Heroes of Hockeytown

My first and best analysis is: Oh well, can't win 'em all. It was a good, competitive hockey game. Obviously not happy they didn't get the W and gain control of the series, but they certainly aren't going to sweep everybody.

Let's see how good this team's killer instinct is. Put 'em away, Wings!

I'm assembling a committee of the finest minds the Internet has ever known to get to the root of this philosophical conundrum as we speak. We'll need a conference room, comfy chairs, and a virtually endless supply of pizza rolls, but we'll get to the bottom of this.

You guys are way off base with these Bob hatties. Here: Robert Lang 1. Cure Cancer 2. Fly 3. Game 7 2OT Winner

Well, if it's rematch, I can tell you what's not going to fly, and that's this 7-4 bulls***.

Well, that should do it. Both teams that have relied on comebacks and wild finishes are down in these Conference Finals 0-2.

Let's keep this train a rollin'. Basically, if you've ever beaten the Wings, you suck and you just don't know it yet.

Zoop.

Yeah, that 4-on-3 was downright horrid. Never came close to a shot on goal. Embarrassing.

Actually, that's one I do hate, I forgot about him. I hate his laughable salary, I hate how overrated he is, I hate his fourth forward mentality, I hate his impossibly stupid spinoramas, I hate that he's a ginger, I pretty much just hate Brian Campbell all day. I eat up his s***ty play and turnovers like Mikael Samuelsson.

Wasn't sure what my schedule was gonna be, but since everyone's pestering me with PMs, yes, I'll be watching tomorrow's game with you goofs.

Much like the Wings, my engagement level for the Hawks just isn't there.

He wore 2 and then 8 when Hatcher came aboard.

So we agree he took a paycut. Doesn't have to be half his value or something crazy, because nobody signs deals like that. Even one million is a victory in the cap game.

Yeah, and what about a five year deal, which is what he did get? Don't think he could have gotten an extra $5-7M tucked into that deal from another team?

I guess it depends on your definition of substantial. You see the money that clown Brian Campbell is making? Shaving a cool million off Rafalski's deal is pretty big in the cap game.

I'd been ignoring this thread but I finally had to see what all the commotion was about -- is that it? That's a line change and it happens about 100 times a game.

Two guys whose salary is also $7M+: Nicklas Lidstrom Brian Campbell lolz

The PK lately hasn't been so bad, as much as bad luck. Sammy is not usually on the PK and for him to come out of the box after killing a 5-on-3 and turn over the puck is tough, but at the end of the day the goal went in because it hit Ericsson's skate. The game before, the puck bounces off 3-4 guys and ends up right on Versteeg's stick at the side of the net, when up to that point the PK had been going well. I don't know what you can really do about that stuff. You look at Game 7, Cleary blocks a shot and he's hurting so he has to come off the ice, the Ducks get a rush going while they're changing and it's in the net. This is some really rough luck they're having right now. I'm good with the switch, Maltby was playing well before he got sat. Hopefully he'll come in, kill all the penalties just to get that monkey off their back, but to me lately their PKing has been good enough, just no puck luck.

Dano.

Norrisnick compiled the numbers, the totals were: Getzlaf 10 points, -2; Lidstrom 7 points, +2. After his Game 1 heroics, Nick had four more assists in the series. The point total seems like a good tradeoff considering Getzlaf is a forward and Nick is a defensemen, and +/- is a universally overrated stat. I can think of three solid instances from the Ducks series where Nick could have made a better play and avoided a goal against -- his shot getting blocked in Game 4 that led to a Getzlaf rush and Perry goal; letting Perry get behind him in Game 6 for the GWG; and passing the puck to Ericsson in the third period of Game 7, when he saw (or should have seen) the broken stick lying on the ice that could have created an obstacle. With all that said, the Getzlaf line absolutely dominated in the playoffs. No player or line up from the Sharks or Wings had any answer other than to outscore him. Nick did as good as anyone could hope to contain him and it would be a total folly to dismiss the work he did against Anaheim.

I'm sure some might say Franzen (namely the media) for his gaudy scoring numbers, and that's certainly a fair choice. Dig a little deeper (which the media rarely does) and you have Lidstrom, shutting down top line forwards, scoring from the backend, leading the team, and keeping the big red machine chugging along. I'm of the opinion that Nick could have won the Conn Smythe in any year the Wings won the Cup; he's always been this good, and I certainly wouldn't bat an eye if he did win it when all's said and done. For my money though, it's Ozzie. He's been the best goalie in the playoffs from the games I've watched. Note that. Not from stats... From the things that I have observed while watching players play. Stats are useful for trying to get a read on players and teams that you can't watch on a regular basis, but we watch the Wings every night. We've all seen what Oz can do. There's no reason for anyone to be doubting him at this point, that's for sure.

It was a 5-on-3 and he was the man out of the box. He had to get back into the play as fast as possible to nullify the two man advantage.

This is such an absurd statement on it's face; I find it to be positively delicious.

I'm pretty sure Hank hasn't taken a face off yet in the playoffs. Meanwhile, some Hawk false starts before Hank puts his stick down not once, not twice, but three times, and all he gets is a stern talking to.