BigWinston

Ozzie is in no way, not even 1% responsible for last nights loss. He kept the team in it! It's special teams and turnovers causing all the grief... - Sh*t at PK's - Mediocre on the PP - Fantastic at turning over the puck Here's one thing I don't get - If I'm trying to shoot a puck, and there's a D-man standing 3 feet in front of me - I may be a little cautious that the puck may bounce of him and go behind me leaving me screwed (It's not made of lead ffs). Hit it down the boards, play it across the blueline, hell- even hit it back to Ozzie - but don't just rifle it against the defense-mans legs!!! (WINGS IN 6! - BTW, my prediction all along! )

If they're the better team (which I don't doubt on paper), then they need to play like it! At the moment they've played pretty badly this series and are still in with a shout. If they can elevate themselves a little past the horrific display that was game 4 (giving up 3 odd-man rush goals in 5 mins, plus a ton of other sloppy stuff) then they can still win it.

I don't get it - I read a lot of different hockey boards. Why do all Pen's fans feel the non-penalty/penalty-shot you refer to cost you the game, like you were 100% odds-on to win if you'd have got the call?? Wasn't it in the middle of the second period???? It didn't "cost you the game" - It just took away that goal scoring chance and the chance of any resulting power-play or penalty shot. Who know's if the Pen's would have scored from that situation, and how Detroit would have responded. Maybe the Pen's would have gone on to win, or maybe it would have made Detroit play all the better and dominate the Pens. You just don't know, so to say it cost you the game is ridiculous! Its no different than saying the 6-men on the ice missed call cost the Wings the game. It didn't, just a power-play chance!!!!!!

If you imagine yourself as Hossa and you can choose today which team you play in the finals for with a view to obviously winning the cup - he isn't choosing Pittsburgh!

Default answer : Wings in 6!

So the wife was listening to a guy on 97.1 yesterday talking about the game 7 tonight. He was talking about the inconsistent calls from the officials. He said basically that he could predict what type of a game it would be based upon the officials overseeing that particular game. He also said that it was only the NHL and its sad that it is that way. With that said - do we know yet who the officials will be for tonights game, how we can find out, and if they have taken part in an earlier game this series? Might be an indication of how the Wings/Ducks will fair.

What part of this post is negative? Did you even read it? "Just a bit of fun" really captures the negativity doesn't it? Clown.

THANKS! So, I put together this little table for anyone interested. It showns tonights referees and linesmen and previous games this series that they've taken part in... ---------------------------------------------- | R | LM ---------------------------------------------- Game 7 | Paul Devorski, | Steve Miller | Marc Joanette | Jean Morin ---------------------------------------------- Game 6 | X | Jean Morin ---------------------------------------------- Game 5 | X | Steve Miller ---------------------------------------------- Game 4 | Paul Revorski | X ---------------------------------------------- Game 3 | X | X ---------------------------------------------- Game 2 | X | X ---------------------------------------------- Game 1 | Marc Joanette | X ---------------------------------------------- So of the referees tonight, one appeared in game 4, the other in game 1. Both wins! I wouldn't buy too much into this - just a bit of fun!!!

EXACTLY!

Panicked; no, realistically concerned; yes. While there was something just off about the whole team last night (maybe the activation level Babcock likes to talk about), the Ducklings still only managed to sneak a couple in the net, and one was pretty darn lucky while the other was a good deflection. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind the wings will do enough to win the game and series. They WILL play well enough, they WILL create enough good scoring chances, in fact I believe they WILL dominate the game. Its just a case of the puck finding the back of the net. With the exception of the puck bouncing of a Ducklings foot and in (game 1 I think) the wings have not had many fortuitous bounces while the Ducks have had 3 or 4 (and that "call" in game 3 that still aggravates me). When concerned in times like these, I like to look and see how the neutral sees the game. When I checked this morning, the Red Wings were still strong favorites to win the Stanley cup with odds of 3.5:1, Boston 2nd with 5:1 odds. The Ducks were dead last with odds of 11.5:1. I read that as the rest of the sporting world give the wings the best chance of winning the series - which calms me down a little.

Hossa never clicked on the Datsyuk line really. With Z & Dats you have one of the best pairs in the NHL, and Hossa with Filps and the Mule - It's DYNAMITE. I want him to stay and think he will (based purely on wishful thinking).

While I do agree Chelios is a liability, he did draw a penalty last game. Of course that doesn't make up for the damage he does during the rest of the game. I wouldn't put Leino on the 4th line. Abdelkader should for sure be replacing Kopy - who lets face it in this series is a big waste of space. I find it concerning that Babcock is saying he's not going to change lines at all. If you're doing something wrong, and you continue to do it the same way over and over again, it'll all still be wrong. I think the Anaheim defense have figured out how to effectively limit our offense - something needs to change to make them question their tactics. I'd start by juggling some lines. Who knows though? Babcocks going to wait until the last minute to reveal the team for tonight's game - which he should. It may all be part of a cunning plan... Maybe all 5 were called up to give the rest of the team a kick up the ass.

Form is temporary - class is permanent. He'll come through, just right when we need him to...

Yeah - Perry only jabbed at Ericsson as the referee was inbetween them - he wouldn't have done it if he realized they would have been left to fight!! lol

No they all picked the Sharks last year didn't they. Can't go the same two years in a row - variety is the spice of life...

While I generally agree with you that Samuelson couldn't hit a donkeys ass with a banjo; he has scored some important play-off goals. You can't hit a puck with his sort of regularity and not have a few gems on target. Plus, a good enough percentage are picked up by fore-checking forwards and are turned into other chances.

Good and Good... Prefer to see Conklin in net these days. Some more defensive minutes for ericcson = Good

They're totally different players. Think of Datsyuk as a Ferrari and Z as more of a Aston Martin. Both fantastic cars, but for different reasons. Together though, its one nice garage. I would go on more, but .... lunch break over

Thank you. That comment made my lunch break!

I wouldn't. I see Leino being molded to step in for Hossa next season. Come October, Hossa will be somewhere else. I'll just continue to enjoy watching him in red till then.

I found the segment annoying to start with. I was too busy wishing the wings to get back into the game to care about some slovakian <insert appropriate description here>, then I heard Eddy Olchyck and that swung it for me... classic!

I was watching Vs. Tue or Mon night, and they showed highlights of a game - I cant remember the teams, maybe one of them were the Sennators. They showed highlights of a deadly (legal) hit. Best hit I've seen all season. Anyone remember who that was? Then a few fights broke out and players started making illegal hits. But the first legal one, that started the whole mess was fantastic!

It's obvious, for the time being at least, that with a 2 or more goal cushion PLAY SAFE, as all sort of crap calls are going to be thrown your way. That's not directed at Detroit, but the whole league.

As a side note though, I really like the Mule, Z, Flip line.

I don't think its completely disappeared. For the most part its still good. It just seems that for one period of every game so far they've looked like Bambi on ice. Thinking back, the majority of the games go one of 2 ways : 1. Defense starts out crap. Concede a goal or two, tighten up and our on-form offense makes up the ground and then some. 2. Defense starts out great. Get a nice couple of goal lead, then someone flicks a switch and the defense suddenly can't skate, can't position properly and can't find (never mind clear) a rebound from anywhere in their zone. Sometimes the lead was enough that the opposition can't claw their way back completely. The turning point seems lately to be giving away on a 5-3. I've already stated I thought the 2 calls that led to the 5-3 last night were probably caused by the officials and a few scraps of acid they had left lying around from the 70's, but some in prior games were justified - and the whole team needs to be more disciplined. THERE IS NO NEED TO GIVE AWAY IDIOTIC PENALTIES EVER! ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE A MULTI-GOAL LEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!