Joseph Franks

To be honest, if I went to a rivals city, and tossed an Octopus onto the ice deep in enemy territory during a game that we were winning, the LEAST I could hope for is to get the finger. Nothing is more gratifying than pissing off the enemy, and then loving every minute of it. And when they respond like that, you know you've completed a job well done

Sens never do well in playoffs. I have wondered for many years, how in fact they could be a contender every season, and be so horrible in the finals. But it happens every year. Pittsburgh isn't owning them. We complain about a mediocre game and call it crap....Sens are really actually just playing absolutely like crap. Worst team I've watched in the playoffs so far....despite their win. (Note, I haven't seen every team play...but about half of them I have seen at least one game). Only bad thing about this is......Sens suckiness...is going to give the Pens momentum. Lets face it. None of us really like seeing the Pens do well.

Old, tired, played a lot of hockey......What, do they just read the same material from 8 years ago? Detroit is hardly old anymore. Miller. Eaves. Stuart, Kronwall. Datsyuk. Zetterberg. Erricson. Abdelkader. Howard. All....not very old. Now, lets look at some old guys. Lidstrom. Holmstrom. Draper. All guys better than many teams could even get on their second lines, despite age. The list goes on. If anything, Detroit is starting to look like one of the more rookie teams in the league, than an "old" team. Where do they get that crap from? --------- When teams that have not done well make it far in the playoffs, the ratings go up. People from a whole new demographic suddenly become hockey fans. (Aka Pittsburgh is the best example of this). The commentators are suppose to talk mad s*** about the teams that generate the most revenue. It's no longer about who is the best, in the NHL's eyes. It's about who will garner the greatest income long term. It's a sad time for hockey, but it's simple truth. I bet if you go back and watch the last 15 years of Sportscenter, Wings have never been picked overall as the team to win the cup. Not even in 2002, when it was practically a given. Wings winning doesn't earn fans. We're all already fans. Some s*** team like Phoenix winning....now that gets them a whole new demographic of fans, a whole new set of people to sell s*** too. The media, and all people associated with it, are for the most part....bulls***.

Bump. They're ahead 89 to 59. But then again, then again Pens fans spend less time watching games than they do trying to s*** talk the world about their team. Ever run into that guy that just can't strop bragging, something like "Barry Sanders knew my uncle". That is Pens fans in a nutshell. Give them a hockey game, and they'll maybe flip back to it once in a while during comercials. Give them a poll about the best team in hockey...and they're all over it.

Prior to the 2002 season when Detroit won the cup, I started dating a girl from Dallas. Huge hockey fan, but a Dallas fan of course, and so didn't really watch much hockey unless tickets were on sale, and there was nothing better to do. Then she moved to Michigan with me where she watched every single Detroit game, every other night they were on. We eventually moved out to Colorado. We were hammered during the 7 game series between Colorado and Detroit that year (Yes, the one with the statue of liberty goal, where Detroit was up 4-0 end of the first, and went on to win). To this day I still talk to her periodically, and she follows Wings games religiously, and playoff hockey in general religiously, neither of which she did prior to meeting me. During my time with this girl, I found a club called "Redwings Fans of Colorado", and a bar called "The Tin Lizzy" at which Redwings fans galore would conglomerate....in Colorado, to overfill the place beyond capacity during playoff games. People would overflow to the Old Chicago across the street, which would play all the Wings games on every TV.......right there in downtown Denver. In Colorado, I started dating an Avalanche Fan. Unfortunately to this day she is still an Avalanche fan, but I started dating her less than a month after Detroit took the Stanley cup in 2002 (Again, in route beating Avs in that game 7 Statue of Liberty goal game). When the Avs got knocked out that year by the Wild, and Wings by...I forget whom off the top of my head, we mourned together But I also got this girl to visit the Tin Lizzy with me, and the Old Chicago. We'd had a pact. I would go to her Avalanche bars, and she would go to my Redwings bars. For christmas I Got her an Alex Tanguay Avalance Jersey, and she got me a Nick Lidstrom Redwings Jersey. Anyone else got any good tales of cross rivaly friendships/relationships?

Oh I do, I just like to mess with people One of my old names was Truebladearmy. Had three others before that. But something about being overseas (korea, Germany...army lifestyle) means I can never get my passwords back again. Hit search and that name, you might remember me

Hardly a newbie. Just so happens that whole "Forgot your password" link never actually emails it. Plus, it's a guy who said, "Anyone but Fatso should win it." regarding Brodeur and the Vezina. His 10,000 posts since July 2007, or roughly 3300+ posts a year....10 posts a day for 3 years....doesn't tell me someone is a big dog. It tells me it's someone who spends more time talking about hockey, than playing, watching, or knowing hockey. Even the biggest e-p33n, doesn't go past the keyboard.

If you were as big as Franzen, and got knocked down, most likely driving through two dudes at once as he tends to do.... I'd like to see you gracefully get back to your feet. At what point has Abby been bad in the playoffs? I take it, you just have no idea what you are talking about. This isn't Soccer kid. Learn hockey, then speak.

Yes, Yes, Yes. Lidstrom is getting a bit older. In fact, I dare say he was partially responsible for one goal against us last game...but it's not very often one can say that. He still plays at a very high caliber, he's just....well...a lets admit it, getting a little less slick than he use to be. You can see it in his face when he does screw up a play, in the form of a very un-Lidstrom like rage. I say this because as I personally get older, it occasionally gets frustrating to KNOW that you just did something poorly that you wouldn't have done in your younger years. Down and out? Hell no. Lidstrom has a few great years left in him, but he's not always capable of making the plays he once made. It's frustrating to him. But, he's still the best D-Man on our team, and still a man whom I'd bear the children of. Jk Holmstrom in some ways is following the same path, with one exception. He's getting somehow even TOUGHER. I will not dismiss his goal scoring this season, but largely it was due to his proficiency at how he does his job at the goalies throat. Skill wise he's also dipped a bit, and if you were to scroll back to last years playoffs you'd find plenty of posts deeming him only worthy of the third or fourth line. Granted, posts made in anger don't count, but for those with short term, bipolar hockey memories (Which is 99% of us), his age is taking a toll. But, he's still the best at his main job in the league, and sometimes I wonder if he's not just getting better at it. Bertuzzi, now there is a subject of hot debate. Scroll back one page and you'll find a praise thread, two and a hatred thread, three and another praise thread. To be Honest, I'm very happy with what Bert has brought this year. A lot of season games he was either the reason we won, or the reason we stayed in, with his oddball goal scoring ability. I agree....he doesn't have the physical edge we all wanted all the time, and he gets sloppy sometimes, and when he gets near the goal with the puck perhaps he tries a bit too hard to make the fancy plays that maybe he shouldn't be making anymore, but his offensive awareness is still very solid, his size can still be used, and he can still score. Abdelkader has heart. You don't score like he has scored, hit like he has hit....as a freaking rookie, and not want to keep this guy around. Pending he doesn't slump himself out, or injure himself.....the dude is the real deal. He's a ******* hockey player. Helm has speed, and tenacity that we will need. The rest I don't have much to say on. All solid potentially sound players. I don't see any of them going on to be superstars, but I can see them replenishing our 3rd/4th lines over the years as we start to lose a lot of our 90's crew to age and retirement. What each of those three lack for now....is a personality. A "role" if you will. If each of them, or any of them....find a role on this team, then they will be well worth keeping. Will reply more later, on the rest. Gotta sleep.

Hands down agree. Throughout a game, having them separate is fine. Beneficial even. But when you're playing balls to the wall....we've seen Datsyuk and Zetterberg run a few shows in the past. When you're down, it becomes clear that the current "Game plan" hasn't worked so far. If you run up an alley in Call of Duty and die 5 times in a row, tendency is to not run up that alley again. But, the Wings seem to do this a lot these days. I understand that they remain separate because they produce two generally very effective lines, but when you're losing....you're losing. That's the best time to try to put all of your best on the ice at once, and see if maybe they can squeak out a goal. Line "Matching" goes out the window in the last 3-5 minutes of a game where you're down by two goals. At that point, you need to be trying to get your best guys on the ice as much as you possibly can....especially in a situation like game three where we had home ice advantage. Even when Phoenix tossed out a 3rd line near the end, instead of just tossing out our top 5 guys and seeing what happened, we tried to stick to the system......the same one that was already losing us the game. Maybe because it was only game 3. I know Bab's got desperate and tried putting them out together a bit during some of our losses to Pittsburgh....but now I wonder.... Maybe too little too late? Babcock will do it. Just perhaps, he should do it a bit earlier in losing games.

Bryz, isn't a bad choice, but I think some of you are baised in his favor due to this series. It's common knowledge that most of us here at LGW (This isn't my first account, been around for years, but PW mailing process on this site is fubar).......tend to force a bit of respect for those that we play in the playoffs, especially when we're losing It's part of the whole "classy" mentality, and for many of us that have been around for a while.....We try to see through the haze of glory and anger that is the playoffs, and see the positive for all sides concerned. A positive trait IMO, for Redwings fans to have.....but setting that aside.... I think 1) Brodeur (Yes, and his teams defense) had the least goals against, and is just a class act year after year. 2) Miller has been the most benefit to his team, considering what is in front of him. 3) Bryzgalov had a solid core in front of him, including as we've seen very clearly, one of the best 5 on 5 units in the entire NHL this year. Not to discount the man, but for what the Vezina stands for.....I feel it should clearly go to Miller or Brodeur. It's a trophy for outstanding goaltending.....and while Bryzgalov has done just a fine damn job, I'd vote Miller. Side Note: How in the HELL do we end up facing Vezina Candidates/Winners so often in the first and second rounds? My old Theory was that Teams with great goaltending, but not much else going on, tend to slide into low slots (7th, 8th), and as we're typically (1st) we just naturally draw them. But, obviously, this year that is not that case.

I don't blame Howard, but I won't be shocked to see Osgood in net for game 4. I don't think we looked too bad out there, but a lot of our little mistakes are turning into big opportunities for Phoenix. Turnovers and sloppy plays, poor puck control, inconsistent offensive, even a soft goal or two....it all adds up. The best way to beat Detroit is to get us off our puck possession/passing game, and Phoenix has simply done that very well. Hence why we're setting up the occasional mad rush at the net, but then chasing the puck all the way back down the ice every time. When Detroit isn't playing a solid possession game, we get no defensive scoring. When Detroit is not getting defensive scoring in the playoffs, it's usually a bad sign. There's a lot of factors to blame. But tonight our team as a whole just did not play well. Then again, we didn't play well the first half of game 2 either (Oh everyone loves to say "It was a great game!!" but go back and read the first half of the GDT 2 thread, and perhaps remind yourself of how we "actually" played half that game), or most of game 1, we also played pretty poorly. When you are going into game 4 and you have to admit that your team hasn't played well perhaps 70-80% of the previous 3 games, well....it wouldn't be our first early exit from the playoffs, and our play this year looks eerily similar to a few contests I can recall between 2003 and 2007. Don't get me wrong. I'm not an easily derailed bandwagoneer, nor a naysayer, but you have to admit we've seen this before. Though, I bet very strongly that we will win game 4. Detroit has the ability to turn it on, and while I don't think we're going to look "good" in game 4 either, we've got a lot of guys starting to step it up. With a little luck Franzen's goal was just a start, and I don't think we've seen the most that guys like Abby and Miller have to offer quite yet. Besides, Datsyuk is due a goal now

Currently I'm stationed in Germany so 90% of the playoff games I watch I basically watch online. Unfortunately, online streams are very unreliable, and frequently the quality sucks. Two that I use are NHL.COM Game Center --> Not free, but sometimes worth paying for the relatively good quality. Unfortunately, they do not stream all of the games. I usually order the season package. http://www.atdhe.net/ --> Free, but here in Germany it lags a great deal, and the pictures is incredibly fuzzy. Not to mention sometimes it just stops working all-together... What are some sites you've used, both free and pay?

Last 13 shots by Detroit. A goal is coming.