RedWingsFanatic

I think it's time for us to swallow our collective pride and give Andreas Lilja some credit. He's been very good.

Dan Cleary has, very quietly, been our best player in this series. That penalty shot goal only bolsters that claim up, but it was true before the fact. Nice to see.

He just hasn't played well.

When I go into a Little Caesars and they don't have any Hot-'n'-Ready Pizzas, I feel as if I should a Hot-'n'-Ready pizza for free. That is all.

A few thoughts... -Absolutely brutal penalty call on Maltby. It's hard to take the officiating seriously anymore. -If the power play doesn't pick it up soon, I fear the Wings are done. They need to be able to count on at least a power play goal per game. -Bill Clement actually hit it on the head when he said the Flames are "playing like the home team." The Wings don't look confident or aggressive, two things that were trademarks of Games 1 and 2. -Please, God, can we get Samuelsson out of the line-up? Hudler hasn't necessarily done much to make himself visible, but would still love to see him and Calder in instead of Samuelsson. He does absolutely nothing worth noting. Ever.

The Flames penalty kill was fantastic on that last power play. They were down blocking shots, they were clogging passing lanes, they were forcing the Wings to take bad shots. We need to take some lessons.

I might argue that Calder has been just as bad as Samuelsson.

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Calder-Zetterberg-Franzen Maltby-Draper-Cleary Filppula-Lang-Hudler

If Samuelsson plays in Game 5, I will seriously start to consider some sort of conspiracy at work. And, yeah, the special teams are ruining this game for us. The power play has been atrocious, and there really isn't any excuse for it. It's damn hard to figure out. Although it might not be a popular decision, I think if the Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom line continues to be inefficient, you have to split it up for Game 5. They haven't been terrible, but it's not clicking and I think Zetterberg needs to be shaken up. With all that being said, we're right in this game. Still, I'm sick and tired of this incompetent effort when we play in cities like Calgary. I don't care that the building is loud and the Flames are a much better team on home ice. At some point you just have to fight through that.

It's not like we have played a terrible game, you guys. It's certainly not the same team from Games 1 and 2, but it's not the same Calgary team, either.

Mikael Samuelsson is dead weight. Putting Hudler onto the fourth line would give it the spark it needs to maybe start producing, or even just to play better.

The complaining about the officiating is sort of nauseating, guys. Maybe they missed a couple calls, but it certainly wasn't anything worth getting this worked up over. I thought they did a fine job, actually. Stop making excuses. It's strange to see Nick Lidstrom be the catalyst for two opposing goals, but that's exactly we had tonight. Besides the two mistakes, though, I thought he played a great game and I also thought Markov made his presence known. Draper and Cleary were obviously the two stars of the game for the Wings, but the story is really more about the guys that weren't. Bertuzzi looked lost at times, and in hindsight, bringing him back for the game tonight doesn't seem like such a wise decision. It certainly didn't add anything to the line-up. I don't like him on a line with Franzen and Filppula. The Calder-Lang-Bertuzzi line was clicking up until Bertuzzi got knocked out, so I see no reason not to go back to it. Keep Cleary with Draper and Maltby, and make the fourth line Filppula-Hudler-Franzen and I think you have four extremely solid lines to roll. The goal was to steal one of the games in Calgary, so this magnifies Game 4. No use getting panicked or worried over this one. Thursday night should be fun.

I nominate Valtteri Fillppula for best playoff performer of all-time. Man, he seems to score in every playoff game! It's crazy! No, seriously, he's been great. It leaves little doubt that Hudler will most likely be the one to sit out Game 3 if Bertuzzi plays. I still think it should be Samuelsson, but I just don't see them doing that. The Wings have executed so perfectly through these first couple games, but we all know that the real test comes on Tuesday as the series shifts to Calgary. Like it was mentioned earlier: if the Flames win Game 3, this is an entirely new series. I don't expect the Wings to sweep, even if they play close to this well in the next two, so I think stealing either Game 3 or Game 4 is the new goal. If they can do that, they take the series.

If the Wings advance, they will play the lowest seed still alive in the conference.

And another non-sell out....

That's a stupid stat. We are the only one of the bunch, besides New Jersey, that wasn't a sell-out. You can't judge attendance based on who has the largest arena.

This is the first non-capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena since 1996.

Yep, I'm with Harold. The fact that the Wings didn't sell out tonight has really ruined all of this for me. It's shocking that, in Detroit, we can't fill a building for a playoff game. Talk all you want about the economy and ticket prices, it doesn't take away from the bigger picture. I'm not sure why this affects me the way it does, but it makes me sad. I mean, listen to us. "Oh, well, the game on Sunday will be sold out, I think." Jesus Christ, I hope so. I guess I just miss the old days.

It amazes me the lengths people will go to in order to spin things. The Detroit Red Wings failed to sell out a playoff game tonight. Take that in. It's shocking.

I hate to put a damper on what should be a nice night, but the fact that The Joe wasn't sold out tonight is a incredibly sad.

Uh oh. Reports are saying that the game wasn't a sell-out. Unreal.

Haha. Riiiiiiiight... Anyway, a very solid effort. Babcock and Co. have to be extremely pleased with the way the team played tonight. I thought the scrum at the end was pretty unncessary, especially the overreaction on the part of Brad Stuart. I am salivating at the thought of Bertuzzi being out there in a situation like that, though. Still, the Wings weren't pushed around. If anything, they did the most of the pushing. One down, fifteen to go. One hell of a way to start.

I can agree with that. Why not just throw Schneider out there every time to pair up with Lidstrom?

Zetterberg has blended in seamlessly, which might be the best and biggest news of the night. Every single aspect of the Red Wings game tonight has been near flawless.

The Red Wings are playing as good as they have played in years tonight. Incredible. We get big #40 back in the lineup and things will only get better. This, my friends, is Detroit Red Wings playoff hockey.