LAWings

Wow and awesome when the Canucks came back out. One of those players you wish had won the Cup. http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=602677&catid=35 http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=602691&catid=35 Also on the TSN video page (they don't provide links to embed) he comes out with his 5 year old son in matching Oilers uniform and C and they take to the ice.... so cool watching them come down the hallway and onto the ice for preskate...

I would love to play the Pens and sweep them in the first round. But statistically we fare better against Boston. 3-1 in in the regular season vs 1-2 vs Pens and the win came in OT Thrilla in Manilla. Play Boston in the first, beat them, Zetterberg gets healthy and comes back after the 1st, rematch the Pens in the 2nd or 3rd round. Either way to get out of the East we have to play both of them, so it's a moot point.

gcom007, I noticed this too. Although Nyquist is scoring on 20% of his shots, he has to cool off and come back down to earth. But the timing of when Datsyk returns is odd. Since Dats has returned the play style on the team has changed, it's slower, and not as explosive or even exciting to watch as when he was out and the kids took over. The last 3 games have been, well, boring (I missed half the Mtl game tho) and I don't see the kids storming off like before. Why? Well, I think it's called the Datsyuk effect (I was going to start a thread on this but you already did). Does anyone remember during the HBO series when the younger guys were out to dinner and they were talking and Datsyuk came up, how awed they were of him and someone said, "just get him the puck". I thought this was bad thinking and it's going to continually hamper our chances moving forward if everyone feels they have to get Dats the puck or get him in on the play rather then just playing their game. When the kids play their game we see what they can do. If we interject new Datsyukian chemistry they are no longer playing their game but watching what he is doing and letting him QB everything. I see this as a big problem. Tatar seems to be in a world of his own and is continually finding holes and making things happen on his own tho. So yes, the chemistry has changed with Dats back, I think we got slower. I also don't have any solutions, this is just an observation. (please don't flame me, I love the Magic Man, but he is 36)

I'm also not a fan of NBC games or these love birds.

I don't know why Babcock deserves it, if it wasn't for the injuries I doubt we'd be in the playoffs. We'd have underachieving Cleary, Weiss, Sammy and Bert running the second and 3rd lines. Nyqvist, Tatar, Sheahan, Jurco would be buried deep in the abyss somewhere, and these guys have been the spark to get us to the playoffs. I think Holland and Babs were idiots for dumping Nyqvist and Tatar after everything they put up last year. So no, the award shouldn't be based on luck. I think Roy is 100% deserving of this, he did an incredible bang up job this year.

With the mod's blessing, and since the game is also on NBC tonight, I'm gonna put this right here:

Just recently Crosby was slapped accidentally by a linesman, and as the article titles perfectly states, he instinctevly dove... http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/04/01/linesman-slaps-sidney-crosby-crosby-instinctively-dives-gif/ http://i.imgur.com/wj0HgvO.gif

For those who don't remember the bad blood between these two:

I think the way Eakins incorrectly reacted to getting splashed with a bit of water sums up the train wreck that are the Oilers. http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/03/23/edmonton-oilers-taylor-hall-soaks-coach-with-exploding-water-bottle-during-blowout-loss-to-calgary-flames/ It was a total accident, he over reacts, acts as if someone dumped 10 gallons of water on him, benches his captain as a result, and then comes out in a new jacket after the intermission. Give me a break diva... you got like 5 teaspons of water on you... If your coach is acting like a little b*tch over something like this, imagine how that translates to the team compared to say the way a Roy acts with his team. Both started out the same way this season (as last years losers) and now look.

This is what makes Datsyuk so special amongst Russian forwards, his ability to play both ends of the ice is second to none. It will take a special kind of Russian in the NHL to be Captain and lead his team to a Stanley Cup. Dats is really the only one that could do it, we saw his level of play at the Olympics on one leg, best player on the Russian bench. Ovie is going to need to go through a transformation as you pointed out like Stevie Y did if he wants to get to the promised land.

What lost my respect for the Leafs was during 24/7, their team song they play after wins or to motivate them is Miley Cyrus We Can't Stop. Seriously? Gag. Carlyle joked about it, that he's hard rock guy, Ozzy and Black Sabbath lol. But really, Miley Cyrus as your team song? You deserve to lose in a proper way just on principle alone. Stay classy Leafs...

The problem with this (assuming he could not shadow an opponent, or could not step up his game in a new role) is you (or I) simply do not know, this is merely speculation and a lot of people all but written him off that no, he will never be a viable player here, without giving the kid a chance. Without him coming up for a few games no one knows. Just like no one knew about the other kids who were buried until the injuries gave them a chance. I should for the record state that I thought the trade for Legwand was necessary, and have no problems with it, but it seems like everyone wrote him off without a proper test drive.

I can think of three roster spots they could have tried him in for at least a few games: 1. Luke Glendending, has a total of ZERO goals in 49 games... on pace for longest goalest streak in Wings history 2. Andersson - with 17 pts in 63 games and a -11, he's not really tearing it up 3. Anywhere else, we've had enough injuries, our 4th line has been a revolving whorehouse of players, Miller, Bertuzzi, Emmerton...anyone can sit. again, just sayin, there were options to at least look under the hood in some NHL games, look at all the other kids that got called up this year and were sent back down...

Jarnkrok has 5 pts in 5 games, I watched him miss yesterday's shootout, but he's 1 for 2 on the shootout. If Nashville is using this 19 y/old this much already, perhaps the Wings missed something. Just saying...

Ovechkin, while a prolific goal scorer is a one dimensional type of player. He leads the league in +/- with a -34, Yakupov is a -33. That's a scary number coming from your capitain. He's all goals and that's it, but goal scoring isn't enough if the other teams scores just as much as you do when you're on the ice. I've always said this from the beginning, Washington will not win the Cup with Ovie as Captain. He needs to just be a goal scorer on a team.

Tater facing eviction: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140328/SPORTS0103/303280072/0/sports0103/Red-Wings-Helm-Tatar-may-face-eviction-from-condo-complex-over-noise-complaints Tater Salad for reference: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/frzyg6/comedy-central-presents-tater-salad

If anyone remembers the reddit AMA of the guy who worked t the Joe and talked about Hudler being a total party animal. Him and Tater remind me of this: https://screen.yahoo.com/festrunk-brothers-000000414.html A couple of wild and crazy guys.... edit...I give up trying to embed media in this forum, it doesn't detect it and using the media button doesn't work either. Click the yahoo link for the video.

Just when I thought I've seen everything on the internet, something new comes along lol: Fake Zetterberg get's ready for the playoffs: http://blip.tv/fakehenrikzetterberg/fake-henrik-zetterberg-gets-ready-for-the-playoffs-5458977

Wings were completely outplayed yesterday in every category but hits I think. Howard was great but our defense was terrible Wings managed only 16 shots on goal, and 4 goals somehow. To me this was one of the worst team games Wings have had in a while, I was shocked they went up 2-0 in the first while being completely outplayed by the Wild. The amount of turn overs, weak passes, and at times standing around looking dumbfounded was incredible. I don't recall a game where they looked so confused and not together. Did Babs alter the lines? I saw Anderson playing with Gus and Tater. Did bringing in Anderson and Helm break chemistry and slow things down with 2 players who aren't firing on all cylinders? The top lines passing was also terrible, Alfi, Mule and Legwand couldn't get anything going.

Double fines, of $5,000 one to Legwand, one to Neal and that's it. http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/03/detroit_red_wings_david_legwan.html

The way the new playoff structure works, the 7th place team plays #1 in the Metropolitan (Penns) assuming they finish behind Boston . So if Wings finish 7th...we'll be seeing more of Cindy.

Video: http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2013021046&navid=nhl:topheads

When they showed this from the back angle during the game it looked like Malkin looked at the ref first then collapsed 'in pain'. I'm sure that hurts getting drilled in the thigh like that, and obviously a penalty, but it looked a little embellished too.

I'm a big fan of the Tater, but have noticed the turn overs too. Mickey nailed it the other game when he said you can't do the pretty puck dangling thing in this league (unlike the AHL) when you're on the point bubble. His youthful speed has managed to get him out of it most of the time catching up to the guys on the turn over. But I agree, he'll learn, him and Nyqvist are starting to exceed expectations... They remind me of the new Zetterberg / Datsyuk

Yeah dude, go troll Pierre McGuire's twitter account. You both can talk about how powerful Crosby's legs are.