Chris L

If the Wings bring their A game, this one's in the bag. They brought their C game and lost 2-1 in Game 6. Come out with intensity boys, and show the Ducks who's boss!

Given the Wings playoff expirence, there should be no lesson here. They should know that already.

So I went over to http://redwings.nhl.com/ for no particular reason and saw this funny graphic as their number 1 story of the night: I love the reminder that the Ducks were a crappy Disney movie tie-in! LOL, good one.

Yup, here's the thread: http://forums.anaheimducks.com/index.php?showtopic=369941 Get your popcorn out boys and girls!

I love Z for a lot of reasons. Mostly because of his heart and work ethic. Those killer 5 on 3 PK's from last year's finals told me everything I need to know about the guy. Damn was he amazing on those kills! Z rocks. Having said that Dats is the better forward. He makes anyone (but Hossa) amazing. What makes Z and Dats such a good combo is the mind meld they seem to have out there. Their chemistry is so good on the ice I'd say their chemistry rivals Gretzky and Kuri back in the day.

I still don't get why Melrose was fired. He was there for too short of a time for him to be fired for performance reasons. He must have pissed off the front office.

I think so too. What other injury can you have that lets you skate but take no contact? Obviously some bone isn't broken or there's a groin pull, he wouldn't be skating. Concussion is the only thing I can think of.

(Note, I am not presuming the Wings will face the Hawks, I'm looking here from both the Ducks or Wings perspectives) Negatives: The Hawks are young and dumb. They haven't seen a real playoff team yet, and they will should they face the Wings or the Ducks. I think they can handle the Ducks, I do not think they can handle the Wings. They have no defensive system that I can see (I live in Chicago, and see a fair number of Hawks games). Puck holding forwars will run right through them most of the time. They seem to favor end-to-end, chance-for-chance exchanges. They live and die on pure chaos. This was shown to a great extent in last night's game. Giving up 5 goals against a team like the Wings or the Ducks will mean that they loose. The way to keep their chaotic ways in check is to play puck possession to them and control the tempo. Make them dump and chase and they'll get nowhere. They have no system, if the other team plays theirs they will be beat. Positives: They are young and dumb. They're too stupid to know that they should have no chance against the Wings or Ducks and that will give them zero fear. They're giant killers and don't know when to quit. That's dangerous. Their chaotic ways can get a team off their game. If the Hawks are allowed to control the tempo, we'll have a hard time against them. They're very quick and react fast on the initial rush. That will give the D a bunch of trouble. Goalies will have to work hard several times. They have no system, predicting them will be difficult. Final analysis: I repeated most things above for a reason. The Hawks are a double-edged sword. The positives and negatives work for and against them. If a team controls the tempo and sticks to a successful system, they'll beat the Hawks.

Let's Go Red Wings!

Lets Go Wings!

Damn we're winning everywhere, shots (31-22), goals (4-2), faceoffs (30-15), PPs (1-4) and hits are tied. wow

I was never worried about Ozzie. But then, I never voiced that here.

Maybe homer's hurting?

Been studying for a final tonight, so I don't have the game on. What lines are the Wings going with tonight?

I agree with most here that the Wings are the better team, in terms of skill and system. Right now, they have not played to their full potential. I hope they'll wake up and realize that potential very soon. Time is short. I think the BJ sweep lulled them a bit, it was too easy. The Ducks, on the other hand, had to fight tooth and nail to beat the Sharks and they came off that huge upset into this series. All the games have been very close and any of them could have gone either way, these two teams are the most evenly matched teams still playing right now. The Wings can win game 4, they have all the pieces in place to do it, they just have to find the heart and will to do it.

He is right tho. The Wings generally beat themselves when they lose. They're strong enough, skilled enough and experienced enough that it doesn't matter what the Ducks do, the Wings have a tool to stop them. They didn't play with the intensity that we know they have. The truth is, right now, the Ducks want it more than the Wings. The Ducks have something to prove -- they're trying to dispel an awful season where they underperformed for their caliber. Also I think the Ducks are tying to wing one more for Neidermeyer, so he can retire on high. Until the Wings, as a team, decide they want it badly, they will continue to lose games to the Ducks. The Wings do not win on talent alone, but heart.

I think that a team's fan base is an extension of the team's attitude when on the ice (field, court, pitch, whatever). The Ducks as a team, suck. And I don't mean they're bad players, or that their system is bad, no... they suck because they're mean, dirty, disrepectful, flippant, and just nasty. When you're a fan of that kind of negativity, then you think its OK to act that way. Athletes are role models to everybody involved in the sport, old and young, male or female. You can be the most macho bastard on the planet, a real hard case, but if you're team is classy, they you'll be classy, if your team is a bunch of goons, you'll be a goon too. Cheering on Pronger the Leg Stomper means that you have to approve of said stomping. Its no different than Avs fans when they cheered on The Turtle, or Rangers fans who cheer on Avery. You put goon hockey on the ice as your product and you'll collect goons as fans. You put classy hockey on the ice and you'll get classy fans, you put gritty hockey on the ice (Wings!) you'll get gritty fans. What gets me is that there are players on the Ducks I like and respect as players. Hiller is impressing me a bunch, and his brutal honesty off the ice is great. Selanne has always been a great player and same for the Ducks captian, he's one of the best to play the game. How these guys can stand being on a team and coached to be so thuggie is beyond me.

No the team did. Babcock only decides who goes out on the ice when. What they do out there is up to the players. This was a team loss and a double plus lucky break for the Ducks. End of story. The OP is spot on and so is the article. Move on and win boys!

Great heart, XxGoWingsxX, but its too long. Shorten it considerably. Get to your points fast and hard and your case and sentiments will ring louder to whomever reads that.

True the wings blew it themselves by sleeping through the first 30 minutes of the game. But still that was a crap call. All we can do is take our lumps and move on. Bad calls happen, refs miss stuff, refs show special treatment to certain players and teams. Life isn't fair no matter how hard we try to make it fair. Its just life. Maybe this will be thing that gets the Wings interested in competing this spring, cuz I can see that the Wings just don't want it as bad as the Ducks right now. I dunno why, but it seems to have been a thing through the whole season and now here. If we lose this series, that will be why. The Ducks have the will to win, we don't. When the Wings have the will to win for 60 minutes they are unstoppable. This is the same thing I see year after year when the Wings are in the playoffs -- they defeat themselves. Its weird, I watch other series and I can see other teams out playing another and winning, but rarely do I see a team, besides the Wings, defeat themselves buy not bringing their A game and willpower each night.

I like this idea, like the old review of the stick rule. Let the teams challenge a call or two. If they lose then 2 minutes in the box. Simple, fair and can work. +1 for you.

This is no different than anything else in life. The simplest solution always fits. The more complexity you shove into something the less it works. The NHL, since I've started watching hockey in 1995, has become more bloated and bureaucratic with each passing year. It seems like every year I have to learn a new rule. WTF? The NHL is now, like so many politicians, stuck supporting a losing argument. They know that was a crap call, and they know their ref screwed the pooch. But they can't (or rather, don't want to) question the refs on the ice. But then they do with the video reviews, so nobody knows what to expect. They can disallow a goal but not re-allow a goal? That's foolish. This era of hockey is too boated. If the NHL wants to improve then they should, IMO, toss out the current rule book and go back to something much older and start from there. Screw this interference B.S. Screw the trapazoid. Screw (inconsistantly) calling every bump and tap a penalty. Hockey is better when the rules are simpler and the players can get out there and play and the refs are allowed to use judgment and context. Plus I don't think the two ref system has ever worked right. Simple is better, but Betman and his lackeys don't get that.

I don't think he'll be back in this series at all. He was injured at some point in the BJ series and then had 8 days off before game 1 and he still wasn't well? Forget it, he's done. Wings have to rise above w/out him. There's no other way to cut it.

Yeah we need Raffi back and Drapes for the faceoffs. Those two injuries are killing us, but they look to be long term injuries. This day-to-day stuff is nonsense.

I like Babs too, but I miss Bowman dearly. He made shuffling lines a matter of habit, that's (one of the many reasons) the wings were so successful under him. Opponents could never predict who was coming out when. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. It was a brilliant strategy -- tinker till it works. Bowman is the best ever. Babs only shuffles when things are looking really bad. At least he makes changes, which was better than Dave Lewis who just stuck to his lines no matter what the hell happened.