HeyNow71871929

It is irrelevant now. But there are speculations, not completely confirmed, that Malkin had 4 cracked/broken ribs since the Philly series. There was something about Sid playing with broken ribs and an injured groin. Petr Sykora was playing with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. Malone obviously broke his nose. And there have been other speculations of a player breaking his foot (may have been Staal because he came off limping after one of the practices). Once again, all irrelevant now. And once again, Congrats to the Wings and their fans. You guys earned it and enjoy the parade. Hopefully, we will be having our own very soon. Not sure how much longer I'll be on the board here now that the series is over, but thank you all for great hockey discussions and I look forward to having more with many of you here in the future.

Thanks for your kind words. However, my real big scare is that our wait may be too long for the Cup. For so many players, the Stanley Cup is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Some guys may never be able to make it back.

I just wanna say congrats to the Wings and their fans. You guys were the better team and rightfully deserved the Cup. This loss hurts me so much, but I am proud of the Penguins and proud to be a Pens fan that they went down fighting. Again, congrats to the Wings. A very classy organization, just like the Penguins organization Maybe a rematch next year.

Haha me too, my friend. Other than resigning Fleury and extending Malkin's contract, resigning Hossa is a top priority for the Penguins. Hope to meet for a rematch real soon. No matter what anyone says, this was a helluva series and very entertaining for fans of all kinds. And these are the types of series that can help the NHL make a comeback on the mainstream.

Yes, I do understand what you are saying. Basically what I am trying to say is, call the penalties on the blatant calls (case in point, Hudler in OT last nite). However, those interference calls could have gone either way. Those could be times to put the whistle away, but that is the beauty of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Adversity is synonymous to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Either way, helluva game last night. I don't think I'd be able to take it, if that were to happen again in Game 7. Can't tell you how many near heart attacks I had during last night's game. Unreal.

The NHL should not adopt anything that the NBA does.

I understand what you're saying. But, I'm in the belief that the players should decide the outcome, not the refs.

Pascal Dupuis didn't even see Helm and Helm didn't see Dupuis. Helm was trying to hold the line and Dupuis just skating as hard as he could to make a play on the Wings player who had the puck on the blueline. It was incidental contact. There was no harm intended on the play. Dupuis was just skating and Helm was just caught in a very vulnerable spot because his legs were hanging behind the line while his body was across the line.

WOW. What game were you watching then? Why don't you get in net then in a must-win game 5 in OT and show us how it's done? Your comments about Fleury implies true ignorance and neglect. Fleury won the game for us and he flat out amazing. He was also mindblowing. I think the whole team should go and buy a brand new car for Fleury and buy him dinner for the rest of the week as well. He was fantastic and absolutely astonishing. The thing I noticed about Fleury in these playoffs is that he makes difficult saves look routine. You probably fell into that trap yourself. Those glove saves he made aren't as easy as you portray them as. With all the distraction and confusion going on around the net and still keeping your focus and making save after save in a desperation game in OT, where all it takes is one goal, is truly admiring.

Very nicely put. I agree with everything, bot only because I'm a Pens fan, but it all really makes sense. It is very arguable to say Crosby is the best in the world. I completely understand. But as a long time Pens fan and watching this kid play 82+ times a year over the least three years, he has won over our hearts here in Pittsburgh. It can even be said that he had just as big a hand as anyone in keeping the team in Pittsburgh with his play on the ice and his maturity off the ice. And I have really really really been impressed with Detroit. And you, my friend, nailed it on the head when you said that Detroit's defense is just suffocating and can make even the best player, an average player. Maybe it's not the way Crosby or Malkin are playing, it's the way the Wings defense is playing. These 2 helped us steamroll thru the East in the playoffs, but finally met their match in the Finals. And on the other hand, I think this is going to be a good experience for 87 and 71 for their success in the future. I am still a firm believer in the Penguins and am not considering this series over yet. You have to win 4, not 3. While their isn't much to be optimistic about in the series for the Penguins, I still won't be calling this one over until it actually is over. And by the way, I do think that Datsyuk and Zetterberg are 2 of the more underrated players in the NHL and they have been very impressive. But, to be realistic, I'm not sure if I'm ready to put these 2 elite talents next to Malkin and Crosby even if this series hasn't brought the best out of #87 and #71.

That's a shame. Talking like a true Flyers fan. And here I was thinking everyone on here was above that kind of talk.

Yea that makes a whole lot of sense. To bench arguably one of the best players on the team and in the world. You would bench him so it works in Detroit's favor if he isn't out there. And by the way, all this talk about diving. We feel the same way about Osbad and Tomas Holmstrom. He went down like a ton of bricks when someone layed a hand on him. Oh, and I can't forget about the fairy, Johan Franzen.

What makes Nashville that much better than Ottawa? What made Colorado that much better then the Rangers? Bottomline is, both Detroit and Pittsburgh will be facing what they have yet to face tis whole season, let alone the playoffs. And the one thing that will make this series an epic one that will be looked back at for ages is the number of star players that will be on the ice. I mean look at this: Zetterberg Datsyuk Malkin Crosby Hossa Lidstrom Gonchar Rafalski It's gonna be absolutely unbelievable.

No question. Not cool at all to bring up Mario Lemieux and Roberto Clemente incidents. That was a little bit overboard.

Well it looks like our "pillars" have done a pretty decent job so far. So I will take it.

What if I told you that he is a lot closer to Draper defensively than you think? It's baffling how defensively responsible he is at the age of 19. I think you guys will find out in approximately 3 days. It's also puzzling to see how many of you guys just can't accept the fact that there are other players out there that are better than some of the Red Wings players.

I think Pensfan was sarcastic, thereby mocking all the people that think the Penguins had an easy time getting to the Finals.

I don't understand this at all. Unlike Lilja, Hal Gill plays and plays a lot. He is a key member of our PK and 5 on 5 defense. He's been an absolute horse since we acquired hm at the trade deadline. Granted, he has struggled mightily thru his years with the Maple Leafs, but barely none of it has been transferred over to the Penguins when we acquired him. You have not watched enough Penguins hockey to make such a biased opinion. Hal Gill, though he is slow, is an absolute stalwart for us and besides Gonchar, our most key defenseman in this series. He was terrific for us down the stretch and Gill also has a lot to do with how great our D has been in the playoffs.

I think the New York Rangers were a very good team and a very formidable opponent. That's the team the Pens fans feared playing the most going into the playoffs. They have a goalie who is in the running for the Vezina Trophy, a defense which was one of the tops in the NHL. And their offense had a lot of punch. They had 3 lines that can score against you. And just because the Penguins made that series look like a cakewalk doesn't mean that the Rangers weren't a formidable opponent. They had just as good of a chance at winning the cup as any team before we beat them in the Semifinals.

And the Wings have played challenging teams in the West?.... PLEASE.

NO JUSTIFICATION. And explain how this "not a TEAM" Pittsburgh Penguins got all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals then? We Pens fans can say the same about Datsyuk and Zetterberg, but most of us are knowledgeable enough to respect both of them and acknowledge how terrific they are in many facets in the game. It's a good thing not everyone on this board is as narrow-minded as you.

It is a very solid messageboard. Very knowledgeable fans there. Some may get a bit cocky but a lot of them do realize this will be a very tough series that can go either way. I am one of those.

YOU BE THE JUDGE: EASTERN CONFERENCE Team GP W L OT PTS GF GA Home Away Conf Last Ten Streak 1. Montreal* 82 47 25 10 104 262 222 22-13-6 25-12-4 44-20-8 8-1-1 3W 2. Pittsburgh* 82 47 27 8 102 247 216 26-10-5 21-17-3 39-26-7 6-3-1 1L 3. Washington* 82 43 31 8 94 242 231 23-15-3 20-16-5 37-28-7 9-1-0 7W 4. New Jersey 82 46 29 7 99 206 197 25-14-2 21-15-5 39-26-7 4-5-1 1W 5. NY Rangers 82 42 27 13 97 213 199 25-13-3 17-14-10 41-20-11 5-1-4 2L 6. Philadelphia 82 42 29 11 95 248 233 21-14-6 21-15-5 37-24-11 7-2-1 2W 7. Ottawa 82 43 31 8 94 261 247 22-15-4 21-16-4 39-28-5 3-6-1 1L 8. Boston 82 41 29 12 94 212 222 21-16-4 20-13-8 35-25-12 4-2-4 1L WESTERN CONFERENCE Team GP W L OT PTS GF GA Home Away Conf Last Ten Streak 1. Detroit* 82 54 21 7 115 257 184 29-9-3 25-12-4 47-19-6 7-2-1 2W 2. San Jose* 82 49 23 10 108 222 193 22-13-6 27-10-4 44-18-10 7-2-1 2L 3. Minnesota* 82 44 28 10 98 223 218 25-11-5 19-17-5 40-24-8 6-2-2 1L 4. Anaheim 82 47 27 8 102 205 191 28-9-4 19-18-4 39-25-8 8-2-0 3W 5. Dallas 82 45 30 7 97 242 207 23-16-2 22-14-5 39-26-7 3-5-2 1W 6. Colorado 82 44 31 7 95 231 219 27-12-2 17-19-5 36-29-7 5-4-1 2W 7. Calgary 82 42 30 10 94 229 227 21-11-9 21-19-1 38-27-7 5-5-0 1W 8. Nashville 82 41 32 9 91 230 229 23-14-4 18-18-5 36-28-8 6-3-1 1L Granted, these are only the 16 teams that made the playoffs. But top to bottom, the East looked lot more competitive and the 8 seed in the East had more points than the 8 seed in the West. In my opinion, there is no better conference. Both conferences are elite and one team or another did not get this far because of the conferences they played in.

Goaltenders stealing games is part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Offenses don't necessarily show up in every single playoff game and that is when you rely on your goalie to make some key stops and saves. If you have a subpar goaltender, forget winning the Stanley Cup, you may not even make it out of the first round. Goaltenders stealing games is part of hockey, part of winning, and part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And it is the goalie's responsibility to be ready for each and every thing in the playoffs.

And you're saying Fleury hasn't stole any games in these playoffs? He's been every bit as impressive as Osgood. Fleury has stolen a good 2-3 games in these playoffs. And in the other games, he had tried his best to keep us in the game and gave us a chance to come back. I understand this is a Wings board and expect to hear a lot of positive things about the Wings, but come one. Let's be a little bit more realistic and point out real facts.