titanium2

In this sense, prove wrong.

Should this thread be locked? It's surely bringing out the worst of both sides.

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58148

Haha. This is the third thread to have started this. I'm not bashing you, OP, I just think it speaks volumes to how funny it was.

Can't forget about Hamberger. Again, Jollymania's vid.

Cleary is on the top line. Hudler is on the third line. Helm sometimes plays the third line. Main point is that most if not all of our depth players have gotten better. Pittsburgh has more youth and therefore more room for growth but the Wings still have some who have gotten better in comparison to last year and are still a work in progress.

Well it just seems like this thread involves some fans, both Wings and Pens included, that are just looking for something to piss them off as they look to piss off others as well. It's like a competition of who can be the most stubborn? Nothing gets done.

It's a tough problem, but a good one to have. -Zetterberg is a fixture at center -Datsyuk feels as if he is more dangerous at center -But Datsyuk maximizes Zetterberg's ability at his wing. -Filppula plays well with Hossa because he gives him the puck more often My preference is Datsyuk on Zetterberg's wing.

Also, anyone remember the 11-1 shell shock in Montreal? For years I've looked for it and I at least found this.

Is this the worst one?

They are mainly here to argue that their team will be a challenge for Detroit. Guys like EMalkin or whatever, they don't count. There are more Pens fans on this board who only want to argue that their team will be very tough to put away. That's all.

I know isn't part of being a coach to be composed and to keep your emotions in check so that the players follow that example?

Well if you put it that way then I guess when it came to who wanted it more it wasn't close. But in terms of talent and overall ability I thought they were a lot closer than most Wings fans think. And to be fair in that when it comes to this year I'm sure a lot of Pens fans would argue that Games 1 and 2 were partially attributed to the shock a team feels when they play Detroit for the first time. That's not something you can count on this year. They'll be better prepared for that.

Well, the Flyers are just morons. Writing them off... Well, bigger mistakes have been made and so far anyone who has wrote them off isn't wrong at this point. The Caps were a very tough opponent because of their explosive offense. Some Wings fans like to argue that the Caps' back end is a disappointment when compared to their high powered offense. That's partially why it comes off as a surprise that it took the Pens 7 games to move on but that's just how good the Caps' offense was. I don't know if I'd say Hiller was the hottest goalie in the league but to this day he's still top-3 in terms of GAA and still leads in Save% and shutouts and that's after playing the Sharks and Wings. Yes, part of that is due to ANA great defense and again, "hottest goalie" is quite the label but I'm not sure if I can think of a better goalie for that stretch of time. Sid really got up for the series against the Caps. It was more emotionally salient to him because of AO. I'm positive he'll do the same against the Wings. The most important question might be, Who has the better depth? On paper it's been the Wings for the whole year but that doesn't really matter, especially when you consider that they've struggled to play to their capacity the whole year. However, when it comes to straight competition for the cup itself, it's hard to imagine the Wings not feeling motivated enough to do what it takes. Assuming the matchup present those two teams, it'll be a tough series for both. Should be a lot of fun.

Meh..... Last year was pretty close imo. If you count the OT game as two games then the series for all intents and purposes actually went 7. Crosby's will and determination is quite impressive. Because of last year's loss he has a better idea of how long you have to play when it comes to the finals. The Pens look more mentally tough than they did last year. I'm not saying the series, which has yet to be official, will go either way. I'm just saying they are quite a tall order if the Wings want to repeat.

It was an easily stoppable shot until Cleary deflected it. That threw Hiller off and the rest is history. In that sense, how was that fluke? Throw the puck to the net and good things happen.

I know, seriously. How stupid can you be? My thoughts are that the players hate the idea but I guess that doesn't matter.

Wait I thought someone mentioned yesterday that the team that's had more rest hasn't won the cup in like 40 years or something?

True but with Flip he gets the puck a lot more.

Anyone get Kronwall's slightly missed open ice on Kane?

Great Article! http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=423738 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Filppula another Finn-ished product for Wings By Larry Wigge - NHL.com Columnist CHICAGO -- He's no Pavel Datsyuk. But then how many of those are there? As Detroit Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg did a dash through the dressing room comparable to that of Olympic 100, 200-meter champion Usain Bolt Sunday, I managed to ask him how Valtteri Filppula compares to Datsyuk. "Different name, but really, really good," Zetterberg explained just before he disappeared behind a curtain, "and getting more confident in his ability all the time." With Datsyuk out of the lineup for the second-straight game, Filppula ran his playoff points streak to five games with 1 goal and 2 assists to spark the Red Wings to a 6-1 in over the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, giving the Wings a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. The three points for Valtteri gave him 1 goal and 12 assists in 15 playoff games this season -- or two more points than he had in 22 games in last year's playoffs. Filppula helped take the Chicago crowd out of the game early, when he and Marian Hossa broke out 2 on 1 and gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal 8:41 into the game. Just 1:13 into the second period, Valtteri rammed home a Hossa rebound for a 3-0 lead. And he set up Hossa for his second goal of the game just 12 seconds after the Blackhawks got their only goal early in the second period, a killer that made it 4-1. Best game, Val? And have you put any pressure on yourself trying to fill in for Datsyuk between Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa? "I don't get too caught up in stuff like that," he said. "What is amazing is getting a chance in practice to fill in with all the great talents the Red Wings have assembled. It's really something to see how you stack up against some of the most talented players in the world on a daily basis. "In this situation, playing for Pav, I look at it as a challenge. I look at is as a chance to see how much I'm improving." It wasn't long ago that I asked Red Wings coach Mike Babcock how he thought Filppula was coming along to which he said, "Once Phil learns that he needs to shoot more to make himself a more complete player, I think he’ll become a real threat. You know something, his skills remind me a little of Hank when he first came into the NHL." After overhearing Babcock make that remark and figuring out that “Phil†was Filppula and “Hank†was Zetterberg, you get the idea that the coach likes his 25-year-old center from Vantaa, Finland, plenty. At one point early last season, after Filppula, a third-round pick, 95th overall, in the 2002 Entry Draft, had no goals in his first 10 games, he then exploded for six goals in five games in a stretch when he had counted nine goals in 10 games. "The kid has size, speed ... and great skill," Nicklas Lidstrom explained after Filppula went from the third line to the No. 1 line with Holmstrom and Hossa in Game 3. Funny how the Red Wings find these nearly “Finn-ished†products with such great talent, isn’t it? The story on this forward is typical. Filppula followed his older brother Lars, who currently plays in the Finnish Elite League, to the rink. He lived to play hockey. He had posters of Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu in his room back home. "My parents were the driving force," Valtteri said. "My brother and I got our athletic ability from my dad, who played Finnish baseball. And my mom ... she’s a teacher ... and she made sure both of us learned more than just one language, so we could succeed in the world. That has become very, very important to me." Raimeri Filppula, Val’s father, currently works as an electrical engineer. His mom, Liisa, still is a kindergarten teacher. Filppula wasn’t one of those too-small prospects the Red Wings dug up late in the 1998 and 1999 drafts, when they selected Datsyuk 171st in 1998 and Zetterberg 210th the following year. He's 6-foot, 193 pounds. But there still were some anxious moments for him. "I had a pretty good year scoring in my final year in the Finnish Elite League (10 goals and 30 points, plus another 11 points in 12 playoff games for Jokerit Helsinki in 2004-05), but when I got to North America ... it was like the walls were closing in on me ... no room to move on the smaller ice surface over here," Filppula added. "I didn’t know if I’d make it here." Make it he did, scoring 20 goals and 50 points in 74 games at AHL Grand Rapids in the 2005-06 season. He had 10 goals and 17 points in this first full season with the Red Wings the next year and followed that with 19 goals and 17 assists last season and 12 goals and 28 assists this season in Detroit. And when Babcock tapped Filppula on the shoulder to move from his normal line with Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson to play with Hossa and Holmstrom, he cited Valtteri's speed and playmaking ability as what he wanted from him in this situation.

You need to copyright that.

Perhaps I should start a new thread so that more people notice but... eh. This was the montage CBC played before Game 4. My favorite moment is the look on Lidstrom's face at 1:04 as Burish tries to s*** talk him. You can just sense the "You wanna f*** with me?!" look in his eyes. I know they lost that game, but that was still the moment in which the Wings proceeded to score 3 straight goals.