evil204

At this point, no, because anything can happen. It's a best-of-three series now. They can play the best game of their lives and still lose due to crappy officiating and bad bounces.

I think maybe they should stop launching weak 50-foot wrist shots from bad angles, hoping the puck bounces off Holmstrom and goes in. And be physical. They were physical in Game 2. Why can't they play like that now? If they don't initiate contact, Nashville will, and we won't be able to make a play, which means we'll just be shooting from the blue line more.

Looks like San Jose didn't learn anything from the two games against the Wings last year where they led 2-0 and lost.

And where's the satisfaction in beating a tired, battered team? If the Wings are going to win the Cup, they should have to be able to outplay teams that are at the top of their game.

I just wish there was a way to mute Pierre.

The Red Wings were a lot more physical and skated with a lot more energy in the first round last year.. That's how they need to play. Right now, they still look like they're in regular season mode.

WEST: (1) Detroit over (8) Nashville 4-2 (2) San Jose over (7) Calgary 4-2 (6) Colorado over (3) Minnesota 4-2 (4) Anaheim over (5) Dallas 4-3 EAST: (1) Montreal over (8) Boston 4-1 (7) Ottawa over (2) Pittsburgh 4-3 (3) Washington over (6) Philadelphia 4-2 (5) New York Rangers over (4) New Jersey 4-3

Fedorov seems to be missing from that list. Did anyone see Washington's last game?

I don't get it... are we actually allowed to sign this Abdelkader guy and have him in the playoffs? I thought that the rosters were set after the trade deadline and we couldn't sign anyone else.

NBC's intermission crap is so stupid this year. It was pretty entertaining last year when they had Brett Hull, but now, with Pierre, it's just annoying.

You're kidding, right? Except for a few great saves, all Ellis did was stop our weak 60 foot shots that had no chance of going in. It was an easy game for him. Nashville did exactly what they wanted to do. It was a slow, boring game but they pretty much managed to shut down our offense. That was a preview of the playoffs. Any team that blocks our blue line shots and keeps us to the perimeter has a chance to beat us.

You can get the FSN Ohio feed here: http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=8472∂=sports

Our team was already down when Lidstrom got injured. We had already lost 6 straight. The Wings were already in a bad slump, and his injury just made it deeper. And when he came back, so did 3 other top-4 defensemen.

I have no idea who I'd replace him with. Like I said, the Wings are the only team I watch regularly. All I know is that other coaches adjust to our style to shut us down and we don't do that. Edmonton did it 2 years ago when they played a puck possession style all year long and switched to the trap in the playoffs. San Jose did it in the playoffs last year by blocking all of our shots from the blue line, and Babcock just told his players to shoot more. Some people would probably think this is a bad example because we prevailed and won the series, but I think we won because the Sharks let us back into it (twice), not so much because we "stuck with it." Am I really the only one who was extremely frustrated with the way the Wings played in that series (at least in the first 4 games)? Ottawa adjusted to our system this season..even Toronto. They blocked our shots, kept us to the perimeter, and made sure Datsyuk and Zetterberg couldn't stickhandle into their zone. On the positive side, Babcock might just be the best coach in the league at getting the most out of his players, motivating them, making them work hard and stick to the system. The Red Wings really aren't much better than many of the other teams in the league on paper, and Babcock's discipline is probably one of the biggest reasons we're doing so well. Maybe that puts him over the top. I really can't say how good he is relative to everyone else. All I can say is that, in my opinion, a good coach should be able to adapt when his system clearly isn't working.

It's not just one aspect (not one game either - it happened a lot, and it'll happen a lot in the playoffs this year). Did you read my post that I linked to? Babcock just generally sucks at adapting to what the other team is doing. And he's keeping Samuelsson on the point. And he kept Lang on the ice last year. Anyway, if we get to the Cup finals this year, or even the conference finals, sure..keep him. I guess that would mean he's still more effective than the other coaches in the league. If we lose in the 1st or 2nd round, he needs to go.

Last year in the playoffs against the Ducks, especially in Game 6, Datsyuk kept trying to stickhandle into their zone, and he really did give the puck away almost every time. It wasn't necessarily Babcock's strategy, but I would think a good coach would've slapped him around and told him to dump it in when the Ducks are obviously trapping because, as good as Datsyuk is, he won't fake out 4 players. I remember seeing Datsyuk was one of the leaders in giveaways in the playoffs..not sure if it was on our team or overall in the NHL. And I don't blame every mistake on Babcock, just those that are repeated consistently.

w00t overtime Didn't Dallas and Anaheim have an awesome 5OT game the year the Ducks swept us?

Haha, I guess my post there was pretty useless. But I've talked about it before. Here's a link: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=1266206 Maybe the other coaches are even dumber...but this is the only team I watch on a regular basis. And before I get attacked..I don't think Babcock is a terrible coach. He just seems to be completely oblivious to the strategy aspect of hockey sometimes, which leads to the Wings repeating the same mistakes over and over again...like Datsyuk trying to bring the puck in by himself and giving it away. Every time.

If Babcock is the best coach in the league, all the other coaches must be pretty dumb. I really hope they wait until after the playoffs to try to sign him.

Seriously, Maltby has a better slapshot than most of our team. We should use him more. I hope Babcock doesn't read this, or he might put Maltby on the point on the power play

That doesn't mean he'll be playing..it just means he'll be on the roster.

I agree that there's a good chance we'll see another playoff exit, just for a different reason. I don't think secondary scoring should be as much of a concern, the forwards will wake up eventually. Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, and all the other guys contributed in the playoffs last year, so why should this season be any different? Toughness and grit..it's definitely going to be an issue but we didn't look too bad in that regard last year against the Ducks. Nothing can be done about it anyway..that's just how this team is built. I think the reason we will lose is because we're going to get outcoached. I've probably complained about Babcock a million times here and noone seems to care. He never does anything to take advantage of the other team's playing style. A good coach will adapt and take advantage of the opponent's flaws. Take tonight's game against Edmonton, for example... They know we have 4 inexperienced defensemen playing so they're sending 3 guys out to forecheck and pressuring us like crazy. When has Babcock done anything like that? If we're not playing well, his only answer is to blindly change the lines and split up Datsyuk and Zetterberg. I've never heard Babcock say, "That's how they play so this is what we're going to do to take advantage of that." All he ever says is "This is what we always do so let's do it again tonight. Oh..and work harder." Most teams have already figured out that our offense heavily depends on the blue line. They know we're going to shoot the puck from a distance and look for rebounds, so they go down and block our shots. What does Babcock do? He tells Samuelsson to shoot more.

They're both looking pretty horrible tonight. It's funny how they're the only 2 regulars in the line-up and they've been making all the mistakes the last few games.

We can still get Fedorov from Washington, right? 1.5 hours left

Well, we need to bring someone back to keep up with the Avs!