YoungGuns1340

If the Wings win this game tonight, it will be disrespect to the Cup. You can't give a half-ass effor like this and expect to win the hardest trophy to win in all of sports. ******* turn it up.

Why does it have to be about the refs? Did Pittsburgh get their goal on the PP? Stop making excuses. The Wings came out and decided to put just 3 pucks on net through 20 minutes. No one to blame but themselves right now.

They wouldn't be charged, elbowed, and interfered with if they moved their effing feet.

5 chances for Detroit through 60% of the game. In a game where they could win the cup. What a joke.

This is exactly what lost the Wings games 3 and 4. We're not playing to win right now; we're playing not to lose. They're letting Pittsburgh come at us, and are content to dump the puck in and go for the change. If I didn't know any better, I'd think the Wings were protecting a 2 or 3 goal lead right now. Not a bad defensive period, but there are TWO components to winning a hockey game, and they've sucked at the offensive end of things. They better pick it up in the 2nd, and not lose their heads in the process like they did in Game 4.

5 pages and nobody mentioned "choke" or "invisible"?

Yes, thats what I am saying. Lets not sit around here and act like we've dominated the Pens through the 1st 4 games like we did through the 5th, which was abated by the presence of Datsyuk. Throughout the 1st 4 games, Malkin caused plenty of havoc. Crosby didn't because of Zetterberg. Take out Zetterberg, and you're looking at not only using our lesser defensive forwards against Crosby AND Malkin, but you're going to be using those forwards more often, given Zetterberg's minutes throughout the first two games, all the while further depleting offense. The implications of taking Zetterberg out of the lineup is not only huge, but it provides for a particular situation. This isn't a good defensive forward against a good offensive forward. This is a Selke calibre forward with great offense against the best of the best, in terms of scoring forwards. I simply don't think enough can be said about Zetterberg's performance against Crosby. Holding Crosby to 0 points, and a -3 when Detroit has had last change is ridiculously impressive.

Really? Is it? I wonder why it is that Malkin and Crosby were on the EXACT SAME SCORING PACE for most of the playoffs, and entering this series, Malkin - whos not been covered by Zetterberg - has continued on that pace while Crosby - who has been covered by Zetterberg - hasn't. Eliminate Zetterberg and the evidence suggests that BOTH Malkin and Crosby continue on at their same scoring pace.

If the Pens don't have Malkin, then they have a different team entirely. The prospect of having 2 9M dollar forwards on the payroll for next year would affect any teams game philosophy and their roster. And I find it ironic that folks are so caught up on Malkin's points. He has 7. Zetterberg has 6. And Zetterberg is shutting down a top 5 forward. Malkin isnt even close. The disparity of 1 point in favor of Malkin isn't anywhere comparable to the disparity between Zetterberg's defensive performance and Malkin's.

Without Hank the Wings are done in 4. Theres ONE reason why Malkin is dominating over Crosby, and thats because Crosby has drawn Hank, and Malkin hasn't. If Zetterberg weren't on the ice, do you think Filppula, Franzen, Cleary, Hossa, etc, would shut down Crosby? Considering they haven't been able to do even close to the same job Hank has done with Crosby, its safe to say spreading ourselves even thinner would let both Crosby and Malkin run loose.

When a classless chant results from a classless play, its a different ball game than heckling a team or player thats simply playing the game.

As long as splitting them up doesn't have us reverting to that stupid "dump and chase" game we were trying to to play at Pittsburgh, then I dont care either way.

"Interference"

Thats fine and all, and I agree to a certain extent, but shutting out Columbus in the 1st round doesn't carrry as much weight as shutting down Sidney Crosby does in round 4. I agree that Osgood has been the most consistent player on the ice throughout the playoffs, but I think a lot of people are going to be doubting that Osgood comes away with less than 1 goal against at home if Hank isnt there. And I think a lot of people are going to be looking at the away games, where Ozzie averaged 3.5 goals against, and say "look what happens when Zetterberg isn't shadowing Crosby all game because of last change." I'm not saying that the goals against have been Ozzies fault - the porous defense says a lot - but I think Ozzie lost his case (albeit temporarily) by not saving the game for the Wings when they fell apart. Again, I'm not taking anything away from Ozzie, but like NN said, the Finals do and should hold the most weight. The job that Zetterberg has, and the way he has performed it has been otherworldy. When you 1) look at the pace Crosby and Malkin were on prior to the finals; 2) consider that Hank is shadowing Crosby, not Malkin; and 3) Look at how Crosby's points (3) compare to Malkin's (7), I think the picture you're left with is "the difference between Malkin and Crosby scoring is Zetterberg, not Osgood." If Malkin had been held to as few points as Crosby, I think that would put Ozzie over Hank, but the fact that Crosby has been stifled against Zetterberg and Malkin, who has been facing off against lesser centers has racked up an impressive number of points leaves one to wonder what Crosby's statsheet would look like if he wasn't facing off against one of the best shutdown centers in the NHL. And finally, I'm actually pulling for Ozzy to win the Conn Smythe. I think it would be an awesome story given how his regular season went, and I think its just what he needs to put him over the edge for the HHOF. But do consider that you can score 35 points in the playoffs as a forward and STILL not win the Conn Smythe if your team doesn't come out on top. That alone speaks volumes as to heavily weight the Finals is.

Interesting. After 3 series, I would've said Ozzy by a long shot. But after this series, I'm going to have to go with Hank. Without him shutting down Crosby, we'd be a sunken ship already. I love Ozzy, but we saw what happened when the Pens offensive got in gear - it wasn't pretty. Hank is putting up points and owning the best of the best on both sides of the ice.

What WAS he doing there? After that goal my first thought was: GET HIM THE f*** OFF THE POINT AND TURN HIM INTO A NIEDERMAYER ROVER.

Hes never won the Byng, but hes been nominated at least a few times. But as everyone knows, he might as well have. He has ONE roughing penalty to his name in 1200+ games. There isnt a more "sportsmanlike" or "gentlemanly" player in the league.

Don't forget the goal on Fleury. It wasn't Fleury's fault at all, apparently. According to Eddie O "the puck fluttered, it flew, it swept, it jumped, it bumped, it careened, it skipped, it puked, it farted, it bled, it spit, it said hello to Brooks Orpik, made a long distance call to its mother, and it got past Fleury. Tough puck for him to stop."

Actually, Kronwall was terrible defensively all regular season, and he hasn't been much better in the playoffs either. Hes simply right back to where he was during the regular season, except without producing any offense. For the contract, we shouldn't trade him. Hes still a great deal, but ultimately hes a #2/3 Dman skill wise and a #5-6 brain wise. And PS, to the OP, in terms of him being our worst defenseman defensively, hes pretty much tied with ROOKIE Ericsson right now for dead last on this team. Lebda has been better than Kronwall defensively since about halfway through the Chicago series.

I agree with this, too. I'm hoping that Datsyuk coming back into the lineup somehow gives everyone more confidence and energy.

THIS. Its incredible how many times we dump the puck in and get beaten to the puck, only to have to turn around and back-check. You want to know what else is contributing to the Wings lack of energy? That right there. With the demand for back-checking this team has, there is absolutely no reason why we should be playing such a back and forth style - its going to kill us. I'm willing to bet that with the lineup match-ups in Game 5, we'll be more possessive of the puck. Overall, I hate what Babcock is coaching on the road. Its essentially been "lets keep the Pens from scoring" instead of keeping with our traditional balanced game.

You mean sucking ass in order to rack up a handful of Top 3 picks? No thanks. But its good to see the only way the Pens can be competitive is through 1st and 2nd overalls.

This wouldn't surprise me. When Stuart joined the Wings, all we kept on hearing about was how Kronwall and Stuart had become good friends off the ice. What have we heard about Hossa? Is he close with anyone on the team besides Kopecky? I wouldn't be surprised if there are too many egos up front; too many cooks in the kitchen.

Why does it have to be about losing? Chill out. Its about humor. Just when I was beginning to gain respect for the kid, he always does something to make folks question his character. Too bad its not as incredible as his skill.

Reminded me of Game 6 against Anaheim. The only difference is Anaheim had better D, and less O. The one positive about Game 5? Last change. The Wings have COMPLETELY changed their game plan against the Pens at home. That will change at home.