SouthernWingsFan

At first glance I'd obviously go with Bertuzzi at the top line. Franzen and Bertuzzi have seemed to develop some good chemistry though. Samuelsson isn't my favorite, sometimes he takes pointless shots, but he tries to get it on net, it worked big at the end there with the Datsyuk rebound. I'd rather Bertuzzi on the top line but I wouldn't be throwing a temper tantrum giving Samuelsson a try there if it happens.

Happy birthday Babcock!

Damn, Datsyuk's got a pretty good tan going there.

I wake up just about every day between 4:30am - 5:00am for work and usually no later than 8am on weekends so I don't want to hear no whining about losing sleep to day games. Besides, playoff games during the afternoons have been around for a good while now, don't really see what the big fuss is about.

What'd you say? Oh, right...f**k off. Will do.

If two Canadian teams make it to the Finals, I'd still tune in, and I could really care less if less U.S. citiizens watch or not just because it's not a U.S. team vs. U.S. team. Doesn't matter to me what everybody else thinks/donesn't think pertaining to this and I'd still be watching.

You're American! Anyways, if Franzen hit Cheecho 30, 40 feet away from the puck where there was no play involvement, I'd buy the argument of a cheapshot. Cheecho might not have had the puck, but the puck was around his general vicinity, and Franzen thought he was going to carry the puck, hence the hit, in my opinion. Franzen goofed up on that judgement. As stated a few other times in this thread...Justified penalty? Probably so. Cheap shot? No.

Well, looks like Babcock is sending out a message to Lang to get it going. I've always tried to give the benefit of the doubt to Lang when he gets ridiculously ripped on here, but he's not getting much done right now. I'm not calling for him to be scratched or anything like that, calling up Langfeld or Kopecky over him is silly and overreactionary, but Lang seriously needs to find another gear somewhere if he wants more ice time. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...S0103/704290322

James Brown - Ain't It Funky Now

Here goes in no particular order... 1. Samuelsson - By no means is he anywhere near my favorite, but if he didn't shoot that puck, absolutely no chance for Datsyuk to collect that rebound for the final goal. Yes he shoots way too much I think, but a sun shines on a dog's rear sometimes and things sometime work out. Kudos to that play for Samuelsson and for a fairly decent game for him. 2. Hasek (at least not-so-popular for a long time today) - You drive me nuts with your crease wandering, you flooped up on that 2nd goal, but you stayed sharp and focused throughout the rest of the game. Quit with the wandering, but I'm going to recognize the good as well. The Sharks could've had a 4-5 goalsl if not for Hasek stopping the puc 3. Maltby - He's fallen off the radar for many people in here, myself included, over the past few seasons. Not just flat out awful, but not doing anything spectacular either. Thank you today for your extremely hard PK work forcing a turnover for Cleary, and for all the other PK's. 4. Lilja - Continues to impress me so far these playoffs. Not playing like a superstar by any stretch of the imagination but I think he's taken very few penalties so far, he's not making many brainfart turnovers, and he's throwing his weight around to an extent.

You guys in here get worked up so unnecessarily over the most miniscule things in here sometimes. They made a mistake, who cares? We all know what happened, who assisted the goal, etc. etc., and it's not like the site has crashed or has been down for 4 days straight or something, Lighten up.

I say the Wings win 2 in the Tank Monday and Wednesday.

While I had some serious doubts as to the outcome of this game like most others after it was quick 2-0, to say that the series would've been completely over if the Sharks won today when... There has been only 2 games The Wings have both flooped up and blown 2-0 series leads before The Sharks blew a 2-0 lead to Edmonton last year The team that wins 4 games wins a best-of-7 series, not 1 or 2 wins... is an absolute joke when nothing even nothing has even come close to be determined.You just never know what will happen game by game... But yeah, I forgot, the series is now tied, so Detroit is doomed, doomed I tell ya! DOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /overdramtized panic sarcasm post

All right, I think it's time for an LGW awkward group hug... Or something like that... *shrugs*

Happy birthday to Lidstrom!

Jeannie Tracy - Trippin' on the Sound

People boo him because he's one of the better players in the league and while they might not like him on the opposing team, he'd probably be welcome with open arms if he went to the home team. Nothing more/nothing less, and there's absolutely no point in getting your panties in a bunch about it. None. Which is why I am so tired of even talking about when Fedorov gets booed playing back in Detroit now. It's never going to go away as long as he's on the opposing player Booing Jagr, or Fedorov in our scenarios, it might not be politically right, but it's not hurting anybody and it's not going away, that's our tough s**t. Nothing is going to change and we aren't going to stop it by ranting, so we all need to just get over it.

I'm not going to take 45 minutes to find the exact article/link, but I can say with 100% confidence that I read a Freep or Detroit News article online very recently that quoted Holland saying that Babcock's job is not in jeopardy in any way regardless of how this year's playoffs turn out, and I read Babcock being quoted more/less that he is very happy here and does not want to go anywhere anytime soon. If the Wings beat San Jose or the "trap", or if they don't and bow out early, Babcock is not going anywhere. I'd rather not lose a coach with a hard-nosed and business-approach mentality too soon to begin with.

I don't understand how some Wings members in here think Nabakov osn't all that good of a goalie. That's the perception I get, and either it's a shame that I perceive that or it's a shame that a lot of members feel this way. I'm not going to consider him a bona-fide top-5 goalie in the NHL today (although my naiveity might play in barely seeing any Shark games this year), but he's a starter in the NHL for a reason and is a very capable goalie that can steal a few games IMO. What's even worse was some members in here not giving Kiprusoff his due for standing on his head and giving Calgary every chance imaginable to win the series last round and thinking he wasn't doing that great in the Wings-Flames series.

*Insert overdramtized ESPN sucks and is a useless telvision network joke in weekly ESPN sucks thread on LGW jsut beacuse they don't pay attention to hockey all the time*

To expect Chelios to skate and move around like his Montreal or early Chicago days is quite unreasonable, but I definitely understand the viewpoint where you are coming from. Basically my point is, and I'm trying hard not to sound like a Red Wings homer here, is that in one of my recent posts above is that Hasek, and you might as well include Chelios as well due to being over 40 and he's been mentioned, are still very effective despite their "old" age in terms of being an effective athlete. To expect them to play at the level 24-7 of when they were in their primes is way too much to ask. But, these are two extremely hard working athletes. I think it's safe to say that Hasek just despises losing and I think I've read enough on here or on Detroit papers online and such to make a safe assumption that he rarely takes time off. He practices hard, he wants to win, he wants to be as close to a perfectionist as possbile. And with Chelios, the guy is just ridiculously in shape, even at 45. Last season at 44, he had a really slow start to the season IMO and I was wandering if his time was finally done. He picked up his play though last year and this season I can't really recall any moments where I can confidently say with accuracy, "Chelios just stunk up the joint that game." Back to the original topic at hand, with Nabakov's lack of success for the most part against Detroit throughout his career. The stats don't lie obviously throughout that time, but I don't understand how Wings members in here think he isn't all that good of a goalie. That's the perception I get, and either it's a shame that I perceive that or it's a shame that a lot of members feel this way. I'm not going to consider him a bona-fide top-5 goalie in the NHL today (although my naiveity might play in barely seeing any Shark games this year), but he's a starter in the NHL for a reason and is a very capable goalie that can steal a few games IMO.

Sly and the Family Stone - Let Me Have It All Good funk music.

Well, your technically over the hill at 40. or so I thought. Chelios is over the hill as well, and he's still effective. *shrugs* At ease...nobody is discrediting his importance to the Wings this season, and to the playoffs so far.

And this is why our Shark fan on here should review the map of his homestate.

It definitely feels good to here stuff like that. I enjoyed every moment of it a few years ago.