Heroes of Hockeytown

Wherein Bettman continues to be a ******* toolbox.

That didn't really work for the "Small market team vs Canadian rep" format that the NHL had going for a few years there. The Wings-Pens series performed much better than any of Ducks-Sens, Oil-Canes, or Flames-Bolts. With that said, minus the Wings' first round flameout, 2006 was an incredible year to be a fan of good, exciting hockey. Both teams' run to the Finals and the series they had was an epic. Seeing as I'm a hockey fan and not a corporate executive, ratings don't matter much to me at all.

I didn't see the Pens-Caps game so I can't comment on that directly, but tangentially: I hate it when people use power play disparities as an example of the league's favoritism. You earn your power plays, so if on team has a lot of PPs and wins and the other team only has a few and loses, it stands to reason that the former was outplaying the later. With that said, obvious exceptions exist. Tuesday's game being a prime example...

I was going to put up a Youtube vid of the goal to remind the masses of Captain Clutch's contributions, but I'll be damned if no one has had the good sense to upload it yet. What's the Internet come to when you can't find a virtual shrine of Bobdom on any given site on the web? :nonono:

Do or die. I think the Wings pull through.

Yes, the Wings could have converted on their chances anywhere down the line, and they didn't. What they did do was score late, but it was still taken away from them -- I feel no need to absolve the refs of their errors any more than anyone else. Sometimes that's the case, and other times you get a cheap call against you in the final minute, and they get a fluke deflection up into your net to tie the game, and then you lose in overtime. We've had this song and dance with the Ducks before, but lady luck hasn't smiled on the Wings yet.

At the dizzying height of my rage (like, an hour ago) I suggested as much, but I've not found any compelling precedent for a blown call in one game (even as one as massive as this) to be cause for favoritism in the next. Nothing shocking here, but the Wings are just going to have to man up and play better.

While I agree that you are always at risk of putting yourself at the mercy of incompetents when you're in situations like this, I don't believe in teams "deserving" to win games or anything like that. The team with the most goals wins, and that game was a tie.

The blowing of the whistle is not subject to reversal by review.

No joke, I felt the same way. I cheered for a split second and then had a sense of uneasiness come over me. I'd have been high-fiving everyone in the room otherwise, but I just had to turn and look back at the TV to confirm what my eyes had told me -- and it just wasn't meant to be. There he was, waving his arms.

Considering how often the Wings draw O'Halloran, I'd say being a goddamned retard and having a history of jobbing the teams in question doesn't affect which ones referees are assigned to.

A million years ago, the Wings swept the Ducks in the playoffs, twice. Then a bunch of dumb s*** happened. And here we are.

The ref in question is Brad Watson, not Tim Peel. I'm done with this. It was stupid and unbearable and unbelievable and it's over. The Wings need to channel this sea of bulls*** into something positive and win three more games

I'll tell you what... I expect the Wings to get some real nice calls in Game 4. A few 5 on 3s, a few non-calls coming their way... It's the least these ******* clowns can do for throwing the game.

And that non-call when Kronwall got leveled 6 feet from the puck, then turned around and got sent to box, was nearly as bad. Seriously, are these guys watching the same game as we are? ******* one minute left in the game, losing team crashing the crease, loose puck, YEAH, NOW'S THE TIME FOR A QUICK WHISTLE. You unbelievable ******* dumbs***. God... I don't have any words for this.

What a ******* screwjob. The NHL should be embarrassed for that display.

So can Jiri Fischer.

Pavel and Hossa are gonna have a monster game. The fate of the universe hinges upon it.

These guys have to win tomorrow, or Wings Nation is going to lose its collective gourd. We need some good friggin' news for a change.

I assume after you guys were finished, Train transformed into his vehicle of choice and rolled off into the sunset. My heart goes out to the big guy, but it's cool you got to meet the team.

While we all know Mike has done a tremendous job but he is subject to his own biases. I know it's easy for me to sit here and say he's making a mistake (says the armchair coach that knows f***all about coaching the game), but that's a risk I'm willing to take. One thing I did notice while making a quick review of Sammy's PP goals this year is they are almost exclusively on plays where he sneaks down to the circle and gets the good feed and let's it go. He appears to be much more comfortable shooting down low than he is up high, and being one of the rare right handers on the team with any offensive instincts I'd be much happier with him on the left wall ripping one timers than up on the blue line passing on shots. Says the genius armchair coach once again. As always, NFM, you are a worthy adversary.

I was more thinking the nice PP goal he scored late in the season on one of his rare trips out there with the man advantage (I don't exactly remember why he was out there at all, but I remember the shot and the goal) and the nifty fake shot and pass to Nick for the goal in Game 1; and generally just appearing to be more impressive and willing to shoot on the power play -- for example, Hudler's PP goal against Columbus, where Stewie loaded up and missed the net but Hudler got the carom off the backboards and scored (again, I'm not entirely sure what he was doing out there).

I recognize that, and yet Sammy hasn't been as effective in that role as even Stuart has in his limited time there. Sammy just does not have a good hockey sense up there to run the PP, and handedness doesn't trump that. Lidstrom and Stuart have provided a good one-two up there as lefties, and in times passed Lidstrom and Schneider performed well, too. Seeing as the only option for Mike at the moment would be to put Ericsson on there, even with the confidence he's shown in him, I don't think he's ready to put a rookie up there on the power play. I'm not really sure why all of this has come to a head all of the sudden (perhaps as part of the obligatory "omg we lost" frenzy), but once Rafalski gets healthy, there's no compelling reason why Sammy shouldn't be replaced with Stuart up on the second unit. That it won't happen, as you indeed indicated, is a tribute to Mike's love affair with Sammy.

Sammy is curiously inhibited on the power play... he really, really doesn't like to shoot it from the point, which is basically the opposite of his behavior as a forward. It defeats the purpose of putting him up there with his advantage in handedness. This is an old problem for him and this team, but the Wings are more capable of remedying it now than in the past.

The goal was, by Osgood's own admission, a screened shot. I don't know what any goalie supposed to do about that other than have the shot hit him.