Heroes of Hockeytown

Hopefully these guys have a couple of wins at the Joe in them.

Truth. Double true. f*** these assholes. Win this game, Wings.

Man, what I wouldn't give to see a Wings shift like that.

Wings are on the razor's edge right now. Tough to imagine them being able to rally if the Sharks get the next goal.

Abby's got to cover for Salei there.

So much for starting to carry the play. This s*** is driving me nuts.

That clown has played exclusively between whistles all day. Get the f*** out of here, Eager.

Wings are starting to carry the play.

Power play looked decent, at least. Gotta get it in the net.

The ol' skyhook. Niemi got in good position, though.

Thank god that's over. I could scarcely imagine a worse torture than being exposed to that for 20 minutes. Shape up, fellas.

Finally a decent looking shift. But stop putting it off the endboards get it on net.

So far I haven't got a single nice thing to say about the Wings. They've been dominated this whole period.

Well I don't know how LA's PP was so much more effective than the Wings'.

Wings look like they're getting outnumbered in puck battles on a PP. That was a nice play though.

Jimmy played about as well as a goalie could. If he puts on a performance like that each night the Wings will be in every game.

Shots on goal isn't always a useful stat, but in this case it fits within the context of the game just fine. The puck was in the Wings' zone all night (with the power plays but also just at even strength), hence they were badly out-shot.

I agree. The Sharks controlled most of the play and the Wings were fortunate Jimmy was on the ball tonight, or there might not have been overtime at all. I think we can go ahead and dub Abdelkader's aborted odd man rush turned penalty as worst play of the year, but it was Datsyuk at the very end of the PK with the puck on his stick with a chance to clear that got stripped, beginning the chain of events that led to the Wings' demise. The little things that kill you... I thought they were going to put on a much better showing, honestly, especially as the game wore on and they got their legs back. But the opposite happened, so what do I know. Still, it's only one game, which they had every opportunity to win (but didn't). A whole lot can change between now and Game 2.

Hey, San Jose! Your city is dumb and on the wrong coast which screws up all of my schedules, and I don't like that or any of you! Our town is way better. Don't believe me? Fine! We'll settle this as men once did, a return to the old ways: Hockey.

NFC North QBs are on notice... the Suh/Fairley power hour is about to begin.

Bob Cole seems barely lucid most of the time. He probably thinks he's calling the game on radio. Still got a great voice, though.

I can't remember a first round with so many Game 7s and OTs in it.

The main concerns I have would be, for starters, the PK. However, Zetterberg will be available for round two, and Babcock hasn't yet exercised his Lidstrom option on the PK either. Goaltending was great in the first round and I have no complaints. However, Jimmy did have a so-so season and wasn't very good against the Sharks last year. Also, the Yotes kinda suck. So, a potential problem, but from his playoff body of work so far (small), not yet. One big thing I noticed in the first round was the Wings' habit of giving up odd man rushes all the time. They must have had ten go against them in the last two games with Phoenix, but fortunately saw the Yotes just fail to control a puck, shoot wide, or have Jimmy make a great save. The Sharks' scorers are much better and will convert on those chances more.

I have no strong feelings about them one way or the other.

Hopefully Babcock will also dust off the ol' Lidstrom and stick him on the PK now that they're up against some real scorers.