C-TownWing

I don't know, the Sens kind of have that "team of destiny" look to me, but we'll see. I've been rooting hard against the Devils because of the crap that Lamoriello pulled. I'm going to either look really dumb or really smart and call Rangers in an upset. They've been playing some fantastic hockey (exactly THREE regulation losses since the end of February, including playoffs).

Wait, $100K...isn't that like $15 million in that worthless Canadian Monopoly money? Maybe this will hurt after all.

It's garbage, but I didn't really expect any more. Although given that Langkow's act directly resulted in our losing a pretty important player who was playing well for us, I thought there was a chance of seeing something there. It's just too bad that this is the cap era, and that $100K won't force them to move to KC or something.

Or we could save having to kill a penalty and just mail them a video of Ville Niemenen, circa 2004.

His sig definitely makes up for the avatar, I'd say.

Dupe, sorry.

I'm glad I'm not the only person to say something negative about Phaneuf--I've been thoroughly unimpressed with him in this series. Not saying he won't develop into a Norris-type in the future, but much like Chris Pronger early in his career, he still has a lot to learn about positional play and taking advantage of his size other than to drop a big hit once in a while (although he's been on the receiving end more).

By that logic, you should boo Roman Hamrlik too. Just saying.

Dear Calgary, You are a s*** franchise. Enjoy your Stanley Cup from 20 years ago. Sincerely, C-TownWing PS. I hear Mike Danton's a free agent... Seriously, MAJOR ups to the Wings for staying above the crap. We have all the motivation we need to end this tomorrow, without those pesky suspensions to deal with. Also smart move by Babs keeping our key guys on the bench during the whole thing.

CALGARY IS ******* TRASH!!!

He should be this rattled all the time...

Nice to see that you guys all know what's up! Let's see...Zetterberg's been off the board all series, Datsyuk can't score on the road in the playoffs still, Lidstrom was terrible the last two games. Let's get rid of all of them! Just to add on to the quote, I think he's extremely smart on the PK. He knows when to clear, but can also recognize that clearing isn't always a legitimate option from deep in the zone, and he also knows when to make that quick pass for someone else to clear. On our kill just now after that BS call on Maltby, he's the guy that really energized it with some aggressiveness, hopefully turning the tide of our special teams play. And I'm also typing this a few minutes after his sticking up for Z after Iginla's cheap shot at the end of the period.

I'd argue that Kiprusoff stole game 4 to a large extent. #5 is irrelevant, and other than #6-#8, that whole list is ridiculously subjective. And can we please quit pretending like 2003 has anything to do with this year? Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Maltby, Draper, Chelios, Schneider. There's your entire list of current Wings who were even on the team back then (coaches included), and obviously Datsyuk/Z had a combined one year in the NHL prior to that season. Also, contrary to popular belief, we did not lose in the first round in 2004.

Beat me to it. We avoided playing him back to back all regular season PRECISELY so he'd be able to do it now.

If we win, I love afternoon games. Gets the nervousness of our game over with, and I have the rest of the day to bask in the glory of our game and watch everyone else in a good state of mind. If we lose, I'd rather have it be at night, that way I can just go to sleep afterwards.

...says the guy with the Bill Clement avatar. Always cracks me up when pessimists spin their view as "realism" to avoid being marginalized.

I agree, I'm not going to feel completely at ease until we bounce these guys, if we do. Even after the first two games, I knew all it was take is a loss in game 3, and here we are with the Flames getting a chance to tie the freaking thing up on Thursday. Why I'm positive: we took their absolute best shot and survived. This was their game back home with that crowd, backs against the wall, throwing everything they have at us. And in spite of that, we were RIGHT THERE, and if not for a bad goal by Dom, questionable penalties, etc. we probably win, or at the very least we're still playing right now. The sledding will be a little easier in game 4, we should pull it out, then back to the Joe to wrap it up.

I think this has it about right...SJ-NSH and OTT-PIT were my two must-sees going in, but the Pens haven't shown up to play, really other than the 3rd period of game 2. Still a good series, just not as good as SJ-NSH or VAN-DAL.

As a general rule, I'm more tolerant towards the newer markets than most people. I think Nasville's headed in the right direction, and Atlanta will be in the next five years. Remember that in 1930, Detroit wasn't Hockeytown, and Montreal and Toronto were probably laughing at the Cougars and saying the NHL would never make it in a southern city.

The switch to Hedberg I'm ok with. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have done it, but I at least see the reasoning. Game 1 was n't entirely on Lehtonen (4 goals/38 shots), but much like us benching Legace in 2004, the team needed a spark. So game 2 gives us Hedberg: 2 goals, 39 shots. One goal was a fluke, and on the other, Shanny could've eaten lunch in the slot, and Avery made a nice pass. The rationale I heard for going back to Lehtonen was something along the lines of "he plays well in MSG." Nice logic. The ice is still 200x85 and the same two teams are skating on it. My thought is that if Lehtonen's psychology is messed up by one switch that was made along the lines of long-accepted strategy, he probably doesn't have it upstairs to be the big-time goalie that everyone expects him to be. But the unexpected 2nd switch might mess with BOTH goalies' heads. The leash doesn't get any shorter than the one Hedberg was on. Bottom line though, the Thrashers are meat whether their goalie is Lehtonen, Hedberg, me, Sawchuk, Hasek or Bernie (the bird, not Parent).

Excellent point, something I've been thinking a lot about lately. HAVE to win games 1 and 2 to set the tone and keep home ice. HAVE to win game 3, otherwise they'll have a chance to tie it up and grab all the momentum in game 4. HAVE to win game 4, especially if we lose game 3. But even if we don't, we need to put our foot on their throat in a hurry. HAVE to win game 5, that's always a pivotal game in any series. HAVE to win games 6 and 7, that goes without saying. It's amazing how uncomfortable I am, even with a 2-0 series lead and after dominating both games. I'll feel a lot better if we can make it 3-0.

East playoff teams that worry me: Buffalo West playoff teams that worry me: every damn one of them

Actually, the one that's always stood out to me is Colorado '99, just because it was one of the strangest and quickest turnarounds I remember. We went up 2-0 in the series, then in both games 3 and 4, we jumped out to early 2-0 leads (I think, it's been 8 years after all) and were flying all over the place, then all of a sudden, like a light switch went on, the Avs jumped down our throats, scoring a few goals unanswered to win those before putting us away in games 5 and 6 to end our dreams of a three-peat.

Well taken, I'm the same way. I'm damn proud to be a hockey fan, when it's not necessarily the "in" thing, not in this country except for a select few areas, and especially not here. All the crap I have to take about it, like on Easter when I bitched about how the Cleveland LeBrons are on WUAB (local channel) AND ESPN, AND they still have to pre-empt the Wings-Blue Jackets game on FSN-Ohio earlier in the week. God forbid the LeBrons not be on THREE channels at the same time. It never stops: Blah, blah, blah hockey sucks, blah, blah, blah nobody cares blah, blah, blah is the lockout over blah, blah, blah how many people watched the all-star game blah, blah, blah why are hockey players allowed to fight but when basketball players do it they're thugs... Then I go to work last Friday wearing a Wings t-shirt. One guy straight up asked my why I like hockey. I asked him why he likes football, that pretty much ended that. But it didn't stop someone from trying to convince me that "red wings" were something a guy earns from being with a woman during her period. She had no idea that my shirt was for A HOCKEY TEAM. So yeah, each and every one of them can go to hell. I don't care that they're not smart enough to get it, like we all are. But all of that said, I don't run the NHL. So I can't really blame the people who do for trying to market their product to potential new fans. I know how to watch a game where the puck doesn't have a vapor trail, but I don't remember the thing actually taking away from my enjoyment of the game.

ESPN.com on my cell phone said 2 as well, and I was freaking out this morning. Obviously that's a ridiculous time for a weekday game. I trust NHL.com well ahead of ESPN.