Heroes of Hockeytown

Max Afinogenov, cross crease tap-in on a 5-on-3. Two to nothing.

Head injuries are serious business, but he got checked out. He didn't have a concussion. He was good to go, so he went.

There's nothing to say about the Pronger hit that hasn't been said - it's indefensible. With regards to penalties: the game was over when the Ducks started making their parade to the box. Coincidence? Of course not. The Ducks lost their cool and that's why they spent the second period a man down. If they had a chance to come back from that deficit, it was the Ducks who pissed it away, not the refs.

Lady Byng winners.

Sure. That's not what I was defending, anyhow. The Kunitz thing, I don't have anything to say about that, I wasn't online, missed that thread.

Tough to see him bleeding on location, without the luxury of TV close-ups etc. Admittedly, I was too busy cursing Pronger longer and angrier with each passing breath to have any recollection of the crowd's reaction beyond the initial noise and excitement of a big hit. But I kind of have a sneaking suspicion that the crowd's reaction to the Homer injury has been overblown.

I'm rooting for the Sabres to extend the series as long as possible... and lose. Tall order for them to avoid the sweep tonight, though. Whoa. Derek Roy at 9 seconds, 1-0 Sabres.

The way I look at it is this: any time a guy gets ejected for an intent to injure play like that, the league is going to look at it. Everyone knew right away that the refs tabbed the wrong guy, but it doesn't matter. If they had booted Pronger they'd still be looking at the play and they'd still have all the same evidence to make their decision. Hitting a guy in the head, from behind, with your elbow, driving it into the glass is pretty cut and dried if you ask me.

If the referees had made the proper call on the ice, the Pronger hit still would have been reviewed. It's impossible to know if the decision would have remained the same, but the severity and dirtiness of the cheap shot endures. I think the improper call by the refs during the game has no bearing on his suspension, to tell you the truth. I didn't see that game or that hit, but no matter. A poor call should not become precedent. That's like making Clark Gillies and Cam Neely the new standards for getting into the HHOF.

I laughed every time Emrick mispronounced that; it sounds completely absurd. And since Beauchemin is on the ice constantly I was doing a lot of giggling.

Definitely two for boarding/charging... though Chris probably had been performing some surgery on Teemu with his stick earlier in the game to piss him off.

Colin Campbell looked between his legs today and discovered something incredible. His testicles. Fortunately Ryan did not get clipped in the eye - close, dangerously so, but it did miss - but there wouldn't have been any discipline handed down for that. Perhaps a careless play by Maltby, but they don't give suspensions for carelessness. One needs only to look to last year's playoff, Justin Williams vs. Saku Koivu, to see that. Agreed. The Wings will win or lose Game 4 based on their own level of play, as well as Anaheim's. Pronger's absence won't come close to deciding the game despite the advantage it affords.

Ugh, don't remind me. I'll never forget the image of Kiprusoff, prone, helpless, just buried by Dirty Dan. Crying to see his wife one more time. Those finals moments are forever burned into my memory: "Oh, how I long to see her!" he wept, "And now, I die!" A sad day for Red Wings fans everywhere. Rest in peace, Miikka.

Haha. I was just thinking, "What play has Pronger made that's had the biggest impact on this series?" Tempting to say the hit on Homer, otherwise he's been invisible, but the truth is this: the slapshot he took that KO'd Chris Kunitz. That happened before the cheapshot, but I like to think of it as karma's way of launching a preemptive strike.

As surely as the Sun rises in the East will Pronger feel Detroit's discontent come Sunday...

For your viewing pleasure, Anaheim fans bring the lolz: I thought this was an awesome photo: Two of the best talk strategy (alternate title: Nick Lidstrom stares into your soul and makes a funny face):

Ah, I see. I misunderstood your purpose there.

Mike is being the professional he always is with those comments; he doesn't say nasty things about his own guys, their guys, the officials etc. Whenever he's challenged to say what he really thinks on a topic he's quick to say he would if he were "off the record," but that's not the case. His opinion's pretty clear with these words, though: "When he doesnt see you and you decide youre going to bury his head off the turn buckle or whatever, thats a decision you make." Anyways, my point is I doubt Mike has very many nice things to say about Pronger right now.

I watched the presser (on NHL.com if anyone else is curious) and Mike talked about this being there plan from the get go, to split up Hank and Pavel on the road if they started to struggle so teams couldn't get the match ups. Now I wonder if he'll stick with it for home games - if they remain successful, obviously - or if he'll go back to the ZDH power line?

Whether or not he was assessed the penalty has nothing to do with it. Referees miss stuff like this sometimes, or in this case call the wrong guy, but suspensions get handed out regardless. The tale of the tape is that Pronger is guilty, the league knows that, and they'll decide whether or not it merits suspension based on it.

I wonder how many major penalties Nick has been assessed in his career? Both with and without fighting. Needless to say, there would be a sharp contrast between his and Pronger's values.

He didn't play terribly above the norm for him in the last few games (which is to separate that from the games before, when he was bad). He went to the net and got a good bounce, that's playoff hockey and that's good for him, but he wasn't particularly exceptional in my view. We've all come to accept that he's not going to get above role player status on the team this year, unfortunately, or at least I hope we have. But any way he can contribute, with a big hit or a goal here or there is good enough for me. By the way, has that conditional pick become a first rounder yet? I think it was if the Wings reached the conference finals.

Any injury he could have sustained would have been purely coincidental. And they will no doubt continue to do so. Through three games he's been our biggest and best weapon. He was perfectly OK to go back out and play, so he played, and that's all there really is to it.

He got checked up, didn't have a concussion. There was no reason for him to sit. You know he wanted to be out there, didn't matter if the game was decided. It was a pretty big proverbial f*** you to the Ducks bulls*** cheapshots as well.

Mr Sandman, you and I, we've come full circle. Here we stand together - like brothers - in our passion for Robert Lang. Let us put our past differences behind us and forge this friendship in our mutual adoration of Bob. GO LANG GO!