Torless

It sucks, but ... We all know that there were some bad calls last night that were key to gaining/keeping momentum. Would the game have swung the other way? Who knows... Wings are up 3-1 and Babcock once again gets to show why he needs to be the award winner, here's the full quote: "The way I look at it is this: In the league, there's lots that goes on, on the ice. Sometimes a guy gets tripped and you miss it. Some times, things go wrong and you miss it. Just don't make stuff up, that's all. Kelly Sutherland's a good referee. He just blew the call. That's life." And he always blows it off in the end and helps the team move on... he doesn't go on and on about bad calls like Trotz

Found this short snippet on Mlive.com - apparently Turco spoke to the Dallas News after the Ribeiro/Ozzie incident: "When the intensity rises, we like our chances in that regard, too," Turco said. "We don't think much of them on a personal, character level. We think that's to our advantage." I used to respect Turco, but after calling Ozzie "gutless" in spite of all the mean-spirited tripping/slashing he himself did in game 2 and now calling their personal character into question... talk about a ******. Look - many people will agree that both Osgood and Ribeiro could be blamed for the little infraction. First of all, Osgood didn't do anything that Turco didn't do to Detroit during the game... not to say that he's right in tapping him... but Ribeiro was inarguably wrong in slashing him - pads or not. I think they made the right move in fining them both. I'm not claiming that Detroit hasn't done their share of tripping/hooking/slashing... but the whole team deals with infractions against them with a lot more integrity. In fact Red Wings TV has a game-day presser with Draper in which he praises the team and suggests a respect for the Stars. Turco is losing a lot of respect for being such a sore loser.

I think the most satisfying thing so far after Dallas has been acting out on their frustration is the amount of times they've either smacked into each other or the boards on a pathetic hit attempt. It's hilarious how many times the Wings have stepped out of the way on a hit... all that is missing is the wacky cartoon sound effect.

That one's my favorite excuse. Does anybody bother looking up anything anymore? I see plenty from both sides though - it's just funny when so many doubt what's obvious to everyone else. It's like when Ozzie gives up a few goals on 15 shots and everyone comes down on him for being a soft goalie - and then Nabby drops 3 on the same in the playoffs and you don't hear a thing about it.

The Stars are a great team - Brad Richards has been one of the biggest contributors to their success in the playoffs. However, they aren't a great team against Detroit. Turco hasn't won a game in Detroit. Ozzie alone has a great record against the Stars, and the only loss to the Stars this season was 0-1 with our replacement goalie Howard. Sure they have strong defense, but we're comparing Dallas defense to the strongest defense in the league. Ozzie may not stand on his head as much as Turco does, but a goalie shouldn't have to anyway... he made some great saves in Colorado and got the job done. If Dallas has to rely on Turco as it seems like they will with their rookie defenders, it'll be over in 5 or less. Remember, both teams are hot right now - not just Dallas The Wings aren't going to treat this as a sunday picnic either. Detroit is Turco's kryptonite, just as the Central division was our Achilles Heel this year. If I'm not mistaken we were 15-5 against Pacific Division this year... Wings in 5.

Chara: G A P +/- 17 34 51 14 Phaneuf: G A P +/- 17 43 60 12 Lidstrom: G A P +/- 10 60 70 40 Look at that +/- ... could it be any more obvious?

I think we can all trust the front office to do the right thing with this newbie. That's one of the things I respect most about Detroit - they might not get all the top young prospects, but that's because some orgs are willing to dump everything on the possibility of a new Crosby or Ovechkin. Detroit at least appears to care about their players enough to make the newbies work for their spot - and guess what? It works. He's 23 - if he has any wisdom inside that clouded brain of his, he'll jump on board the team with a tradition of winning and earn his way to the front lines like all the past greats. --- and seriously, I don't know why there's so much flaming of Sammy and Hudler... we've seen Hudler make some great shots in this series and as far as Sammy turning over the puck, I swear we're not watching the same games. Turnovers - sure, it happens... but he has some excellent puck-handling skills as well. Every team needs grinders like these two - they do a good job IMO.

I for one don't believe that Hasek is all washed up, but why keep playing him while he's in a slump? Osgood has been stronger lately - he's playing more confident... and be honest here, Hasek has let in some pretty bad unscreened goals and has given Nashville the momentum they've needed to get this far. They're not playing exceptionally well, they're just winning on a goalie during a bad slump. It's not like we're down 2 - we're just having to start from a tie again, and we know our guys can do it! That said, there's no reason that we can't use a different strategy... it's the winning strategy that has been working all season after all! GO WINGS