Vladinator

All-time Favorite Wing(s) - Yzerman & Vladdy All-time Favorite non-wing - Gary Roberts (going back to his days in Calgary) Favorite Current Wing - Hank

Have some faith. I'm expecting this game to be decided in the first 30 minutes....Game 7 will be the real battle.

Even beyond that, he has been the best player on the ice, not just for the Ducks. Giguere doesn't have the flashy style of some other goalies, so a lot of people don't think that he is that great. Positionally, he is one of the best goalies in the league. As far as reflex and such, I don't think that I would put him as high... As for the reffing....I don't ever remember a year when I thought that the games were called fairly (one way or another), why would they start now? Using the refs as an excuse is easily done, but accomplishes nothing. The Wings should have never been in a situation where penalties would hurt them, rather than blame the refs, look at our own sloppy powerplay, look at our failure to consistently score 5 on 5, etc. That being said, the wings will have Jiggy's number tonight...

I will agree that Hasek is the wings' best hope for a cup this season, but this wasn't a Vezina worthy season for dom by any means... At best, I would put him at 5th in that race (behind Brodeur, Luongo, Kiprusoff, & Lundqvist)...possibly even lower (you could easily make a case for Turco, Giguere, Emery, Dipietro, Miller, Lehtonen being right there with Hasek...I'd put him in this group, with the 4 mentioned above 1 step above this group, at least for this season).

Let me start out by saying that I'm not, have never been, and never will be much of a Hasek fan... That being said, he has played very good in these playoffs. Last night was not a good game for him, but EVERY goalie in the league has off nights. Even in an "off" game though, Hasek gave us a chance to win. He made a couple of key saves that kept us in the game. He gave up a couple that were questionable, but the wings bounced back from them. He didn't have much of a chance on the game-winning goal, you usually can't save it if you can't see it (unless you get lucky and it just hits you). The game was really lost by our failing to take advantage of the 5 on 3 in the 3rd. Hasek did mess up a little on that and not play out of the goal so that he could quickly play the puck back up when it was cleared, but the skaters really botched that up more. 1 shot on that long of a 5 on 3 at that point in a critical game is pathetic. Also, Hasek has always been a goalie that bounces back from an off game very strongly. I expect him to be in a zone for Sunday's game, hopefully the team in front of him is as well. Osgood is a solid goaltender as well, but he isn't on the same level as Hasek. I won't be heartbroken if Ozzy is our starter next year with Howard backing him up though. I also won't mind if Hasek comes back for another year and Howard is given 1 more season to mature in the minors. As I said above, I'm not a huge Hasek fan, but I can't complain about his play in this run.

I agree, I wasn't advocating the WIngs using such a tactic, just pointing out where the "honor" was in not using such a tactic...

If the Wings had instead taken Homer to a hospital, and played up the injury a bit (they had the game in hand, he wasn't really needed on the ice), the chances of a suspension would be greatly increased. Had the Wings taken that route, it's possible that Pronger would have gotten a longer suspension than the 1 game one that he received...

Well shoot then...we might as well shut down letsgowings.com and just sit back and watch it all play out...not much use in having these discussions if we can't actually make the decisions...

Your experience with comcast seems to be the same as mine. I have absolutely no complaints about WOW other than them not carrying VS in their basic package (which I realize probably has more to do with the rate that comcast charges for having VS in their lineup than anything else). Their service has been very reliable, their people are actually friendly & helpful, & the internet has been much faster on a consistent basis than I ever got from comcast. I lived in an area where comcast was the only provider available for quite awhile and the service was awful. I had to have a repair person out 12 times over a 2 month period and the problem still wasn't fixed!!! They refused to credit my bill over the problems. I ended up cancelling my cable completely and pulling out my old rabbit ears! I was so happy that WOW was available when I moved. I have no intention of ever using Comcast again and will continue to stream the games for free if the NHL wants to continue the idiotic relationship with VS. Yeah, that Robin Hood show looks pretty good. I just don't watch TV enough to justify the added expense, especially with my current financial situation being so terrible.... Realistically, games this far into the playoffs SHOULD be available on network TV. Years ago, you never had to pay for cable to see your local team when they were in the playoffs. Now it is not only unavailable (other than the odd game here and there on the weekends) on network TV, it isn't available on basic cable. The NHL needs to get their heads out of their asses and work out a TV deal with a real network rather than wasting their time with VS.

Just like the C, wearing an A has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of points that you score or even how big or long of a contract you have. I'm not saying that Pavel wouldn't make a good Alternate (not assistant) Captain, just that his stats and salary alone don't qualify him for that. If Pavel still struggles with English, which is what I've heard, then he definately shouldn't wear the A. Your Captain and Alternate Captains have to be able to communicate with the refs on a regular basis...

If I were a fan that lived outside of Michigan, or even out of the metro Detroit area, I would understand the game not being available on basic cable...but for a game in the conference finals of ANY of the 4 major sports not to be shown on basic cable in the home town of either of the 2 teams playing in that game is a joke. You won't see this in any of the other 3 major sports...just hockey. I called WOW to complain, their only alternative was for me to pay the extra $12 a month to get digital cable. As I stated above, I don't watch TV much at all, I'll be damned if I'm going to shell out another $12 a month. I'll stream the games online for free, screw the NHL and screw VS.

This is better than nothing, but I still think it is bs that games are not available on basic cable unless you have comcast... The TV deal with VS / OLN was a HUGE step backwards for the NHL. ESPN was never the best for hockey, but at least ESPN is available on basic cable nationwide.

And because the games would still be available on CBC. I refuse to use Comcast. I have had nothing but problems with them in the past and don't intend to EVER give them any of my money again. I will be making some rather nasty communications to WOW about the situation with VS though. They need to include that with their basic package. The problem most likely is in the rate that Comcast is charging for that station though, making it where they cannot include it with basic... I don't watch TV hardly ever. I watch 1 TV show, The Shield. I get that with basic cable. I don't see any valid reason why I should have to shell out extra $$$ to get digital cable just for hockey. I basically pay my cable bill now just for hockey & the Shield...I refuse to shell out more $$$ for more channels that I will pretty much never watch.

No it hasn't always been like this. In the past, these games would be available on CBC if nothing else. Plus, before moving to VS (& OLN before the name change) the games would have been on ESPN, which is available on pretty much any standard cable package. VS is only included in premium or digital cable packages except for Comcast (because they own the station).

This is some serious bs It was bad enough that I couldn't watch some of the games in the 2nd round, now I'm not going to be able to watch games in the conference finals... Time to send out some more nasty e-mails...

There are a few factors, most of which have already been mentioned: 1) High prices. The price of playoff tickets is unreal. There is no way that the average fan can afford going to 1 game, let alone all of the playoff games. I can't afford the prices in the regular season, let alone the playoffs. 2) Michigan economy is in the crapper. 3) Other sports entertainment. The Tigers are doing great, the Pistons are dominating...the Wings aren't the only good team in town anymore. 4) Name recognition factor. Not long ago, we had a line-up featuring so many future hall-of-famers that you would think you were seeing an all-star game. I've had a few people tell me that they weren't into the Wings this year because it just isn't the same anymore. We were spoiled with the line-up that we put on the ice for a few years there, it is hard to get SOME people excited about a line-up that really doesn't feature the stars anymore. In 2002, fans paid to see a line-up that featured Yzerman, Shanny, Hull, Lidstrom, Hasek, Robitaille, Chelios, Feds....for name recognition, this line-up just doesn't stack up.

For the Wings, I would go with Bertuzzi. For a lot of teams, the answer would be Smyth, but the Wings lack size. Bertuzzi fills a void that we needed filled. Yes, his game hasn't been what we might expect of him, but he is coming off of a long layoff and an injury. Give him a full year playing for the Wings before making full judgement.

I hate when people misspell "misspell"

You have your "facts" off by a little bit. Melrose left to coach the Kings because Bryan Murray wouldn't guarantee that he would only coach one more year. The Wings had pretty much promised Melrose the job after Murray stepped down, but he didn't want to wait because he had an opportunity (LA) to coach in the NHL. Bowman was hired the following year, it was never a case of us picking Bowman over Melrose. In fact, if Melrose had decided to wait out the Detroit job, we would have likely never hired Bowman to begin with. When Bowman was hired to coach here, Melrose was fresh off taking LA to the Stanley Cup Finals and was no longer in our organization at all...

Let's see... Bertuzzi has played in 8 games and has 4 points...so he is now lazy & sucks. Lang has played in 10 games and also has 4 points...so now he is no longer lazy and doesn't suck anymore. Why did I waste my time even coming into this thread?

Bertuzzi Just to shut up all of the people here who can't seem to understand that missing most of the season with a serious back injury, followed up by a concusion, makes it a little difficult to immediately return to top form.

The Blues were a powerhouse???? I remember them having a decent team at one point, but a powerhouse is quite a stretch...

Anyone else finding this to be funny??? (not picking on you Red4wings4life, I just found it to be funny...)

Anyone who thinks that benching Bertuzzi gives us a better chance of beating San Jose needs to step away from the bong. :nonono:

Visors should not be mandatory. If they did 2 things, stick infractions (as well as some other dirty plays) would become much more rare. 1. Penalize the infractions more heavily. 5 minute majors used to be called for most high sticks that resulted in a bad cut. A 5 minute penalty that doesn't expire with a goal is a very good reason to learn to keep your stick under control. 2. Get rid of the instigator penalty and allow players to police themselves once again. It used to be very rare that sticks were up in other players' faces. Players used to respect one another on the ice, partly because of the role that the enforcers played. It may make a lot of sense to wear a visor, but it should remain the choice of the players.