Hank

Just to play devils advocate, bigger nets would actually make the game closer to how it was played in the 80's. If you took cubic space for players to shoot on, it's probably 50% of what guys like Bossy and Orr had. Add in much lighter equipment (that doesn't soak up water like the old ones), better conditioned and stronger goalies, as well as defensive systems, quicker players, you have far less time and space to score goals than what they did 20 years ago. The fact is, as long as there are 5 skaters aside, you will see this type of hockey for years to come. I think the NHL has done a tremendous job making the game better and more entertaining than what it was before the lockout. But the players today are so freakin' fast and defensively responsible that there's simply a lot less time and space to do anything out there. If you went 4-on-4 full time, the game would be incredible. And for those that cry "sacriladge!", professional hockey used to be played 6-on-6. It's not that much of a stretch to go with less skaters. And it would certainly eliminate the trap altogether. On a seperate note, last night on XM Home Ice, Billy Clement was saying how the TV networks like NBC are really upset with the overtime format. He said they spent a ton of dough making that special on Barbaro (the horse for those that don't know or don't care - like me) but couldn't show it because the Buffalo-Rangers game went into Overtime. Many are also talking about how the quality of play in OT is horrilbe. I totally agree with that. If you're watching your favourite team you might think it's exciting because the next goal wins, but if you're simply a fan or someone trying to get into the sport, the quality in OT is terrible. Teams take far less risks and it slows down to a crawl. Clement said that he doesn't feel it's going to be very long until the NHL institutes something like 5-on-5 for the first 10 minutes and then 4-on-4 after that. And possibly even 3-on-3 if there's no goal after 20 minutes with only a dry scrape of the ice after 20. I know a lot of people might not like that, but if corporate sponsers and TV partners raise enough hell, something will happen. NBC doesn't want games going 7 hours with boring OT hockey. They want it to be exciting and with a foreseeable end in sight.

The only way you 'eliminate' Joe is to take away his passing lanes. Besides doing that, he will do whatever he wants out there. He's too big and skilled to contain for 60 minutes. And even when he's not putting up points on the board he's tattooing guys to them. Joe's a beast and it's been a lot of fun watching him - even if he's on the other team.

I've always been a big fan of Joe Thornton. I was kicking myself when I found out he was dealt and for whom. I was certain the Wings could have put together a much better package. But then I found out that Boston only contacted 3 other teams (San Jose, Calgary and another one I can't remember). Boston ownership hates the Wings so he would never have been dealt here. Good for San Jose to get him, and for so little. Thornton has been a man among boys out there. If he would just shoot a little more often he'd be even more dangerous.

Bingo. This has been a Jekyl and Hyde Series on both sides. In any given period one team can look dominant only to look beyond horrible in the next. Both coaches MUST get their teams to play 60 solid minutes of hockey. If you break it down, the Sharks have only had, arguably, 3 good periods and the Wings have had only 3 or 4 themselves. The Wings have only scored 4 goals in 3 games and yet they have 1 win, while the Sharks have scored only 2 PP goals and have 2 victories. You could make a case that either team should be down 3-0 at this point. Game 4 will decide who will win this series. It's a must win for the Sharks as their psyche is very fragile from last years collapse and they don't want that to happen again. The Wings need to assert themselves FOR 60 MINUTES on the road to show that they can do it away from the Joe. I thought last nights game was a good one, but featured way too much standing around and breath-holding from the Wings in the 3rd period. At the same time, the Sharks were lucky to be only down a goal after 20 minutes (much like the Wings were lucky to be only down a goal after 1 in game 2). What's going to happen in game 4? Who knows. I don't think either coach even knows. Hopefully the Wings can put together an effort like they did in Game 6 against the Flames and they don't stop working and hitting from the start of the game to the end.

I'm with you brother. I have 2 kids and a 12 hour day. 10:00 is usually bed time for this guy. I think what makes me even more sick is how that dumb f**k Lou Lamourello always seems to get the NHL to bend over for whatever he wants and what has his organization done for the NHL? Trap hockey, emtpy barn, ugly uniforms and forcing the NHL to look at his ugly ass all the time. The Wings have been one of the best draws across the NHL, won Stanley Cups with skill instead of the ugly trapping systems so many team have employed the last 15 years and generally been a great representative for the NHL. And how are we rewarded? Stay in the West and shutup. It's time the NHL started rotating that Eastern spot in the West amongst ALL the Eastern clubs every 5 years. I know that sounds rediculous but it's the only fair way. Make New Jersey do the Wings travel for 5 years and see how well they do? See how much the Bald Eagle Lou L. likes it. The East has won the Cup 3 years in a row now simply because the West is so much stronger and beats each other up for 2 months while flying half way round the globe before bowing out to a team in the East that can travel to most road games by rickshaw and play "powerhouses" like the Islanders or Atlanta. But the Wings will never get moved to the East. We're too valuable to the Western conference and their drawing power.

Like others have said, he can be very reliable defensively and he hussles. But why a guy who only has 3 assists in 15 playoff games with Detroit is continually put on the top 2 lines and PP is beyond me. It only took Babcock 2 seasons and 14 playoff games to finally treat Lang the way he deserves but now I'm sure we'll have to endure 20 more playoff games before he finally relegates Sammy to where he belongs - the 4th line and nowhere else. If we're forced to use a forward on the point it should be Maltby. He has the speed to get back and his shot is way more accurate. I understand that B'cock might be worried about overusing him on the PK and the PP but you could always substitute Cleary on the PK with Drapes or maybe sack up and realise this is the playoffs and some players like Maltby and Cleary can handle more load at that time of year.

Absolutely. I mean, yes Sammy sucks huge ass. But at least he gives 100% every night. Lang has loads of talent but chooses not to use it. He's a paycheck player that will run the minute this season is over. I'm sure he'll sign for good money somewhere else and irrate fans there with his indifferent play and lazy attitude.

I know that people aren't too high on the Preds these days but Shea Weber is not a dirty player. The dude played 79 games this year and amassed only 60 PIM's. Not exactly Bryan Marchment. And if you watch that hit in real time, you could tell that his elbow came out from reflex, in a desperation move, after Seidenberg deked to the side - very similar to Kyle McLaren's hit on Richard Zenik from a few years back. There are a lot of Preds that deserve the 'dirty' label but Weber isn't one of them. He's a hardnosed player that plays it clean. This is only one kneejerk-reaction that I'm sure he wished he could take back.

No. I defended him all season long but his output in the playoffs has been beyond horrible. This guy is paid to score and he's not. And he's not giving any effort out there at all. In the Flames series, every player, to a man, was hussling and digging and fighting for loose pucks. Not Lang. He can't be bothered. It'll be great when we can finally dump this underacheiving, lazy P.O.S. from the team.

Lets hope so. Because outside of goaltending, last nights team looked exactly like the one in the Oilers series.

I'm sorry. I didn't hear one word you just said. Your avatar is too distracting. This is a football town 1st, 2nd and 3rd. It's just like the Toronto Maple Leafs. That team could finsish dead last every single year for 3 decades and they'd still sell, and all their newspapers and radio stations would be filled to the brim with Maple Leaf talk. It makes life hell for people who live in or around Detroit that care about other sports teams.

Me too. It was lke they were just swatting flies until the final buzzer went. Like they were toying with us. "Go ahead and take another shot from 40 feet out and at a bad angle". And that's basically what we did for the final 50 minutes.

But that's what they're told to do. That's how they practice it. It's up the coaching staff to change things up. Until then, expect more one-timers from the point from both Schneids and Lidstrom with little to no traffic in front while the 2 other forwards stand at the hash marks enjoying the view.

Exactly what they did against Calgary. I didn't see them do it a whole lot last night. But I think the Sharks defense and the size of the backchecking forwards had something to do with it. The Wings are going to have to work and fight for every inch of that ice. Taking shots from 40 feet out isn't going to win games. They have to get their nose dirty against San Jose. I'm looking forward to game 2. I think both teams are going to bring more to the table and I really hope that the tenacity that the Wings showed against Calgary shows up as well. Hasek can steal games and it could have easily been 4-0 at the end of 1 if not for Dom. But we need to give him a lead. This series will be about first leads. Both teams are way too good defensively AND offensively to dig out of a 2 goal hole.

Ugh. Don't get me started. When I watch other teams' powerplays I'm always jealous because they're seems to be at least 2, if not 3, forwards buzzing around the net or creating havoc. With the Wings you have one guy in front (if you're lucky) with the other two forwards at each hash mark. I thought it was the point to draw defenders with you. Cycle the puck to the dman and then go to the net. Have the Sharks collapse so they add to the quagmire in the crease.

Stop it! You had me at 'great rack'!

Yeah. It looked brutal and it certainly hurt with Homer being out. I just think the coaches need to look at creating offense that isn't generated off a Lidstrom or Schneider one-timer. With big bodies like Lang, Franzen and Bertuzzi, I would hope they could devise a plan that has us throwing it downlow and having those 3 outmuscle the D for loose pucks and rebounds.

HAHAHAHA! The irony kills me! "The Wings suck! They always underachieve! Now lets talk Lions!" Hahaha. I've never seen such an ugly girl get asked out so many times. No wonder a lot of the Lions players were ticked off when the Tigers were taking a lot of the limelight away from them. I don't know any other sports team that can post a .200 (or worse) winning percentage year after year and continue to be the darling of their town. If only the Fords could get people to love their cars as much.

And where did 90% of those shots come from? About 35 feet out and from a terrible angle. I swear the Wings shot totals the past 5 years are the most overrated stat in the history of sports. First off, I swear the guy at the Joe just randomly clicks the Shot counter every now and then. And a very large percentage of our shots are from areas where, with the exception of Tim Chevaldae, any goalie on this planet could stop. And we controlled the puck because San Jose let us. Where did we control the puck? From the parameter - where the Sharks wanted us. The Wings looked tired because they were mentally fatigued from getting owned all night. The Sharks gave us no room to do anything in the danger zones. It was a complete lesson from start to finish. The one thing the WIngs must do is get their PP going. Their strategy is so predictable and one-dimensional it's downright funny. Our PP woes will continue unless the coaching staff can come up with different looks with the man advantage.

I think I was watching the same game as you as well. The Sharks owned us that game from top to bottom. Like I said, any room the Wings had was given to them by the Sharks. They thoroughly and utterly dominated us last night. On a side topic, I really, really wish Mike O'Connell had rememered his old team the Wings when he was shopping Big Joe around. I'd love to have him on our squad. In the first 10 minutes of that game he looked like a man among boys out there. After the 2-0 lead, he went into defensive mode with the rest of the squad. It was a very good win for the Sharks and we should all take our hats off to them. The Wings looked bad because the Sharks made them look bad.

Once again BlueMonk you hit the nail on the head. Couldn't have said it more perfectly. Any "chances" the Wings had, the Sharks gave to them. They'll let Datsyuk, Maltby, Lang and the rest shoot from 20 feet out all day with nobody screening Nabakov. Our best chance to win that game was when Dats had that chance in tight but lost the handle and played with it too much. I'm not down on anyone, but our best players need to be our best players in game 2. Datsyuk and Zetts need to be more visible for 60 minutes - playing injured or not.

Ticket prices + poor playoff showings the past 4 years + economy + Tigers success = Joe Louis with empty seats. Illitch needs to get his giant afro head out of his ass and reduce prices. When a hockey rabid town like Calgary is selling nose bleed seats for $40 CDN, you know Illitch is outpricing himself. Also take into consideration that he MADE MONEY before the playoffs even began and you know he can reduce prices. Trust me, this will have to happen if the Wings don't advance beyond round 2. People are struggling and if they can take their entire family of 4 to a Tigers game, with parking, drinks, pizzas and a couple of souvenires for the same cost of 2 standing room tickets, why should they go see the Wings? I'm a giant Wings fan, but even I would take the Tigers deal over the Wings. I just can't justify spending that kind of money when the pockets need to be tightened up.

Wings talk in this area isn't much better. I remember when the Wings were in the 2002 finals I still heard more talk about the Tigers than Wings. You'll be lucky to hear 20 minutes of Wing talk in 8 hours of programming. It's seriously that bad. My wife bought me an XM radio for Christmas. With the subscription you're entitled to online streaming of their shows as well. Nothing touches XM204 for hockey coverage. I'll hear 100x more Wing talk on that station (which covers the whole NHL) than on the local radio sports shows. EDIT: Thought I'd jot down the sports priorities in Detroit: 1. Lions 2. Lions 3. Lions 4. Lions 5. Tigers 6. Wolverine football 7. Spartans football 8. Lions 9. U of M/Spartans basketball 10. Pistons 11. Lions 12. Lions 13. Wings And people wonder why the Fords don't do anything to really make the Lions a winning franchise. Why should they? Every year they take a giant dump at the 50 yard line and fans come screaming in to see it. Lions fans are pathetic.

Well said. People need to remember that the Sharks are a very, very good team. Not only are they all very skilled but a lot of them are huge. The way they shutdown Detroit in the last 40 minutes was impressive. They reminded me a lot of the Wings in 97 and 98. They followed a game plan to a T and never gave the Wings an inch. It's sad to say but I never felt that the Wings were in the game to come back against them. San Jose did a thoroughly perfect job against them. Lets hope the Wings can bring more to the table for Game 2. But if they don't, don't get down on the Wings. I expected them to beat the Flames, but the Sharks are a totally different animal. There would be no shame in losing to this club.

I don't know guys. I didn't think the Wings played a bad game, as I think it was more San Jose imposing their will on us. The 1st period looked like men among boys. But the 2nd and 3rd Detroit outplayed the Sharks. However, the Sharks totally took any of the middle ice away from us as Nabakov kicked away one easy, long shot, after another. He was never really challenged. I think the turning point in this game was when Dats didn't manage to get off that shot when he was in the slot and had some time. It seemed like he wanted to make another move or two and ran out of time. He should have ripped it. However, the puck also wasn't 100% settled so maybe he was trying to settle it down first. My thoughts on the game are that it was a very entertaining one. There was a lot of north-south skating with some great hits and chances on both sides. Joe Thornton was an absolute beast. This guy is going to be very hard to contain all series. If he actually wanted to shoot more, he'd be way more dangerous. Marleau was also awesome. He has tremendous speed and really used it against our D. I thought Hasek was great too. If not for him, we would have been down 5-0 after 20 minutes. But he played great. Our PP needs a serious overhaul. It's so predictable it's not even funny. For that reason, we only got off 4 shots on 3 consecutive powerplays in the 2nd period. That alone killed us. If we score 1 PP goal there, things might have ended differently. But all in all, I think the Wings played a solid game. Remember, it's a lot like boxing. You can't always impose your game on anyone at any given time. Sometimes the other team has a lot to do with how you look. This could be the first series since the '91 St.Louis series where I felt like we were the true underdogs. I still feel this way. If the Wings can take Game 2 we'll be right back in there, but San Jose is so big, so fast and so talented that this is going to be one huge challenge.