xtrememachine1

With everyone psyched about the Crosby vs Ovechkin matchup in this round, I wrote up an alternate Stanley Cup finals where Crosby and Ovechkin are teammates on the Penguins and Malkin went to the Capitals. How different would the Finals have been if the Penguins had Ovechkin instead of Malkin? All of these games were simulated using the What If Sports engine. Read from the bottom and go up http://www.post-gazette.com/fantasyfactor/

I just write what the sim spits out. Its not all that unbelievable though. The Wings were 34 seconds away from winning in 5 games in real life. Plus, the games were closer with Ovechkin as opposed to the spanking the Pens got in the first two games of the actual series.

I watched my first hockey game on TV and it was the Penguins vs Red Wings at the Joe in like 1987. The Pens won 6-5 in OT and both Mario and Stevie scored hat tricks. I became huge fans of both players and both teams. Even though I was a fan of both teams, after years and years of seeing me wear Red Wings jerseys and t-shirts, everyone began associating me with the winged wheel and the Wings began to feel like MY team, while the Pens were everyone else's. After years of having to listen to "Hey! What happened to your Red Wings? HA HA", I got the last laugh in HS when they won it all in my senior year (1997) and really got a great laugh last year when the Wings beat the Pens. Since then my fandom and love of this team has skyrocketed. I got engaged to my wife in a hotel in Detroit that's right near the Joe. My son, who's middle name is "Yzerman", was born in the same season the Red Wings win the Cup in Pittsburgh at the Mellon Arena which is 2 minutes away from the hospital he was born in. It was really special to me to have the Wings win it last year because someday I'm going take him to a Wings game in Detroit, point up to the rafters and tell him "They won that for you the year you were born." Winners or losers, this team will always be special to me.

Lets go Wings!!! One more win!!!!

I want to see him sign a 10 year / $7 mil contract (front load it of course) and then watch him retire after one year. lol Have Nick Lidstrom for less than a mill against the cap. The league would freak out!

With how well he's playing on a line with Franzen and Filppula, its tough to say no to him now. I think if we can get him for a good deal (like 6 mil or less) then I'd keep him. If not, there's plenty of other good players we can get to fill out the roster with that money.

Wow! 2000 posts for a win... good thing hockey fans are superstitious. Go Wings go! Just two more wins and these jackasses are on the golf course!

Happy 44th Birthday Stevie!! :banana:

This sucks... I don't have NHL network or Center Ice. Why the hell aren't the defending champs on national TV?? Why are all the damn Canuck vs Blackhawks games available? Who cares about them?? Why does every sentence in my rant end with a question mark?

Without a freaking doubt I want him back. Not only does getting him in our lineup help, it gets Chelios OUT of the lineup at the same time. This is like last year when Franzen was injured and we dressed McCarty. It was like a double upgrade when Franzen came back.

They're complaining about obstruction again too http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09126/967905-61.stm

No way Datsyuk is the man! lol jk

I'm guessing you're someone that threw in the towel in the first round last year when Hasek was replaced by Osgood. You can't win a championship without facing a little adversity. That's all this is. This is a championship team, they'll get through it.

It must be fun to be so pessimistic. Why exactly do you think the Ducks will win the series? Because of how drastically they've out played us? The Wings out shot the Ducks 35-9 in the final two periods last night. As soon as the Wings crack Hiller, its over for them. The Wings are a MUCH better team and look like it, even in a loss. Is winning the next three really that unbelievable?

LOL I'll make sure to bring up this post next Wednesday morning.

Here's some positive thinking. The Wings don't lose another game in this series. They are MUCH better than this team and as soon as they crack Hiller, its blowout city. Losing like this should only fire up the Wings even more. It was just one game, not the season.

What bothers me about this is that it was laying right next to Hiller! If he had been in the right position, behind the net, he would've seen it. Of course, he didn't see it from where he was, Hillers' enormous body was between him and the puck. He needed to move behind the net (or at least closer) and if he still didn't see it, blow the whistle. Not blow the whistle without looking for it. The NHL defending this makes them look bad. Ref: I lost sight of the puck NHL: Did you check the crease? Ref: Ohhhhhhhh... right. The crease I'm just waiting for a similar situation with the Ducks trying to score and it'll count. lol

No energy is stronger than pissed off energy. I have a ton of it right now, so I'd imagine that Wings players are exploding with it. Nothing is ever a guarantee, but I'm excited to see Game 4.

I didn't stay up to watch it (Thank God) and I saw the highlights on ESPN this morning. I saw it about an hour ago and I'm seething! First the call on Stuart. Funny how Anaheim is allowed to play physical but as soon as a Red Wing makes a big hit, its a penalty. Then Niedermayer crashes into the net backwards to score the eventual GW. I'm going to go through the roof next time we have a goal disallowed because Homer is "too close" to the goalie. Speaking of disallowed goals... what was that?? Lost sight of the puck?? Seriously, was that a joke?! Its laying in the crease!! Its a black puck on bright blue ice! None of the players lost sight of the puck. Maybe he should be in the right position before making that call. Weird, I remember back in 2007 in one of the first two home games against the Ducks, Hasek was laying on the puck, Perry or McDonald (can't remember which) poked at it and pushed Hasek into the goal and it counted. I guess refs had x-ray vision back then. I'm actually okay if the Wings lose by being beaten by the other team. I can think about what they need to do to get better, what they need to do differently, etc. But when you drastically out play the other team and the referees control the outcome, it drives me crazy! Thanks for letting me vent, but I doubt it'll be the only time today.

I think its because Leino is doing really well for GR and if he was called up for the Wings he'd be a 3rd or 4th liner. They want him getting a lot of ice time during the playoffs, even if its the AHL playoffs. Personally, I would rather see him up with the big club, he's proven he can play up here, but I'm not going to argue with the coaching staff. They know their stuff.

Perfect! That means he's about due for a big night!

I can't believe he said that. Talk about giving your opponents ammo. I mean, that REALLY makes him look like a poor sport and people that already call him a crybaby are really going to lay into him now.

I think re-uniting Datsyuk and Zetterberg makes sense for this series. The appeal of putting them on separate lines was that you could shutdown teams that had two good scoring lines like that. However, in this series, its all about the Getzlaf line. Shut him down and the Ducks lose. If Hank and Pavel can shutdown Crosby and Hossa in the Finals last year, they can shutdown the Getzlaf line. Plus, you don't really hurt your depth either because you still have a quality scoring line in Franzen, Hossa and Hudler/Filppula. I'd be surprised if we didn't see this at some point during this series.

I was thinking the same exact thing. From your lips to God's ears. Actually, if you could just change that to "We'll win 3 of the next 3 games" that'd be even better.

The Ducks won A GAME that was stolen by Hiller. They'll need to be much better if they intend on winning the series because they simply cannot win 4 out of 7 games getting out shot, out chanced and out played like that. Having said that, it seems like whenever the Wings have gotten knocked out of the playoffs in the past, they always out play their opponent and still lose somehow.