Nev

I trust mine series to Pavel Datsyuk, you should too.

Meh, they let a ton of stuff go, I didn't have too many complaints about the penalties they did call (apart from the Holmstrom one where they ignored him being raped). What did annoy me was the face-offs. FFS, every single damn face-off took 30 seconds as the linesman teased the players once, twice, randomly kicked out one of the centers, teased them again, then finally dropped the puck. Drove me mad.

Datsyuk was amazing yesterday - he was pretty much the only reason we were able to gain the SJ zone, by dangling through 3 Sharks. But even his line spent entire shifts in our zone unable to clear the puck. But you are correct, SJ were just flat out better than us, they always seemed to have 2 men on the forecheck, then 4 men stood up at the blueline when we got the puck into the neutral zone.

Swapping the lines around, or changing a couple of 4th liners isn't going to solve our problems. The Sharks are bigger, faster, just as skilled and (possibly) hungrier. The only people keeping us in this series are Datsyuk and Howard, and thats not a knock on Babcock. What changes do you want? Our D sucks. Who are you going to swap Rafalski, Ericsson and Salei for that is better? How are you going to make Lidstrom a thirty-something again?

Or he's floating, just like he did for large stretches of the regular season - and previous seasons. Like I said earlier, when Johan Franzen is lazy, he sucks.

Fixed that for you. Even when we have our big physical players out there (Bertuzzi/Cleary/Abdelkader) the Sharks big players are just flat out better right now

Special teams apart, I didn't think we were that bad in the first, but we got COMPLETELY ******* PWNED in that 2nd period. Right now the Sharks look bigger, faster and more skilled. And our D-corps looks horrible. Lidstrom looks his age, Ericson and Salei are beyond words...

Has Abdelkader played at all in the 2nd?

Yeah, not complaining about the penalties, but the diving by the sharks has been a disgrace, never seen NHL players dive like this.

longest pre-game ever

Ahhh, weekend matinees, how I love thee LETS GO REDWINGS!!

Secret footage shot of San Jose practise

Thats beautiful right there

I always worry when a team has a long layoff between rounds, they often come out flat in game 1. Hopefully Detroit can get their legs back quickly. LETS GO REDWINGS!!

Pretty tough to win in the playoffs when your best players are injured, eh Pittsburgh?

*squints* *squints harder* It is? I think its the beard, looks like Hanks, but I guess the eyes are Franzen's

Kook my man, you are a genius. But Hank twice?

Best one yet! And "dangle of death", I think you just created a new Datsyukian phrase

Meh, its the playoffs. Anything and anyone is game.

Istari? "beings outwardly resembling men but possessing much greater physical and mental power"

The defining image of the 2002 cup run isn't Lidstroms slapper from centre ice to turn the Vancouver series. Its not Roy's statue of liberty, nor his being pulled from the Joe in game 7. Its not Darren McCarty's hat-trick and high-fiving his son in the tunnel. Its not the grind line getting us going in game 2 of the finals. Its not Larionov scoring in pentatriple overtime. Its not Shannys empty netter in game 5. The defining image of the 2002 cup run is Steve Yzerman having to use his stick as a lever to help him back back onto he feet every single time he was knocked to the ice.

Incredible race today, and watching Hamilton hunt down Vettel was a thing of beauty. Brilliant drives by him and Webber.