Heroes of Hockeytown

They showed a pretty good replay during the game, I'm sure you all caught it, and Hossa certainly wasn't the only culprit but he was the biggest star of the bunch: Flip, I think, put a shot on goal and kicked a rebound out that went right up the gut. Hossa was coasting wide and then behind the net instead of driving to the middle to try and get the rebound. It wasn't pretty, but maybe he is hurt. The Wings really couldn't get to the net for one reason or another, so I'm not going to rail too hard on him for stuff like that.

Yeah, their sights were way off in the last two. I've got no idea what happened, but at one point in Game 6 they had twice as many shots go high and wide as they did actually on goal. The Pens were just all over and in front of everything.

There is something inherently illogical and masochistic about being a sports fan. You have absolutely zero control or affect on the outcome of the game, and, statistically, a very low chance of seeing your team achieve their goals at beginning of each season. Being a fan of football in Michigan (Lions, Wovlerines), my friend and I talk about this alot. Those teams never bring us anything but heartbreak -- either from reaching the summit and then falling off, or never even getting to the base of the mountain to begin with -- and yet we tune in and watch and love our team and put our hopes on the line every year. It's nonsense and it's stupid, but here we are. At least the Wings, more often than most other teams, give us something to cheer about when the whole day's done.

Win or lose, I'll always love the Wings. Thanks, gang.

I'll live.

I've got no idea how the Wings only managed to score 2 goals in as many games. The Pens were in front of everything. They did a great job. Hats off to them, for sure.

Well, worst case scenario realized. I had a pretty good idea where this one was going after the second goal... but held out hope. For naught, unfortunately. I'm sure Stuart feels pretty awful right now -- bad time to have the worst game of your life. But that's how it goes. It hurts and it really sucks, but I don't feel the need to dwell on this for very long. Tomorrow will be a new day, and for once in what seems like a very long time I won't have to think about hockey.

Both GM's deny it, for now.

Not sure what dimension you're chillin' in, but here there's only 3.5 hours 'til game time.

Nick, Homer, Maltby, and Draper ought to score. Everyone going for number five.

Did I mention Bob? They should definitely win it for the Hero of Our Time.

They've certainly been better than I anticipated. Managing to pull of a win without Malkin or Crosby getting on the scoreboard was an impressive feat for sure. I tip my hat to them.

There's no turning back now -- it's win or go home. Wings will get it done.

Robert Lang.

Point being, they played well in their last Game 7, and I don't even think they played that poorly the other night, so they should have a good go at it.

Because the Ducks are, without a doubt, the luckiest team in NHL history. The Wings outplayed them by many orders of magnitude only to get burned on laughably blown calls and broken sticks.

Feel disappointment of a large magnitude, then continue living my life regardless.

Somewhere out there, there's a "New England Patriots 19-0!" championship T-shirt that I'd love to get my hands on.

I really have no idea. Friday is going to be the biggest game of my life, I know that for sure.

It's here, and this guy has virtually every other HNIC segment uploaded as well.

I think you're just having a hard time accepting that, yes, occasionally the Pens have been a better team than the Wings. Not because of effort; the effort's there, this is the Finals. But rarely is one team better than the other every single night, otherwise the Wings would have swept their way to the Cup, instead of getting into tough, long series with their best opponents (Ducks, Pens), while easily dispatching the weaker ones (BJs, Hawks). You mention Sergei Gonchar, but what about Rob Scuderi? Did that guy have the game of his life or what? He was clutch in Game 6 the way Hank was clutch on his desperation goal line play in Game 2. Big plays at big times, that's what wins games. The Pens had more in Game 6, so they won. No shame in that. These are two good teams, they're going to trade good chances and opportunities for guys to make big plays. All of that usually makes for close games, which is how 5 out of 6 have gone now, and even Game 5 was in jeopardy til Fleury gave up a softy and then Kronwall put the dagger in 'em. Not for lack of effort, it's fair that this series will go seven.

How everyone is overlooking the plays he made in Games 2 and 5 is beyond me. Those were big time goals at big time moments that sealed wins for Detroit in pivotal games. I know everyone is expecting more out of him, I'm with you on that, but you've got to expand your mind a bit and look past some statistics -- there's more to hockey (and Hossa) than just goal scoring. If he had put the puck in the net instead of Flip I wonder if people would be bitching as much? I realize that this isn't always the case, but on the plays I'm talking about the set up was just as important as the finish.

Bob is getting good and ready for a.... ...Friday night.

He's had a greater impact than some are giving him credit for. He's made two huge plays in these Finals, the steal and eventual shot that led to Flip's first goal of the Finals, and the pass to Flip for his second goal (with of course mad props to Ozzie on his pass). They were both huge goals at huge times and tipped the games in the Wings favor. That said, he's been an obvious disappointment with his drop in scoring from the season to the playoffs. I don't hate the guy, but for whatever reason -- can't handle the tighter checking, I don't know -- it isn't happening so he should be cut loose and the cap space put to use elsewhere.

I think a lot of you guys are way down because they didn't win, which is understandable, I'm certainly not happy with it, but I thought it was a good close hockey game. The Wings made plenty of scoring opportunities and the Pens denied them. That's how it goes. Fleury was much better than he has been and they blocked a ton of shots and were just generally in the way. Hank and Pavel, in particular, played really strong games, but couldn't quite get it to go.