betterREDthandead

Dude, Ozzie's pretty obviously outside his crease. Incidental contact

Of course, if they were really smart about it, pucks hitting the netting wouldn't need to be reviewable because they'd still be in play if they came back down to the ice. Why stop play for that?

You always read that when a team moves. Honestly, I don't think I ever saw a single person wearing any Sonics gear when I lived in Everett. No Sonics billboards and they were always an afterthought on sports reports. Bowling alleys, bars, what have you, always Seahawks paraphernelia, rarely any Mariners stuff and definitely no Sonics stuff. I feel bad for actual Sonics fans, but there's so few of them left.

You'd have to ask Mike Ilitch. Rings aren't an official NHL thing. It's the team's prerogative who gets one. In case you're wondering, though, Scotty doesn't meet the requirements for having his name etched into the Cup again.

It's probably not even realistic if Chicago fails. But I can always hope.

It's not just the fans. Name one other city in the country that has hosted: The World Series The Super Bowl The Stanley Cup Finals The NBA Finals (this alone narrows it down to Detroit, LA, and Miami.) The World Cup (eliminating Miami) The Ryder Cup The Final Four (coming in 2009) The PGA Championship The U.S. Open in golf The Frozen Four (coming in 2010 - eliminating LA) The MLB, NHL, and NBA All-Star Games An annual bowl game We have the Gold Cup for hydroplane racing An annual Grand Prix (which once upon a time was a Formula One race) The crown jewel would be an Olympics. Detroit has made the final bidding rounds more often than any other unsuccessful city and is considering a shot at the 2020 Olympics. The only city that can come close to claiming this stuff is LA, but the only professional football team in the city is the Trojans.

Did you really? Man, the crazy things these reporters come up with. I'm actually just a smidge insulted by that. As if it took Mr. Seasoned Experienced Serious Journalist with his practiced and trained eye to "get a sense" that Babcock disagreed with the call. Helen Keller could have figured that out.

The Detroit Drive never, ever failed to make the Arena Bowl. Six years in existence. Six trips to the Super Bowl of Arena football. What a douchebag. His location: Wichita Falls, TX. Awwww. Did your widdle Stars get dominated again? Those mean ol' Wings. Poor widdle guy.

Stop right there. "Bettman's people" don't award the trophy. The only thing Bettman does is the actual presentation. The writers vote for the winner. I don't know whether that helps or hurts Ozzie's candidacy, but I do know that Bettman, the marketing guys, and the league in general have no say. And that is a good thing.

Because too much of a good thing ruins it. Keeping the interest high by not overdoing it is important. I like the idea of switching the game between conferences each year. For '09, maybe Blackhawks-Wings....for '10, maybe find a way to match up the Flyers and Rangers. But the worst thing would be to do it so much that people lose interest.

I was afraid of that. Didn't take long for the Celtics to shake off the road blues. That's OK. Get the next one. And the Pistons already have a win in Boston. They can do it again. (Gonna have to.) Stuckey = Win.

Also, our teams don't videotape everyone else.

Well, first of all no, I wouldn't expect anyone to go a whole series scoring two goals a game. I expect good games out of everyone all the time, but a "good game" does not require two goals. I thought the whole team played a good game. Sammy had MUCH better than a good game. But Datsyuk is the star. Sammy is a role player. Crymson said it best: Unless Sammy makes a number of awful, awful mistakes and directly costs us a game, then he's done his part. He's not the guy we expect to carry the team every night. To answer the question: I would not accept just one good game per series out of anyone. But I would accept just one of those games per series out of everyone, even Datsyuk and Zetterberg. That's how series are won.

Detroit is truly the best sports town in the country. Period. Nobody even comes close to matching up. I would challenge anyone from Boston or New York or Philly or Chicago or DC or LA, or anywhere, on this. Boston is probably the only one that can approach us. We have the best fans, the best teams, the most events. We win championships, and we host them. Walk around anywhere in Detroit - pick a mall or something - and you'll see Tigers hats, Pistons jerseys, Wings hats, U-M and MSU gear, even Lions stuff. I just moved out of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle has three teams and a major university but you'd think the Seahawks were the only gig in town.

Those numbers are a little bit biased....the Game 1 home team is the higher seeded team and the favorite, which affects the numbers a little bit more than who won Game 1. And as AK said.....Game 2 tends to be a better predictor. In fact, other than Game 7, usually the even-numbered games are a better indicator than the odds. Even-numbered games are where one team has the chance to truly take control, and the other team has their chance to even it up.

11-2, 2 shutouts, 1.48, .935. I think the front-runner has to be Ozzie, the way he's played and especially the way the playoff run changed when Ozzie entered the game. Zetterberg a very close second and Franzen poised to jump back in the race if he continues his scoring pace. Sentimentally, I'd like to see it be Osgood, so I'm biased somewhat. As previous posters have said, partially in recognition for an outstanding career. That's not why they give out the Conn Smythe, of course. But he's not undeserving, either.

Of course it's homerish. We love the hell out of our team. Yeah, we have a lot of mood swings around here, and yeah, Sammy's the official whipping boy. But coming up big in the Cup Finals, hopefully enroute to actually winning the Cup, does in fact erase anything bad he did all season. That's why these games mean more, and that's what I mean when I say this is why you play the season. To get here.

If we finish this season with the Cup, in part thanks to Sammy's big game, then it absolutely makes up for the whole season....what do you play the season for otherwise?

Agreed. He just won a quarter of the series for us, and has not, to my knowledge, cost us a game. He's on the plus side in my book. Herr Hockey that is excellent work sir. Well done.

I love it when the players acknowledge the crowd and share the celebration, even just a little bit, like Sammy did after his wraparound goal. Best part is, when a role player like Sammy steps up as the first star, it challenges his teammates in a way. Throws down the gauntlet....who wants to be the next to shine?

OK.....long post coming up. It's been kind of brewing ever since both teams were up 3-0, so bear with me. First, some truths in the "credit where credit is due" category. - The Penguins are the first team the Wings have faced these playoffs that we're not obviously better than. That is a fact. And the same is true in reverse. These are, without any doubt in my mind, the two best teams in the league. So any prediction that ends with "in 5" means you're only fooling yourself. - The Pittsburgh offense is scary talented. They have four players who have produced over a point a game these playoffs. Focus on Crosby and Malkin, and Malone and Hossa will burn you. All their centers can score and make plays. - The Penguins are nothing if not rested, having breezed through the first three rounds. They will be supremely confident. This can work both ways. Confidence can put you in the best frame of mind, but it can also disappear quick if you find it's not as easy as you thought....and once you fall off that hill it's nigh-impossible to get back up in a 7 game series. Now, to the myths: #1: The Penguins have an especially lethal power play. The Penguins have a very good and talented power play. It is top-5 in the league. The Wings were fortunately to play against teams in the first round with absolutely rotten power plays, and Dallas was mediocre. But the numbers don't lie: the Penguins' power play in the regular season was 20.4%. The Wings: 20.7%. During the playoffs the Penguins have been at 25%, but the sample size is too small - take away just two goals and they're right there with the Wings again. The Penguins have a good power play but it is far from lethal, and it will be sorely tested against the Wings' superior penalty killing, which unlike most teams, challenges the offense all the way through neutral ice. #2: The Penguins defense is on par with, or even better than, the Wings'. The most incorrect of anything said about the Pens. Their defense is much improved - they gave up 100 fewer goals than they did two years ago and have moved into the realm of respectability. And they've done even better in the playoffs, but again: the playoffs are far too small a sample size for this. Consider the personnel: Lidstrom is better than Gonchar Rafalski is better than Whitney Kronwall is better than Orpik Stuart is better than Gill Chelios is better than Scuderi Letang is the only one I'd give an edge to. All the way down at 6th defenseman. Forwards? Kris Draper is a Selke winner. Datsyuk or Zetterberg are finalists this year - one of them should win. Pittsburgh is a good defensive team. Detroit is a great one. #3. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are a better duo than Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Higher scoring and younger? Obviously. But again: which two are nominated for the Selke Trophy, and which two are not? To be a better player instead of a better scorer, you must be well-rounded. Malkin saw an average of 48 seconds of shorthanded ice time per game this season; Crosby, 42 seconds. Datsyuk had 1:47 of SH ice time per game; Zetterberg, 2:09. In the playoffs, Crosby has dropped to just 9 seconds per game. This tells me that the Penguins generally only put their golden boys on the ice during the last few seconds of a penalty kill so they can be out there right away. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are penalty killers. To know that drawing a penalty takes the Penguins' best players off the ice - that is a huge advantage. #4. The Wings have experience, but the Pens are younger and hungrier and that is an advantage. Dallas Drake is 39 and now has his first crack at the Cup - you can bet he's gonna be fired up. Appearing in Gatorade ads with your best I Are Serious Cat face does not make you hungrier. #5. The Pens have the advantage in net because Marc-Andre Fleury is playing his lights out. This one and the defense thing are mutually exclusive and it's funny on the semi-rare occasion someone tries to bring them both up at once. So Chris Osgood's numbers are because the team in front of him is playing so well, but Fleury's are not.....yet the Pens defense is better than the Wings. Hm. In any case, the Avs and Stars were both said to have a tremendous advantage in net. This clearly did not materialize as the Wings shelled both Theodore and Turco into oblivion. The Wings play a style designed to make the opposing goalie see as many shots as possible, which Fleury has not seen. I see nothing that sets Fleury apart from the other two, other than perhaps lacking Turco's JLA albatross. So I see no reason why the outcome should be any different. #6. Coming back from 3 down in Game 1 against the Rangers is enough adversity to prepare the Baby Pens for what they're going to face in the finals. ROFLCOPTER. OK, that one was only proposed by a guy who was tilting and on his way to bannination. But still. I sure hope nobody actually believed it. Finish up with a stat that should make Pens fans nervous: SOG differential. For the Pens: +4.4 SPG in the playoffs...but only +1.2 after the Ottawa series. For the Wings: +12.7, +10.5 after Nashville. Point being: not only do the Wings play a very, very different style of play than the Pens are used to seeing, they do it very, very well. No team will ever win a 7 game series by giving up 10 extra shots per game. Even with a save percentage as gaudy as Fleury's, that's like a free extra goal. Wings in 6.

As I said before the series....the Pens are perfectly capable of getting a split in Detroit. Maybe even taking the first two (though that could prove difficult now ) But if they don't win either one, and go back to Pittsburgh down 0-2, that's it. If they can't win the relatively low pressure ones early in the series, then I dont' seem them winning the high-pressure ones later.

I can't believe he scored on a damn wraparound. The second goal was classic Sammy....that's how he usually scores 'em. Without the puck he's a decent player. He gets into position and knocks home a rebound or takes a nice pass from a teammate. No way he scores on a wraparound again in 5 years.

That was the Sammy we saw in the '05-'06 season. The Cup Finals is all about the unlikely hero.

Now that Game 1's in the books, it's time for myths, revisited. Taking a look at how the six factors I listed played out in Game 1: - Power play. Pittsburgh 0 for 5. Some decent chances, but in the end the Wings had more goals on the Pens power play than the Pens did. Starting with Game 1 against Dallas, an opponents' power play has been just as likely to result in a Wings goal as an opponent goal. - Pens' defense. I can't evaluate it until I see some evidence of it. They hung Fleury out to dry starting in the second and he came up big, mostly. - Duo vs. duo. Malkin was so invisible I literally forgot about him for a long time and then thought the announcers said "Walton". That actually happened. 1 shot, 1 penalty, and a -1 for the game, and he shoulders half the blame for Sammy's second goal. Oh, and Crosby got laid out by Zetterberg. Which was nice. - Advantage youth. Watch out for that first step dude, it's a doozy. - Pens' advantage in net. Fleury shoulders the other half of the blame for Sammy's second, got caught out of position on Sammy's first, and got caught moving backwards on Cleary's shorty. - Adversity. Now we'll see how they react.