C-TownWing

For realsies. He needs the Ovechkin contract. Not like it counts against the cap!

Key difference: Therrien has actually been seen with his mouth shut before. Geno's only got his cracked half an inch in that picture, that has to be a personal record.

I'll admit to doing that too...I think it was on our last PP before the goal, he had a shot blocked, and I said something like "that's right Mikey, bruise their shins...god, this guy is completely useless, he adds NOTHING to this team, and somehow he's playing point on the 2nd PP." Never happier to be wrong

I blame Mikael Samuelsson. Definitely his fault somehow.

Oh, I'm scared to death...we lose, and all of a sudden, we're in a position where all they need to do is beat us once to force a game 7. And they get to try in Dallas. With all the momentum. So yeah, it's hard to have a must-win game when you're up 3-1 in a series, but game 5 is the next step below that for us. Agree with Vlad too...1942 and 1975 are 33 years apart. BFD. 33 years after 1975 had to come sometime, and it happened to be now. If it were to happen this year, then sure, I'd be freaked out if the Wings have a 3-0 lead in a series in 2041, because then you'd actually have a pattern going. Right now, we only have one data point. Besides, who's to say that every 33 years is the pattern? What if it just starts counting up, 33, 34, 35, and it's not due until next year? What if it goes 33, 44, 55? Or 33, 66, 99? I guess that's why trying to explain cosmic forces that are beyond understanding usually doesn't work.

Ditto the participants in the thread breaking down the Wings-Pens series that may or may not happen. The Hockey Gods are displeased, let's hope game 4 is the extent of our penance. Game 5 is almost a must-win now.

Yeah, the Yzerman book's an exact match, except for the fact that the "jersey" is red with a white number, and Howe's is white/red number. I bought 19 at a game last year, but I'm not in the area, so I couldn't tell you about availability Hockeytown Authentics. I actually got my signed 9 back in March. We were at the game super early, and walking towards our seats with an armful of Little Caesar's boxes. Anyway, all of a sudden, I see a table and a stack of books and I said "Holy sh**, that's Gordie Howe!" I was surprised enough and there were few enough people there that he probably heard me. Anyway, there was zero line, so I dropped $70 and got my signed book. Tremendously nice guy...I was wearing my Chelios jersey, so we talked a little about my affinity for "the old guys," and he made fun of me for making my girlfriend hold all of our pizza while I talked to him. Only thing that would've made the day better is if we hadn't freaking lost the game!

So true...even going back to last year, part of the reason that the Flames/Sharks/Ducks weren't able to throw us off our game is because we're brilliant at sensing hits and not taking their full force. And in turn, that becomes almost like a hit for us--boarding yourself is no fun. See Ott's run on Datsyuk last night after the whistle...Dats probably cost us a PP by sidestepping it. Compare/contrast with Modano (full marks to him for gutting up, BTW).

I did hear that..."I can't believe we're not dressing him" or something along those lines. This plan looks good to me, I just hope re-signing Stuart is as easy as everyone else seems to think, he's earning himself a decent payday in these playoffs.

Only a Wings fan could have his team up 2-0 in the conference finals and STILL ***** about how we got there. It might be hard to believe after 15+ years, but there will be a point in the future where the Wings AREN'T freaking sweet, and you'll regret not enjoying this.

Double ditto...Thorne and Clement were the voice of hockey to me when I was learning and falling in love with it. Hockey elitists tell me that I'm not supposed to like them because they weren't on HNIC, but you can't beat the voices who first explained the game to you.

It's amazing to me how people have forgotten how close we were to winning that series--up 1-0 in the pivotal game 5 in the last minute. Hanging on would have forced the Ducks to beat us twice in a row, with us holding the momentum of having won 3 of 4 against them. As for the Canadian thing, I do think that it has at least a little to do with the fact that (regardless of the Stanley Cup count), we've probably eclipsed Toronto as the second-most storied NHL franchise in the minds of most, thanks to things like the recency factor (like it or not, a Cup in 2002 outweighs one from 1967) and possibly the fact that we have more transcendant-type players in our history. I've actually heard discussion on whether Mats Sundin is the greatest Leaf ever. Not a knock on Sundin at all, but that's not on the table when you're rolling Howe (arguably the best player ever), Sawchuk (arguably the best goalie ever, and not in his Leafs tenure), etc.

Also in the XM world, he has a regularly-scheduled segment on Phil Esposito's afternoon drive show.

Did a little homework...what do teams who come back from 3-0 to win do in the next round? * 1942 Leafs against us was in the finals, so nothing to go on there. * 1975 Isles against the Pens though...in the next round, they faced the Flyers and...get this...went down 3-0 in the series, only to force a game 7 AGAIN, but this time they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champs.

Here's hoping for the Pens and Stars to close things out so we can get the CFs started...

Glad someone at least mentioned Toews...I still prefer that one to the Nash one. And Z to both of them, of course.

Beat me to it...I'm rooting for the Stars overall in the series, but at the same time rooting for the Sharks to make one more stand tonight and extend Dallas a little bit. We shall see.

That's a good point...I guess the other devil's advocate point would be to broaden it to the whole series being a beatdown as someone else kind of mentioned. Unless you were born in 2003, I don't see how you vote for last night though. 7-0's the game I pop into the DVD player to experience total enjoyment while watching a hockey game.

That's why Lilja's playing 10 minutes this period

Cleveland is ridiculously apathetic towards hockey, even with a division rival in state and the Avs' AHL team in town, I don't think I've ever heard more than one or two negative comments. I actually get a "go Wings" from random people maybe once a month or so. Actually, when I was up in the D for a game back in March, some guy said "Red Wings suck, go Leafs" right behind Cheli's. The NCAA basketball regionals were going on, so it's entirely possible he wasn't local. I answered "see you in the playoffs." I'm not sure if he realized I was mocking his team for not making the playoffs, but whatever. Nice thing about being a Wings fan: you have scoreboard privileges on almost everyone. I don't flaunt it, but I'll give it back if provoked.

I'd pay it for him...he's just beginning to hit his capabilities. I envision him becoming a consistent 30 goal/70 point guy who would add grit to our top 6. We would have two absolutely sick scoring lines, where right now, we have arguably the best line in the league when it's together, a red-hot Mule, but a revolving Sammy/Hudler/Flip/sometimes Cleary door at the wings on that 2nd line. Stuart's pretty high on the D list and has only improved his stock in these playoffs IMO. People assuming that we'll just be able to grab him back are nuts. But basically, signing those two would be my ideal offseason.

well put, didn't see this before I posted.

True, but he wasn't teammates with Abdelkader at MSU as he was with Liles. Obviously, the Millers are a hardcore MSU family and all from Michigan, but that doesn't mean Ryan has ever even liked the Wings necessarily. I've lived my whole life in the Cleveland area and only like half the teams that are considered "local" here, just as one example.

Why? Because his name starts with D and the word "dive" fits pretty well phonetically. That's it. Seriously. It's certainly not because of anything he's actually done on the ice. The guy is nails, I continue to be impressed with his toughness each of the last two playoffs.

And that's when you say "scoreboard." Seriously, I think it's very noble that some of you want to beat a healthy team. Me, I just want to win, I don't care how it happens. Smyth's out? Works for me.