Wingsallwin

I did not care how Hossa and Datsyuk played until the end of game 1 because it showed that the Wings have great depth on both offensive zone and defensive zone. However, I start to get little scary at this point. While the Ducks ALL BEST PLAYERS play their good hockey, not ALL BEST WINGS PLAYERS play their good hockey. It was good to see Datsyuk looked much better in the overtime but more concern should be on Hossa. I am not bringing up the jinx or some other bad memory but before the last season's playoff, Hossa was known as a PLAYOFF CHOCKER. I love Hossa so he should perform very well but his playing level now is very hard to understand and more likely not being able to accept in my mind. I do not know this is any wrong on our first line chemistry or personal thing. His all wrist shot was too easy to save for Hiller so I hope he performs far better. We know our third liners: Huds, Filp, and Sammy are performing better than we expect and yes, it is good to see. However, to win the series and to defend the Cup, our best players have to come up the level we want. If I see Datsyuk and Hossa now, it seems both players play up to only half of their potential level. They seriously have to come up big today and if both players do not come up huge, it will be a huge trouble and we have to set all the lines differently. It is not important Rafalski and Draper are out at this time because Ozzie, our checking 4th line, and D-mans looked fine from my view even though few of D-mans really looked bad in the 1st and 2nd periods of game number two. I never worried of our offenses before the series started but I think it is time for us and the Wings to realize that the best players have to play like our BEST PLAYERS, NOT LIKE 3RD OR 4TH LINERS. I still think Datsyuk-Hossa-Holmstrom line is our first line over Zetterberg-Cleary-Franzen line so 1st liners have to play FREAKING AWESOME tonight.

Let me add one more my comment: I agree some people not only Wings fans but all non-Penguins fans really hate Crosby but it is not only his fault because every media overly exaggerate him too much. However, he made himself a fool too. If you listen to his interview, he just bashes all the work done by referee and has no respect toward other players or other teams.

Unfortunately, I have to miss the game since 9:00 PT. I live in Vancouver so I can watch until idealically 1st period and little bit of 2nd period but I have a class at 9:15 PM PT with my English tuitor so I cannot watch after that time. Do not care how the things have gone so far. The Wings really have to take this game. It will be an ugly set if we fall behind the F*cks. Just same things alaways mentioned but hopefully the Wings keep their work perfectly as they did since the 3rd period in game 2 with the addition of far better performance from our best players: especially Hossa and Datsyuk. Go Wings Go!

While the Wings have to keep everything they did in the 3rd period of game 2, the last thing is that our BEST PLAYERS have to play AWESOME. It will be ugly if we lose this game and go into game 4 by behind. Go Wings!

The thing is, it is also quite funny how crybaby fans protect him by stating that Crapsby haters start the debate first and make hatred on Crapsby without any reason. The truth is, this ****** makes himself an idiot and such an as*hole.

Excellent This Cindy Crapsby needs to learn how to react after the end of a game. He totally looks like a crybaby all over the ice. It is quite funny how s***sburgh fans call him NHL's golden boy. It is all Buttman's fault.

At the end of the season, Mason posted really bad performance like one month something like this. That is why I had a confidence because everything can be changed but as the matter of fact that Mason is a ROOKIE AND ONLY 19(I think). However, Hiller has been consistently good, not sensational like Mason but really solid. Moreover, regardless of Ducks goalie situation, as YoungGuns1340 said just above that this year's Wings look very similar to 07 season's Wings. Regular season, even though we were the 1st that year, this year's Regular season team is far better and the playoff, we performed better than 2007. However, what makes me worry is that the story of 2007 looks to repeat. For game 1, the score was 2-1 as my memory. Next game, different story but same end; went to the over time and allowed a goal. Next game 3, we destroyed the Ducks by 5-0. I do not know what will occur tomorrow but I kind gained the scariness from yesterday's game. It is not important series is tied evenly at this point because only 2 games are played but the laziness the Wings showed in the 1st and 2nd periods should not happene again until the end of the series. If the Wings bring up same effort and the level of their play from since period 3, I have faith the Wings will claim a triumph. Besides, the first line really has to show some effective work or result. Neither way happens, I am going to be sad.

By the way, the one guy above there who said Filp has a rocket shot made my mouth being shut down.

Wasn't he known as the offensive D-man when he was in the Kings and the Flames? ( do not remember correctly though) He has been really good throughout the playoff so I hope he gets some ice time during the period of PP.

Well as we know, the defenses are the most important positions on the power play situation. I think Stuart is a really good fit with Kronwall and Lids in the PP units. I seriously do not know why Babcock keep using Sammy on Power play unit. I do not say he is atrocious but he cannot shoot hard. He looks to do only wrist shot but that does not work well against Hiller. I have nothing against Sammy but as I kept mentioning this story that we should remove Sammy from PP units, he should not be only PP units and putting one of Ericsson or Stuart on PP unit with Nick. Besides, I think most of our power plays were converted by Zetterberg line. The thing is, the 1st line has to step up for PP units. During the regular season and the series against the BJ, our first line looked pretty good on PP time. However, at this point, they sometimes looked not being able to even set up the power play position and wasted the time. I saw many threads here about our PP situation which has been good but bashing sammy but with criticizing his incompetent PP play level, we have to blame our first line too. It is not I bash our first line: Hossa, Datsyuk, and Holmstrom. They really have to be looked brightly at least since this time. Their playing level is unacceptable.

I hope the same story does not repeat this year as 07. In 2007, I remember we played pretty good, actually played better even though many people said the Ducks would win that series. That year, Kronwall, Schnider were out so we had to call up Quincey. The only D-man playing that year and this year is Lidstrom. This year, however, we played far better than the Ducks and it is not Hiller is somewhat unbeatable. The thing is, we look to find the same spot to beat Hiller; most people say his weak part is upper part so we shot a lot but I do not know what happened but Hiller looked comfortable against upper body shots. Raffy is a big piece of this team regardless of some people's comments "he is a liability defensively or he sucks blah blah blah.." I really do not know why some of important Wings players get injured during the Ducks series while the Ducks keep the roster healthy. Minus Rafalksi is a big lose for us but it is not like we cannot win without Rafalski. We still have to find a way to beat the Ducks. I seriously do not think our defenses and 4th lines have been poor. They looked pretty look and shifted well. The thing is, the rest of the series must be decided by the status of our first line especially Datsyuk and Hossa. If they do not step up, this series will be too tough. All of Ducks difference makers step up but not all of Wings difference makers have not stepped up yet.

Varlamov, next Cam Ward?

That Ovie's goal was awsome. What a ROCKET!

I heard Kenny stated that he would call anyone from GR if Babs says he wants anyone in the Griffins. I think if Babs really wants Leino, Kenny will make a move. Before calling Leino, we have to do something with Hossa and Datsyuk who are doing nothing offensively.

Good PK by Caps so far

I agree with you 'GoWings1905'. However, I think there will not be that harsh problem even though we put back ZDH line again because we saw Hossa ccan work with Franzen and Filppula. Without any doubt, Datsyuk and Hossa have to show their potential skill play maximum but it cannot be done by expectation and assumption. We also saw Hossa could work hardly on defensive zone. I loved the line Zetterberg being with Franzen and Cleary but 2 serieses also show that Wings TWO OF BEST PLAYERS do not play that good offensively. If this line combo is working well, I am going to be happy for sure but the thing is that Babcock just puts the same line combo every shift. I meant, he could test some line combos. When Datsyuk is on line, he always put Hossa and Holmstrom. Before that, I think it will be better that Babcock shifts many different players on different lines so get the result of chemistry.

The fact is that no particular 4th line player played bad; I would say they played really well. You saw Maltby, Kopecky, and Helm went to the corner to purchase the puck and hit the Ducks hard. I have no complaint on them. Two guys who are extremely underperforming now are Hossa and Datsyuk. According to your story, as Datsyuk and Hossa are extremely playing invisibly, we have to replace either of them by Leino? I think that will go on worse way. I will be happy if Leino is called up but I think Leino is pretty far from the role of 4th liner. I will be still happy if he gets called up.

Excellent post Ozzie did everything he could during the 1st and 2nd periods while the Wings were wondering "What are we doing woo hoo~". He stopped all break away from Miller and so many chances from the Ducks line and Teemu. That is all. Ducks outplayed the Wings in the 1st and 2nd periods so there cannot be any complaint on Ozzie. But while I am cheering for Ozzie, I think the last goal was soft. I do not know whether Stuart screened or not but it looked easy to make a save. I could be wrong but that was disaapointing by comparing the last goal to his overall good performance yesterday. Besides, everyone has to calm down. I thought the Wings would play very tough against the Ducks because I knew the Ducks are not 8th seed quality team and before the series starts, I reminded myself that the winner of this series will win the championship of the west and has a great chance to win the cup of this year. Just because we lost one game, it is not the end of the series. Let's have a faith on the Wings to play far better in rest of games especially in game 3 and game 4 on the road.

I will be pleased if we call up Leino but how is GR going in the playoff? I have no idea the status of the GR Griffins. Anyone update?

I am not going to bash Hossa for only 2 games against the Ducks in this series but Hossa surely has to step up. As much as I love his defensive ability, his offensive skill has been invisible. It may resulted according to zero chemistry with Datsyuk and Holmstrom but his slump or inconsistency cannot be excused in that way. I think before blaming Hossa, it must be a time for a line combo change. We now have three scoring lines while the Ducks have only one (Merchant's OT goal was a shock but their all scores came from the first line). We really need one solid line to SHUT DOWN DUCKS FIRST LINE. My ideal line up is ZDH Hossa-Mule-Filp Sammy-Huds-Cleary Maltby-Helm-Kopecky(or Draper who is still suspectful from the injury) I still do not know why Babcock is still too stubborn about separating Zetterberg and Datsyuk. These two guys work far better when they play together; Babcock must know way more than us about this genuine and obvious fact but still wonders he does not use this line anymore after Hossa came to the Wings.

As much as I want Rafalski back to the series in game 3, it would be better if he comes back with full health. If he comes back game 3 with a horrible condition, he will screw up the game defensively and not even sure about PP ability. Before we talk about Rafalski, we have to use ingredients in front of us usefully. I really like the combo Nick and Ericsson and nothing against Kronwall and Stuart. However, as I watched the 2 games, when our 3rd pair was on the ice, I always felt nervous because as Getzlaf line contains around 27 minutes ice time, it means that line also can play against our 3rd defensive pair. Lebda, Meech, Chellios, or whoever should be supposed to step up. I think, sorry for Chellios, but he has to sit down for this series or rest of the playoff. The Red Wings know they have to play with 6 D-man, not 5 D-man. Besides, if I have to choose either Chellios or Meech, I would go Meech at this point. I would love to follow the amount of experience Chellios has but he cannot play more than 8 minutes. On the other hand, Meech can play for a long time as possible.

The thing is, whether that was not a bad penalty or obvious penalty, allowing goal on PK sitatuation gave the Ducks all momentum. Luckily, Sammy scored to tie 2-2. However, that was not enough. Before the series starts, I thought the Ducks would take like 10 penalties every game but they do not seem to do that after game 1 when they took all the penalties. On the other hand, the Wings did not control their emotion well enough and took some unnecessary penalties. Moreover, our best players were absolutely invisible during game 1 and 2. I love Hossa being the Wings but he is doing nothing at this time. He has to step up because we really need him. It is good to see our 2nd and 3rd produce a lot of points and it shows our offensive depth but if any teams' best players show no heart on the game, those teams will face the tough time and that is the situation of Red Wings right now

I think that was an easy shot and Ozzie was supposed to stop that shot. However, if anyone doubts Ozzie's yesterday performance, they either bash Ozzie without any or did not watch the game. Besides, I agree on you about taking some meaningless penalties. Chellios and Lebda(I do not remeber correctly) but they took some stupid penalties and converted to two goals in the first and second periods. Hate to say but Chellios has to sit down at this point. He even could not play more than 7 minutes regardless of his age or physical status. Raffy should be back for next game; PP looked lost and lost all defensive puck battles on the corner.

I wonder some people really watched games today. The Wings OUTPLAYED the Ducks since the 3rd period. For sure, the Wings looked sloppy in the 1st and 2nd periods but since the start of the 3rd period with full engagement, the Wings absolutely dominated the Ducks. The Ducks even could not shoot that much and even though they made some chances, Ozzie did not look hard to make that save. The only thing I am really concerning about is that whether Datsyuk and Hossa can really step up to the playoff level. I do not expect them to be the GOD but they are the type of player who has an elite level skill. As we blamed Zetterberg for being sloppy before the 3rd period, he found back his game and played enough well since the 3rd period. That kind of result should come from Hossa and Datsyuk too. As much as people are frustrating at this point, people have to realize the Wings fought hard; not full of 60 minutes but they obviously deserved a win today. Can you guys really doubt this? In addition, I think the Wings really need to get back Rafalksi. I saw most of his play this season with turnover and losing the battle on the corner but he has been enough good in the series against the Blue Jackets. Without him, the Wings power play did not look that sharp and made tons of mistakes in defensive zone. I really love Ericsson but I think the 1st pair should be Nick and Rafalski. Our 3rd pair was not bright so I am not happy but Chellios should be healthy scratched this playoff. His ice time is only around 6 or 7 minutes while Ericsson's ice time can be possible for all situations.

I never expected the Canes would make a chance to win this series but now I do. Not just because they won today's game but they showed some heart and Boston's inconsistent offenses look that they can be holes. As I said before, the Bruins have been terrific overall this season based on their defense cored by Chara but if I were the Bruins fan, I would not have faith on Thomas whose I believe have ZERO STANLEY CUP FINAL EXPERIENCE OR MORE THAN 2ND ROUND.