Sherwood5030

5 on 5 I think the Hank line is fine but I feel Cleary needs to be put on the Second PP unit in place of Bert

Nope... Can't blame Ericson there blame draper not picking him up on the backcheck he stopped moving his feet and then went to the other side of the ice. E wasn't even on the same side of the ice and stuart made the play to take the closest guy to him had draper moved his feet and picked crosby up that goal doesn't happen clear and simple...

Ha Pierre hurts my ears.... really Pierre, because i'm pretty sure if they retain sammi and hudler they will still contain pretty much the same lineup they won the cup with last year barring the defenseman who may be traded and drake. does it suck to see him go yeah does it hurt the wing's chances i don't think so. Byebye havlat probably and hossa may be an upgrade there but not enough to put chicago over the hump in my mind. Not only that the boys have the offseason to get healthy and hopefully homer can rebound after this season and come back to see ZDH aka one of, if not the best lines in the NHL. Still plenty of depth on the wings and now just more cap room to bring in another depth guy or an energy guy like drake was in the past. I think another energy type player is what the wings need the most though.

Must be why Staal and Malkin are carrying the load for him then......

Rafalski seems to not play well in Pitt. I would expect him to bounce back in game 7 Bench him? No.... Now, Brett Lebda on the other hand well yeah surely he made a huge mistake on that retarded pinch to cause the first goal. He has made a lot of bad mistakes in this years playoffs and they have been magnified plenty mostly, by costly goals one was in the columbus series one in the chicago series, and now one in the pitt series and i'm sure there was one in the anaheim series but i do not recall. We still won those series and thats something to be confident about. Bottom line, Lebda is making costly mistakes in big games, so far they have arguably cost us some games (except Cbus), and not a series yet. Here's to hoping the same continues on Friday.

I have a hunch that those post game antics by Pittsburgh have awoken the Machine. Match ups while they may pose a threat in some instances will be taken care of by changes on the fly. If the wings can win the time of possession battle we can make changes easier and will be able to keep matchups. Not only that I think Babcock will make some simple little movements in lines and D pairings sometimes to help with the matchups. Pens will definately come out energized but hopefully so will the wings knowing that they need to crack the crowd early. I think the keys will be to keep limiting pen's speed in the neutral zone, keep wearing down their sundial slow Defense man especially Gil, and most of all stop turning the puck over so much. I think we'll see a split in Pitt and wings in 5.

Does anyone else see a resemblance with him and the Geico Cave men. I'm not sure if anyone has done one yet and I do not have photoshop on this computer. That would be epic.

#1 Our defense has been stellar. #2 Their stars have been playing great in the East. Their performance has nowhere to go but down. The Wings stars' have no where to go but up at the moment. Hopefully my theory holds true.

Best Team in the league firing up the crowd, or best music in the arena firing up the crowd? I'll take the best team any day. The Joe's only duty to getting the fans into the game is before the game after that it is up to the best anthem singer around and most importantly the team.

Personally, I feel this is a coaching move to get a fire lit under Holmstrom's A**, and it definitely needed to be done. I would not be suprised if we see the lines different come game time or somewhere throughout the first two games. Actually I'd put money on it. I am pumped to see what Abdelkader can do with more minutes with top tier players. And all of this talk about Holmstrom not being able to play 5 on 5 is crazy. Yes he has struggled this year especially in the playoffs, yes he deserves to be demoted and it might just work to his advantage and the wings as a whole. But most of all i think the Datsyuk zetterburg "Holmstrom" line clearly showed last year that they are effective together, yes 5 on 5. This year not so much and hence why Homer has been demoted. But I wouldn't be suprised if this is just a coaching move to get him going again. That's my two cents on the issue.

He was just trying to send a message for the next game. Oh wait they'll be in golf outings by the next game....

Duno this may be pretty difficult. But if i were to suggest anything I would say that any goal that is scored but is waved off due to a whistle should be reviewable, especially if all four officials on the ice convene and any one of them says it was loose. There are four officials on the ice for a reason use them, its only common sense. To have one man make a call that important without clarification from his peers is just idiocy. Only in the NHL. To me it would be pretty simple if there is a quick whistle and a goal is scored first confine with the other officials and see what comes of it. If further review is necessary then they should go to video replay. Personally I loved what the spokesperson for the officials McGuire said "First off, as any of us watch on a replay, it's easy to make the correct call,'' McGuire said. This kills me, well yeah that's obvious, which is an obvious reason that it should be utilized. Officials are going to make mistakes but they way they handle it in the NHL is atrocious, and something needs to be done. To me these would all seem to be pretty simple reviews. you listen for the whistle, ask whether it was loose or not or if a player pushed it in from under a goalie and what not. Its simple really just provide clear cut rules for it that are black and white. Not gray like intent to blow the whistle.

In my opinion they just simply dn't seem to come out to play. To me it seems like they come out and try to establish a physical presence and with doing so they play right into Anaheim s game which benefits the ducks, as the game goes on they start playing redwing hockey and the ducks have a hard time. It probably does help that the ducks top guys wear out a little bit but if the wings would play wings hockey for the entire game instead of ducks hockey we'd be a lot better off leave the duck style to Helm and the 4th line. its a long way from over yet, and hopefully raffi is back for game 4.

tough way to lose a game from an obvious goal... I now know what it feels like to be a sabres fan. I'm just happy the cup was not on the line in this game. Plays like this should be reviewable. the nhls review rules are brutal much like a lot of other things in the league. I understand that the call was made but there are four officials on the ice all from diferent angles, if there is any doubt there should be a review of the goal especially since it was in the net before the whistle had blown. This is water under the bridge but the nhl instant replay rules irk me. One pucks that hit the net should be reviewable if the net is not there the puck would b gone. Two, goalie interference could possibly be reviewed as well although many slippery slopes could come of it maybe not make this reviewable but its either a penalty or its not. Third every goal in the playoffs should be reviewable, no questions asked. If the puck goes in the net it should be looked at, especially on plays like this when the whistle is blown after the puck crosses the line. Why can't these officials have a powwow much like football officials to get word to see if a review should be made. oh well the game is over, wings were screwed in the end, but if lebda would have put the puck in the corner like he should have the score would probably have been 1-1 and we could have been looking at overtime. Hopefully it lights a fire under their asses that they seem to be missing for the first 20 to 30 minutes of each game.

Lebda's the simple play would have been to get it deep into the corner instead of getting the shot blocked. bone head mistake by lebs hes been awful all night so far.

Amen, that one was on lebda for not making the intelligent defensive minded play, he has been flat out awful tonight.

I believe you are referring to when Homer hit him in game one. But he wasn't hit all that hard

Fail.....

1. Blame noone but the entire team for not playing a full 60 minutes of hockey in the regulation. 2. Not enough was done by the top two lines in the first two periods. in the end they out shot and out hit Anaheim. Z's line looked great in the third and beyond there is no doubt in that. they totally outplayed them and got beat by a shot that beat the tender its hockey things like that will happen, and I don't doubt for a minute that we will lose this series. 3. This game was brutal on Anaheim's key guys in my opinion they already log a ton of minutes, add two extra periods and that should benefit the wings i don't care how old it is said that they are. 4. This did not cause the wings to lose the game and I am not blaming them on the loss but the officiating was absolutely brutal in regulation and it went both ways. However, Anaheim seemed to be getting away with a lot. 5. Lastly, I love Ericson, he has shown some inexperience at times but for the most part he has done what is asked of him and done more in some instances. He has handled himself and Anaheim's top line well. With that being said this is not a knock on him at all but clearly i think the top two lines miss the puck movement of Rafalski, and hopefully he will be back in for game 3. and lastly Stuart and helm were absolute beasts all game long they played their a** off every time they saw the ice. But it all comes down to One simple thing and that is not playing with intensity, and desperation for a full 60 minutes.

and the paul bunion chop on cleary at the beginning of the 2nd

It definitely seemed like his stick to me and I feel that is just as bad or worse as Donald's hit. Further picture and video evidence show to me that it was his stick. I'm glad to see he was back when he got up i was worried but then i saw a replay of it and saw the look in his eyes and had a hunch he would be back. I don't know exactly who the CBC announcer is for sure he doesn't sound familiar to me and my cable company recently dropped CBC kind of bummed about that, but from the sounds of it this guy is nuts it was clearly a cheap shot accidental or not there was no need to follow through on that hit, especially with his stick across someone's face. Me personally I feel he should be gone for the series. We'll see what he gets though, hes a big part of their penalty kill, so I wouldn't be suprised if he only got one or two games, remember there seems to be a parity in this league now a days.

You are right he did not hurt us. He did not help us either though. The linesman made the too many men call.

I see your point, but on the other hand let's say they do let it go and Jackets enter the zone with a lot of speed and score, I guarantee there would be a lot more controversy there. Its merely about space and setting up a fore check and what not. If he does not play that puck like he should not have the puck goes an extra 10 maybe more feet before he can play it and that allows a team to set up more. That extra space can be pivotal for both teams. Either way, its a sad way to lose a hockey game because of a mental mistake like that. They will learn from it and they will be back in the future. Good luck in the off season and beyond, just not against the wings haha.

Yes, Ohio is a football state at heart I think everyone knows that, but good hockey can be found in the state just not very often in the southern parts. There is plenty of good high school hockey in northwest Ohio and the Cleveland area. However, if you look at it as a whole Ohio does not come close to the state of Michigan when it comes to hockey. Hence, why I found myself traveling north on I-75 just to play. Sure do miss those days though. As for "Top Shelf" this guy is a cancer to a fan base that already does not know much about the game (not all of you we know there are some that know the game.) The Jackets may want to look into signing this guy as an enforcer maybe he'll actually get a piece of our guys instead of flying into bench. Not that its over yet but they don't have much to lose as of right now haha. He's probably the guy that just joined a C level beer league and just goons it up and chirps like crazy to the rest of the guys who just wanna have fun playing hockey.