Rice

No, but let's be realistic. There's no way the Wings could've gotten Lecavalier anyway after the season he had. If they were to trade him it's going to garner a MASSIVE return -- a package of players, prospects, and picks that the Wings just don't have. Datsyuk is home-grown and has proven to be a pretty damn good player. We'd have no shot at him anyway. Don't feel too badly about it.

No matter how Bertuzzi has been playing, he's not going to be scratched. The Wings PR have sold the grit thing to many fans. Plus, he's going to get better as time goes on, not worse.

Neither have the Wings. The Wings have yet to bring the physical game they brought in Calgary. They were getting 30-35 hits a night in the Calgary series. That total has dropped to about 15.

Well, then you remember wrong. During Yzerman's hot streak for the last couple months of the season he was on a line with Lang and Williams.

Great news. We're going to need him.

That's just totally untrue. I think Hasek is a great goalie, but everyone has their flaws. Hasek's flaw is his puck handling. He made a mistake and paid for it. Is he still a great goalie? Yes.

The Wings need Holmstrom back, badly. As I've said in other threads, it seems like the media isn't giving him enough credit. He's a 30 goal scorer and causes boatloads of problems for the opposing goalie.

Statistically, yes, I suppose so. However, Lang is not the same player he was in 03-04 when we got him. He just doesn't work anymore it seems.

To be honest, I don't think he can. I'd love to be wrong but I think he's just hit the wall. I don't know what it is. He doesn't use his body, he doesn't skate to loose pucks, he doesn't do much of anything anymore. Whether it's just the fact that he's getting old or he doesn't like Babcock, I don't know. I agree with you though. This guy probably won us the Nashville series in '04 and was leading the league in scoring when we picked him up. It's hard to believe that was only three years ago. If he can somehow turn it on, it would be huge for the Wings. It gives them secondary scoring from a big body. He has tons of talent it, it just seems like the effort isn't there. I think the most we can do is hope for the best. I don't think he's going to all of a sudden become a good player again though.

Or... Thornton: "Hey, that lil' guy would go well with my man-bag."

Just throwing this out there: A lot of Sharks fans are saying stuff along the lines of, "The Wings didn't beat the Sharks, the Sharks just didn't come to play," as if that's a legitimate excuse for the loss. Wasn't that the Sharks problem in the Playoffs last year? Hasn't that been the Wings problem in the Playoffs the past few years? If the Sharks can't find consistency it's going to be a big problem for them, just like if the Wings can't play until after the 10 minute mark it's going to be a problem for them. We get it Sharks fans, your team is bigger and younger than ours. Enough with the overly-confident act. I'm seeing it all over the place. Until your team can outplay the Wings for 60 minutes, hold off with the cockiness. The youth that the Sharks have (that all of you brag about) could end up being their biggest problem, just like it was last year (knock on wood). I hope Ron Wilson keeps up the, "What?! We can't be outplayed; we're bigger, younger, and faster!" attitude.

I've seen a few SJ fans say this but I don't know where they're getting it from. Care to explain?

Ansar Khan: It's about time. Lang has become totally inept in nearly every aspect of the game. Filppula played 8 minutes in Game 1. Hopefully Babcock is just posturing and this line clicks. I like it.

Yeah, it will be tougher to win in San Jose -- but it was tougher to win in Calgary and the Wings still got it done. At home, Calgary was a better team than San Jose was. If the Wings can split they're in good shape. I'm confident that they can do it. On a side note, the media has made the Holmstrom injury seem a lot less significant than it is, IMO. Everyone thinks of Holmstrom as the guy who just stands in front of the net. Well, he is the guy who stands in front of the net, but he had 30 goals this year! Thirty goals. That's a big loss for any team and most of the media is just brushing it off. Just my two cents.

I think the only thing that doesn't suck about the NHL is the game itself.

No big deal. There are plenty of quotes from any forum that you could pick and choose from like this one. I'm sure there would be a lot of things similar to this said if McLaren laid Zetterberg out when he wasn't carrying the puck.

Yeah, he's such a playoff choker.

I don't think you've ever posted anything remotely positive on this site. Are you sure you're a fan?

Uwe Krupp begs to differ -- and Curtis Joseph, and Dominik Hasek part deux. Anyway, Pavel has been great.

I said the same exact thing to my friends when we were walking out of the Joe.

Wasn't Khabibulin for St. Louis rumored a while ago?

Is anyone else not worried at all? As HC said, this game totally felt like a regular season game. Even when SJ scored it didn't hurt that bad. For some reason I have no worry going into Game 2.

Our defense shut the Sharks' stars down tonight.

Hardly. If we drop the ball Saturday then you can be worried.

Do you live under a bridge by any chance? Anyway, the Wings controlled the pace of the game for 50 minutes. The Sharks just capitalized on the Wings sloppy first 10 minutes. It's not going to happen again. San Jose's offense couldn't get anything done in the Wings zone.