Nev

To be fair to Drapes, he got in a -12 hole by December but was pretty much even the rest of the way. Which considering our 4th line of him, Maltby & Kopecky had zero offensive output is pretty impressive. Sammy may be infuriatingly inconsistent, but he is also clutch, and will be missed for that reason.

Classic line Liking this guy more and more - who knows, maybe he can even start to rub some of that class on Crosby (hey, you gotta live in hope)

That is just pure, unadulterated win

It sure is a wierd, if somewhat comforting feeling.

Who was it who said not 10 Minutes ago "If only Filpulla could shoot the puck"?

Meh, we've sucked in the 1st all year long.

It came out when he missed the ASG and was suspended. Same with Nick who will probly need elbow surgery in the off-season.

UK Night Shift reporting for duty (little late I know but its been mental the first 3 hours). Was woken up from my pre-shift nap with Kid Rock on the music channel - I take this as a positive omen Go Wings!

For the record, Yzerman was "limping noticably" throughout the entire '02 playoff run, but it didn't stop him being our leading scorer. That's not a knock on Dats btw, just showing that the limp might not mean so much. A bit of physio, some painkillers and you're good to go. After the game, you seize up and start limping. Wash, rinse, repeat. Lets not forget that Dats played almost the entire regular season injured, and was still our best (and the leagues best) player by a country mile. I am worried this is more serious for him to miss this much time and not be able to play hurt.

Nice to see the boards being on our side for once - we must have given up a good half dozen goals against during the regular season off of our back-boards with nary a bounce in our favour. Clearly the ghosts of JLA were saving them for when they really counted And nice to see Z is already inside Syndeys head. Was it game 4 last year were he had the irrational outburst after the buzzer went?

I'm reminded of the Simpsons sketch where Moe gets Barney's tab back from NASA

FFS, still no radio feed on NHL.com!

UK Night shift reporting for duty NHL.com doing its usual fine job by having no radio feed streaming yet Eerily calm here in my office eating my Worcester Sauce French Fries

Well, my name hasn't appeared here yet, but I was always careful to preface my Osgood criticism with "if he plays like this" ie regular season form. Because lets all be honest here, Ozzie was absolutely brutal in the regular season. 3+ goals conceded game after game after game after game After game. After game. Luckily for him, he was bailed out by our incredible offensive talent night after night. Luckily for us, he has not played in the playoffs with his regular season form (and I use that word in the loosest sense). He has been fantastic. Rock-solid, no softies, and making big saves at key times. Such a turnaround in form is rare indeed from regular to post-season. Well done Chris Osgood.

This certainly isn't the last we've seen of Chicago, and we should get quite the rivalry going the next few years. Getting to the playoffs is the first step in the growing up of this young team. Next they have to win the Central ahead of Detroit. Then they have to beat Detroit in a playoff series. As long as they have the Q in charge I like our chances. If they ever get rid of him and bring in a real coach.......

Wasn't Gretzky a master of the ENG? And besides, with Draper out, someone has to pick up the slack

Great article with some really interesting quotes - thanks for posting

As I have said in previous Ozzie threads, he is our MVP right now, because if he had played in the playoffs with his regular season form, we would not have got past Anaheim, and even CBJ would have caused us problems. And as I said repeatedly during last seasons run, the Wings do not give up many chances, but the ones they do are gilt-edged. But still too early to call the Conn Smythe. Osgood, Datsyuk and Franzen were our best 2 players through 3 rounds last year, then Zetterberg shut down Crosby in the finals and propelled himself to the trophy. And even then Crosby is still the front runner for that trophy by a country mile right now.

Oh, that bit is beyond question. Anyone who doesn't think he's a lock for the HOF is blinded by their own hatred for him. The real question is whether #91 will hang from the rafters.

Well, yes. Games 1 + 2 the Pens got absolutely brutalised. 3 + 4 were pretty even and a split was a fair result. Game 5, aside from the 1st period was all wings. When Rafalski got that 3rd, lets be honest, you thought it was all over. And it should have been. If Franzen had simply banked the puck off the boards the Wings would have deservedly won the Cup in 5. He didn't, several seconds later the puck is in our net on just about Pittsburghs only chance that period. Fleury stood on his head the rest of the way and Hudler gave you a PP in triple OT to win it. Having said that, mark me down in the "Pittsburgh scare me more this year" camp. Personnel wise, I think you are worse, but you got rid of that whining whiny whiner of a coach and Crosby is playing like a man possesed. Last year the only place we were outplayed was by your PP which we simply couldn't handle and our PK has been ATROCIOUS all season long. And I fear the refs will have us on the PK a lot against St Sydney the Divine this year. Couple that with the players out or who will be playing injured Our best Dman (Lidstrom) Our best forward (Datsyuk) Our best faceoff man (Draper) Our best Penalty Killer (Lilja) Our best player at being hit to the ice (Kopecky) OK, ignore the last one But depending on when the series starts our best players will be carrying injuries. I think it will be a MUCH closer series than last year when all us Redwings were proved right about our faith in Team Defence and Depth over 2 superstars. The team that plays best will win. One last thought - Malkin terrified me before the finals last year, but Filpulla exceeded everyones expectations of him by totally outplaying him. This year, with Z and Pav split up mostly, what chance Datsyuk and Malkin matching up head to head to determine the best Russian centre in the game (we know its #13 btw ) The last 2 minutes of that game were a joke. A complete BS hooking call on Hudler that wouldn't be a penalty in the first period of opening night, then a blatant trip on Datsyuk that stopped an ENG and led to the Hossa chance. I was so mad I couldn't even celebrate properly (and neither could the Wings - watch them all standing round when the buzzer goes. Cleary doesn't know what the hell to do).

Just to add to the hilarity of the Blackhawks meltdown, a classic quote from Michael Rosenberg on the Freep

I just wanna know where these refs where during the Anaheim series - why has gooning it up after the whistle suddenly become a penalty again. Not complaining mind.

Some of us never doubted him. Lest we forget, Flip set a career high in Assists and Points this season. I've also been calling for him to centre Hossa since we signed him, but I was made fun of for that too... Now, if he could just learn to shoot the damn puck when he has the chance instead of always looking to pass to the "big" players, he'd be great.

Great article. What I find interesting is Ken Holland "reaming" him Seriously, when LGW was in meltdown over Osgoods play, and Babs/Holland didn't seem to be doing much about it, its interesting that Holland actually hauled him over the coals behind closed doors. And credit to Osgood, it could have destroyed his confidence, but he took it like a man and came back and sorted it out.

Osgood. I said repeatedly during the regular season that if Osgood played like that in the playoffs we would be at home within a couple of weeks. Well, credit where credit is due, he has turned it around big style. As for the "he plays in front of a great defence", well generally, yes, he does. However, and I said this repeatedly during the playoffs last year, the Wings don't give up a lot of chances, but the ones they do give up tend to be gilt edged. And Ozzie has stopped almost all of them. His GAA is best amongst the 4 remaining goaltenders, and because we don't have a skater having a "Crosby" post-season, making them standout, it has to be him right now. Now maybe someone will step up the rest of the way (like Zetterberg outplaying Crosby in the finals propelled him to the Conn Smythe), but right now, its Chris Osgood all the way. Also, would love to see him win the Conn Smythe as a large plate of STFU to all the "Worst goalie ever to win the Stanley Cup" preachers around the NHL.