KocursRightHand

Is that Debbie Gibson as co-star?

Win this for the children. That is all.

You ever notice Mike Babcock's stock answer in his pressers usually begins with 'I don't know the answer to that question.'?

I will immediately go into Belichick mode--treating every man, woman, and child in a d!ck-like fashion while giving terse, curt, and abbreviated answers to their every inquiry.

Game 7's can come down to a single bounce, a single broken stick, and/or a single puck off a skate. I believe that, all things being equal, Detroit is the better team, but the better team can't control sticks, pucks, and bounces. No optimism here, only guarded hope. While it's not exactly a coin flip, i believe each have the upper hand in certain things, making this as close to one as you can get.

Gordie Howe will sign a 10 day contract, come back and on his first shift, will beat Fleury glove side from center ice. He will then bestow his light saber of a hockey stick upon Z who will hoist it up toward the pantheon where Gordie, Stevie Y, Teddy, and Terry will be looking down approvingly. Z will then let out a piercing yawp and decapitate every Penguin in sight forcing them to forfeit the series as Mario Lemieux weeps over Crosby's scorched helmet. er, something like this...

It's OK, Geno...That big, bad man in red can't hurt you anymore...He's going to a better place--the Hall of Fame.

See, game 1 is important, but with a veteran presence like the Wings, it's not a must win by any stretch. The Wings are a team that has the capability to come on late in series' because they roll 4 lines all series long. They can win a war of attrition, which means Game 1 is just as important as game 3 or any other. Skill + intensity + sustained effort = win. The wings are the total package, and over a 7 game series, this will bear out.

They do not suck so bad. That is all.

See, to me, it's not JUST the health of our guys, but what's left in the tank in those who actually do take the ice. I'd suggest that the Ducks series took more out of our guys than the Caps series did out of the Pens. Not to mention that the Hurricanes mailed in their series v the Pens while the Hawks pressed for 5 games straight. What's left in the legs? The reason this is so important is that Detroit beat Pittsburgh to all the loose pucks and won all the 50/50 battles last year and this was the key to winning the series. Detroit is deeper and even more talented two-way than last year. But guys like Stuie and Kronner have logged minutes that are fit only for bionic men like Lidstrom. Does this affect them in this series? Game 2 will tell us what's left in the tank, as I'm sure all hands on deck will be flying on adrenaline for Game 1.

Now that's a ballsy pick. I was gonna go with Lebda myself but punked out...

Hudler, Franzen and Stuart get goals tonight. Wings pull it out 3-2.

Watch these and you will be ready for tonight's assault... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuw7tcftAoU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ax-0rOaOs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYXYRficKwc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9RrHMTTbw

Thanks to Dom for his classy and honorable Cup run this year and for his service to Hockeytown. Well done to one of the greats.

I concur. 90 degrees and a playoff beard is a bad way to fly.

there are no tainted cups...

The point is that had it been reversed, the Wings would've likely been called for it. This is pretty obvious. Hal Gill is getting away with assault but the referee crew seems more intent on calling bogus goalie interference calls and phantom trips.

sorry, i don't see ANY blowouts left in this series. it'll be tight checking and close the whole way. either our guys sack up with some mental toughness or they don't.

nervous? of course i'm nervous. i'll be nervous until the final buzzer rings and the wings have more goals than the pens. i'll be nervous that when they shake hands, that the pens will remain as classless as they've been all series. i'll be nervous when zetterberg picks up his conn-smythe that it breaks into little pieces in his hands. i'll be nervous that Captain Nick may lose an edge when he hoists the Cup after game 6 or 7 and hit the ice. i'm just a nervous kinda guy.

2 words: Kyle Quincey

The guy's legs are toast. I think he's a non-factor and a defensive liability since he doesn't have the energy to back check properly let alone EVERy shift. Still, he's gotta be accounted for. I'm all for it, Michelle...

From top to bottom, the Wings are better at every position, including Janitor. Not just better, but decisively better. If they play their game, the Pens can squeeze out a game, maybe two v the Wings but this series is starting to look a lot like the Caps series in 98. I think Babs pushes our guys hard to get the win tonight and make the series an afterthought. Look for Franzen to get on the board tonight--twice.

The difference is that dats and zetterberg work hard BOTH ways, not just on the offensive end. The Pens back check is lazy and undisciplined right now, whereas guys like Dats and Z are supporting their d-men EVERY trip down the ice. This makes them better than Malkin and Crosby by leaps and bounds. The X-factor is that Dats and Z think the game light years ahead of the Pittsburgh kids right now. They are able to see 3-4 moves/passes ahead and be positionally near perfect. Right now, it's no contest.

2 words: Scott Stevens. This dude surfed the edge between clean and dirty for over a decade. That is how you instill fear--one misfiring synapse when you see Red and a 55 skating in is all it takes to make the difference between a tape to tape pass and a hesitant and slow pass...As long as these kids aren't thinking it's Larry Murphy, that is...