Nev

I'm pretty sure that 180 page thread was Franzen's fault. All he had to do was chip the fracking puck off the boards..... As for slow GDT threads, since our goals against is the best in years, what do we have to whinge about? OK, there's still the refs, Ericsons contract and 20/40 minute efforts. So better defence, no Samuelsson/Lilja/Lebda/Mcrimmon, even the Enforcer, Hudler and Bertuzzi arguments seem to have calmed down. Maybe this roster has been too stable for too long and we're all argued out.

I'm not sure on the rules on this, but surely you can't just pull a guy out of the refs hands and start pummelling him? If Kopecky gets a suspension for the sucker punch, surely Rupp has to get one as well for jumping Kopecky like that?

Just once this season, can we lose 3-2 in overtime instead of regulation, y'know, just like the rest of the league does on a nightly basis? Only 1 loserpoint all season is the difference in the standings right now.

It starts with Jimmy and ends in Howard.

Probably.

Hey, its nice and all that we have smaller guys with a bit of skill who are working hard and playing "physical", the problem comes when we play the likes of San Jose whose 2, 3rd and 4th liners are just as skilled, just as quick, and just as hard working, but 3-4 inches taller and 10-20lbs heavier. I do worry that our bottom six especially, no matter how hard working, speedy and skilled is just a little bit undersized for the playoffs. Having said that, our defencemen seem the most physical around the net that I've seen for years. It is amusing however that for certain people in this thread, being "physical" simply means fighting.

I always find it very hard to generate sympathy for players who have habitually injured, or tried to injure, opponents.

It says most popular, not best. No way Barcelona are more popular worldwide than Man Utd.

Well, it does say "in sports", not "in North American sports". Even despite that, I was still not expecting to see Man Utd or Real Madrid in there given the mentality of north American journalists, so props to the author for having the wherewithal to state the truth - Manchester United are the biggest, most popular sports team in the world.

The recap on NHL.com manages to tell us 4 seperate times that Crosby wasn't playing last night. In other news, Wings keep rolling on.

I'm with Konnan, whats the big deal? Yeah, its a little bit trollish, but leaving the bench and sucker-punches? Talk about an over-reaction.

One of the old presenters of the NHL over here used to call him Filler-piller. He was from Vancouver, make of that what you will.

Meh, after winning 7 on the bounce we were due that one.

Its not going to change because it artificially compresses the standings and makes almost every game, right up to the end of the regular season, worth something.

People forget what a dirty SOB Gordie was. Next time you hear an old-timer laughing about an opponent lying on the ice and only Gordie knew what had happened, just think about that for a minute. Of course in the days of only 1 ref and limited TV cameras, you could get away with that kind of thing. Not to forget that in those days, reputation was very important to how opponents treated you. Players were scared to give Gordie a sly slash or whatever, because they knew what would come their way later. Anyway, I think the Forsberg with more goals and less defence is a decent comparison.

14-3 Wings (Sorry Stevie)

Yep, they're also the face of the franchise in an English speaking, media hungry market. But you're right, in terms of work rate, work ethic, skill level, production, leadership etc he has everything you want in a captain.

Can we all stop arguing like children and please revel in the pure awesome that is Pavel Datsyuk? Starts the move that led to his wicked goal with a hit behind his own goal, incredible play throughout. I think he's got his mojo back 2 nice plays by Bertuzzi as well for the assist and SO goal, hopefully he can start playing with a bit of confidence.

2008 Ozzie is a great comparison. I said repeatedly to the Ozzie bashers that year that Ozzie didn't have many shots to face but the ones he did tended to be gilt-edged ones which required a big save. Game last night looked like a case in point, only 24 LAK shots, but 3 or 4 golden opportunities which Jimmeh turned away. So refreshing to see a Wings goalie carry playoff form into the following season!

Looks like Nick has a job as a male model all lined up for when he retires

Its been a while since the Wings won 14-3, I think we're due.

And yet Kocur did the same thing with the Rangers in '94. Can't remember which opponent it was, but they were taking liberties with the Rangers Russian players so Kocur skated to their bench and told them if it didn't stop he was going to start swinging his stick and he didn't care who it hit. The liberties stopped. Anyway, the problem with this "frontier justice" is all the BS that goes on now after a clean hit. You shouldn't have to defend yourself for a clean check.

Utterly pointless and needless hit...one wonders wtf he was thinking?

Kronwall seems to really shooting the puck well this season, the last time I can remember him firing in lasers like this was 09-10, right before he got injured.

Yep, definately carrying over his form from the playoffs. But crucially, we seem much better defensively this season, shots against seem wayyyyy down - the lowest I can remember since, well, 2008 Just checked, we are 5th in Goals Against and 1st in Shots Against. Like Jimmeh says its a lot easier without all those odd-man rushes...