Chris L

Lets see here, regular season... Crosby had 113 points, Malkin had 103 points and the next leader, regular season, for the Pens was Jordan Staal with 49 points. Wings had Dats with 97, Zetterberg with 73, Hossa with 71, Lidstrom with 59, Raffi with 59, Franzen 59, Hudler with 57, Kronwall with 51, and then Cleary with 40. I'm quite sure more than two guys on that list of Wings will be in the HoF. Furthermore we spread our production around a lot more than the Pens as you can see. We always have. The Pens need Crosby and Malkin to succeed. We just handed the Hawks their asses missing our two best players. Furthermore, Ozzie will go to the HoF, bet on it. Probably not 7 years after he retires, but he will go in sooner or later. He's in the top 25 rankings for goalies in just about every category, top 10 in many of those, plus the number of cups he's won, makes him a shoo-in, in time. As for Fleury, we just don't know right now. This could be his best time, right now, or this could be the start of a long and successful career for him. He's playing very well now, though, I'll give you that.

Ignore this one... There's another thread here: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58250 that says I'm wrong.

I don't think Khabibulin was injured at all. I belive Khabibulin for psychological reasons, on Q's part. Why Q pulled him in the first place is beyond me. Perhaps he likes the challenge.

I think Havlat will play but Khabibulin will sit. What do you think?

I hope so, but my gut says otherwise. Time will tell if I'm right or wrong.

The Pens do have a few good scoring lines. They are very much improved over last year. They're getting points, here and there, from a few of the role-players and that bodes well for the Pens. But the Wings have, when this deep in the playoffs, always gotten production out of their role-players. I think we are facing a team similar in many ways to the Pens right now. Granted, Fleury is 10 times the goalie right now that any goalie the Hawks can bring, but then we've already faced and ripped up two wonderkind goalies this year. Mason and Hiller were ruined by us. Its going to come down to defense, as usual, in the SCF. Both teams have excellent production from their offense, I'd give a slight edge to the Wings because they spread it around a bit more than the Pens. Goaltending, right now, I'd say is even. Ozzie has been awesome for us and Fleury has had some mind boggling stops this year. But in Defense, we've got the better over-all corps than the Pens. Provided we get Lids back and he's healty. If not, its a coin toss for both teams. (edited for grammar, not that I'm good at it, but it was bad enough for me to see it)

He's right, the Wings need the killer instinct tonight.

I see only two possiblities. 1) Lids and Dats are big time f***ed up and their season is over. or 2) Babcock is so confident that the Wings have the Hawks number, he's giving them a rest.

I think that stems, a lot, from Bill Gurein. He's the x-factor for the Pens. For us, its our health, we're beat to hell, and I can only hope our Wings have enough left in them for 5 more wins (counting tonight, of course)

Scary good? Huh? The 'Canes rolled over for them. They let Crosby have all the time and space he wanted for the whole series. Malkin too. The 'Canes that took care of New Jersey were not in this series, the 'Canes really started to fall apart against Boston and got out of that one by the skin of their teeth. Defense wins the Cup. We have (if healthy) the better defense. Both in terms of players, coaches and system. Ozzie has better stats than Fleury, and lets not forget that the Caps lit Fleury up like a Christmas tree, and they had only one superstar, we have 3. If Dats and Hossa find their game, plus our defense doing its thing, the Wings can very probably beat the Pens. But Dats and Hossa are struggling (and Z a bit too, to be fair), plus Lids is hurt. So I'll stick by my statement and say, right now, a Pens-Wings series would be a coin-toss, just like the Ducks series. If Dats, Z, and Hossa find their games and our defense is healthy and plays its very successful system, the Pens won't win 4 games against us. (edited because first paragraph was incomplete)

Additionally, when that goal was scored, Lids had a broken stick. When the best defender, ever, is working with a broken stick, it doesn't matter what Homer is doing.

Well this has a lot to do with the pathetic defense the teams put up against the Pens. Leaving Crosby all alone to float around the offensive zone uncontested is suicide. The Pens haven't faced any kind of serious defensive system yet. I thought the 'Canes would bring that but they seemed tired and worn out by the time they got to the Pens. Such is life for lower seed, giant-killing, teams. I do agree with this. Adding Bill Gurein was a smart move by the Pens. He's got experience and will for this time of year and is a good sheppard for Crosby, much like Feds was for Ovie. Malkin seems to have come into his own, and between the two, Malkin is the more complete hockey player. This is a different Pens squad this year, and they're better this year than last, IMO. Plus, we're really banged up. The Ducks beat the hell out of us and I think half our roster are still nursing the lumps from that and the Hawks have tried to be just as physical as we are. We have some worrisome injuries, Lids, Dats, and Drapes are huge blows for us and we'll need them in top form for the Pens. Between the Pens upgrades and our injuries, a Wings-Pens series is a coin toss IMO. Without injuries for us, I'd say the Wings will have this one easily (5 or 6 games max).

While I generally agree with your point, you forgot how abysmal the Avs are, and will be next year. Both them and the Coyotes are competing for the West's version of the Islanders.

I thought the 'Canes folded too easily in that game. After Ward let in that weird softy they gave up and seemed to be just going through the motions till the final buzzer. They had moments life, and a few unluckly posts, but they looked flat and tired to me. Apparently they just couldn't keep giant killing. I heard one of the commentary guys actually say this game was the 'Canes best effort in the series... Holy s***! If that was their best effort the Pens got off lightly in the series. I was trying to see how the Pens carry the puck into the offensive zone and how they stand up on the blue line, but since the 'Canes looked so dead I couldn't get a feel for how these Pens play today. The 'Canes had zero traffic in front of Fleury and gave him little pressure at all. Staal's shorty attempts were nice but the rest of the team didn't want to go there against the Pens so-so defense. To me, the Pens spent the whole 3rd period defending their lead and it looked sloppy to me, 4 guys folding in on Fleury made it real hard for him to see the puck at times, not a good idea, IMO. Having said that, I was surprised how Fleury snagged the puck with all those white legs dancing around his head. Then afterwards Versus fell over itself shining Crosby's nob, they acted like the 4 game sweep was trench warfare and the Pens were the better for it. The way I read the game, the 'Canes rolled over and let the Pens do whatever they liked. These Pens have only seen one hard series, and that was against a Caps squad that barely made it out of the first round.

You haven't heard of McCreary before? He's one of the better refs over the years. Started as a ref in 1984, and worked the SCF for 13 straight years, last year being the first year he did not make the cut for the SCF. Tends to let the players sort things out themselves and only calls (normally) the really bad stuff. He was featured in a pre-lockout commercial from the 96-97 post season where he says to Daren McCarty: "This is good tough hockey!" I believe they were pounding the Avs at the time.

Sure but a 10 minute misconduct? That's over the top. Par for the course of a Message Board, but still over the top.

I dunno if this was posted yet, but Hawks fans are pissed about it: http://boards.chicagoblackhawks.com/index....showtopic=33629

Come on (Canes) Staal... get on the board!

http://www.talkzone.com/archive.asp?aid=38730 --> during part 3 but the first part is good to listen too if you want to hear the other side singing the Wings praises, also in that part is a comment from Burish (and the talk guys rip him apart) plus report from the Hawks practice concerning Huet and 'Bulin. Have fun.

I'm in, Go Canes! (just because I'd rather see the Canes than the Pens right now)

This whole thing just goes to show you how the Wings, psychologically, get under another team's skin. They don't whine in the press like Crosby or Pronger, they do little digs here and there to throw the other side off. Also during the game when Eager got tossed in the 3rd, NBC panned over the Wings bench and I saw Homer waving "bye" to Eager with a great look on his face.

Just barely made the playoffs? They're the 4th seed in the West with 104 points. Both the Blues, BJ's had 92 points and the Ducks had 91. The Ducks barely made the playoffs. No, the Hawks played well all season. But as for a rivalry, no there isn't one between the teams. Between the fans, yes, one-sided though it is. Hawk fans hate us and our team, we, on the other hand, could care less about them. As for the Wings, I think they respect this Hawks squad, but that's about it.

Osgood hands down. He's kept them in so many games, went toe-to-toe with the best the Ducks could throw at us. And he was, stand-on-your-head good in the first period of Game 2 of the WCF. And excellent in the following periods. Ozzie all the way.

Someone around here was calling him "apple fritters" I liked that one.