Hank

I ask people why Hiller gets so much praise? He's GARBAGE! If the puck isn't shot directly at his giant chest guard, he's not making the save. Franzen rang one of far-side post from 25' out! A TRUE premier goalie would have stopped that. Heck, an ECHL goalie would have stopped that. Franzen's goal today shows exactly what kind of goalie Hiller is. He goes down into the butterfly the second the puck is in the offensive zone. And since he has a garbage glove and blocker hand if you shoot high, and it's on the net, it's in the net. The Ducks have no answer. If they're not on the PP and Getzlaf and Perry aren't on the ice together, they have no offensive presence. Absolutely ZERO. R.Neidermayer, Nokelienen, Brown, Christianson, Marchant, Carter, Ebbett and Miller are all terrible. Absolutely terrible. They shouldn't even be in the NHL. Suck it Ducks. Wings are closing this out in Anaheim. And if Rafalski was in this lineup it would have already been done.

He's our most offensive threat 5-on-5 from the blueline. He moves the puck up ice with the best of them.

Beauchemin's very underrated in the fisticuffs. Iginla found that out the hard way 2 seasons ago.

LOL! I thought the same thing. Beauchemin's an idiot. You're only 2 goals down with half a period to play and you take yourself out for 5 minutes? Especially when you're one of their best players. I'll take that tradeoff any day of the week. Good job Kopecky! You got dummied but you earned a lot of respect and got a great player off the ice!

I completely disagree. Rafalski is one of the best dmen in the world. Meanwhile, Cheli is finally starting to show his age. We need to get #24 out of there pronto!

I loved this game. Hiller has been exposed as an average goalie. He has NO glove hand or BLOCKER. The Wings made him look good in the game 2's OT and Game 3 when all they did was fire one 40' parameter shot after another. When they actually drive to the net and fire high, he has no answer. And he's also shown that his 5-hole is wide open. If the Ducks had a legit 2nd line they would be far more dangerous. But without Perry or Getzlaf on the ice their forwards look like kittens swatting a ball of yarn.

I think the number of teams and games per round are fine. However, I do believe that the season needs to be shortened to 70 games. The Wings look lethargic and tired. I don't care what others think, I believe it's from the long playoff run last season. The Ducks got bounced first round last year and it was due to the same effect. In the end, the long schedule and grueling playoff runs needed to win equate to two of the better teams being worn out in April of the next year, robbing fans of great hockey with great teams. I'd love to see how this matchup would play out if both teams were well rested from a shortened season. They're arguably the two best teams in the West but we're not seeing the best from the Wings due to tired legs and minds. The same thing is happening to Pittsburgh, to an extent, as guys like Malkin and Sykora look like they're skating in mud.

This is my theory: The Wings play it simple in the OT. They retain the puck and fire at will. This seems to do two things: 1. Because most of the shots are from wide range, the opposing goalie gains confidence and can remain mentally sharp because they're facing so much rubber. 2. Because we're in their end the whole time, our goalie loses focus allowing for softies like Marchant's. As soon as we went into OT I knew we'd lose. Like the OP noted, our OT record has been abysmal of late. But I'm not worried. The Wings will rebound and win 3 of the next 4.

I'm glad I stayed away from any message boards until today. Yes we lost. Yes we stunk in the first 40 minutes. Yes we deserved to win in OT. But that's playoff hockey. The good news is that without Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan on the ice, their forwards look like a collection of AHL rejects. I was also glad to see that Hiller is not the end-all, be-all of goalies. He looked shaky on a lot of shots and I have confidence we'll continue to light him up - especially since his glove and blocker hands are slow and he loves to go down early. I'm actually surprised he doesn't start the game in the butterfly position before the puck is even dropped. We got stronger as the game progressed to the point that Anaheim didn't look like they belonged in the same building as us. No worries. We'll win 3 of the next 4 games.

God bless ignorance and alcohol! The two were meant for each other.

I have a PVR so I watched this skirmish a few times. This TopShelf character sounds like a grade-A loser. First, I wouldn't be shocked in the least if he was drunk or well in-the-bag for either of his altercations. I just love guys who can't find the sack to do stuff like this while being sober. The guy coming down the steps also looked like he had 1 too many. So cheers to TopShelf for jumping a drunk guy, from behind. It really says a lot about a grown-man that starts fights at a sporting event. I've been to Columbus wearing a Wings jersey and I never got any hassles. Their fans were great and we had no problems. TopShelf is the exception to the rule as there's always a meathead in every bunch and this drunken coward sounds like he meets the status-quo.

Exactly. Everytime the playoffs roll around I have to hear about the "Avery factor" 1000 times. Analysts talk about him like he's the 2nd coming of Gretzky thinking that his particular skill set can push his team past anyone. He has a total of 21 playoff games and has never been past the 2nd round. "OOOH! Look out! Here comes Avery!!!" The guy is a 3rd line checker at best and he costs his team more wins than he earns. In all seriousness he should be in a psych-ward instead of an ice rink. Total loser.

Just to play devils advocate but there's no way in hell there were 1.5M out there. I work in downtown Detroit and I was at the parade. If there were 1.5M people there, I'll eat my hat. Also TV ratings were down 21% this year. You can't really blame the economy on that. The Wings are still a popular draw, but of the major pro teams, the Wings have taken the biggest dip in attendance and TV ratings over the last 3-4 years. As a side not, in last night's game the amount of empty seats in the lower bowl was embarrassing. I don't know if everyone was at the concession stands, but half-way through the 2nd period you could see quite a few empty seats in the first 10 rows. That's not a shot at Wings fans, as clearly that was a result of the economy. Illitch should be ashamed of himself for jacking up the prices as much as he did for a 1st round matchup. Those tickets might have been bought, but obviously some people didn't want to spend the extra cash on parking and the rest of the stuff that comes along with a Wings game.

No kidding! Even if I wanted to take just my wife or a buddy to the game, I can't afford a $150 night. Everyone knows that with a $100 ticket comes parking, concessions, etc. It's nearly impossible to go to a Wings game and not buy a $40 hotdog and pop. Illitch is obviously senile. $105 for a seat 12 rows back is more like 3rd round material in this economy, if not Stanley Cup pricing. Good luck with that Mikey. There's nothing better than watching a game live, but compared to a $105 ticket, in a SMALL seat, my comfy couch, beer fridge and beautiful 52" 1080p HDTV does pretty good. And I get to eat all I want and watch the game with my wife and two sons. GO WINGS! Nicely put. Unfortunately, I think a great majority of lower bowl tickets are owned by corporations like the Big 3 or companies that live off the Big 3's contracts. Until the economy rebounds and large corporations don't mind shelling out for these prices, the lower bowl will either be empty or filled with people who bought standing room only tickets.

You're right. ESPN won't help hockey at all. All it will do is help the few thousands that love hockey but can't get VS. That's the reason why a minority of hockey fans want this to happen. And I can't blame them for that. I'd be livid if I lost my TSN feed. But the truth is VS treats the NHL far better than ESPN ever did and while hockey was on ESPN it didn't help grow the sport. Nothing will really. It is what it is. I'm still of the mind that the NHL should make it's own network and show 1 game of the week. Since I'm ignorant to tv broadcasting and distributing I'll continue believing it's easy and will question the NHL's decision not to do this.

Get your flames ready. I like fighting in the NHL, but not the staged crap. Most goon tilts are boring and too defensive. Plus there's very rarely any hate or emotion involved with them. But when two guys, who normally don't fight a lot, go at it, it's awesome. I still remember the Richards-Mara fight from 2 seasons ago. It was a beauty. Anyway, I'm of the opinion that there should be ZERO fighting in minor hockey. Kids should not be afraid to get their teeth kicked in during a midget or bantam hockey game. I've been to some of those games and it was embarrassing to see grown men salivating at the thought of two 14-year-old's duking it out. Anyway, keep the emotion and the ability to keep players honest at the NHL level. Basically, if players earn a paycheck, they should have the rights to scrap and entertain the crowd. I think if you removed fighting from all levels of hockey the IHL, CHL (Central league) and ECHL would be gone the next day.

I agree with that too. It'd be nice to give the team a confidence boost by entering with a nice 3 game win streak or something. I still have faith that the Wings will pick it up in the postseason. I think a lot of these guys, whether they know it or not, aren't playing 100% because they can't get 'up' for some teams like the Preds, Blues, etc. Once the playoffs begin, then we'll know how much gas we have left in the tank. These guys are working their hardest physically, but I think they've hit a wall of sorts from their impressive run last year. One guy who I can see providing a huge spark will be Homer. He's missed an aweful lot of games and I think he'll be itching to get back on the ice and go through some walls. Hossa too. He's hungry to win a Cup. Hopefully the hunger from those two guys will become contagious.

I know that some people hate this excuse but I really do think we need to appreciate the reality of the Stanley Cup hangover. Winning the cup, or even making the playoffs, following a Cup win is extremely tough. Jim Rutherford put it like this "You ask your players to sweat blood and tears to climb mount Everest. And then when they get there and come back down to celebrate their accomplishment, you ask them to do it again in 2 months". The league is so close in terms of talent and coaching that most nights it's about mental lapses that decide wins and losses. That's exactly what's happening here. Our defense is not playing that well because they're still mentally tired from the long journey they took just a short time ago. In all honesty, I'm amazed that we're even close to winning our conference, or President's Trophy. Our depth, leadership and coaching has made that happen. But in the end, if the players aren't 100% in the mind and body, we're not going anywhere. True, it doesn't help that our goaltending has been suspect. But in many of these games where we've allowed more than 3 goals, it wasn't Conklin, it was the wide-open chances the other team was given. Backes had all day to score some of his 4 goals. Last year that wouldn't have happened. I think the best thing this team can do is give up on winning the #1 seed and start resting guys like Lidstrom, Zetts, etc. We have enough farm hands to carry the load the rest of the way.

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/7775/ad...pointsystem.jpg Because I'm a cranky hockey fan, I hate giving any sort of points to losses of any kinds. So in MY NHL, I'd give 2 points for a regulation win and 1 point for an OT or SO win with the loser getting NOTHING. What I found was astonishing on two fronts. First, the standings barely change. Besides Carolina and Calgary moving up one notch in the standings, and Florida leap frogging from 9th to 7th, knocking Montreal out, there is very little adjustment. Secondly, what really shocked me was how many teams are technically under .500. Only the top 4 teams in the West, and the top 3 teams in the East have a winning record. Up to this point, you look at the standings and see how many teams have winning records and believe that there are only a few bad teams. But the truth is, every team in the NHL feasts on that extra point to make it look as if they're a true 95 point squad. In today's NHL a team could win 3 times in 10 games and still have an above .500 record if they went 3-2-5. To me, that's pathetic. Lets make regulation wins worth something so teams like the Rangers don't monkey around for 60 minutes hoping to get to the shootout to gobble up an extra garbage point. With my system, the Blueshirts go from a record of 40-28-9 to a lowly 27-37-13. It also shows without a doubt who the better teams in the league are. I'm well aware of why the league is going to stick with the current system. It paints a far rosier view of the teams and the league. Afterall, how would it look if over 75% of the teams in the NHL were under .500? Anyway, just my $.02. Thoughts?

LOL! I'm not sure how that happened. But Phoenix needs all the help it can get so they'll be playing 100 games every season. Thanks for the catch.

LOL. So what happened in the last 7 seasons when Lidstrom won 6 Norris Trophy's? And what about when Lidstrom and Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe Trophy's in the last 2 Wings Cup wins? And you do realize that Bettman has ZERO say in who wins awards right? The press votes the winners in.

Yes it is. Most of the time. It's why guys like Gonchar have been mentioned as candidates in the past. And I don't believe anyone has ever won the Norris while not being in the top 5-10 scorers for dmen. Hell, Paul Coffey won it 3 times and he was more of a 4th forward than anything else. If he was such a great defender, Bowman would not have had him traded after winning the Norris and being a leading scorer on the Wings in two years prior to the deal. In reality, a guy like Konstantinov should have won it multiple times if it was only about best defender. That's the way it is, and it's the reason why Green is going to win this award by a landslide.

I agree. His team is in 2nd place in the East and he could score 35+ goals. I can't remember the last time a defenseman scored as many goals per game . And he's an underrated defender too. 5-on-5 he's probably the most effective defender on both sides of the puck. The sad part is, Lidstrom's probably not going to be on the ballet: Green, Chara, Weber

Yeah, the record books would take a hit for sure. But I think the league needs to put more emphasis on regulation wins. Teams that can finish in 60 minutes of hockey should be rewarded over teams like the 2008 Oilers who did all their work in shootouts.

Upon popular demand, here's what a 3-point system would look like: http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9731/adju...pointsystem.jpg So you get 3 points for a regulation win (RW), 2 points for an OT/SO win and 1 point for an OT/SO loss. Look who's in first overall.