bonan78

Based on the video evidence, I'd have to say Dupuis scares me the most. If he takes a whack at Datsyuk's bad foot like that, he may be out again. P.S. 87to71 is a moron. As my grandpa used to say, "Stick it in your craw, woman."

Pure Unadulterated Win!

I'm no doctor, but I think this guy needs a proctologist. Or maybe a gynecologist, he's got something up somwhere. BTW, Orlando is way nicer than Pittsburgh, even my Pens fan co-worker agrees with me there. Enjoy the view from second place, douchebag.

I voted that the Wings are getting more of the ref calls, becuase it's the calls that the refs have missed against the Penguins that are killing us. 30 seconds of too many players on the ice (notice I didn't say "too many men"), Orpik interfering, Cooke kicking Osgood, whoever it was that cross-checked Franzen across the side of the head, etc.

What's the point of this?

I expect this game to be very similar to game 4 of the Chicago series, we come out and take it right to them, they will be emotionally spent after last game, we will slam our foot down on the pedal and not let up one bit. Hossa gets his 2 goals, plus 2 assists as he sets up goals by Datsyuk and Filppula, the crowd outside the Igloo bursts into flames, the Wings take it in 5 on home ice, Holmstrom Draper and Maltby all announce their retirement after the parade, and all is right with the world.

Victory is assured Even at less than 100%, Datsyuk is enough of an offensive threat that it changes the way the Penguins pick their matchups, and he can take care of Crosby so Zetterberg can focus on shutting down Malkin.

After watching that clip, I'm now torn as to who I want to see get Kronwalled next, Cooke or Cindy. Anyone else notice how they always show clips of the other team's "big hits" right before someone gets destroyed by Kronwall or Stuart? In the Chicago series, they were showing a lot of Ben Eager throwing his body around recklessly, then in the next game Havlat got posterized, in the Columbus series, they were showing Torres doing the same thing, then Stuart made Umberger his prison girlfriend. Look for one or both of them to rock someone in game 4. Too bad Kopecky isn't around to challenge Cooke.

As the OP already observed, Wings fans are not upset about the call on Ericsson, that is a call that you almost have to make, but the main cause of our complaint is that the officials have chosen to ignore violations that were just as obvious by Penguins players. I counted at least 3 plays by Orpik where he either interfered, slashed or cross-checked a Red Wings player and there was no call. As for Zetterberg in the crease, yes in game 1 they could have called it, in game 2 he blocked the goal line with his body, good no call there. Finally, as for Hossa's "slash " on Dupuis that led to the GWG, Dupuis broke his stick on Hossa's skate and was dropping it when Hossa hit it, so there should not have been any call, again the right call by the refs. The vast majority of intelligent Wings fans here realize that there is no conspiracy to hand the Cup to the Penguins, but we have a legitimate beef about the officiating trends in this series, especially when the league is supposed to have selected their best officials. It's disappointing and frustrating, but nothing more. All that being said, we have been atrocious on the PK and we can't afford to take as many penalties as we have, and we definitely cannot afford to have the refs making bad calls against us.

As much as I'd like to see Draper, Maltby, McCarty, and Holmstrom retire after winning their 5th cup, I don't see it hsppening. As was already stated, Draper and Maltby still have contract left, so they will likely play out the remainder of their contract and then retire. We have guys that are ready to step into the lineup full-time, and others that are waiting in the wings (pun intended) that will be done a disservice if these veterans stick around much longer. As classy as they are, and as much as they place team ahead of self, I think they will end up having too much pride to skate off into the sunset after getting one for the thumb.

Evgeni is Russian for Eugene, hence any nicknames for Eugene work for Evgeni as well. I personally prefer Gina over Gino for Malkin, especially after last night's hissy fit and attempted slap-fight. I wonder if he's been taking tough guy lessons from Semin or Burrows.

I'm not Canadian, but I've been there a couple of times, does that count? Can I be a 3rd pair D-man? I'm not very fast but I can slash someone on the hands as he blows by me on a breakaway, ala Hal Gill on Darren Helm.

QFT I can't say I'm surprised that this guy who came in holding an olive branch in his hand had his fingers crossed behind his back, and the second his team faced any adversity, he shows his true colors. Ash says "Run home and cry to Mama"

I can't believe Hossa missed the empty net. To make it worse, that would have given Filppula an assist and extended his scoring streak. Oh well, I don't expect them to be held off the scoreboard tomorrow. Hope Datsyuk can go tomorrow, but I don't really want to see any of our forwards have to sit the way we're playing right now. Go Red Wings!! Tighten that grip on their throats. Captain Insano shows no mercy!

Obviously, Zetterberg gets the "C" Datsyuk is one "A" I think either Kronwall, Filppula or Franzen gets the other "A", in that order. Also, look for Ericsson or Helm to letter in a few years.

This had to be done

Hope I did it justice

Two things, 1) Even with getting Datsyuk back, I wouldn't want to split up the chemistry that Hossa and Filppula have had, 2) Zetterberg and Hossa hasn't worked at all in the regular season, and I don't think it has even been revisited in the playoffs. This is more like it. Maybe Datsyuk can feed off the spark of his wingers, and if you wanted to make life a little easier on Datsyuk you could put him on the wing and let Filppula center the line sometimes, the wingers have a little less running around to do defensively. Cleary has definitely earned his way into the top 6, and that line has been lethal, size, speed, net presence, skill and defensive ability. If they keep Crosby and Malkin separate we can match up with both, if they keep them together we throw the Cleary-Zetterberg-Franzen line out against them with Lidstrom-Rafalski on the blue line.

Before I begin my remarks, let me say that I am a Red Wings fan, not a Penguins fan in disguise. The Penguins are an exciting team, and although the league has given Crosby way, way, way too much exposure to the detriment of other legitimate stars such as Ovechkin, Datsyuk, and others, they are deserving of most of the hype. Their stars are young, they have a feel-good quality about the organization, especially with Mario single-handedly rescuing them from the brink of disintegration. They will be contenders for years to come if they continue to build on what they are doing right. OK enough of that, I hope that we go out and dominate them like last year, that we shut down Crosby like we did Malkin, and that Bettman has to watch his golden boy skate off while he hands the Cup to Lidstrom again.

Lets compare, the numbers don't lie: Detroit Forwards, average age 28.46 years (Abdelkader 22, Cleary 30, Datsyuk 30, Filppula 25, Franzen 29, Helm 22, Holmstrom 36, Hossa 30, Hudler 25, Leino 25, Maltby 36, Samuelsson 32, Zetterberg 28) Pittsburgh Forwards, average age 28.07 years (Adams 32, Cooke 30, Crosby 21, Dupuis 30, Fedotenko 30, Guerin 38, Kennedy 22, Kunitz 29, Malkin 22, Satan 34, Staal 20, Sykora 32, Talbot 25) Detroit Defensemen, average age 31.88 years (29.71 without Chelios) (Chelios 47, Ericsson 25, Kronwall 28, Lebda 27, Lidstrom 39, Meech 25, Rafalski 35, Stuart 29) Pittsburgh Defensemen, average age 30.0 years (Boucher 36, Eaton 32, Gill 34, Goligoski 23, Gonchar 35, Letang 22, Orpik 28, Scuderi 30) Now, let's look at the number of Stanley Cup Champions per team: Detroit 37, Pittsburgh 5 Detroit has 8 players with multiple Stanley Cups, 6 who have won multiple Cups with the Red Wings Pittsburgh has 0 players with multiple Stanley Cups, and 0 who have won the Cup with the Penguins They have a slight edge with age, we have a HUGE edge with experience. I still like our chances.

Before I ignore this troll, let me reply to this nonsense. We whipped a goalie who single-handedly got his team into the post-season, and is the favorite for the Calder and the Vezina this year. Then, we overcame a physically challenging 7 game series with the last team to win the Cup before us, a series that featured several blatant attempts to injure, during and after games, and the now infamous Intent to Blow incident. Not to mention that Hiller's play in net was the main reason his team was in the playoffs and knocked the President's trophy winners out. And don't be so quick to brush off Chicago either. They are so much like your team it's eerie. And look what we did to them. I'm all for spirited discussion and a bit of homer-ism here and there, but you sir are a moron, and obviously don't watch much hockey other than your beloved flightless birds. I will take an added measure of enjoyment watching Hossa skate with the Cup on your TV screen, I only hope that you are man enough to stay and watch.

I kinda stole this idea from the Ducks Photoshop Wars (and part of the image too)

Isn't that special, they even make golf carts in little kid's sizes

I google searched "penguins run over by car" and found a sign from some park, that's where I got the green bits.