BlueMonk

Downey had been a punching bag a year or two ago, so I'm inclined to agree that he was the most improved. He had a great season and it was a pleasant surprise.

Rangers-Pens was a good game, but went pretty much as I expected. The Pens are a really impressive team. It's their commitment to defense that really surprises me. This is a complete team with everything it takes to get to the Finals. I expect them to take Philly out. Stars-Sharks was an amazing game. I watched it, against my better judgment (had to wake up early today) but I don't regret it at all. Two teams playing all-out, just an incredible battle of wills. That game shows why scoring is so unimportant to the quality of a hockey game. 1-1 through 3 OTs but as exciting and compelling as a sporting event can get. Serious props to players on both sides. I thought Roenick and Nabokov were outstanding. The save Nabby made on Richards was the save of the playoffs so far. And Turco matched him and then some. Turco was inspired and I found myself really rooting for him, after losing games like this in previous playoffs. Mike Ribeiro played his ass off, too. I have a lot of respect for the effort he gave. Then there's Brendan Morrow. I've liked him for a long time, but this was a heroic effort from him. He was just epic throughout this series. That's what being captain of an NHL team is all about. It's been a great playoff year so far. Let's hope the good guys keep it rolling against a surprisingly good Dallas team.

The Sharks are going to win this series. Every 33 years, baby!

It's great to see a sweep. This was a beatdown and I really enjoyed it. No stress after the Wings got up 4 or 5 goals, just relax and enjoy. It will be much harder next round. The Avs injuries were a huge factor in the series, but this was a bad matchup for Colorado from the beginning. Hopefully the other series don't drag too much longer, because a little time off for the Wings is good, but too much time off might be bad. GO WINGS!!!

I have to give credit, Dater has turned out to be a good writer. I really appreciated his nice words about Detroit (the city) the other day, and he generally seems to be a non-slappy, which is refreshing.

Dater is right about the officiating; it was terrible. I thought it was the worst I've seen so far in the playoffs this year. And yes, Sammy is prone to diving, and may have been trying to draw a call on the contact with Forsberg even before the stick clipped him in the mouth. But that being said, you can only embellish having a tooth knocked out so much. As for Forsberg, it's laughable that he's the one calling Sammy out. It's like Chelios calling someone old. Forsberg is a stooge. The whole lead-up to his "comeback" was hard to stomach. "I'm retired. No I'm not. Wait, yes I am. Kidding! Not really. No, wait." Nothing would be more satisfying for me than seeing the Wings close this series out and send that uneven-legged, no-spleen-having diva back to Sweden.

Great win! 3-0 series lead, it's been a freakin' eternity since that happened. The top line was awesome, Franzen scored again, Osgood came up with some huge saves. On the downside, Filppula was brutal and the officiating was as bad as it gets. But the 3-0 part makes it all better!

I have to say, the most satisfying thing that could happen for me is not that Forsberg plays and the Avs still lose; no, I'd rather he doesn't play at all and they get dominated like they did tonight. Because the whole thing about Forsberg is stuff like this, where he skates out to center ice in warmups and his groin and ankle fall off. It would be ultimate failure for the Avs if he can't even suit up for their big series with Detroit. But I'll take the scenario where he plays and they lose anyway, if I have to. Franzen is just ridiculous. The NHL's leading playoff goal scorer, 5 goals in 2 games, a shortie, a top shelf backhander on a wraparound... WTF?! And he checks and kills penalties. How can you not love this guy? Ozzie played a great game. His play in the playoffs so far has been overlooked, but he's been exactly what the Wings need out of a goaltender, plus a little more. He's made the saves he's supposed to make, and bailed them out of some tough spots. He was really good tonight during the PKs in the 3rd.

Now THIS is a stupid penalty to take.

Keep panicking, Chicken Littles.

Wings are up 4-0 going into the 3rd period of a 2nd round playoff game and people are talking more about not scoring one on the backup goalie and what Pierre McGuire is saying than they are about the fact the Wings are on the verge of going up 2-0 in the series. This place is unbelievable.

Was at the game with my daughter, who is a huge Franzen fan. Of course, he scores two goals and gets the first star. Awesome! The Joe was electric and the people in our section were great. The Wings carried the play early, the Avs had it late. At the end of the day, a 1-0 series lead. We'll take it.

You wouldn't expect a 3-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender, arguably one of the greatest of all-time, to let someone like Sean Avery get this far inside his head. Wow.

Grapes has both praise and criticism for players of all nationalities. He says great things about European players like Saku Koivu, Chara and Alfredsson. He also trashes Canadians like Sean Avery and Matt Cooke. He's an unabashed supporter of Canadian hockey. So? He's Canadian. I don't see any problems here. Everyone cheers for their national team. Grapes likes a certain style of hockey, the kind that's played in North America, mostly by Canadians. I can't fault him for that. I'm of 100% European lineage, but I prefer North American hockey, too.

Marty in a runaway.

It was all part of the plan, man! I hoped to jinx 'em and it looks like I did!

Just like Keith Jones predicted at intermission!

Anaheim and San Jose would be great. I'm confident Anaheim will make it, but the Sharks, I don't know... they look rattled right now.

Hard fought game. Anyone doubting the uselessness (not to mention homerism) of hit totals need look no further than this game for proof. The Preds were badly outhitting the Wings according to the official totals (22-14 last I saw), but the Wings physically dominated the Predators. The Wings were the vastly superior team, but Dan Ellis (and some shaky Wings goaltending early in the series) made things appear closer than they really were. My hat's off to the Predators, especially Dan Ellis, and the Nashville fans for showing up big time. On to round two! GO WINGS!!!!!!

Yep, I was thinking the same thing. It's hard to believe that many players on both sides could be squeezing their sticks too tightly. I think it's probably bad ice. It looks pretty wet.

Heh, Kelly Hrudey just now: "The officiating has been excellent."

Story of the game so far: Wings are being physical and a little dirty. I like it! The officiating is brutal. It hasn't hurt the Wings yet, but it will, eventually. Filppula is crapping his pants in the playoffs so far. The kid is just in a state of panic and can't do anything without mindf**king it to death. Good thing he scored the big goal in game 5, because if not for that, I don't know what his mental health would be like right now.

Wow, that's a lot of parallels! I definitely thought there seemed to be some similarities, the most obvious being 3-1 series leads for the "favorite." But that's a lot of stuff there.

Ryan Smyth fell out of an ugly tree. And hit a few branches on the way down. Yow.

Players should shake hands. It's an important tradition, and I'm big on traditions. You battle like warriors for 4 to 7 games, trying to practically kill each other. Then, when it's over, you're man enough to shake the other guy's hand, win or lose. I love Chelios and everything about the way he battles on the ice, but when he didn't shake hands last year, I thought it was bush league. Take your lumps like a man, don't make weak ass excuses why you backed out. So if I can't approve of a player who I like skipping the handshake line, I can't make excuses for Marty not extending his hand to Avery. He should have done it.