasons we have had a top 5 defense most of those years, including a hall of fame lineup in 2002. While I do like to compare wings teams to previous wings teams, I don't like to do that right now, because this team over a substantial period of time now have shown they can't play defense to the level they used to.

Yeah, you know...i just don't buy it that their heads weren't in the game. I mean, that is obviously the case, but the problem is not a superficial is my point. How can you not have your head in the game for many games lately? There's something wrong here with this team. Maybe the core on this team has had too many 'big games'. Maybe they are spent. Maybe other teams have just caught up to them and are faster. I don't know. All I know is this is a relatively new problem with a Red Wings team in the last several years. There are always occasions where a team just takes a game off or can't get things together. But not like this. This is something else. I hope I"M just reading more into it, but I don't think so. This team has played lowsy defense for many months and that means their work ethic has been lacking...FOR MONTHS. This is not a one or two game problem. Yeah, if the wings show up and destroy a team in the first round I will change my tune, but they're going to have to show me. Because right now, I do not have faith in this team going anywhere. Early predictions were a second round exit because of the strength of the west, but now I am not sure we make it out of round 1, especially if we draw the hawks. How many games now have the wings been literally booed off JLA Ice in the last month?

There is no way in hell the refs will let us knock Chicago out of the playoffs. I'm telling you. I predict we have at least 1 goal called back and Chicago has 3 more pwer plays than us. This has been my greatest fear. I posted a lot about playing Chicago back in the playoff predictions thread. I would rather see Chicago take on those 2 big boys in 1st and 2nd but no, our luck is we are dumb and make things as hard as possible on ourselves. We are the one team Chicago has to prove something against.

Yeah, that and the refs helping them get in. I 100% firmly believe there is manipulation in the NHL whether it be from the admin or from the refs. It's not called objectively at all. And this sort of thing honestly makes me not want to watch hockey anymore.

As weird as it is, Howard has actually been great tonight. Not going to blame him the last 2 games whatsoever. It could be 6 or 7-0.

Let's lose 10-0 so that we can have 2 of the last what, 5 games? where we give up 10+ goals. Then we can listen to the f***in morons around here say not to worry, and we'll turn it on in round 1. It's like a train wreck. I wanna turn it off and quit watching but I can't.

Yeah Mick, that's why we are lackluster. What's the excuse for like the last 18 of 20? I love our home crowd of commentators but it really pisses me off when they start making excuses for this team. If the wings were playing well generallythat's one thing but when they have been like this all year there's no excuse. Oh and then Hossa scores. Mmmm a breakaway on their power play??? OK. How do they get a breakaway on a power play? LOL