kipwinger

Agreed.

Nobody is taking hitting out of the game, and nobody is penalizing anyone for playing hard and finishing their checks. You just can't recklessly hit guys in the head and/or leave your feet and/or charge. That's it. You hit properly and you're good. I've used this video a thousand times to illustrate how you have to hit in today's game. It's instructive because it's a hard clean hit, without any of the questionable things involved in the Abby hit. Everybody laments the "good" old days when Scott Stevens would roam around head hunting, but to me, this hit (and all hits like it) are the mark of good hard nosed hockey.

Well there are lots of opinions in the world, but only some of them are right. By any definition that's charging. Plus he hit him in the head. Plus he injured him. Suspension every time. If he hit him in the head but didn't charge, or if he charged but didn't hit him in the head, we wouldn't be talking about this right now. He did both, and he deserved the suspension because of it.

Good god, are people actually mad at Shanahan for suspending Abby on what was obviously a dirty play? Why did he jump at all? Had he not left his feet he would have not hit the dude in the head at all, and he still would have crushed him...LEGALLY. Anybody blaming Shanny, or talking about how the integrity of the game is ruined now, needs to head to the doctor's office and get checked out. You have an acute case of homerism that could turn deadly.

Didn't have a chance to catch the game last night, had to work. What the hell happened? I doubt seriously Dekeyser accounts for that kind of a fall off. Was Lashoff in for him? If so, how did he look?

I wouldn't ship him just to do it, but just like I was saying at the deadline, I'd trade Smith for Yandle any night of the week. It's funny, because when I was saying that before everyone was screaming that Smith was "untouchable".

Not really sure why they shortened the bench in the third there. That third line was playing well and all but disappeared in the third.

I recall reading somewhere that this was sort of a make or break year for Jensen given how well the other defensive prospects are developing, so he must have impressed. That or they're planning on leaving Backman and Marchenko in Europe for another year. I don't see how they can take on contracts for the two Euros plus Sproul, Oulette, Nedomlel, and now Jensen too.

Alfredsson was able to translate his game after 35, and I think he's a similar player to Zetterberg. For me it's all about making sure his role evolves to fit his diminished skill set. Move him to the third line, to provide leadership and secondary (or tertiary) scoring while the young kids do the work, and I believe he could skill be effective at 39 or 40...but not much further.

22. Dino, Tootoo, and now 22 straight playoff appearances.

Yeesh! Not really sure where the team from the last four games went to? Hopefully they'll get this figured out before game two.

To go up in the rafters at the Joe, you have to have been an otherworldly talent AND been a team leader for basically an entire career. Dats has the talent but not the leadership, Zetterberg is vice versa. It takes a lot to get retired at the Joe, and I'm pretty glad about that. I don't like the idea of retiring a new number every five years.

If this is anything like Ducks teams of the past (and I think it is) then they are going to take a lot of dumb penalties throughout this series. I hope our power play responds well. p.s. I hope Kronwall separates Selanne from the puck...hard. I don't hate Teemu or anything, but I would love to hear him cry about it.

Colton Orr?

Of course they would be. My argument was that Bobby Orr wasn't a good defenseman because he didn't play defense not because he couldn't score.

Goes without saying that Dats and Z > Getzlaf and Perry, so what's the deciding factor in this series? Can Abby shutdown Ryan? Will our second line out perform theirs? Goalies? How well the young kids respond to the added playoff pressure. All the headlines are talking about the matchup of the star forwards, but I think this series is decided by everything other than what Dats, Z, Perry, and Getzlaf do.

This doesn't surprise me, we've been pretty good since right about the time Ian White got yanked from the lineup/Kyle Quincey pulled his head out of his ass. Good for them though, they played real good defense, given what was expected out of them.

I would seriously give anything, and I mean anything, to have the power to alter the space/time continuum in such a way that Pavel could play one game against Bobby Orr. That way it would be obvious to everyone that Orr wasn't the greatest defenseman ever. In fact, he was hardly a defenseman at all. All the debate about Lidstrom vs. Orr would be over, because after one game of getting repeatedly turned inside out by Pavel, Orr would be relegated to Paul Coffey status where he belongs. Anyway, back to Pavel...nobody can defend him...who wasn't named Lidstrom.

Don't retire his number, but do give him the credit he deserves...which is to say, Pavel Datsyuk is the best puckhandler in the history of the National Hockey League. Period. The only defenseman who could have conceivably defended him with any sort of regularity was on his team.

You just described every article Mitch Albom ever wrote.

If Jim Nill were our GM, and Paul McLean our coach, would mustaches be mandatory?

You don't have to pay to watch online. Shoot me a PM and I'll hook you up with some help. Get used to it. The first time a questionable call goes against us in this series there will be a lot of those types of comments around here.

Bj's take the lead.

Nice defense by Smith.

Was that our boy's octopus?