calfan

Not sure who starts the playoffs, but virtually positive Osgood finishes them, whether by early exit or SCC. From what I've seen, he's the most consistent Wing goalie, the youngest, the stablest, etc. I don't see him fading and I think sooner or later Babcock will have to ride him to the end, even if they start the playoffs with Dom in net.

Pretty much as soon as the AHL said they would suspend him for the same period of time the Flyers put him on their roster to chew through his suspension.

But Jack, did you hear the best part. Pronger is 6'6" and Homer is only 6'1". Burke basically said its Homer's fault because he's shorter than Pronger. Since Pronger's hands weren't above his shoulders, it shouldn't be considered a deliberate hit to the head.

The other way to break the cycle is to take one of the players out of the cycle. Another reason for Pronger to continue on to finish his check. That said, IMO he was more interested in hitting Homer than he was in getting puck possession.

I heard McKenzie last night on TSN and I read his column today and I don't think he's justifying what Pronger did, he's simply pointing out that the league has a history of rationalizing away suspensions and that even with the hit last night it is entirely possible to reach a no suspension decision. Everyone on the panel last night had jumped on the "gotta suspend" bandwagon. It would hardly have been interesting TV for him to do the same and I liked the counterpoint he put forward because the possibility exists for nothing to happen. As for giving props to the Wings - he clearly states the hit will result in people overlooking the obvious - the Wings owned the Ducks last night.

How many times do you see guys jamming away at a goalie after a save with their stick. Incidental contact is body contact, not contact with a stick. The referee would have to decide whether or not the intention was to push Hasek into the net. They made a judgment call. This one went against the Wings. How many times a game does Homer bump a goalie and the judgment is that its incidental and no penalty is called. The refs are well trained, impartial and they do their best because they don't want to look bad. Any other view is just whiny bulls***.

Perhaps the ref didn't blow the whistle on the play because he saw the puck sitting on top of Dom's pants. His view of the play would be different from that of the cameras. As well, the puck often disappears from a ref's sight and they don't automaticallly blow the whistle. They have to give it some time to reappear, especiallyl if they judge themselves not in the best position to call the play. That's why you often get a whistle after the puck has disappeared and then is again loose. The flow of the game would be terrible and scoring chances would go way down if they literally blew the whistle everytime the puck is out of sight.

The points in bold were exactly what I was saying in my post regarding the intangibles. As for nationality - I disagree. Not saying Canadians are the only ones with heart or anything as stupid as that, but hockey is a national passion here more so than anywhere else. I think they bring an edge to a team, especially when they are the leaders (and by that I don't mean the Captain) because it means more.

Well, of course your checkers are Canadian, but the majority of your "skill" players are European. Hate it all you want, but the Wings have been good at finding European talent for many, many years.

Outstanding - great for you!! Now do you like to sit down and keep a close eye on the game or are you one to close your eyes when you get nervous?

Ah s*** Young'un, you just gave me a reason to cheer for the Sabres and Ducks.

I posted this in the wrong spot, so here it is again. Here's my take: Goaltending - call it a draw individually, advantage Ducks for the tandem should the starters go down. However, Dom will provide more heart attack moments than JS and is more likely to cost his team a game. Both can easily steal a game. D - advantage Ducks. I think all can agree that the top 3 dmen in the world are in this series. The Ducks have two of them. That said, TEAM defense is advantage Wings. Best GAA in the playoffs and I personally will take Chris Draper over anyone, no matter how underappreciated/overlooked they are. F - tie. This one is so close and will swing back and forth throughout the series and throughout each game. If they play as they can and as they should, the Ducks two top lines are more physical than the Wings and this will play a factor against the depleted Wings D. The Ducks are scoring slightly more goals than the Wings through 2 rounds, but the Wings big guns have shown up more than the Ducks so far. Coaching - even. Both are more than adequate coaches, but let's face it, neither is the type to be a significant factor in the playoffs. Style - I don't care about the differences, what I see is one large similarity. Both teams just keep coming. If there is one word to describe the Wings its poise - they never seem to lose it. Even if they get running around in their own zone, its more of a shift thing than a game thing. They are very European - just play the system. The Ducks are much the same, but their's is based more on speed than poise. Again, they just keep coming and coming and coming. Intangibles - and here is where you throw out everything I just said, cuz it just doesn't matter. Paper evaluations are typically meaningless. On paper the Flames shouldn't have won in 2004 and the Wings shouldn't have beat SJ the last series. The Ducks know they can beat the Wings. They did it in 2003 and this year they have a far better team. As well, go back to what I said about style. The Wings are European, the Ducks are North American. More emotion, more dedication to the team and to each other than to the system. I'll take North American over European every time. BUT, my belief is that you want to play the Wings in round 1 or 2, not 3 or 4. They've had two rounds of success and now they can start to smell it. Too many guys have been there, done that, got the ring. You can say what you want about old and slow, but experience and desire can make a huge difference too. The Wings are not just glad to be here and now that the goal is in sight, they'll be even tougher to play. Advantage Wings. In the SJ series, the hidden intangible was adversity. The Wings handled it better than the Sharks and used that to turn and win the series. To me the hidden intangible is aggression. The Ducks can turn and win this series if they stick to a relentless attacking/hitting style of play. Not because they'll wear the Wings down, but because they seem to feed off of that style and find the open ice. You have to go with the intangibles. Wings in 6 unless the Ducks kick in the hidden intangibles.

I wouldn't suggest the Wings have nothing past Prong/Nied. They also have Beauchemin (sp?) and a remaining group of servicable guys. That's akin to saying the Wings have nothing past Lidstrom. Just because they aren't household names doesn't mean they aren't up to the task. They don't have to defend the Wings top line and while the Wings have some good balance to their scoring, their 3rd and 4th lines are not offensive powerhouses. The idea that the icetime of Prong/Nied won't work against the Wings skill is truly bizarre. They play like this all the time. They played like this against the Wild and the Nucks and it worked well. Those two teams are far more physical than the Wings. I don't see the Wings skill crumpling the Ducks D in the corners. If anything, playing the Wings will seem like a walk in the park compare to the physical toll the other two teams tried to put on these guys. You surely can't think that the Wings can outrun Scott N either. Here's my take: Goaltending - call it a draw individually, advantage Ducks for the tandem should the starters go down. However, Dom will provide more heart attack moments than JS and is more likely to cost his team a game. Both can easily steal a game. D - advantage Ducks. I think all can agree that the top 3 dmen in the world are in this series. The Ducks have two of them. That said, TEAM defense is advantage Wings. Best GAA in the playoffs and I personally will take Chris Draper over anyone, no matter how underappreciated/overlooked they are. F - tie. This one is so close and will swing back and forth throughout the series and throughout each game. If they play as they can and as they should, the Ducks two top lines are more physical than the Wings and this will play a factor against the depleted Wings D. The Ducks are scoring slightly more goals than the Wings through 2 rounds, but the Wings big guns have shown up more than the Ducks so far. Coaching - even. Both are more than adequate coaches, but let's face it, neither is the type to be a significant factor in the playoffs. Style - I don't care about the differences, what I see is one large similarity. Both teams just keep coming. If there is one word to describe the Wings its poise - they never seem to lose it. Even if they get running around in their own zone, its more of a shift thing than a game thing. They are very European - just play the system. The Ducks are much the same, but their's is based more on speed than poise. Again, they just keep coming and coming and coming. Intangibles - and here is where you throw out everything I just said, cuz it just doesn't matter. Paper evaluations are typically meaningless. On paper the Flames shouldn't have won in 2004 and the Wings shouldn't have beat SJ the last series. The Ducks know they can beat the Wings. They did it in 2003 and this year they have a far better team. As well, go back to what I said about style. The Wings are European, the Ducks are North American. More emotion, more dedication to the team and to each other than to the system. I'll take North American over European every time. BUT, my belief is that you want to play the Wings in round 1 or 2, not 3 or 4. They've had two rounds of success and now they can start to smell it. Too many guys have been there, done that, got the ring. You can say what you want about old and slow, but experience and desire can make a huge difference too. The Wings are not just glad to be here and now that the goal is in sight, they'll be even tougher to play. Advantage Wings. In the SJ series, the hidden intangible was adversity. The Wings handled it better than the Sharks and used that to turn and win the series. To me the hidden intangible is aggression. The Ducks can turn and win this series if they stick to a relentless attacking/hitting style of play. Not because they'll wear the Wings down, but because they seem to feed off of that style and find the open ice. You have to go with the intangibles. Wings in 6 unless the Ducks kick in the hidden intangibles.

Cov - are you callin me out? I'm not a sports psychologist - don't ask me. I think its at least part leadership and maybe its Joe, no let me fix that, part of the leadership problem is Joe. I don't know if he's a dressing room guy, but it does seem when he decides to use his size, strenght and reach consistently then the rest of them get going. If he takes a shift off or a string of shifts off, then the rest of them seem to ease up as well. The next part is the lack of other guys willing to take up the cause. I haven't done a comparison of Marleau before and after Joe, but I don't think he's as dominant as he could be. If Joe isn't going, it would be nice to think Patty is stepping up and saying follow me. I'm sure there was lots of evidence of that in the regular season, so don't flame me Sharks fans, but I haven't been that impressed with him in this series. When Iginla went down in January, I thought the Flames might go on a slide. Instead Langkow, Juice and Ritchie noticeably stepped up their game and the Flames had an excellent record while he was away. He came back and Ritchie disappeared. Lanks and Juice still did well, but if they had carried over what they were doing in his absence, Calgary could have been battling Vancouver for the division instead of the Av's for tee times. Nobody on the Sharks is stepping up to lead when Joe abdicates. Last year I blamed some of the Wings woes on the fact that Yzerman was out and nobody was able to fill his shoes (how do you replace a legend). Now he' gone and I think Lidstrom has really stepped into the void and said this is my team at the same time that Hank has done much the same, so the Wings don't lack for leadership. I think the other lack of leadership has to be hung on the coach. What is he doing to find guys with something to give and getting them out on the ice. You see lots of coaches ride unusual horses when they've got something going. How many times do you see Draper's line flying and all of a sudden they start getting double shifted for a while to build the momentum. If the coach just keeps putting out good shift/bad shift, the team never builds momentum. Hockey is all about momentum. When I was watching the other night, it occurred to me the Sharks weren't blocking shots. They might skate out to a shooter and hope the puck hit them in the pads, but you didn't see guys throwing themselves in the way of a shot. Look at the Flames - in Calgary there were guys constantly diving to block shots, in Detroit, not so much. Funny how they couldn't win on the road, isn't it. This isn't about reducing scoring chances, this is about giving everything you've got to win. Gretzky said after they lost to the Islanders in 83, the Oilers felt like they could've played another series or two while the Islanders were completely beat up and didn't look like they could get up and walk out of the dressing room. He said that's when the Oilers learned what winning was about. In the SCF, you have to give everything you've got because there's no tomorrow if you don't. The Sharks are still not willing to sacrifice everything as individuals to win as a team. Flames beat the Wings in 04 by being the better team. The Wings were man for man better, but they were a collection of individuals. While they all played the same game and played it very well, they weren't willing to die for each other.

The Sharks could be the class of the NHL, but this series demonstrates clearly the problems with the team. They can't play 60 minutes of hockey, they don't have a killer instinct and they don't handle adversity very well. When the Sharks have been on their game, they have completely dominated the Wings and what little offensive opportunities the Wings get are limited to outside shots with no traffic in front of Nabby. The moment they lapse (ADD was suggested - like that), its just a matter of time. I was chatting on RWC during game 2 and early in the third I told everyone to calm down, the Wings were going to score in the last 2 minutes - they did. During game 3, everyone was asking me for the same prediction and I said I didn't see a red and white goal upcoming. During game 4, I was too lazy to get my laptop. If I had I would have once again said the Wings would score late in the period. It's as obvious as flipping a switch. When the Sharks turn it off, its off.

Why is it if the Wings lose, they didn't play very well? I thought they played a pretty good game yesterday. I would have liked to see them bury a couple more shots, but I thought they kept a good pace and kept generating chances. The problem they have is that when the Sharks want to play big, tough and fast, the Wings don't have the ability to stop them. I'm not sure any team in the NHL has that ability. The only thing holding the Sharks back is their inability to play 60 minutes of hockey. I thought the Wings biggest problem last night was their inability to create traffic in front of Nabby. Homer is the best there is at that, but the rest of the lines need to also create some havoc in front. The Wings did a far better job of this against the Flames.

Nah - my course doesn't open till Friday

Actually he's 12th in the playoffs (only Emery has a lower save percentage of goalies still in the show) and he was 13th in the regular season. His stats are not stellar by any stretch. His GAA is quite good and that's due to the combination of his skill and the skill of the dmen in front of him and the commitment to team defense under Babcock. Hasek was in ok position on the first goal until he decided to move from his knees to his stomach before the shot was even taken. The first goal is plain and simple, his fault due to bad positioning. The second goal is less clear. There is no doubt that CheeChoo took advantage of Hasek's style. He had him down already, faked and out waited him. That he was given that amount of time doesn't say much about the dmen on the ice at the time.

Like last night? Truth be told, if the Sharks play 60 minutes of hockey like they can, they will beat Detroit in this series. Last night they gave up a lead, didn't start playing until the game was 1/2 over and still pulled out the win. I wouldn't want to try that approach on a nightly basis with the Wings as game 2 proved cuz then its a toss-up. But the Sharks have the advantage if both teams play their best and if nothing else, most of that advantage is related to size.

I'm pretty sure he has it figured out since the Wings have made pretty good use of it themselves this year.

If Hasek doesn't get many interference calls its because he has a league wide reputation for diving the moment he feels a breeze in his vicinity. There's no doubt the goal you referred to should have counted. On the other hand, Hank's second that night shouldn't have because Homer bumped Kipper aside just as the shot was coming. It's not garbage. It seemed to be the only way the Wings could get a puck past him at times. I don't fault the Wings for playing that way. You have to play right up to the edge of the refs tolerance and they did a great job.

Two in one that absolutely will not be on the list and are unlikely to be on anyone's list but mine. 1987 Cup presentation - Gretzky gets the Cup, turns and skates past the likes of Messier, Kurri and Coffey and the first person he hands it to is Steve Smith. After the 86 own goal, I just felt it was a very classy move by Wayne. Same ceremony - Marty McSorley and his dad on the ice and both of them are crying like babies. Further proof that the tough guys are all heart.

The "phantom" call as you refer to it was the direct result of the Flames meltdown in game 5. They quite correctly pointed out to the league that if the Wings are going to drive a Flames player into their own goalie that's still goaltender interference. The crew in Detroit wasn't making that call and they should have been. You're right, Homer didn't touch Kipper on the play. Instead he shoved Stuart into him. It's still interference according to the rules.

People can say Lang is lazy and he sucks and a whole raft of other things but I can't state my opinion about Hasek? Even Babcock has called out Hasek for his antics. I would have thought showing respect and manners is about respecting the opinions of the people posting on this site. I think you will be hard pressed to find any indication of me personally attacking anyone on this site. On the other hand, I need only look to your post to see you calling me an idiot and saying I'm not smart. And you're telling me to mind my manners?