kipwinger

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?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not scared, but it's obviously better to not be killing penalties than to be short handed. It's a bonehead penalty to take when the stakes are real high. That's all. If we kill it, good, but I'd rather we didn't have to.

Well then what's your judgement on putting your team shorthanded in the biggest game of the season, in retaliation to a clean hit?

but...but...but...he almost punched a guy.

Beginning to?

Minny taking it to Colorado right now.

Good work boys! Hell of a hard working goal!!!

I'm almost as excited for the Minny-Colorado game to start as I was for ours. God I hope those pussi don't make it to the playoffs.