kipwinger

I didn't realize they started giving out the Stanley Cup for teams making it to the Conference Finals. Is that the goal now, Conference Finals?

Damn that Filppula. If he'd only become a scoring winger overnight, instead of playing the exact type of game that got him to the NHL, then our need for a winger would be resolved. Mike Babcock and Ken Holland are absurd. They both believe that you absolutely CAN squeeze blood from a stone, so long as the stone seizes the opportunity and competes hard enough. If they're going to keep going forward with this same garbage lineup, and not make any major changes then I'd rather they don't make the playoffs. At least that way they'd get a high draft pick and people would have to stop using that excuse.

Agreed. One time in the history of the NHL did an eighth seed win the Cup and now "anything can happen". No it can't.

I find it laughable that Holland did nothing at the deadline except say that getting Bert and Helm back is better than anything he could have done. That's something to look forward to right? Get a couple guys back so that we'll finally return to last season's form...e.g. a lineup that got SPANKED in the first round by Nashville. Awesome. Thank god we've got Smith and Nyquist. No need to do anything. They're the future.

He made some phone calls and was totally blown away when he found out that you can't get a scoring winger or top defenseman if you're completely unwilling to move a first round pick or any of your top prospects. Who knew you couldn't get Jason Pominville for Landon Ferraro and a conditional 4th rounder?

Hey on the bright side we've got San Jose and Chicago the next two games...so that's good.

I don't know what you were watching, Zetterberg was roughing Perron up way before Perron grabbed the stick. If anything they did us a favor by calling Perron as well.

They've given the Wings a penalty advantage all game.

Totally different game than the rest of our games where the Wings' juggernaut offense puts the fans in a fever pitch.

Well on the plus side, we've got about 2,000 smallish, pass first, forward prospects that were too important to consider trading. The future is assured. And I'll wager we've got a whole lot of passing and perimeter shots to look forward to.

Stop, you're making too much sense. I heard it too.

Refs miss "too many men" calls all the time. I don't hear anyone complaining when we get away with one. And this season, bad line changes has been something of an art for the Red Wings.

What do we have to do to get someone to attack the net? Skate, skate, skate...pass, pass, pass...back pass...shot from the perimeter...back the other way. DRIVE THE ******* NET!

I think you know the answer to that.

I agree, it's just typical fan over reaction. They've been penalized more than we have today and people are still bitching about the officiating. I'd say a game with three penalties, two of which put us on the PP, is a well officiated game. What does everyone want, ten or fifteen PPs?

He's a big strong guy, his hits injure. Not his fault. He doesn't go around kneeing guys, and as far as I know he's never been disciplined for head hunting. He injures guys because when he hits them, he drives through them. Exhibit A: Kent Huskins earlier this season. Perfectly clean hit, decimated the guy. As for the rest of his game, he's a little dirty, in the same way that Crosby is a little dirty with his cross checks. It's not that bad, and not that big of a deal. If Backes played for the Wings, and did the exact same stuff, we'd all be screaming "c'mon, be barely touched him". Just like how everybody came around on the Tootoo thing. He didn't change his game, we just realize it's not as bad as we though when he played against us.

For the record I love Backes. So what, he a little bit dirty. So was Pronger, Chelios, Maltby, Ciccarelli, etc. etc. etc. They were dirty and they were effective, so is Backes. I'd give anything to have a guy who plays like he does in our top six. If people aren't going to fear us because of our "powerhouse" offense, at least they'd fear us because of that big roughneck.

The same reason we suck so frequently the rest of the time, because we've got two legitimate talents and a ton of mediocre hacks or rookies filling out our lineup?

Ugh.

I said barely .500, he's played with Zetterberg for exactly one and a half games (I said MOST nights he plays with zero talent, and he's been double teamed all year. Not a lot to be excited about with this team, for fans or players. Unless Franzen getting moved to center and "hustling" is now excitement worthy.

Didn't realize we didn't count overtime losses as losses anymore...we're 19-19 counting those .

I didn't hear the comment, but I agree with the sentiment. Not a lot for Pavel to be excited about these days...barely .500 team, zero talent to play with most nights, constant double teams, and insane expectations of him. If it wasn't already, I'd imagine Pavel's decision to go back to Russia gets easier by the game.

That's not true, Brendan Smith turns the puck over for goals constantly and most people around here are still up his ass. I think he's got the best point shot of any of the defensemen to be honest.

I know it has nothing to do with today's game, but Ovechkin scored three more goals last night. That dude is returning to monster form after people had been writing him off for a couple seasons.

Haha. Most of us are in America bud, a "26" has absolutely no meaning on this side of the border. I presume you mean the equivalent of what we call a "fifth" over here. Or is this some sort of metric thing? Wouldn't want to have more than one tough guy in any given game now would we?