xtrememachine1

I'd like to see a substantial upgrade in defense (who wouldn't?). We can't have anymore of this, "Well this guy isn't as bad as this guy, so we'll put him in." At the risk of sounding like a politician, we need to put the D back in Detroit. When we at least made it to the conference finals three years in a row, we had fast two way forwards, cheap goaltending (Osgood and Hasek each made around a mil) and a strong defense. Some teams rely on their stars or goalies, the Wings have always relied defense. I think Holland's job should be reallocating the money we're spending. Weiss and Howard are making too much. Weiss is obvious. As for Howard, I'm not picking on him because of how he played in the second half this year, I'm picking on him because he's not $4 million better than Mrazek. We had $10 in cap space riding in the pine in the playoffs and that doesn't include Franzen who's making another $4 mil. We should be using that money to build up our defense. Phaneuf and Green would do well in Detroit. Green is exactly the kind of defenseman Babcock wants. He would fit in here similar to how Rafalski did. Phaneuf is a big guy that would log a ton of minutes, block shots, and has a big shot from the point. I'm not saying he can replace Lidstrom, but he can do a lot of the things Lidstrom did for our team that has been missing for the past few years.

I'm definitely less interested now that the Wings are out. That never used to be the case though. I feel like 10-20 years ago more teams were likable. Today, I feel like lots of teams have these overrated stars that disappear in the playoffs or stars that are so arrogant its impossible to cheer for them. Back in the day and for many years, I only hated Philly and Colorado. Today, I hate like half the league. I think the messes with our ability to watch the playoffs after the Wings are done.

I don't have the numbers, but I read that TB matches up really well against Montreal and did really well against them in the regular season. This is why Montreal fans wanted us to win.

Before our series against Tampa I said I'd root for whomever wins that series, but now that we've played them, listened to their fan base, listened to their coach accuse us of cheating and witnessed this BS Kronwall suspension, I just don't have it in me. If they win, great for Stevie, but if they lose, I'll be more than okay with that. This is why you can't have a second favorite team as soon as they play each other in a playoff series, regardless of the outcome, you'll end up hating one of them in the end.

Now it's time for the easiest part of any coach's job. The cuts. Although I wasn't able to cut everyone I wanted to, I have cut a lot of you. Cole is cut. Kindl is cut. Zidlicky, you're gone. Marchenko, I like your hustle, that's why it was so hard to cut you. Congratulations, the rest of you made the team. Except you, you and you. Ohhh look Cleary wasn't cut. What a surprise!

I think we'll tie it, but I feel like we'll tie it late, then it'll go into 18 billion overtimes.

Close tight checking game, Wings will be up 2-0, TB will score late and make the final minutes stressful as hell, but we'll win.... and the crowd will chant "Red Wings suck" as we walk off their ice victorious.

So a lot of the players from that 2013 GR Griffins championship team are on the Wings now. I remember a lot of ups and downs during that playoff run and remember thinking they seem to be doing everything the hard way. Notice anything familiar with this playoff run and the one back then? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Calder_Cup_playoffs Every single series, they had a chance to wrap it up at home, didn't and then won the desperation game. Against Syracuse (TB's minor league team incidentally) they lost twice at home with the Calder Cup on the line before going on the road to win it. For whatever reason, these guys have a history of not finishing off opponents at home and do better on the road. Here's hoping that trend continues.

If it wasn't for Mrazek, TB would have had 6 or 7 goals last night. He has two shutouts in this series and was 5 min away from a third and this isn't some grinder team we're playing either. This is the highest scoring team in the NHL. I was a little skeptical about starting Mrazek over Howard in the beginning, but I think after Game 3, he cemented himself as our starter for this series if not the entire playoff run, which needs to be longer than just one more game. Our team is inconsistent as hell, but we've battled this hard and nobody gave the Wings a snowball's chance to win this thing. Heck, people were picking Winnipeg to win their series over Anaheim, but not us. Time to make these "experts" take the Winged Wheel seriously again.

Well, everybody else has been coming back to close out their series at home. Why not us too?

Yeah, I was a little confused. I heard them chanting something, but then I was like "Is that for real? We're blowing out your team, on your ice, in a critical game in which your team had all the momentum. How is that in any way, shape or form sucking?" If anything, they should be booing their own team for the lackluster play. They're 2 for 24 on the powerplay and both of those goals were scored in Game 2.

Not sure, but if Glendening has any bullet holes in him, I think we'll have a better understanding. I didn't think I'd hate the Lightning after this series regardless of the outcome, but.... now I'm kinda starting to. lol

Took me a while, but now I can't stop laughing.

Translation: "They're playing defense. That's not fair. How are we supposed to score goals if they have their players just following our players around, stealing the puck, and getting in front of our shots? They're cheating. They just need to let our players skate wherever they want, sit in the slot and wait for an uninterrupted pass so they can one time it. Preventing us from playing our game is just wrong." Seriously, Cooper needs to grow a pair. They're losing because they're getting out coached and getting out coached very badly might I add. Saying that the other team is "cheating" is the first step towards failure.

Unless goaltending turns into an issue for Anaheim, I can't see them losing this series. The Ducks have way too much talent to be beaten. They would have to beat themselves. Ducks in 5.

It has to be really hard to be a Blues fan. Even in the years when they show so much promise, they still lose in the playoffs. They have a team and play a style, I would think would be good for the playoffs, but for whatever reason they just don't do well. I don't think Hitchcock is the problem. This just need more scoring, maybe another 30 goal scorer and more consistency out their goalies. Allen and Elliot are basically a product of the defensive system being played in front of them.

Final scores aside, the Wings have dominated TB in each of the last three games. The fact that we've been able to do that, means that TB doesn't have any answer for what we're doing. At home we get the match ups we want, we have the crazy home crowd which has been great and we have a chance to end it tonight. I can't imagine us not winning tonight, but then I couldn't imagine us blowing a 2 goal lead at home in the final 5 minutes either. TB's going to be desperate and if we want to win, we have to be desperate to end it tonight. It won't be easy and I'm thinking it'll be really close, but we'll win like 1-0 in OT.

Here we go. 5 min. Lets Go Wings!

Bye Pens! What changes should they make or what changes will they make? They need to stop trading good young d-men for rentals. They need to hang onto draft picks. Honestly, I think they would be better off with a cheaper goalie and use that money towards getting another good forward for Crosby to play alongside. The changes they will make will be minimal. They'll drop a few forwards, probably the rentals they got this year. Maybe lose Martin. Overpay in free agency for replacements and continue to get worse. We complain about Holland a lot of this board and I think a lot of it is justified, but at the same time, he's not willing to overpay for mediocrity, which other teams like the Pens do and that's a big part of our success. Yeah, we're not favorites to win the Cup right now, but I would much rather have a team full of young guys that we drafted and came through our system on our team and have cap space, than be right up against the cap, and be forced to overpay for veterans because there's no one in the minors worth calling up.

While its a tough loss, considering we could have been up 3-1, its still a very winnable series. Yes, TB has all the momentum and home ice, but they also have all the pressure to win this next one too. We're going to win Game 6. TB has proven that when we get the match ups we want, they can't handle it. So Game 5 will just determine if this thing goes to a Game 7 or not. As for the Wings, this team is mentally tougher than some give it credit for. We showed a lot of resiliency in games like the one against the Pens at JLA earlier this year. While it was disappointing to lose after being that close to winning, the veterans will remember losing Game 5 in the 2008 Finals with the Cup on the line on home ice and blowing the lead with a minute left. Only to go on the road and win the next one. As for the younger guys, a lot (if not all) played on that 2013 GR Griffin team that won the Calder Cup and I remember it wasn't smooth sailing for that team either. They had some tough losses along the way and bounced back. All in all, I think after 4 games, I feel much better about our chances to win the series than I did before the series or even after Game 1.

I think the fans could really help us. I think the Wings feed off that energy and in Game 3 the fans were really into it. They were cheering for every little thing, chanting for any player that did anything. I can't remember the fans being that involved in a playoff game in years. I don't think whomever wins this game, wins the series. I could easily see the Wings winning this in 6, if they lose this one. That being said, I think we win this one and go up 3-1. Abby and Smith (yeah, I know) were solid additions to the lineup for Game 3, it'll be interesting to see how Tampa adjusts this time around.

We actually have a good record against the Rangers this year, so I wouldn't mind playing them. I just want the Pens out. They're a streaky team and if they would somehow come back and win this series, they'll be a pain to knock out. And as much as I'd like to listen to NBC praise the greatness of Crosby, I'd rather just see the disappointed look on his face during the handshake after Game 5.

Great win for the Wings last night. Mrazek is pretty much going to be our starter for the rest of the series unless he completely falls apart. "Our 23 year old rookie goalie had 44 saves in his first NHL playoff game and won" are words I thought I'd never say. I know a lot of people are freaking out about the lopsided shot totals, but isn't it nice to be on this side of it for once. I mean, over the years, how many times have we seen the Wings dominate, completely out shoot the opposition by a wide margin and lose the game? This kind of loss puts the Lightning in a tough spot now. They did pretty much everything right and still lost. What adjustments do they make for the next game? Uhh score more goals? Not really a strategy. They're probably just going to come out the same way they did last night and hope its good enough this time around. The Wings on the other hand have an opportunity to adjust. Adjust strategies, lines, personnel. Datsyuk was his usual self. You knew Helm would be a force in the postseason like he's always been. Luke Glendening reminded me of Yzerman in this game. Hardworking, never give up, score the big goal. In those final 12.8 seconds, he lost the critical face off in his own end, but then blocked the shot and kicked the puck out of the zone with his skate, then blocked any easy re-entry into the zone. If everyone plays like that, we'll win this series, hands down.

I understand the move, but I can't imagine a scenario where Mrazek wins this series for us. He's been better than Howard down the stretch for us and did shut them out recently, however, 23 year old goalie with zero playoff experience and consistency issues throughout the year doesn't give me confidence. Howard hasn't been good, but the playoffs are a whole different story, he has playoff experience and if can get back into his usual form, we could go pretty deep. I hope I'm wrong, but I bet we see Howard in this series at some point.

Well he's had an history of injuries, so we all knew this was more than likely to happen. Too bad it was a season ending injury though.