RockyMountainWingGal

No way - as soon as he is cleared he will play - Raffy on the ice could be the minute difference between the Wings winning and losing a game, or the series. The Wings won't sit him for the hell of it in the POs....

Sigh, yes losing Raffy puts a big fat ? mark on this series. I think if he were out for the season like Schneider last time, they would just say that up front. Our best hope is he comes back for the end of this series, since it is shaping up to be a long one. I feel sorry for Nick, this is the second time he has to face the Ducks and try to play D almost single-handedly.

Fair comparison. Let's just hope the outcome is different. Not sure why we have such back luck with injuries vs. the Ducks. And our players tend to get injured before we even play them. I was looking forward to a series with a full line-up, sigh.

Maybe he caught the swine flu, or he hurt his finger mowing his lawn Really I cannot figure what could have happened to the guy during a week off...

I was more worried about the Lebda/Meech pairing than our top 5 D getting more minutes - I would much rather keep that pair out of crucial PO games. If Lilja and Raffy were healthy, Lebda wouldn't even be in the lineup, sigh.

^^ That would be very bad for my heart. Hockey Gods please heal Rafalski....

I've always like AO, but this year he's been a little over the top for me. The media hype, the over-the-top celebrations (some of the them very classless imo). I'm not even watching the Pens-Caps series because the media is so gung-ho about the Crosby vs. Ovie thing. I don't really care who wins.....

Maybe that is why Holland got Franzen all locked up before the POs but is waiting to see what Hossa brings post-season. Either way, Hossa certainly is hurting this team, he just could be helping alot more....

lol as soon as I say the Hawks are done and shut it off - they make a miraculous come back. Anyways, better that this series drags out.....

Exactly - whatever idiot resorted to that conveniently has no idea the Pond doesn't sell out either.....ignore them and point to the scoreboard...

Hawks have no business being in the second round. This is typically where Quenneville's teams flop anyways. What lucky bastards are those Canucks - drawing the Blues and then the rookie PO Hawks... Let it go to their heads - I think the Wings or Ducks can take down the Nucks anyhow.....

Reading the game summ/blogs, thought I'd toss in that Z won 16/23 FOs (70%) while Getzlaf recorded a balmy 3/21 (14%). Z also had 3 hits, and was with 1A, +1. I wouldn't say that indicates a guy floating around out there - he is doing his part just as much as anyone else...

I'm fine with him 5 on 5 - but really to give Sammy so much time on the point... surely someone else on the Wings can do a better job and not lose the puck as much...I don't get it...

Campbell is a dick. So Brashear gets kicked out for 5 games, but the freaking Ducks can get away with the same sh&t. Bettman really does have it in for the Red Wings, that &^%#

Z has been playing great. I thought all of the Wings were a little rusty in the first - as to be expected, but we are playing well as a TEAM. So Lidstrom and Franzen were the heros last night - could be Z or Pavel another night. That's how we win - we have solid 2-way players who are scoring threats on every line. You question his leadership? He's fine and he'll make a fine captain for this team someday....any team in the league would take him in a second and I'm glad they can't!

I thought Burke was the reason the Ducks were so down and dirty - but now he is long gone and same old story... I actually don't mind Carlyle though. Of course he doesn't want Brown tossed for the series so he has to somewhat make a case for him. He's pulling the Therien trick from last year - look for more goalie interference calls in the next few games. I just hope it backfires like it did on the Pens last year. The guy is just trying to say the things he needs to - to get calls to go his way and not get his players suspended - right or wrong. As long as he's golfing in a few weeks, who cares what he is saying now....

I agree - I also think Hitchcock should have been nominated for getting the Jackets into the POs for the first time. McLellan took a stacked (well regular season stacked) team that was a 2 seed last year and just continued where they left off (complete with PO flop). I personally don't think he was deserving of the nomination.

Sh*t this ruins my day. If it's just game one, the Wings will be fine - if Raffy is out for longer - this could be big trouble. Why do we always get injuries before we play the Ducks? Well we can always count on Pronger to do something stupid (hopefully noone gets hurt) and get bounced a few games...

Freaking Cheli has got to skew our average age by several years - since he never sees a PO game these days, those stats need to drop him from the stat sheet. No matter, the "age" thing doesn't apply anymore since the Wings have mixed in a bunch of good young players.....

Thank you - from someone who reads alot of Russian Lit! If I have some time. might have to doctor something up using "Nabokov's" Lolita! lol

Exactly. The majority of analysts I've seen have picked the Wings. But who cares - people have good reason to pick the Ducks - and then if they win - they look like geniuses. Melrose was the only analyst to pick the Ducks in the first round on ESPN - everyone else piled on the Sharks bandwagon, which crashed and burned. I like it that the Wings are not being picked by everyone - it should make them more conscientious of having to play hard to win and prove they are the better team. Although, I doubt they get worked up by all the "analysts" like we do...

The Wings aren't the Sharks. SJ let their 1 seed get to their head and didn't take the Ducks seriously - and for alot of other reasons that don't need to be listed here - the Sharks are perennial chokers... However, I think Wings fans are spoiled by winning the last 5 PO series and seem to think it will be somewhat easy to beat the Ducks - which I think will be a very tough task - tougher than any series last year. I am confident the Red Wings will show up and play good tough PO hockey, unlike the Sharks. If the Wings stick to their gameplan, I like our chances...

As long as it's all in good humor - I see no offense in the original post - pretty funny actually. Just beware should the unthinkable happen and we lose one of these rounds, you'll get some payback. I chatted with some sharks fans during last night's game. They were kind of annoyed that my handle has "Wings" in it, but I was trying to be positive and just enjoy watching the game, and not make too much fun of them in their hour of darkness. In fact, I pointed out how many times we've been there done that ourselves!

If he doesn't get traded, the Sharks should demand his pay be cut in half from 7.2 to 3.6 mill so they can sign a real PO performing forward like Franzen (sorry our Franzen is locked up). Seriously, that's way too much money for a guy that shows no guts in the POs....

Actually I have a brown leather cowboy(girl) hat that looks just like that. I WILL take a bite out of it if Q can beat the Wings in a 7 game PO series...