evilzyme

Games on tomorrow at 8, correct? I'm excited as ever for this one. Think the boys are going to make many posters start singing different tunes. Most likely the same ones that didn't want us to make the playoffs because "we would've just got spanked."

Still busy, but I was able to make this while I had a few minutes. Graph shows PPG over the course of regular seasons, 05-06 - current season;

I gotta get going, but i'll leave this here real quick. Its 2005-06 - last season, including Hossa's incredible 90/100 pt seasons, and Franzen's Colorado thrashing. Enjoy

I'm on my phone so can't type that much but besides 2 way play, didn't someone do the stats and their production is damn near the same and/or mule actually out-preforms hossa? It may have been on hfb... I'll have to check it out.

They said he's most likely out for the complete playoffs, even if we had made it to the finals. It's a 6-8 week recovery and the finals would fall right on the 6 week mark. Last i've heard they said he would be ready in July

Oh, I forgot some of my favorites: I do believe we didn't spend a frickin dime at the trade deadline, kept all of our prospects, and still have made it this far. I do believe others overpaid like no other and have zero percent to show for it. I do believe we won more playoff games than Minnesota. I do believe we made it to the second round, unlike Minnesota. I do believe Suter and Parise are enjoying watching Red Wings hockey right now. I do believe centcougar is enjoying watching Red Wings hockey right now. I do believe we won't have ~23% of our capspace tied to 2 players.

You know your boy rocks #25 and has all year, right?

I do believe we have too many fans that will jump to conclusions and talk badly about this team when they shoudn't. I do believe we have an outstanding team, and with the leadership group and coaching staff we have at hand, anything is possible. I do believe we just pissed off Anaheim and made Perry cry. I do believe we can beat the Hawks, and have called it all season that we can do damage in the post season. I do believe people are too hard on our players, especially when they talk out their ass and don't understand roles. I do believe Howard can steal a series, and has already proven that. I do believe Zetterberg is injuried I do believe Nyquist has improved like no other this season I do believe we are pretty "deep" and can roll 4 lines. I don't believe we should be doom and gloom. I don't believe this team is willing to give up. I don't believe we should ever give up. i'll add more later.

Haha, that was outstanding! I'm upset you didn't get to post that GDT... but I understand you didn't get to do your GDT that day. I'm expecting an over-the-top one for game 7 if we're lucky enough to get there! come on boys!!

I don't see Bert sitting, especially after he's been playing the past 2 games. I would say that Sammy sits, or Emmerton as others have stated (very unlikely though). Although Sammy scored last game, Babcock told him to be Abby in Game 5. He stated that although net front presence wasn't Sammy's game, if he was going to play on a line with Pasha and Zett, he was going to have to play that role. Game 5 he didn't really improve after Babs bitched about it. Because of that, I see Abby taking Sammy's spot. No other line-up changes.

Until the Griffins get eliminated from the Calder Cup, we can't do anything about anything. We don't even have any Black Aces because of it, otherwise we'd have them traveling with the team right now (which Tatar would most definitely would be apart of). Sucks, but that's the price we pay for having both clubs make their post-season.

The best part, besides the awesome chant, was Palmieri realizing his fate. You see that boy start backtracking as fast as he can, you can almost hear his internal voice screaming, "OH S*** OH S*** REVERSE REVERSE."

They can't bring up Tatar, so yes, it does make too much sense. Until the Griffins are out of the playoffs, we aren't going to grab anyone from the Griffs unless an injury happens and it requires an emergency call-up. Blame the Griffins making the playoffs I suppose?

Well then! I don't really see the point in playing Bertuzzi who looked absolutely horrible out there the other day, but i'll let the coach do his job.

I skimmed the article, but it seemed like a good idea. The biggest thing with gear is this; gear's gotten to the point of not only of where it's dangerous to others on the ice because of the size and protection but the effect of the protection allows players to feel like they are godlike. When I say this, I mean wearing these new guards and pads, it gives you a sense that you aren't going to get hurt. You don't think of the hit, because the gear protects you so much. When you get to that point, you start throwing hits you wouldn't throw originally. You would normally evaluate how much it's going to hurt you, and the other player. Sadly, if it doesn't hurt you, but still hurts the opposing player... you're more prone to throw these insane hits that are reckless. I would skim the gear down, make players feel more vulnerable, and they will play like they're more vulnerable.

Molasses could've made it's way down ice faster than Bertuzzi last game, no thanks. Bring Tootoo in and keep Sammy. He didn't play bad. He got the one penalty and started s*** which resulted in a 4on4 instead of the original powerplay for the Ducks.

Why does everyone think that Tootoo isn't going to play tonight? We need another forward. Taking Sammy from the 4th line and putting him on the 1st line still leaves a void on the 4th line. Between Tootoo and Bertuzzi, I'd see Tootoo in because Bertuzzi showed he didn't have the energy for the game at this time. So until Babcock says Bert is in instead of Tootoo, we can all just sit calmly and not jump to conclusions that he isn't being played tonight.

I don't think we can afford to drop him to the Wing. Moving Mule to the third line would then cause a hole in the 2nd line. You need to replace Abby with another big body that can do what he did. Nyquist or any other finesse player isn't going to help on that line. We need a bigger body, especially against the Ducks. Abby was utilizing his body like no other during this series, and was getting under everyone's skin. Plus, Andersson is a solid bottom 6 player. That's where the bread is buttered. I think moving him into the top 6 would cause some problems with him. We have numerous people that can replace his spot, but not a lot that can replace his "spot" if you get what i'm saying. We have numerous bodies that can roll into that spot and play in the NHL, but we don't have many character players that are willing to finish every check, be a workhorse for pav and Z, put his body in the crease every chance he can get, and be a pest. The closest I can see to that would be Tootoo, and i'm not sure how we would feel about that. Bert needs games before he could be up-to-speed top 6 Bert. He looked horrible on the 4th line the other night. As much slack as Abby got around here, he's going to be damn missed these next 2 games.

Alright boys, big game here tonight. The boys are going to come out huge tonight, and the crowd is going to carry them. I'm feeling a big crowd at the Joe tonight for the boys. They're going to be motivated and produce. Defense is going to come up real big with the loss of DeKeyser. Sammy is getting one, Pasha deserves one, and Kronner is going to clap one home.

Kindl has been our most improved defensemen besides Ericsson. The amount of poise he has brought to his game this season in unbelievable. Completely black and white from previous seasons compared to this one. He has gotten a lot more comfortable with his surroundings and knows what is expected of him. He is more than capable of leading a first pass, controlling and keeping the play within the offensive zone, and he has used his body very wise this season. He's starting to become and display the player we wanted when we drafted him. Offensively, he has contributed and gotten more comfortable with his weak side pinches. He's held the play numerous times at the blue line, and even while getting pressured at the line, he normally can always avoid and escape, leading a pass down further in the zone to keep sustained pressure. He's using his body very wisely and isn't afraid to knock someone on their ass. Does he make mistakes? Absolutely but in this group, who hasn't made substantial mistakes? He's a rookie, but he's acting like one of our best defenders right now. He should continue the upward trajectory as defensemen hit their prime in their latter years. He should become a very good player for our system, and grow with our beautiful young defensive corps now. Absolutely. I believe Anaheim has scored every single one of their goals on the power play, or damn near... If we tighten the ship with the speciality teams on the backend... watch out.

He called Diaz "player who wears #61", said that it was Diaz's fault for Eller getting destroyed (which it was). Said that you should be mindful of sending a pass in the middle of the ice, because it's a dangerous area of the ice. Basically, everything he said was absolutely true, but shouldn't had been said directly to the media. He could've responded with, "no comment."

Selanne was playing like a ****** goon all game. Him punching DeKeyser in the back of the head 3 times shown how frustrated he was. What is that though, a damn 43-44 year old trying to pick on a 23 year old? Buddy, if you wanna get froggy, go try that bulls*** against someone like Bert. Bert would've turned around and sent Selanne back into the womb.

He was dumb for even attempting the Michigan move during a playoff game. I cringe when I see players try it during the regular season. During the playoffs, I could just see Babcock cringing hard. Showing confidence? Maybe, but in reality, it was dumb to even attempt. Just dish the puck and get it moving. **edit** for the uneducated: this is why it's the "Michigan move" and certainly never should be called the "Crosby"

Hahahaha. I'm loving these tweets from St.James today.

We don't know how long it is going to last, but i'm sure the doctors wouldn't have cleared him if they sensed that it would act up immediately. To add on top of that, Bertuzzi purposely didn't try to get cleared on Wednesday last week because he wanted to push himself harder once more. It sounds like Bertuzzi has absolutely tried to push his back as hard as he can, without actually being in a game. He said that he made people cross-check him, give him jabs at the lower back, work him in the corners; if he can stand all of that, i'm sure he feels comfortable in the game. That's not to say that he doesn't get destroyed early on via a hard hit and it flares up.