Chris L

Ozzie had that during the Chicago series.

Were I coaching the Pens, I'd do this. Homer is slow and just not his usual strong self this year. I don't know if its age or his injury that's lingering but he doesn't have the same step that he used to. Crosby would skate rings around him. Plus Crosby ought to know Hossa's playing style very well and should match up against him well. Also, I'd put Malkin on assignment against Z, he's bigger than Z and, probably, can keep up with Z skating too. However, Malkin isn't very defensive minded so I dunno how that would balance out. We know Z would make Malkin's life hell when he's down low by Ozzie, but really, what can the Pens do? If they work to get Malkin and Crosby away from Z and or Franzen, who's going to cover Z and Franzen? Certainly they can't depend on Hal Gill and Orpik to handle them both, no way. Everybody's making a lot of talk about how Crosby will get a breather from Z, but by keeping Crosby (and/or Malkin) away from Z's line opens our first line to play against a 3rd or 4th line? That's not good for the Pens, especially if Fluery is having issues.

Who wouldn't want to play right now? I bet Dats, Draper, and Mac also feel the same way. I love 'ya Lils but you can't mess around with a concussion. Get healthy, dude, we're gonna need you next year.

True this is the beauty of this Wings era. There is no one person who owns this time. Not Stevie, Lids, Feds, Ozzie, The Grinders or any others. This era is owned by the Wings organization as a whole, top to bottom. Or as I like to think of it, the Wings Family.

Come on! I can't believe you guys forgot Dmitri Mironov! His stellar ability to always pass the puck to Fetisov under all circumstances was the single greatest achievement of a Wing ever!

Would or should doesn't enter into this if Campbell is just going choose to apply the rules or not. Malkin should sit and so should any player that goes bonkers like that for no damn reason. Hank didn't do anything in that scrum to warrant the reaction Malkin gave him. If anything Malkin should have come in, pushed a bit, shoved a bit there, said something about Hank's mother in Russian and been done with it. I'm with you, this is just asking for trouble. The Wings (and us, the fans) should take the breaks they get but not cry over what didn't break our way. Malkin not being suspended comes to no surprise. I was shocked that he even got an instigator in the first place. I see the reason why, but I didn't expect he would get one. +2 for esteef on this.

Yeah, bank on that. Ovie stole everybody's heart this year (well except Grapes that is).

Here's a question: were the roles reversed, and Hank lost his cool on Malkin and went after him like that, then picked up the penalties, do you think would Hank sit?

Looking back on that, I'm still scratching my head about Avery's suspension. Campbell, after that, has let so much go now that Avery's suspension is a wacky outlier.

I saw that thread and was puzzled for some time about it. It took me forever to see the puck, the picture is so badly pixelated its hard to tell what's going on there. But yes you can see the blue paint easily enough, and there is a puck there just under Z's wrist near the edge of his glove, at least I think so, could be a shadow too. but yeah, there is a crossbar on the far right, which the puck is not past, thus no goal. Why they held that up as evidence that Crosby scored is a mystery. But that didn't strike me nearly as odd as this obstruction/interference issue they're trying to raise. As far as I can tell, nobody's listening to them, except for maybe Eddie O, that's about it.

Dude, the Pens are obstructing too. I've seen your D poke, lift and hook right and left for both the games, on players sticks and pucks. Its the way hockey is played today. Abdelkader's goal in the 3rd was exactly that. Your Pens had two D men in the way of the oncoming player, one even poked the puck off our guy, another tried to lift the stick, he got around that too and got a shot off. Pot meet kettle. The way you Pens fans are yapping over at LGP.com you'd think hockey should be played so that nobody gets in the way of anybody who has the puck or who might get a pass. That's nonsense.

I have to agree with gentex. I expected Hank and Geno to get matching majors, but the game misconduct and instigator was totally unexpected to me. My jaw hit the floor when I was looking at the game's boxscore on yahoo.com. Having said that, Campbell should hang his head in shame for his enforcement this year. All the non suspensions for egregious stuff is outragious, but at least he stuck with his refs. In this case, Campbell actually reversed his refs decisions by not following through with the rules. The league stuck with the zebras when they stripped Hossa's goal against the Ducks, and now this turnaround. Hey Campbell, do you even know what consistency is? Call the s*** or don't call the s***, you can't do both!

The OP at: http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB3/v...f=1&t=36763 (Italics mine) Hating Detroit for getting quality players to play a competitive system, odd thing to hate. I wonder if "no name" would hate the Pens if they played the trap. Then somebody suggests that all the zebras should be fired and new ones brought in that would be more friendly to Crosby and Malkin's open ice game, and another really wants to ditch Bill McCreary (WTF?) of all people. IMO, the most even zebra in the game. But to be fair, there are some well thought out posts in there too, but the whole OP was just nutty to me.

Weird and sort of creepy.

here you go:

End of an era? That would be when Lids retires, or when Z and Pav leave. That would be end of an era. I hardly think Hurds, Sammy and Hossa constitute an "era" (edited to get a spelling mistake)

After Stuart knocked it, then too, did Ozzie off the but of his stick. They both had a hand in that, flukey bounces. No big deal, s*** happens.

Eddie's a Hawks guy when he's not on NBC. He's biased against the Wings, IMO. In fact I thought the whole NBC crew (including Panger!) were shilling for the Pens at every opportunity. They even cut into their planned Ozzie (considering how long Ozzie's played and how textured his story is, they spent very little time on him) love to slather over Crosby and Malkin last night. Every storyline that NBC followed found a way to mention Crosby and Malkin in a positive way. When they should be focusing on the Pens failures and Fluery's goal tending. The word's come down from the NHL: showcase Crosby and Malkin until they're blue in the face. With the ratings down, so far, this year, I think viewers are sick of hearing about Crosby and Malkin. They might be sick of seeing the Wings in the Finals too, I know that nobody here in Chicago (that I know, besides me, my wife and one neighbor) are watching the games. Hell, the Hawks fans (who all cheered for the Pens last year and made several lunch bets with me) are so burnt out they don't give a crap about the Pens, most of them think the Wings are going to win this series, and they're preparing themselves for it, I think.

All three? Doubtful... Hossa + one or the other? Very likely. But both, who get signed, no matter what combo of the three we're talking about, will have to take less than market value to stay. The great question is this: How badly do they want to stay? We know Hossa wants to stay and is willing to take less to do so, but Hurds and Sammy? I dunno. If I had to make this difficult choice, I'd keep Hurds over Sammy.

You're lucky, here in Chicago, I don't get CBC. I'm not sure I can even get Comcast to give it to me. Maybe the NHL Center Ice package has it, but I'm not biting on it now, perhaps next year.

I'll never understand this assumption. We have so many young players: Helm (22), Abby (22), Lieno (25), Big E (25), Hurds (25), Filp (25), Z (28), Mule (29), Kopy (27), Kronner (28), Stewart (29), Lebda (27), and Meech (25, but not playing right now) 12, currently active players under 30, 13 if you count Meech. This "Wings are old" bulls*** is just that, bulls***. The average age of the wings, using ESPN's Roster that counts Chelios, is 30.46 years old. How the hell is that "too old"????? Since Chelios isn't playing right now, subtracting him from the roster, our average age drops to 29.8 The average of the Pens is 28.71 years old. Difference of 1.75 years (using teh 30.46 number), big whoop. Were this High School, there might be an edge, but its not, we're talking about mature (supposedly) adults. Counting the Chelios-less average, the difference is 1.09. Wow, the Pens have such an advantage in youth and vigor. We better pack it in now. I swear, these so-called "analysts" of Hockey, who repeat this meme are morons.

It's simple. He takes a pay cut but a longer contract or he goes. He knows that, and the Wings know that. That's how Hank and Pav signed and that's how future players will sign with the Wings. Hossa has already said, publically, that he wants to stay, he'll do what he has to so he can stay, and yes he'd take less money to stay in Detroit. He loves it here, the skill of the players, the system of the team and the orginization's culture and front office. He's happy here, if he wants to stay happy, he'll take a pay cut and stay for 5-6 years. Look, the wings bring a lot more to a player than just Illich's deep pockets. If that were the only thing about the wings we wouldn't have Hank and Pav, much less Lidstrom, Stuart, Raffi and the rest. No, putting on the Winged Wheel, right now, is like putting on a Yankees uniform in Baseball -- its a special and meaningful thing (albeit for very different reasons). Were I Holland, I'd be selling players on the other things one gets while in this organization besides plain money, skill, tradition, and family: these are the things you get as a Red Wing. If Hossa wants to say, he'll take a pay cut and stay. If Hossa wants to be a mercenary, as everybody accuses him of, he'll walk after this campaign is over. But everything he has said, so far, has suggested that he wants to stay for less.

Just relax. The boys have been here and know what to do. No need to get nervous right now. Enjoy the wins.

Where did you get this picture? What is the story behind it? GO WINGS!

Nice Pix! I'm jelous you got in there.