Heroes of Hockeytown

I don't know what they're expecting the goalie to do with the 5 on 3s and odd man rushes and all manner of nonsense he's being made to deal with. The worst part is his teammates don't share much of the blame either. These first two games have been dumb as hell.

I agree with this. The call on Bert was trash, but sometimes you get bad calls against you. You have to kill the penalty. Kronwall took the most obvious, needless hooking penalty of all time; Pavelski wasn't in any kind of scoring position or anything. Anyways, the Wings can't seem to buy a break in these first two games. The blown call on Franzen leading to the GWG in Game 1, Nick's traitorous stick bringing about their doom in Game 2. It really feels lousy to see the Wings sunk by these stupid, unlucky plays. All of the breathing room is gone and obviously anything but a sweep at home will be a disaster.

They'll be doubly lucky to win a game in this series.

Well, the Hawks were able to avoid goalie controversy in round one against a punchless Nashville team, but Vancouver has got the firepower to bring it back to the fore. We'll see though, still two periods left.

The right guy gets the OT winner.

Uh oh, overtime looms, NBC suits begin to sweat.

I would have a tough time rooting for the Hawks if they advance but I could probably get by on the Canucks. I would pull for whichever team comes out of the West though, because the East belongs to the Pens.

Bert has his annoying tendencies but he's been doing a good job creating havoc in front of the opposition's net, and it adds up to goals that he doesn't get on the scoresheet for. As for last night, Flip had an awful game, he lost the puck every time he touched it or misfired on some errant pass. I expect him to be better Sunday because he has been tremendous so far in the playoffs, but last night he was primary culprit on that line.

It's like I'm really watching a game from two weeks ago, with the Wings getting assf***ed by a blown high-sticking call in a Game 1. How completely obnoxious. It's one thing to lose fair and square, it's another to have a call blown so badly and it ultimately proving to be the difference. I guess the good things are Franzen and Pavel were great tonight. Though in order for the universe to achieve balance, Flip played possibly his worst game in the NHL.

Pfft, Bob was a thousand times more clutch for the Wings in the playoffs than he's yet proved to be for the Caps.

Whether or not it was going to go into the net isn't really important, Howard couldn't very well sit there and chance it. He got down and stopped the puck from going wherever it was going, which was impressive. The fact that he punched out the rebound to virtually the only place on the Earth where it could have been threatening to him was decidedly less so.

This was one of the big things Montreal was able to do. I became exasperated watching Ovechkin try to beat everyone on the ice on the rush every time he touched the puck. It worked a few times because he's Ovechkin, but 95% of the time he was checked effortlessly by Gill or Gorges or Spacek and didn't force the Habs to deal with any offensive pressure, and did allow them to transition easily from his turnovers. He had two big games where he scored a lot of points but was pretty effectively neutralized the rest of the time, or as well as you possibly can against a player with his talent.

Start time are pretty equitable for EST viewers, other than Game 5. Besides the layoff after Game 1 it's every other day though, hope the Wings have got the energy to slog through it.

Mike Green helpan.

They were the agents of their own demise in Game 6, to be sure. And yet the Wings faced a similar situation in Game 7 -- Bryz playing out of his mind in the early going, Yotes hanging on for that one break to take the wind out of Detroit's sails -- and this time the puck just happens to find Pavel and away we go. Such very little things that end up going a long way in determining the course of a game...

I know everyone was "disgusted" and "embarrassed" and generally offended by the Wings' performance in Game 6, but I thought they came out of the gate in both games and controlled the play in much the same way. But in Game 6 Stuart made a stupid play and got the ball rolling for Phoenix, and in Game 7 nothing dumb happened, Pavel got a fortunate bounce off a skate and was able to get one past Bryz to get the ball rolling for the other guys. Sometimes you need a little luck.

So long, and thanks for all the snakes.

I always knew Sid was a sorcerer.

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom. If these guys all have big games, this is the result. Everyone was great though, Helm wouldn't let go of the puck, Flip was flying, everything was clicking. Magnifique. Except Franzen. Thanks for being the excuse we could use all season for why we were going to kick ass in the playoffs, though. So long, desert dogs. Hello, guppies.

Win, lose, the sun will rise the next day and your life will continue on as it always has. Be calm. Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream. :hippie:

VEE BALEEF IN NUTING LEBOWSKI

I agree with you. Seeing fans complaining about how the last X number of calls have gone against their team or how the power play opportunities in a given game or series are imbalanced, and using this to try and imply some sort of bias, is obnoxious. The goal is not to give both teams an equal number of advantages, but penalize a team whenever they commit an infraction, no matter how many more that might be than their opposition. But I guess fans don't get so much of an opportunity to complain about the above as you have showed the PPs trending towards equal in most series. You know refs try to even up the calls, and late in a game if a team is losing by a goal or two that the majority of the time the next ticky-tack call is going their way.

The sorrow of Dan Hamhuis.

The revenge of Dan Hamhuis!

Booooo. Oh well, the legend lives on.