Manoir

So the last 4 series Pittsburgh has played; vs Det-Datsyuk out vs Ott-Michalek,Kovalev,and Kuba out vs Mtl-Markov out vs Bos(possible)-Krejci out and during this time the only major injury they had is Staal who was supposed to be out for the playoffs and now might be back this round. Plus, they won the lottery for a once in a lifetime chance to draft a guy like Crosby.That is some good luck they've had recently.

I'd rather have Umberger or Cullen than Hudler. Cullen is basically a 50 pt guy who has some size and was a major force vs Pitts for Ottawa. Umberger has good size and could be useful as a 2nd line goal scorer, plus he picks up his game in the playoffs.I'm not too comfortable having so many guys under 6 feet tall on the top two lines.

Am I the only who thinks the Coyotes presented a much tougher challenge?Today was the ideal situation for the Sharks and they barely hang on. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sharks don't win another game.

What I really like about the Coyotes is that they didn't become good just by accumulating top 5 picks like Pittsburgh,Chicago,and Washington. They made shrewd pickups(Bryzgalov),inexpensive signings(Vrbata, Fiddler,etc), and some great late round picks(Yandle, Michalek).

I've seen the Coyotes play a lot this year, it's impossible to not admire that team. I thought they had heart before, now they are playing without their top 2 wingers, Doan and Upshall and are still competing at a incredibly high level. Amazing. Also, reason# 12,323 why Brian Burke sucks, not picking Yandle for the American olympic team.

They might win game 7, but I believe today's loss may have cost them the Cup. The travel and games will catch up.

Something tells me that a European vacation is not your ideal getaway.

The problem is that even if they come back and win game 7, all the travel and extra games are going to catch up with them.All this without Doan and Upshall, boggles the mind.

I brought this up a couple of weeks ago, I really like the idea. Definitely levels the playing field in terms of travel. I also like the fact that no Stanley Cup finals matchup would be impossible, can have Mtl-Tor, Det-Chi,etc.

Coyotes outworking the Wings, and they don't have two of their top wingers,Doan and Upshall.

The Pens are real lucky that Michalek and Kuba are out. Kovalev is out too, but that's just addition by subtraction.

I hate Canucks fans http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2010/04/21/13669236.html

I could watch that again and again. Boyle has just given new meaning to the term "two-way player".

What makes it worse is the context, OT and the Sharks outshooting the Avs 51-16 or something. Could be a rallying cry though, "let's win the series for Boyle".

Papa Shango hates the Sharks.I hope someone gets that wrestling reference.

I've heard that the crowds in the early 80's were under 5000 and the team had to have car giveaways to lure people. I just think that it's odd that Wings fans would complain about attendance in Phoenix, Detroit couldn't sellout home playoff dates last year-this was after winning 4 cups in 12 years. Winnik and Fiddler are fine role players. Would much rather have young role players than guys like Draper. I've been to Phoenix many times, it is a legit hockey market. They actually have a long hockey history dating back to the WHA days. Again, they missed the playoffs for 8 years and the arena is an hour drive away for many residents. That would cause attendance issues for 95% of the teams in the league.

All these people complaining that somehow Phoenix doesn't deserve their success because they've had bad attendance or play a "boring" style of play sound ridiculous. I would really like to see the Wings attendance should they miss the playoffs for 8 straight years, especially considering tickets were still available an hour before the game today.Also,I find Phoenix highly entertaining. They hit and have some good speed, not boring at all.

From all accounts, Doan is a really good guy off the ice. They had an interview with him about a week ago and the host mentioned how Doan is helping many poor kids attend school by giving a lot of money to the schools in the worst economically-hit areas of Phoenix. The host also mentioned how Doan is one of the few guys who never curses on the ice, Doan said that's true and the worst thing he says is "fudge"

Maybe it's just me, but I think the newer hockey stick technology might have something to do with the higher scoring too. The players can absolutely launch the puck from 30-40 feet out, in the past you'd have players trying to make plays near the net, now they don't even think twice about shoting from a bit further out.In any case I agree with GMR, it's been really fun.

Yup, could have some VERY interesting matchups. Plus, it gives the NHL something that no other league has-no finals matchup is an impossibility.You could have a Montreal-Toronto, Detroit-Chicago, NYR-NYI finals. It always bothered me that some great rivals will never meet in the finals.

I've always thought it would be more interesting to have the top 16 in the League make the playoffs. Right now Calgary is 13th in the league and Boston is 19th, yet Boston would make it today. Could also make for some interesting matchups in the 1st round.

Gained a lot of respect for Lemieux after this interview. Had no idea he jumped on the Wings bus to challenge Scotty,hahaha. The late 90's was such a great time, 2 great rivalries at their peak, Wings vs Avs and WCW vs WWF.

Milwaukee was 5th in terms of viewership and beat cities such as Chicago,Boston,and Denver. Let's get a team in there

Not a bad coach, but an overrated coach. Remember the last two seasons he had a chance to win the cup on home ice and blew it both times(barely survived game 6 in Pittsburgh in '08). For a team with as much depth and experience as the Wings you'd think they would have been more relaxed than they were for those 2 games, some of that has to ultimately fall on the coach. I think the Wings obsession with experience has rubbed off on Yzerman and babcock and is now showing on Team Canada, guys like Stamkos not making the team despite being in the top 10 in league scoring.

From Stan Fischler(twitter): The most overlooked aspect of Uncle Sam's win on Sunday was the fact that Ron Wilson, plain and simple, outcoached Mike Babcock.