BlueMonk

I nearly switched to DirecTV so I could get Center Ice (WOW dropped it a couple years ago), but I decided against it because I'd lose the local CBC feed. Now, I'm even more convinced I should stay with what I've got. The perfect answer is Comcast, but the apartment complex I live in has a deal with WOW and that's the only cable service available to me. No Versus in HD, but at least I get Versus.

Not sad at all. A little disappointed, but I didn't expect them to go back-to-back anyway. I knew after game 6 that they were going to lose game 7. I could just feel it. So I had time to prepare myself. The dominant feeling I have now is relief. Relieved that I don't have to stress out about watching the Wings in the playoffs anymore! It was another great playoff run and the Wings are poised to be a Cup favorite next year again. Hard to get too down knowing that. GO WINGS!!!!

I said this on the GDT but I'll say it again here: Congrats to the Pens and their fans. The Pens were the better team and earned it. Enjoy your summer with the Cup and I hope our teams meet again in 2010 (wouldn't that be something?) and do it again!

Congrats to the Pens and their fans. They won the Cup and they were the better team. Not much you can do but tip your cap. Hossa sucks. He reverted to playoff choking dog status again. I guess his little run in the SCF last year was his Cinderella moment and the clock struck midnight.

Huge win. I have to admit, I had doubt creeping in after game 4. I know the Wings have come back home tied after taking a 2-0 series lead before and finished strong, but this felt different. The injuries, the f**ked up schedule, the toll taken by the Ducks series; everything that made me worry the fatigue they seemed to be showing was really about being too worn out to close this series out. Instead, we get their best game of the series! WOOHOO! One storyline not getting much play is how much better Datsyuk looked than he did even before he got injured. More proof that Datsyuk was hurt well before the first game he missed and benefited from the rest? GO WINGS!!!!

The Pens are getting it done. No way around it. They're playing very well.

Pathetic.

I've been wondering if the Wings would ever get more PPs in a game in this series. Maybe tonight?

Hudler has been a big time player for the Wings but he's invisible anymore.

Ouch.

Stuart!!!!

You mean handed the puck by a Detroit defenseman? Sorry, couldn't help it

Yeah, I have trouble feeling good about the shots on goal. That's obviously too good of a number to be a bad thing, but the Pens defense are always there to clear the rebounds so there aren't many second chances for the Wings. This whole series so far, the Wings' D are just not pinching, and it's hampering the offense. They obviously feel that being defensively responsible is important, but it's not the same style of hockey we're accustomed to seeing from them.

HELMER!!! Finally the Pens commit a turnover! I thought the Wings had a patent on them.

The only chance the Wings have of salvaging a PK: They negate it by calling a penalty on the other team.

That was a stupid penalty by Ericsson. Really stupid.

The giveaways are unbelievable. "Here, have the puck. I don't need it. Really."

This PK is historically bad. I can't remember the last time a team made it this far in the playoffs with such a terrible penalty kill.

Well, call Detroit's defense whatever you want, but the Wings are probably the most skilled team in the league and score more goals than anyone else. I don't find that boring. The only thing I'd like to see more of from them is fighting, but that's not gonna happen any time soon.

Even though the Wings lost, this game was kind of a relief. The Wings controlled the play and got their puck possession game back. They played well enough to win this game. This restored my faith that the team could clearly outplay the Pens. I heard Samuelsson had the flu. Watching how tired the Wings looked the last couple of games, I have to wonder if there's a bug that went through the team. The too many men penalty that wasn't called is one of the worst missed calls I can remember. That was over 20 seconds with the Wings bench shouting about it. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but that gives one pause. One thing the Wings are incredibly bad at is killing penalties. Wow.

I share your frustration over the inconsistency, but I don't see the NHL as any different from the other sports leagues in this regard. The NBA is the worst, by a wide margin. Even MLB home plate umpires have wildly inconsistent, even moving, strike zones.

When the Wings were busy getting knocked out of the playoffs early against the Ducks, Flames and Oilers, a lot of people thought they were "unlucky," too. Got a lot of shots on goal, played in the other team's end all game long, then caught a "bad break" or "unlucky bounce" and the other team scored the winning goal. The truth is that there's a reason why some teams are outshot and their goalie seems to stand on his head and they win in the playoffs. Keeping the other team away from the dangerous areas of the ice will lead to some not-so-dangerous shots on goal. Protecting a lead by just chipping the puck out instead of taking chances by pinching with the defense will inflate the other teams shot totals. Those things also make the goalie's save percentage look good. But those things also win playoff games. The Wings were outshooting Pittsburgh after two periods last night. They sat back in the 3rd with the lead. Look at Anaheim in the 2nd round this year. They did many of the same things to Detroit that Detroit is now doing to Pittsburgh. It was NOT luck that the Ducks hung around in that series. They execute that style of hockey to perfection and it led to an upset of the 1 seed and a series against the defending champs that came down to the last 3 minutes of game 7. My point is that teams have to find a way to win when they're not at their best. Detroit has done that in games 1 and 2. They're beat up and have had a gruelling road to the Final. If Pittsburgh had to go through Anaheim, the roles might be reversed. If Pittsburgh could even get through Anaheim, that is. The Pens are playing very good hockey. They controlled enough of the ice that either game could have gone either way. But the Wings are making the most of their chances, and that's what teams did to Detroit a few years ago. I, for one, find being on the other side of that equation pretty sweet.

The Pens have created some havoc with their dump ins and forechecks. The Wings D have their backs to the forecheckers and it's lead to some turnovers. Pittsburgh deserves credit for that, but at the same time I feel like the Wings are showing some signs of fatigue. The key difference between the teams so far seems to be the Wings getting more of a net presence from their forwards (all 4 lines have guys who can create havoc in front of the net, deflect point shots and poke in rebounds) and Osgood outplaying Fleury (by a mile). To win these two games without Datsyuk and with so many players either out or playing through injuries - on back to back nights, no less - is extremely encouraging. I was thinking a split at home would be the best they could hope for, but a 2-0 lead is a pleasant surprise. But the Pens have overcome 2-0 before and I'm sure believe they can do it again. The day off should help the Wings immensely. If they can get Datsyuk back, that should give them a big lift. Draper, too. One thing I'm really enjoying about this series is the Wings are winning when they're not at their best. This was the kind of series Detroit lost 5 years ago. Outshoot a team, show off skill and then get beaten by a more determined team that outworked them and made their breaks by playing tough and scoring ugly goals. Now, the Wings have learned how to do those things themselves. They've been outshot, but they've come up with the big efforts when they needed it and they're the one making life easy on their own goalie. Osgood is the MVP so far. GO WINGS!!!!!

I noticed that all of a sudden the local columnists this morning were referring matter of factly to Lidstrom's "groin injury." Which is what I suspected it was, but now we know for sure. Well, I have no idea what to think about Datsyuk's injury. What is it? Assuming they aren't lying about the x-rays coming back negative, is it a severe bruise? The whole day to day thing is so hard to interpret. Did they really think he'd be back last week or was that a smoke screen? Sports doctors usually have a pretty good idea how long it will take for a player to heal from specific types of injuries. I guess we'll all know what the deal is in another week or so.

Agreed. Sid's presser was fine. And Maltby is a miserable little cockroach. But he's OUR miserable little cockroach. The Pens have Cooke, so it's a wash The real story here is what a great game Maltby had. He was ferocious in the late minutes of the 3rd period and his style was perfectly suited to the "let 'em play" style the refs were permitting. He was hitting and finishing every check, knocking guys down, etc. The fact his agitation act is getting to Sid is a bonus. That's what he's made a career out of but he's been much less effective at it the past few years.