betterREDthandead

I don't think that's going to be especially exciting.

....and nobody wants to listen when I say the Pens are going to give us hell this series. How can a team from the JV Conference be doing this to us???

I'm as nervous about this game as I was last game, despite the 1-0 lead. The Wings can't play like they did yesterday and expect to win.

Ozzie actually is a little bit cocky - if he wasn't, he wouldn't be as good as he is at shutting out the criticism and stepping up his game when the other teams' fans are on his case. Really, there's no such thing as a successful goalie who isn't at least a little bit cocky. The thing is he doesn't act it, he just uses it to his advantage in games. And that's the difference between a classless ******* like a certain Avs goalie we used to know and love, and a guy like Osgood.

This thread is the touching-the-Prince-of-Wales-trophy of threads.

And waste 18 months worth of growth????

Sidney Crosby whines about hats on ice. Did not realize May 4 was three years ago.

lol.....would you say, perhaps, psmitty is "whining"? Or just Sidneying?

Neither did NBC, for that matter.

If the hockey gods are on our side, we'll take it, and you can keep the refs.

FWIW my top two players of the game are Helm and Hossa. Seemed like every time you looked at the screen, there was Helm on the puck. And Hossa's defense was phenomenal today.

I'm not gonna pretend we haven't been way lucky considering we got outplayed pretty clearly in the second.

I think the non-call on Malkin tripping Kronwall was the most egregious actually. Not just because of the result, but because the Cooke thing, that is sometimes a matter of opinion, but Malkin's play was black-and-white. Remember though: it's Paul Devorski, who has probably one of the most (if not THE most) famous non-calls in history under his belt.

Dude, if the Wings make a bad play (two actually) and the Pens capitalize, how is that not legit? Almost all goals are at least partly the result of a bad play by somebody.

True, very true. Not to mention that the penalty call we did get was actually pretty chintzy. But.... The NBC guys have mentioned no less than three times that a penalty should have been called on Pittsburgh. Network guys rarely bother saying that. The conspiracy bulls*** is just that, but the calls, or the non-calls rather, have definitely slanted the Pens' way.

Not a good period overall - man do I feel fortunate that we're up 2-1. But you know who's doing some absolutely bad-ass backchecking and playing very good defense and a great game overall? Marian Hossa.

I'd call the Wings out for a sloppy power play, but you can't really blame them. They're not getting the practice at it that they should be.

I dunno about "completely." Marginally, I'd say. Better, yes - dominant, no.

There's nerves, which they all have tonight no matter what, and then there's simply not being prepared. The Wings had the leadership in place that wouldn't allow that, including a coach. The Pens had nothing at all.

Every single team the Pens beat in the playoffs this year, beat the Ducks in the regular season. So did the Pens. Boston beat 'em 6-0.

That's what I mean. Once they got over the shock of actually being in the Cup Finals, they played us even. I don't know how I ignored the two games. I specifically pointed them out, and that we're not getting those two games this year. We got a 2-0 boost last year and rode it to the Cup. That's not going to happen this year. And if you brush aside the refs screwjobbing us last year and assume it won't also happen this year, I have to wonder how long you've been a Wings fan

Also was the all-time favorite of a certain commanding officer of mine, which would be hilarious if you knew his command style.

In Games 3 through 6 last year, both teams had 10 goals for and 10 against, and all the games were 1-goal games. One went to OT thanks to a goal in the final seconds and the next one almost did the exact same thing. It'd be very, very hard to point out a closer four-game stretch in ANY playoff series. What won us the series was Pittsburgh's total lack of preparedness. We don't have that advantage this time. Now they have a coach they like, and there are storylines to this series that didn't exist last year - who knows what kind of effect those might have? Huge mistake IMO to think we can just brush them aside like we did the Hawks. Huge mistake.

That's cause nobody else has anywhere near the talent of either the Wings or the Pens. It damn near worked against us last year in Games 3-6 - the difference in the series was the Pens' total lack of preparedness for the first two. Don't take this as pessimism, just a cautionary tale. LGWers occasionally let their hatred of Crosby color their views of him as a player. He really is that good.