dat's sick

He's now held Crosby without a point in 2 straight games. He saved a goal by throwing himself down on the goal-line. He stood up to Malkin's antics. Z is the f***in MAN.

I love Z. I love Abdelkader. I love Ozzie. I love this team. These haven't been 2 perfect games by any means. Tonight I thought the Wings looked sluggish for much of the first 2 periods. But they managed to win anyway. Can we get Datsyuk back for next game? Is Malkin suspended next game? These things could decide the series. I like Babs comment in the presser, the media totally misunderstood his comment about Crosby "head-hunting".

Intensity of the game is understandably way lower than yesterday. I like the look of the game so far, the Wings are controlling much of the play. We need to get some more shots on goals though.

Love Cleary's comment: "We've got a lot of determination and will..and we have Darren Helm."

Most likely. But who knows what will happen if the Pens are down a goal or two.

Malkin and Crosby won't be double-shifted on the 4th line.

Pens going back to 6 d-men tonight. No more double-shifting of Sid and Malkin.

Didn't seem to bad to me. They're homers, just like we are. There are stupid comments here as well. And this made me laugh:

I would say this era is probably more impressive even if the Wings don't win the cup this year.

Same. Homer is one of those players that I could never see in another team's jersey..

I think Homer has been playing pretty good the last couple of games actually.

What I would have given to have seen Malkin get Kronwall'ed for real there.. I hope him or Stuart gets Crosby or Malkin in this series.

If the Wings win, hell yes he should get it. He's been even better than last year imo, and he was one of the top candidates then. Btw, does anyone know who votes for the Conn Smythe, and when? Do they decide like right after the series is decided?

Helmboy Energizer-man Non-Stop ... I've got nothing.

I feel the Pens are going to play with even more desperation today. They don't want to go down 2-0. It's going to be more difficult than yesterday I think. Wings 4 - Hossa 2, Hudler, Lidstrom Pens 3 - Crosby, Malkin, Guerin

Cheli should be the captain after Hank.

I kinda liked the officiating tonight. Sure, they missed a really obvious penalty on Cooke, but other than that I think they let most of the little things go and only called the obvious ones. This is the SCF and I want to see 5-on-5 hockey and have the players decide the games and not the refs. But as you say, consistency is the key.

70% of the Pens goals in the playoffs have included Malkin and/or Crosby.

I was saying earlier in the season, when people were afraid we didn't have the "Dallas Drake factor" this year, that Helm could maybe add that same kind of energy and physicality to the team. I had no idea he'd be this good. I mean he was great last year.. but he's taken it to another level. Future superstar if he keeps this up and develops a little more of a scoring touch.

I can't remember seeing someone play with more heart than him. What a kid. And that amazing speed of his is going to hurt the often slow and sluggish Pens-defense, count on it.

Hank is the most clutch guy ever to have out there towards the end of the game when the other has pulled their goalie and is pushing for a goal. He was fantastic tonight in all aspects of the game.

We can't expect to keep them to 1 point or less in every game, but as long as we don't let them DOMINATE then we have a very good chance of winning this series. Z is obviously doing a MASTODONIC job at containing Crosby. If we can just get Datsyuk in there to take care of Malkin, and then have Fil out there when they're double-shifting Sid/Geno.. they'll have a tough time. When the series swings to Pittsburgh they'll be able to get away from our preferred matchups a bit and that will help them. I'm not counting Sid and Malkin out, but atleast we saw tonight that the two of them aren't that much different from last year.

I think Nick actually has a suit on under his hockey gear. That's just the way he rolls.

Holy s*** what a hard-fought win. I can't believe the Wings managed to win that 2nd period 1-0. We got a lot of good bounces tonight, but with some of the non-calls on the Pens, I think it evened out. Helm, Abdelkader, Maltby, Ozzie.. what studs. I love this team. Tomorrow is going to be even harder. But I'll be okay with a split. This schedule and the injuries made me fear going down 2-0 after the first two games. This game the team showed some real strenght I thought. The Pens gave it their all, but we managed to shut down Crosby and keep Malkin to 1 point. If we can keep those two players in check like this for 3 more games, this series is won.

Haha, I just said that despite how much I like Abdelgator and Leino, they don't seem to be ready to play on this high level just yet. I must say they've kinda proven me wrong here in the 3rd, they look great!