Nev

The thing I never understood about that is how no-one ever said that about Belfour and Brodeur, considering the dominant D they played behind?

Wow, hard to believe that it could all be over tonight....all that effort and sacrifice could have its reward this evening. Like a previous poster I can see this either being a blowout or a 1 game heart-attack. Only been 1 OT game for the Wings this season and for some reason I can't get Jason Arnott's OT cup-winning goal in Dallas out of my head......

That is a thing of beauty b)

You give sports journalists a lot more credit than I do.......

Stop it guys, you're killing me!

Because although the Wings don't give up many chances, the ones they do give up tend to be gilt-edged.

Can't wait for the handshakes. Wonder if we'll see real tears?

He's been in denial all series Game1 - "We've shown we can play at their level" Game2 - "We didn't feel like they got more chances than us" Game4 - "We don't think we're down 3-1" Keep thinking like that son. I can't decide which is the most outrageous comment of them all. Probly the Game 2 one, being perhaps the most dominant performance I have ever seen Detroit give.

Well, to be fair, no less a figure than Scotty Bowman has proposed some kind of "key" in the defensive zone within which only 4 skaters are allowed. This is to prevent all 5 skaters collapsing round the net, blocking shots and preventing rebounds - something the wings are exceedingly good at. Having said that, that poster is just having a big cry-baby rant "wah! wah! We're not good enough to break down the Wings defense! Wah! The league should change the rules so we can win! Wah!". I used to think like that when I was 7.

Bizzarrely, I probably like Pavel as a player more than Hank, yet my man-love for Hank is stratospheric. I've never wanted kids with Pavel, but damn do I ever want to bear Henrik Zetterbergs children

Yeah, that is absolutely classic. If I'm Mike Ilitch, I'm ringing that kid up and asking him if he wants to sit in the Ilitch family box for game 5

Lidstrom signed a 2 year extension earlier in the season. I also just remembered something Babs said in the Dallas? series. When he called Ericsson a stud who deserved to be playing in the NHL.

Oh, there's no question that Crosby took a dive. Lilja moving 6 inches to the right gave Crosby the chance to take the dive and the refs bought it. Like I said, that kind of "interference" happens 100 times a game and every other player on the ice would battle through it and fight for the puck. Except Crosby

Haven't you heard? Draper deserved it - he was "yapping"

Well, the original point stands - Therien has been terrible this series. All he has done is ***** and whine about the officials. Last night every time they shot to the bench he was standing there doing nothing apart from looking like he was about to burst into tears. The ONLY time he moved/spoke was the Maltby "penalty" to start the 5on3 when he suddenly EXPLODED into life to harangue the officials. Even when they took the TO he just stood back and let the assistant coach the players while he tried not to burst into tears. If I'm the pens I'm hoping Tortorella gets fired and I'd hire his ass instantly to replace Therien. Out. Of. His. Depth.

Yeah, that 5on3 was soft even if it was by the letter of the law (but the entire game would have been played 3v3 if they'd called the entire game like that). Other than a couple of outrageous calls/missed calls, the refs haven't been that bad IMO. Not bad enough to cost us a game anyway.

The beauty of Huds this season (and last tbh) is that even with 4th line minutes he is still able to put up points. So many players wouldn't be able to get into their groove sat on the bench getting cold for long periods. He's been Babcock's little ***** for so long now, he really rides him hard. But Babs himself has repeatedly said, Hudler has skill and will score points if he wants to and its up to him how good of a hockey player he wants to be.

Z has certainly been our best forward, and has done a terrific job neutralizing Crosby, but he has only put up 2 points in 4 games and that will sway the voters away from him and towards Ozzie IMO. And I think Ozzie deserves it for his play.

What happened? On the international feed they just showed a close-up of Ozzie and said some of the opposing players were tangled up

I always liked the idea of the Captain handing it to the Assistants - Scott Stevens was the first guy I remember doing that. Then give it to Drake.

LOL at that Therien/fans pic. As Homer J Simpson might say "it's funny cos its true!

I'd be very surprised - I thought Lilja wanted more than he is worth (ie $1M+)? Given the 3 kids on D we need to start inserting into the line-up next season and the need to re-sign Stuart (and sort out Z and Mule) only way I see us resigning him is if Chelli retires and Stuart signs elsewhere.

Highly confident in the Wings grabbing hold of the series with a W tonight. Pittsburgh brought their best game in game 3 and still only just won. No way can Detroits passing out of their own zone be as bad again. Datsyuk has no points this series so far, that will change tonight - he's due a big game

Yeah, the fact that the story was buried at the bottom of another article makes me think that it really isn't that big of a deal *crosses fingers*

I'm pretty sure he can't do that since there is a cap on entry level contracts. Didn't the article say he was offered the max?