SDavis35

Buffalo lost last night, so Wings have to bring it early and often. If they can take advantage of these back-to-backs by the other teams, we have a few that we should win. 2-1 Wings (OT)

And apparently Heatley can play in such a situation...

Before the Olympic break there was a post (maybe a thread) that included the %chance that teams would make the playoffs with certain records down the stretch. The one I picked (23 games remaining for the wings) as realistic gave them an 80% chance. They had to go 13-7-3 in those final 23, since then they are 2-1-1, leaves us to go with 11-6-2 in my opinion. Very possible, but I'd rather they do better, and I think they can.

This is one I don't agree with, mostly because there is zero chance of being reviewed, and the ref often makes an error. It would seem that's the biggest gray area. The review on this I would hope are because the refs made a mistake, and should only be used if the puck goes in the net before the whistle - if there's reason to blow, goal is called off, if there's no reason for it to be blown, goal counts (not including phantom penalties). As for the most recent disallowed goal... I didn't mind because I felt like an understandable call, Homer was in the crease, and Anderson could be said that he had no room, whether it be to push off or maybe his stick got caught up in the skates, plenty of excuses can be made. Regardless, there have been worse out there. The game 4 against Dallas is probably worst.

It was ghost town out there! Imagine if they had lost?

Ahh, FINALLY back to the Wings! Glad Babcock won his gold, can't wait to agree with the people on this board again!

good, i wasn't the only one that remembers that. PK for Canada, and clearly a hit from behind, coulda really changed up the game there. Also... surprises me that Dan O halloran and Bill McCreary are getting praise for a well-reffed game this time around... didn't we hate on them for the past two Cup Finals?

It hit Luongo's glove... barely, but it did.

Are you kidding? They'll talk about how Crosby is going to win Gold despite playing the Bronze medal game!

I don't understand what the problem is with this... it's not like players don't do this in NHL games. Isn't Maltby known for being the pest of the Wings? If there was something different I obviously missed it, but that's not the same as the "classlessness" that I see out of Pronger/Niedermeyer. Iginla on the other hand has something that just brings me to be happy he's on my team. I think he's one of the players who brings it on the ice, but is still pretty classy off the ice. Crosby has such a bad rep on these boards that it's hard to see that he's a really good player, I hate his publicity but his play is deserving of his captaincy on Pittsburgh - he may not get all the points, but with the game on the line (Switzerland) he seemed pissed off and took control. Even scored to make the USA game close. It's hard to root for the cheapshotters, but the rivals are not quite as difficult. Also enjoy seeing Luongo out there saving us from time to time. Overall though, I find myself cheering for the Wings players on the other teams rather than their teams themselves. Something about Canadian pride pulls me into root for Babcock's team.

I'm would remove most of those teams... Sweden, Finland and the Americans have by far the better goaltending, and I would say that if not for Hiller, then the Swiss don't have much backing them up either. Russians would be about on par, mostly because I haven't seen all that much exceptional play from Nabokov (Though Bryzgalov has been the backbone in Phoenix.) Vokoun being better than even Fleury though... not believing that one. I think the biggest problem with the Canadians is that our defence feels average. I forgot Halak from the Slovaks... he's on par with Vokoun from what I've seen, did steal that game against the Russians for sure though. Canada also has the only team with Cup rings in goal... not saying it means much as far as the Olympics go, but is interesting to see that they can win games and now the guy who hasn't is in net. As much as I'd like to see Canada win a medal, it's not happening unless Louie steals the tournament. So yes, he will lead them to gold IF they win, but it's not looking all that great right now. I picked Sweden, and I still like Sweden - tons of composure, just working together like a machine and a great goaltender. on a side note, I was thinking about the teams who've made the quarters already... all our Wings players have made it to the quarters, right?

Shh! don't give us Canadians any hope! Fun video though.

I just hope every American remembers Miller as the reason they won this game. Brodeur was crap... and looked like I was the guy in net on those goals. Miller though, Rafalski, huge contributers and makes me proud to have a guy like Rafalski on the Wings. There's still one more chance to go for gold, but can't be allowing stupid goals like tonight. I feel as though Brodeur was the reason we lost, he looked like regular season Ozzy out there. Luckily I'm not taking the hit hard... my favourite players are doing well in this tournament and I've been appreciating a well fought games that have made this tournament fun to watch.

Agree; Canada's biggest weakness yesterday was keeping the puck in the zone, especially on the PP. If they fix that they're going to be in the gold medal game. Americans (I didn't catch much) were playing a decent team. For the US, my question mark is about the scoring, they have pretty good scorers, but I'm not so sure they'll be able to keep it going against the better defensive teams. They could beat Russia, who (imo) are weakest on defence, but can score at will. Of course, like it's been said, games are won on the ice. Passion levels are bound to be high for the Americans, but if I had to give gold to the most passionate... Canada would hold that honor, being the home team brings soo much more pressure and expectation, and you can see it in the crowds in Vancouver. In the end though, it'll be good solid hockey that should be fun to watch. Much better than women's hockey.

What are the rules about the trade freeze? Can the GMs still be in conversations but take no action or is it completely cut off?

This is what kind of makes me nervous about the scenario, I never know what Kenny's got planned. It'll be disappointing to see any of the wings go. Haven't had time to get attached to Williams, and May isn't really tops on the list either, but other than that I've really enjoyed watching the players on the team this year; losing them would be a little disappointing.

But we should still treat it as 9th, since in the end there are no games in hand.

Has a point... there was that one point in the third where I felt like I was watching a completely different team, the one I have grown to love. Scary stuff if they find a way to pull that for an entire game. I'm hoping that was really the point where they finally wake up, cause all those locker room talks haven't sustained much pressure on the playoff-bound teams. I don't agree in saying they don't care, but there IS another level these guys can play, they just have to play it.

Every game this week HAS to have a playoff mentality. We HAVE to at least keep even in points with Nashville at this point, then beat them in our games against them. However, I wouldn't be happy if we were just "keeping even" with playoff position teams. Go Get 'em Wings!

I was kinda hoping we could get a 4th... but that does work out just fine.

Pierre also talked about Fleury's finger "EXPLODED" when he fractured it...

This seems to be the biggest problem, look what happened after we scored. We nearly took the game over then and there. It's just simply a team that needs to find their drive again. Passion is there, but not quite the drive, there's something missing about it, maybe it's the "x-factor" that we need to pick up.

Hasek was also quite skinny, and only weighing in at 160 lbs or so. Of Course... his style definitely helped.

at least Phoenix dominated the shootout...

Well, there's pro-osgood, pro-howard, and pro-changers in here... I'm on the pro-change side - Howard has allowed 3 (or 4 in the last one) goals in his last 4 starts. Truth is, he's no longer the "hot goaltender" that he was earlier, so getting back to regular rotation is far more intelligent an idea. If Osgood gets hot and starts winning games 2-1 or 1-0 then no doubt keep him in the way Howie stuck around. If Babcock can pull it off - find a way to get both goalies sharp at the same time, watch the Wings shoot up the standings. If not, then I'll settle for the battle to get in.