betterREDthandead

The Wings are two wins away from the ultimate prize. Nothing but the scoreboard matters now.

Every series. Every single series. I've been saying this since last year: Flip is good for at least one goal a series that is the direct result of his skating ability and pure flat-out hustle and desire to get to the puck before his opponent. Sometimes it's because he scores it himself, sometimes because he gets the puck to a teammate, sometimes it's because he draws a penalty. But it will happen at least once in every series. And it just so happens that in the Nashville series it led to Franzen's Game 5 winner. I am a HUGE Filppula fan. This guy needs to be a Wing for life.

I'd rather preserve the shutout. I think the Wings get a much better mental edge from it than taking some roughing penalty or getting up in somebody's grill. Sure, a power play goal making it 3-1 would be pretty harmless for this game. But then you get the Pens thinking to themselves, "Hey, all we need to do is start s***, draw a penalty, and we can get our edge back." The Penguins are hockey players; they've been facewashed before, yelled at, fought, all that stuff, they can handle it. Nothing the Wings can do in that department that they haven't seen before. What they haven't faced is being down 2-0 and being totally, totally blanked. That's where the mental edge comes in.

I don't really have any problems with what the Pens were doing. The only thing that really stuck out was the Roberts punch....but that wasn't that far outside the bounds of the stuff that normally goes on anyway. The more a team just got their asses handed to them, the more they try to make it chippy and "send a message". Nothing big.

I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. Speechless. The Wings are playing near-perfect hockey. They're suffocating the Penguins. Just suffocating them. Got no adequate words for it. The Cup is getting closer......we can smell it.....

I don't think you can say this in such a short term. For one thing, I don't agree. League revenue has been going up since the lockout, hence the skyrocketing salary cap. But I've always felt you need a generation of fans to grow up with the team in order for them to really take root. Simply enough, the NHL is behind the curve because it had 6 teams when the other leagues had 16, it had 12 when the other leagues had 24, and so on. I think it takes 20-25 years to grow a lasting fan base, so that kids have a chance to grow up with their team.

Would you prefer to have to listen to them explain what the Wings have to do to get back in the game?

Your efforts do not go unappreciated I have my own superstition going for now, but at risk of breaking it I won't reveal what it is til the series is over. Off to watch the second.

The Wings are collapsing on the goaltender when the Pens get the puck near the net. More sticks and bodies that the puck has to go through. The Pens aren't. If they'd have swarmed the net, Homer's goal never happens. There, I just figured out the Pens problem and nullified what I said before. Only thing is, it doesn't help them score the three goals they'll need to win this game.

By my count there are, at minimum, 8 periods until we hoist the Cup. I think a trip to the store is in order.

Quoted For MUTHA-FUKKIN' Truth like Quoted For Truth, only with that extra oomph.

Hmmm......1 beer = 2 goals. Here. Drink this. For the team.

QFMFT. I am savoring this. The Wings are on a mission and they're being brutally efficient.

Great period. Best part is, I really can't pinpoint anything the Pens are doing wrong. I dunno, maybe Therrien can, he's their coach, not me. But it's not like the Pens made some dumb mistakes or didn't play aggressively enough or anything. They're just getting outplayed.

Theodore tried to play with the flu too. Not saying I don't expect Fleury out there, but just sayin'.

What he said. Really, there's nothing bandwagonish about kindling your interest in the hometown team because they've become successful. Remember when Mikey I. couldn't sell out the Joe even by giving away a new car at every game? Bandwagon fans are those that hop on and off, or those that root for say the Lakers despite living in Cleveland. Successful teams draw interest. It happens. The key for the NHL is keeping them. Especially after the Pens get completely crushed in the Finals

So in other words, the timetable that Ilitch once set for having a new arena has been set back considerably. I wonder what changed in between having an announcement last fall (or maybe it was January) to "5-10 years."

For now. If the Wings do like they have been in the rest of Ozzie's games, and average 3.6 goals for and 1.5 goals against, then Fleury's GAA will end up at about 2.30. Likewise, five more similar performances to Game will drop his SV% by over .010 down to about .923. Good numbers, but Ozzie's numbers would then compare quite favorably. In fewer words, if Ozzie beats Fleury in a playoff series - the scenario which is necessary for Ozzie to be considered - then it won't be hard for the voters to set him apart from his counterpart in net.

Bob Wojnowski article The loyalty Ozzie has toward this team and organization is unfathomable in this day and age. We're lucky to have a guy like that. What a perfect story, if he gets to raise the Cup and the Conn Smythe at the Joe. OZ-ZIE! OZ-ZIE! OZ-ZIE!

Pittsburgh is the smallest American market of any team that's ever played in the Finals except Carolina. They're kind of medium-sized. Obviously a bigger hockey fanbase though.

Oh yes they can. You act like they're the Kings or Blue Jackets. Remember Dallas making everyone have a cow? I think the Wings are the better team. But I don't think there's that little voice in the back of their heads telling the Pens they're screwed. That's not how professionals behave. They came in here supremely confident. Probably overconfident. You really think they're so fragile that one game shattered that confidence? That's insulting to our opponents.

Tonight's game will tell us: either the Pens can hang, or they can't. I don't agree with Therrien changing up the lines. I think it puts too many eggs in one psychological basket. It's a step toward outright panic. I don't think line combos were the problem. This is where steamrolling all your opponents and facing no adversity comes in. Deep down, I really think Therrien and the Pens thought they were going to deal with the Wings the same way they had everyone else. They didn't, and all of a sudden, it's time to change up what worked so well for three other series. Had the Wings lost Game 1, I feel like there wouldn't have been a single lineup change. Essentially, I think both teams came into the series feeling like the opponent would be the exact same as the others. The Pens saw nobody that could hang with them; they thought the Wings would be the same and were surprised to find out somebody could. The Wings saw that even Nashville, the 8th seed, and Dallas, who they owned, could present a challenge. They treated the Pens the same way. So. Can the Pens challenge? I still feel if they can't win Game 1 or 2 in Detroit, they can't win 5 or 7 either, no matter how they fare at Mellon.

Because Vs. wouldn't even pay half the money they pay now if they were shut out of the Finals.

IIRC....yes, because the Wings wanted him to take a pay cut.

But what, exactly, has Zetterberg done to "steal a game"? I don't like the notion that Osgood isn't deserving because he hasn't stood out by "stealing a game"....yet a skater, one of 18, somehow has. Yes, Hank's been fantastic. And yes, he's a very, very deserving candidate to lift the Conn Smythe. But Osgood's been phenomenal. And yes, he's won us games with his play. How about the breakaway stop on Dupuis with the score 0-0? How about the point-blank save on Liles against Colorado? If you go back and review the playoffs, you'll find plenty of big saves at big times that kept the Wings in position to go and win the game.