Hank

Not to mention their horribly boring and offensively styfling playing style. Alain Vigneault will make sure he's only allowed to cross the redline on powerplays and when the game has completed.

That's why we need to hire Bobby Clarke for a week to present the offer sheet. And then when we get him, we fire Clarke so he maintains his status as an ******* while the Wings keep theirs as a class organization.

Stop it! You had me at 'BAM!!!'. Holland, get Peter Chiarelli drunk and rape him of Lucic!

Are you kidding me? I wetted myself when I made the deal in NHL08!!! I loved Game 3 in that Mtl-Bos series. Lucic was all over the place hitting everything in site. And that goal he scored??? PURE goal scorers hands. And I don't blame Savard for having man love for Lucic. This kid is a pure throw back to old-time hockey. He does everything! I have a hard time believing that if you substituted Lucic for Filpulla our team would look and play a lot differently. Players like him and the way they play are infectious to a team. It's one thing for a plumber like Drake or McCarty to lay out hits, it's an entirely different thing when a top 6 forward does it AND scores. Zetts and Dats would feel 8 feet tall with him riding shotgun.

I'm still waiting for the team that owned Calgary physically last spring to show up this year. I think we need to face the fact that to get this team to play physical you have to stay on them all the time. It's simply not in our DNA to play gritty or abrasive. If we don't end up winning the Cup and this is the reason, the Wings need to change up their strategy somewhat. Transplant players like Sammuelson and Lebda for bigger, stronger, nastier guys. Dealing Filpulla for Milan Lucic would also be a good start. Hey! It worked in NHL08, surely it will translate into real life.

I was really hoping for a sweep. The West is so tough and competive that sweeping a team that isn't on the Left-Coast would give the Wings a much needed breather before moving on to the next round. Lets hope the Wings can close this series out on Friday.

Good post. The Wings are still going to win this series. But I'd be lying if I said our lack of intensity and Hasek letting in questionable goals doesn't worry me.

You're wrong. NBA coaches get 4523458235 timeouts. And there's nothing better than to see them use up all of them in the last 15 seconds. Even when a team is down by 24 points. Nothing says excitement like thousands of stoppages in play in the last minute of a game. I'm glad the NHL only has one timeout per team, per game. It's a transition game. I'm even happier that they don't allow you to call a timeout in the middle of play. Unlike in the NBA, you can't yell "FREEZE!" when you're being manhandled in the corner or things aren't going your way in the offensive zone.

What's troubling is that our defense is so good that we only give up a handful of decent chances, and still Hasek struggles with the low-percentage shots. I think it's fair to say that if we had a true #1 goalie over the past 10 5 years we probably would have won a cup or two in that time span. Even Gerber is playing better than Hasek.

I agree. I said they worked hard but that's not right. Maybe I was trying to be positive? Who knows. It seems like the Wings dont' have an answer when the Preds get fired up. Everytime they do, they have our heads spinning. I'm scared to think what it'll look like if we play Calgary next. What's it going to take for the Wings to get some urgency in their game? Some desparation? I'm hoping they come out flying in Game 4. They need to. For most of last night, while they did control the puck the majority of the time, it was like they were in a scrimmage. No emotion.

I thought a lot of our players performed pretty well last night. Every line is working hard, Dats and Zetts are making chances, Kronner's hitting everything in site. The only negatives I see are: - Stuart has too many brain farts. He's basically been doing this for years but I'd like to see him concentrate more and make the simple play when a complicated one isn't necessary. - Hasek lets in one bad goal a game. I'm not going to fault him for Arnott's. That was a perfectly placed howitzer. He could have shot that 100 more times and I doubt he'd have shot it as perfectly as he did last night. But Suter's goal is a goal that Hasek has to stop. Plain and simple. Just like both of Tootoo's goals. I just hope when the dust clears we're not saying "if we had any of the other 15 goalies in our net, we would have won it all". Hasek has made some great saves but giving up one bad goal a game will not win us the Cup.

Has offensive potential too. Possible 25 goal scorer who likes to scrap and hit. Here he is dummy-ing the Leafs Mark Bell:

Yemack, good post. I agree with everything you've said. In fact, I wrote an article this morning about this exact same thing. Basically, I felt the wings played with far more physical grit and emotion in game 1 against the Flames last spring. I also believe the Wings, too often, play up to their opponents standard or emotion. The Preds were happy letting this sleeping dog lie and they almost got a win out of it. The same way the Sharks, LA, Ducks, Flames and Oilers did in years past. The Wings need to crank it up full notch and blow these sucka's away. If we had played the Flames, Ducks, Stars or Sharks last night we would have been blown off the ice. We need to be more physical and play with an edge of meanness like we did last year. EDIT: Sorry, just wanted to address this quote: The issue is that while Zetts and Dats and the rest know how bitter playoff losses can be, it's not in their nature to rev up for the playoffs. Malbty, Draper and McCarty all love to smash and bang. That's how they're hotwired. It's the same reason why there isn't a coach in the world that needs to remind Calgary that they have to hit. Almost every player on that roster relishes the thought of putting someone through the boards. But like it or not, a lot of our top players don't initiate contact and they need to be reminded between every game, every intermission and possibly every shift that they need to play with a physical edge. Zetts and Dats are not panzies. They go into high traffic areas. But their dimeaner is wired so that if another team doesn't initiate contact on them, they won't go out of their way. And most of the team is like that. It's why Nashville won't try very hard to wake this team up. They'd rather hold, hold, hold and then get a good bounce and steal a victory. It's like a boxer that allows the champ to simply circle and flick jabs. If he's not being hit, he won't hit you. But suddenly, in the 12th round, the challenger starts pounding on the champ and before he knows it, it's too late to do anything about it - hence so many 3rd period Wings collapses where they don't appear to have any desperation. Babcock spoke about this before last nights game and he said his biggest job is to instill that desperation on this team. For a great majority last night, we didn't see much of it.

Hahaha! I did the same thing. I forgot all about it. Still, it's stupid to play the opening round of the Masters on the main channel when opening playoffs are about to start. Put the Masters on the secondary channel. Man do I hate golf.

Good job Stars! Giggy played like crap! Despite looking like a damn billboard, he let in 4 goals, with at least 3 of them being very stoppable. And after the game he sort of called out his defense by saying they needed to get more bodies in front to block passes and such. Hey Stay-Puft! How about you stuff a few more cushions under your shirt and actually stop shots that the majority of goalies would have. Keep it up Stars! I'd love nothing more than see Colorado beat Minnesota so we play them while the Sharks play Dallas.

That mentality certainly worked for the Ducks last year. Teams need to have some fear when they play us. Having Kronner toss his body around will do that.

Two Words: Composite Stick. But seriously it looks like he needs to relax a bit more. And after last nights performance he shouldn't be on the top 2 lines. Our top six forwards should be: Zetts, Dats, Homer, Franzen, Cleary, <anyone but Filp and Sammy>. Not to drag up old news, but I can't help but think Fedorov wouldn't have been a better option than McCarty, Hartigan or even Sammy. Our top 2 lines could have been: Franzen-Zetts-Fedorov Cleary-Dats-Homer or Dats-Zetts-Homer Franzen-Fedorov-Cleary Not too shabby. But anyway. I thought last nights game wasn't bad but the Wings didn't look half as physical as they did in last years playoffs. I hope they can find a way to crank it up for game 2. Nashville isn't that big so if Detroit can do to them what they did to Calgary this should be an easy 4 game sweep.

Good topic. I'd have to look at the replay again but I don't think Kronwalls elbow hit his head. It looked shoulder on shoulder/head. He left his feet so he deserved a penalty. He might even deserve a suspension for it. But you're right, if this was Pronger or Downie he'd be gone for at least one game.

BINGO! Thank you! It's just another example of the Wings playing up to the level of their opponent. Unlike like teams such as Calgary or Anaheim, we never dictate the emotion in a game. We're always the chameleons, mirroring our opponents level of emotion. Wake the F**K UP Wings! Put down your swedish meatballs, pull out your balls and play like you want to kill someone. Play like you did last year!!!

I think it's time we stop saying its just another no-nam goalie stonewalling us. It's our style of play that makes life easy on goaltenders and gives them confidence. First, will someone, ANYONE, HIT THE F**KING NET!?!??!?! If it's not in Ellis's bloated belly pad it's 10 feet freakin wide!!!!! Secondly, a lot of our shots are from horrible, far away angles. We need to make life miserable for Ellis. But in the past, we've barely done that. Meanwhile, this 'no-name' goalies confidence rises and rises while the Wings confidence spirals downward. I still have confidence we'll win this game but the Wings need to play like they did last year. So far, I'm not seeing any of that. There's barely any emotion out there. Unlike last year where Calgary forced us to wake up, Nashville is letting this team fall asleep and suddenly it'll be 2-1 for Nashville and we'll be down 1-0 in the series. Wake up Wings and start throwing your body around!

I would have loved that deal! In regards to the Wings signing him in the summer, while I love what Campbell brings to the table, I'd rather have Stuart. We need to get bigger and more physical. We have enough small puck movers back there. Teams like Calgary would salivate at the thought of bearing down on guys like Rafalski, Campbell and Lebda.

Yup! I'm sure their hands will be smarting after banging them off Lilja's head over and over again. Hahaha!

Excellent post. Most times, people want to say that their team didn't lose, we just didn't win. There's always an excuse for losing. But more times than not, a team loses because it wasn't good enough or it was deficient in one category or another. Last year, the Ducks got better goaltending and were more physical than we were. Regarding McGuire, I still have to laugh because for weeks he's been saying how dangerous the Canucks were going to be. Yup, they were so dangerous they lost 7 of their last 8 and failed to make the playoffs. I'm sure those 7 teams were shaking in their boots. And now there's a rumor floating around that the Canucks could have had Kyle Turris (a B.C. native) for Morrison, Cory Schneider and a 1st. Ouch.

If a player really does care if they're playing on the road or at home, then I don't want them on my team. That was my point - which you obviously didn't understand. That's fine when the other team actually has SOME intensity. But I don't know how anyone can say it's entertaining to watch two teams match each's others non-existant emotion. NFM, I understand what you're saying. But I guess this all boils down to difference of opinion. While some people like boring hockey, or others think that the Wings work harder on home ice, or some feel that every trip to the Joe (even free) should be more than enough to entertain, I don't. Going to the Joe is a special event to me. I don't get to go very often (maybe once or twice a year). And it's for that reason that when I do get to go, even for free (even though it's not after parking, eating, tolls, etc), when the game is boring, it's a big disappointment. Maybe others can go and just revel in the fact that they're watching live hockey, but I don't put the Wings or hockey on a pedastol so that I can't see the bruises on the fruit. I watch hockey because it's entertaining. Last nights game was anything but. It's no different than going to a movie that sucks. I'm sure everyone here wouldn't have a problem saying "such-and-such" movie sucked even if they got in for free.

I'm not trying to poo-poo home ice advantage but this whole subject was brought up because I called last nights game boring - which it was. Someone argued that the game was not boring based on the fact that the Wings won the President's Trophy. My argument is that it didn't make the game any more exciting. Maybe if the Wings players themselves showed like they actually cared about winning it, the game would have been more entertaining. But for about 55 minutes of last nights game, there was more intensity in the pre game warmup than there was during the contest. The game was boring, boring, boring. Outside of the Abeldeaker line, nobody showed much emotion and there certainly weren't a whole lot of offensive chances. In fact, one of the biggest cheers in the 2nd period came when the Wings looked to have an odd man rush moving through the neutral zone. If that gets the biggest cheer then you know the game's a snoozefest. And you have to remember that I was in the nosebleeds - typically where the blue collared fan resides - hence 'true fans'. And yet, besides myself and two older gentleman close by, nobody else was even watching the game. I don't think it's because they weren't 'real' fans, but rather there was nothing interesting going on the ice. Certainly not a band of 18 skaters playing their asses off for the glorified President's Trophy that so many fans seem to covet.