Matt

It bears repeating... "Hold still, please."

Just FYI, Kelly Sutherland was the one that waved off the Holmstrom goal, not O'Halloran.

WOW, no McCreary? Isn't that the first time in, what, 14 years? That WCF Game 1 call on Fistric really must have chaffed someone in New York.

Sorry, that photo just has so many possibilities...

Widescreen: 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 Standard: 1280x1024 | 1024x768 | 800x600 Enjoy!

"Just One Left."

Then just remember, we can't have any "Chelios with a walker", "Hasek in a wheelchair", "Buffalo wings with a Wings logo on them", "Baghdad Bob in Wings garb", etc. ones from Penguins fans now.

I'd be shocked if Franzen's not ready to go for Game 1.

That's hogwash -- if it was "season-ending" then there's no point in the club dealing with the daily media circus that is finding out Franzen's health situation. Besides, as a couple of reports have mentioned today, Franzen is now free of headaches and we're just waiting to get medical clearance from team doctors. The key is when Franzen was clear of the headaches... usually a week after that he'll be given the green light.

Except for that scoring-the-Wings'-only-goal-today thing, right?

Let's not forget it was Bill Ranford in net for the first four games of that 99 Colorado series and against Los Angeles the Wings lost both Yzerman and Shanahan.

Plus, let's not forget we weren't blown out of our own barn today by a 4-1, 5-1, or whatever lopsided margin you want to give. Perhaps after settling down a few hours after the game I've been a bit more rational. YES, the Red Wings blew a fantastic opportunity to end this series, but games like this WILL happen. The Red Wings weren't embarassed out there -- a couple of bounces go a bit different and we're watching Lidstrom avoid touching the Campbell Trophy like it was the plague. The Wings carried a majority of the play after the opening 10 minutes of the game, outshot Dallas by a near 2-1 marging and were ridiculous on the faceoffs again. Were they a bit passive? Abso-friggin'-lutely. There's still much to improve upon, but there's no reason to get completely discouraged. They showed the urgency of a team with a 3-1 lead -- it didn't match the Stars. I think you'll see a different team Monday night. There's some real bonafide pressure on this roster and on everyone to perform right now... it's gut-check time, and I think this team has played some of its best hockey when facing such situations.

Downey would play less than McCarty does. If anyone outside of Franzen gets put in there I'd prefer that it be Abdelkader, extreme case of limited experience or not. I have a feeling Hartigan would be higher on the totem pole, though, unfortunately. Won't happen. I would be very surprised to see Chelios as a healthy scratch, despite the egregious error from this afternoon.

I don't see where Turco is "getting to them", sorry. Yes, he was the Stars' best player this afternoon but they've shelled him enough in this series early on to know that he's very beatable. Granted, he has improved much over the last two games, but i don't see one iota of intimidation out there. Wings need to keep up a hard and fast forecheck, keeping getting bodies in front of the net and throw everything on net. They're not getting the shots through that they were early on in the series -- the Stars' forwards are going down to block a lot of shots -- and that's something the Wings can play off of. Fake the shot, look for the passing lane, etc. There were a few instances on the Wings' last power-play where a couple Stars dove to block a shot, the dman held up and moved but didn't look across the circles for the pass and that lane was there. They'll make the adjustments.

That's the exact team I saw on the ice today, too. They're using the series lead as a crutch.

Yes, the call on the Holmstrom goal completely changed the momentum of this series... That's absolutely fact, too, since that's what I've heard all of the players say. The fact is that Dallas, right now, is finishing on their chances and the Red Wings are not. It doesn't get any more cut and dry than that.

Yeah, because that's the important statistic.

No panic here, either -- just irritated at such a flat effort in front of the home crowd today. To come out that flat starting out was inexcusable.

That's an excuse. The Red Wings had tons of chances in this game to score and got a case of Dallasstaritis and kept blowing chances wide.

I tell you what, I'm watching the lockerroom interviews right now and all I want to see is some PISSED OFF Red Wings players, but I'm not seeing it. Getting a lot of "...we've just got to put this behind us...blah...blah... we don't need to change much.... blah blah blah... we've just got to execute better..." comments. They're using the 3-2 series lead as a crutch. Monday is your Game 7, damnit -- just like today should have been -- act like it!

I'd rather have Abdelkader in there in place of McCarty. He's been absolutely brutal.

Pathetic display today at home. PATHETIC.

The only place I want to see McCarty is in the press box. He's been brutal in this series.