C-TownWing

After I heard some boos for Z going to get the Conn Smythe, I yelled "go screw your goats, or whatever it is you do for fun in Pittsburgh." That pretty much got it out of my system, after that I was able to just soak in the moment.

In a word, no.

I've already checked in with the locker room t-shirt (pretty ugly) and hat (f-in awesome), as well as the DVD and puck. More burning of disposable income to follow... I once said that next time the Wings win, I'd buy like 10 t-shirts and wear one every day until the next season. They're kind of disappointing though, I don't know if I can stick to that!

It's been a fun season, but I'm ready for it to end in 22 hours. Let's do this thing.

Looks like some free advertising for his sportswear line: Dominator Clothing

Geez that seems like a million years ago, leading into the playoffs..."if Hasek falters, you have Osgood, but once you do that, who knows what Hasek will do in the room..." Everyone who said that can officially suck it. I'm sure this isn't how Dom envisioned his career ending, if in fact it is, but he's going out like the champion he is, even if he isn't playing. Same with Cheli and his comments about sticking with a winning linuep once it became clear that it wasn't a leg injury keeping him out.

I beat the Pens on '93 for Sega Genesis. Made Larry Murphy's head bleed twice, and Paul Ysebaert had a hat trick. Played Probie a lot in the third to try and make a Penguin head bleed via massive beatdown, but no takers unfortunately.

For real...Gill's entire job this series is basically to chase Homer around the ice mugging him at every turn, and not just when they're in front of the net.

Not that anything's making me feel better right now, but a poster I respect saying we'll blow out the Pens in game 6 doesn't hurt. Thanks for the optimism!

Ridiculously dumb stat of the night: Since the sweep at the hands of Babs' Mighty Ducks in 2003, every single playoff series we've played has gone six games, with the exception of the sweep of the Avs. 2004: Nashville, W in 6 Calgary, L in 6 2006: Edmonton, L in 6 2007: Calgary, W in 6 San Jose, W in 6 Anaheim, L in 6 2008: Nashville, W in 6 Colorado, W in 4 Dallas, W in 6 Pittsburgh ??? That's the most optimistic thing I can say right now, cause I feel like total crap about our chances of winning the Cup right now.

People do say it about Brodeur, but I couldn't agree with you more other than that. Newsflash to everyone: 1. Most great players play for great teams, yet the "he plays for a good team therefore he's not that good" logic never seems to be applied most of the time. 2. Being on a great team benefits non-goalies as well. I'm on record that Lidstrom is the best pure D ever, but does anyone think he'd have a closet full of Norrises and a Conn Smythe had he played for the Caps his whole career? Hell, he might for all I know, but playing for a great team certainly hasn't hurt him.

Is it "almost never" or is it "not once?" Helps your point if you don't contradict yourself ace.

Way to represent Cleveland Wings fans bro! Gotta love the premeditation, with the extra ticket and change in disguise. Epic.

If I get our scouting staff, I take the extra picks. With anyone else's, I take the #1.

I'd take his combination of grit and scoring anytime...I think he's just entering his prime, and if we got him at $3.5 million or so long-term, he could prove to be a steal.

I'll take up for Dom too. He was a huge part of our regular season success, which in my mind has been a big reason for our playoff success. Unless you'd rather grab the 5 seed like Dallas and be forced to go through the Ducks and Sharks in the first two rounds. Sticking with the goalie thing: Ozzie's been underrated for 15 freaking years. Winning another Cup and possibly a Conn Smythe clinches his HOF status, at least in my book. Overrated? Nobody, our whole freaking team is sweet.

It's going to be tough for them, no doubt. Back at the trade deadline, I remember thinking that the Hossa trads was a good one, but only if they win the Cup this year. It's sort of developing into a worst-case for the Pens if they don't win, because guys like Hossa, Malone and Orpik have had a good playoffs and possibly priced themselves out of Pittsburgh. And don't forget about the deals that Malkin and Fleury will get... Some people call the Pens the next dynasty. Right now, they're closer to being the next Tampa Bay Lightning (minus the Cup, hopefully) if they're not extremely careful over this offseason.

I feel like I can speak somewhat objectively on this because the Pens are actually my (distant) 2nd favorite team. Sidney Crosby is not the best player in the world, period. Like the guy above said, it's Nick Lidstrom. Ovechkin's better than Crosby too. Z might be slightly behind that group (although I'm re-thinking that because of these playoffs), but it's not a huge difference, and I wouldn't laugh at someone who called Z better. There are things Z does better than Crosby (defense and probably goal-scoring come to mind). If there are people bashing Crosby for saying "one game at a time," they're in the minority. I certainly don't have a problem with that, it's always the right answer. I think most bash him because of things like whining about obstruction in the media, saying Z's play on the 5-on-3 wasn't really a big deal (I'm sure Adam Hall does it all the time!), or whatever the hell he was doing after the final horn in game 4. Can you imagine Lidstrom acting like that? How about Yzerman? Sakic? Messier? Me neither. Crosby's an immensely talented player, but at this point in his career he's a little ***** who has no business captaining a Jr. B team, let alone a team in the Stanley Cup Finals. I really do hope he matures over the next couple years, but as someone who's been handed just about everything in his hockey life, I'm skeptical.

Hilarious...that's the first thing I always mention to people who tell me that hockey doesn't have enough scoring. There are basically the same number of goals in a hockey game as there are touchdowns in a football game, we just don't count them as 6/7 points. Thought I was the only one who noticed! Anyway, forget about goalie pads, bigger nets, etc. The solution is to change the point value of a goal because people are idiots and will buy it. So from now on, the score of game 3 was 21-14 Pittsburgh. Back on point: like I've said, I understand what the league is doing and why, but my personal viewpoint is that as long as the NHL is solvent and continues to be there for my enjoyment, I really don't give a crap that it's not as popular as the NBA, NASCAR, golf, tennis, MMA, spelling bee, etc.

Living up to the avatar once again...totally agree with that. In any case, like I said last night, I can't really justify benching any of the current six right now. Lilja's been steady since his insertion and Stuart's been great enough overall that one terrible game can be forgiven. I don't want to give Lebda a pass, but you need his wheels to carry the puck on the third pair when you're talking about playing with Lilja/Chelios. Cheli's a clear upgrade over Lilja passing-wise, but the idea of him getting stuck out there chasing around the Pens' big guns scares me to death. If we lose game 4 and the first pass continues to be an issue, then I make the swap. But I leave the lineup alone for one more game.

Interesting that you mention that, I've been thinking about it a lot and how both teams have had it relatively easy to this point... Detroit: #8 Nashville, injury-riddled Colorado, #5 Dallas coming off of two very tough series Pittsburgh: Falling-apart Ottawa, highly overrated Rangers and a #6 Philly that was missing its top 2 D for most of the series. Compare contrast with the other two teams that could've been playing for the Cup: Dallas: Defending champ Anaheim, EVERYONE'S preseason and pre-playoff pick San Jose, President's Trophy-winning Detroit Philly: On-fire Washington, top-seeded Montreal, second-seeded Crosby/Malkin-bearing Pittsburgh Maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, but the #1 and #2 seeds still playing had a much easier road to get here than the #5 and #6 seeds that lost in the CF would have. So yeah, to me, the regular season definitely mattered this year.

It's just too bad Ovechkin isn't North American. He plays a more exciting style and actually has a personality, a point driven home by the 2nd intermission on NBC (compare/contrast with any Crosby interview you've ever seen). I agree with SWF and others as far as how the league needs to market stars. Honestly, I'm so intense during Wings games that I actually hear very little of what the announcers say just because I'm constantly analyzing in my own head. So it doesn't bother me that much. Anyway, it's just unfortunate that Crosby has to be it, pretty much solely because he's from this side of the world and has talent. PS. This isn't really meant to say that Ovechkin doesn't get his share of attention, because he obviously does, but it's clear to me that the marketing people elevate Crosby a couple steps ahead.

Hal Gill's still beating Malkin on my personal assclown-o-meter, but it's close. I guess the other POV would be that at least Gill was sent off a couple times for his muggings on Homer, where Malkin hasn't been called for diving. Still, it's hard to believe that there was a point not too long ago when people argued that he's better than Crosby and Ovechkin. CLEARLY not the case, not even close.

Disagree, he was a stud for us in the playoffs last year. As a pro-Cheli guy, I'd like to see him back in there, but at the same time, I have a hard time justifying benching one of the current six right now. Stuart's not going anywhere for one bad game after being nails for pretty much this whole run. Lilja...I don't know...I counted three fairly bad TOs by him in the last two games, but at the same time, none led to goals and he's been fairly steady otherwise. He also adds a degree of physicality that Cheli no longer has. If we lose game 4 and sloppy 1st passes continue to be an issue, I fully expect Cheli in for game 5, because that is something where he's a clear upgrade over Lilja.

For real...every time I see a "yay, I get to go to game 5!" or "now we can win it on home ice!" I want to puke. We had a chance to cut off their heads and instead let them back into the series. That will kill you every time...this is starting to remind me of the Nashville series, and let's not forget it took an OT game and Lids' bouncer from center to finally grab that one. It took a 3-0 lead against Dallas to get this kind of arrogance going...last I checked, we're only up 2-1 against a better team. We didn't get any bonus wins on style points for games 1 and 2 unfortunately, so all they have to do is win again in a place they haven't lost since February, and it's a new series.