Sgt. Angry

I have to disagree with those who say this will be a "wakeup call" for the Wings. First of all, I can't remember this wakeup call crap ever having any effect on the Wings the past few years. And second, why should a group of guys getting paid millions of dollars, especially the veterans, even NEED a wakeup call in the playoffs?????? This team has not had a "step on their throat," killer instinct in a long-long time.

What year was it? Wings lead one of the California teams 2 games to none, have a two goal lead in the third period of game 3. They let in 3 goals, and never win again. For a President's Trophy team to suck this bad in inexcuseable. All they have to do is match their opponents intensity level, and they should be home free. But these guys can't even seem to put together the full 60 minutes that they get millions to play.

Forget this godamned s*** - just send out the closest thing we have to goons, and kick the s*** out of somebody

Now if we can just get through the next four minutes without the almost certain chincy penalty that they always seem to get when they're ahead.

Hey, what can I say - I'm a nervous, "glass is always half-empty" kind of guy! I'd much rather watch a 8-0 Wings blowout than a close game, unlike some of you. When it gets down to deciding games, sometimes I can't even watch, due to nerves. I'll watch the Tigers or NASCAR, and just flip to check the score occasionally. Sure the number one seed won't always win, but I would think that a team this good should have a few laughers now and then, to help my sanity.

Why can't this team ever play like a President's Trophy team should in the playoffs? Even when they win, they just squeak out wins against teams they should be kicking the s*** out of. Looks like I'll have to haul out my old 2002 Colorado game 7 tape, so I can remember when these guys last dominated like they should!

Dammit all!!!! If the Wings blow this one, it will be entirely due to their appalling lack of urgency on that 5-on-3. They always seem to start dinking around as soon as they get a few goals up.

Glad I turned off the game before the end today. Not to make excuses for the refs, but I would be really curious to hear what the NHL refs really think about the NHL brass (without fear of punishment). It seems like every year, the league wants them to change the way they call the games. Where are all of the "obstruction hooking" calls that were being called two or three years ago? I would be willing to bet that if the refs could speak their minds they'd probably say, "Why doesn't Bettman just let us call the games, and quit dictating to us to emphasize this or that!" It sounds like the disallowed goal today would be what Mickey Redmond would term a "reputation call."

Didn't catch the whole game, so I'll defer to your judgement. But it does get old to lose games where the other goalie faces twice as many shots, but stops more. And have the Red Wings EVER gobbled up a replacement goalie??? Seems like every time the other team makes a goalie change, the bastard absolutely stones them. Too bad we couldn't have had Downey in the game to kick somebody's ass - to at least make watching this game not a total waste of time.

I suppose that Ozzie is going to fall into the usual "sign a big contract, get named to the all-star team, so start to play like crap" trap that so many others have done.

I hate the fact that these guys will get paid their full salary for that bucket of crap defensive effort tonight. And what's with the shootout guys all thinking that they have to do something new, instead of what has worked for them the last few shootouts? This is a team that I would like to see them just physically pound, just because I can't stand those bastards!

I know it'll never happen, but why doesn't somebody just run over Backstrom? It's been done to our guys enough times. BTW, is that dinkwad any relation to Ralph Backstrom, who used to play for the Canadiens?

Not only do I dislike his personality, but I absolutely HATE the stupid questions that he asks. Do you ever notice that 95% of his questions begin with the word HOW? As an example, suppose the Wings were down 3 games to none in the SC finals: Keating's intelligent question to Mike Babcock would be "How big is this next game?!?!?" Geesh, why doesn't he ever ask any questions that we don't already know the answers to?

What a crap sports day this turned out to be. The only one who played worse than Dom tonight was Angie Mentink, who absolutely butchered the post game show. Did they ever show any comments from Babcock? I didn't hear any, but he probably would have sounded ike Lloyd Carr anyway.

This game wasn't anything that we haven't seen countless times in the past few years. Not too much into the third period, I was convinced that the Wings were not going to score another goal - you know, the old "goalie standing on his head" thing that seems to happen every other game. With the Wings, the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Thank goodness that I, Sgt. Angry, have forced myself to mellow out a bit this year. Be that as it may, I, like many of you, only watched the SCF in bits and pieces. The SCF games are what I watched during the commercial breaks during the Tiger games or NASCAR races. Just a couple of observations (whines?): 1. Outplaying the Ducks, but losing: - We should not be surprised at this. I would wager that if you took all of the RW losses this season, you would find that the Wings outshot the opposition in about 70-80% of those losses. That the Wings need more shots to score a goal than any other team has been a reality for at least the past 5 years. 2. The officiating: - One of these years, the RW organization will realize that the officials ARE NOT going to call the playoff games the same as the regular season. I think it's getting closer, but still not there. I still think that if the Wings used the same "physicality" as other teams, though, they would find themselves in the box more often than those other teams. 3. Names on the Cup: - I, too, resolved that there was no way I was going to watch Pronger lift the cup. Pronger is one of a growing list of players, past and present, that I've grown to dislike, simply because they always seem to show up on teams that I can't stand - Pronger, Neidermeier, Langenbruner, Blake, Claude Lemieux, Mike Keane. The most comforting thought is still that the Wings very much exceeded my expectations at the beginning of the season.

Bad first period. First of all, that idiot Mike Emrick had to start blabbing about the Wings not letting in a PP goal in six games, so he's responsible for one of the goals. And now we know why the NHL suspended Pronger so fast - it was in exchange for them not calling any penalties on the Ducks this game. Hoping for a good comeback in the next 40 minutes.

I do hope that history repeats itself concerning Lidstrom's big save last night. Wasn't it in 1997, against Colorado, that Lidstrom knocked a puck out of mid-air, just before it went in the goal? That one was even more impressive than last nights. Of course, the Wings went on to win the cup. Like I said, I hope history repeats itself.

I don't know about the rest of you, but in the 3rd period last night, I had one of those rare feelings that, as long as Dom could see the puck, there was no way it was going in the net. He really seemed to be in the zone - a state that is usually reserved for opposing goalies this time of year.

I don't know if the picture will be included in this quote, but whoever took the picture has a rare gem of a photo. It has the same qualities as Joe Rosenthal's photo of the Marines at Iwo Jima, or Dick Tripp's picture of the Lions defense swarming over Bart Starr on Thanksgiving day in 64 (or was it 62?). I really believe that these teams are both good enough that any talk about momentum is fruitless - it can change in an instant, and I don't believe that the Sharks will be that overwhelmed. I'm relieved that I no longer get overly "doomy and gloomy" during the games any more. I was cured of that last fall when the Yankees spanked the Tigers in the first playoff game. I wrote them off, they came back and won, and I vowed - NEVER AGAIN!!! These late games, I use the TV as a radio. I sack out on the couch, close my eyes, listen to the TV, and when the announcers start getting exited, I open my eyes and watch. GO WINGS!!!!

Small reasons for hope: 1. It seems like when the Wings get a quick lead in the first few minutes, they don't score much the rest of the game, and often lose. Maybe we can pull that same thing on the Sharks. 2. How many of you can remember the 1966 Cup finals? If I remember correctly, we kicked Montreal's butt in the first two games - at the Forum! Gosh were we riding high, salivating over the next two games at Olympia. Then the Wings lost the next four in a row, culminating with Henri Richard's phantom goal. We are only down one game, with two periods to go. Even if we lose, I'd love to see a repeat (in reverse) of 1966. Had to laugh when Bill Clement asked Brett Hull to explain how the Wings could come out so flat. Why didn't Brett just say, "Look, if I knew, maybe we wouldn't have done the same thing after we won the Cup in 2002!"

I've said it in previous playoff losses, and I'll say it again - If the Sharks are going to be dropping down to block shots, then aim for the head - they'll eventually quit doing that!

Concerning the second goal - why, why, why do the Wings NEVER get those kind of gifts from opposing goalies? Roy's "statue of liberty" gaffe is the only one I can remember. Hasek's blunder is every bit as bad as the goal that got Paul Coffey a ticket out of town.

Don't know if anybody will agree with me, but the moment I saw Franzen's goal, it made me think of Yzerman's 2OT goal against John Casey. Yzerman had less traffic in front of him, and I think he shot over the other shoulder, but both of them were important top shelf gems.