RusDRW

is Wisniewski UFA? He is good def, I would say and could be good addition...

Phil was great at it, no doubts. He was also much better player. Still Holmstrom is the best at what he does. Intensity and clutch and grab style of late 90th when everything was allowed make him better.

there was a legendary soccer player Garrincha who also was bow legged. I've never seen him playing in person but people say that due to this he always used only one deke. All players knew it and studied it to death and still bit on that. Pretty similar to Dats I would say... It is not like you can't teach a player to play against Datsyk. He is just different compared to ALL other players in the world and this makes him that special.

Looks like I wrongly read the titles of two previous topics of this kind and cheered for the Wings there. We won. Sorry guys, seems like this is my new superstition. So... Let's go my Red Wings! I believe!

I still believe. Let's go my Red Wings!

I do hope! Let's go Red Wings!

At the same time team that is trying to even up the score is likely to take more penalties, right? Because players are desperate and often panic. What we usually see these days is that refs are starting to allow them a bit more and call every penalty against defending team. Apart from clear bias that is often evident nowadays, this "a bit more" is one of the biggest problem with officiating. I simply do not understand why one team needs to work harder to win. This really coincides with neighboring topic titled "Remember when third period leads were safe". Yes, I do remember. 15 or 10 years ago when one team led after two it is likely to win. Two goal leads were even safer than deposits.

there is no bias towards Detroit exclusively. They are just making business decisions that sometimes coincide with Team A winning and Team B loosing. We were successful for approximately two decades, we have strong fan base, our generation of Red Wings fans will never switch off TVs, etc. So why should we continue winning from a business point of view? They will not generate any additional profit if we'll make SCF of WCF again as we already bought all the merchandise they generated. Our market is already saturated. Teams like Boston and San Jose are a different question. Getting back to your question. Yes, there is no reason to watch Red Wings next 5-7 years. Perhaps, even more. Still we are fans and more importantly fans of hockey. I'll watch this year's finals featuring San Jose and Boston. Moreover, both teams more or less deserve it. It is not like we are going to have Pens there again.

they are not dumb to bias in favor of a team that is clearly loosing a series. Detroit and San Jose are not that far way from each other compared to the current Flyers and Bruins. Moreover, you cannot always control a game as one team could be head and shoulders better and may overcome even biased officiating. Finally, amount of PP is not that important compared to their timing. You usually easily kill a PP early in the first period. Much more complicated to kill it during the second period when you have long shifts (Detroit had 3 PPs today). Even more in the 3rd. Todays game was given to us and I'm not fine with this.

I don't like when it happens to other team... Now they give some life to the Red Wings. I don't like it too.

i would call it players gathering for Detroit to lose again. It is ok, but I'm not joining.

first goal on a dive, second one and game winner on a phantom call. Detroit needs to learn how to do these "simple things"... as they are nowadays associated with winning.

I like this line. We lack speed and Mo brings it. Although Dats has enough defensive coverage this line should not be paired with Thornton's one. Still I think the major reason for trailing is the style of play refs dictate. We don't have a chance against Sharks when refs prefer clutch and grab instead of cleaner style we see in Was-Tampa and Bos-Philly. That's not our fault though. Absence of common standard for penalties is the problem...

so we got screwed in fist game, and then got outplayed in the second right? The series is 2-0, not 1-1. And why do you call it a "cheap penalty"? I think that the main reason we are loosing is that refs allows a lot of interference from both teams instead of more clean hockey like we have in, for example, Was-Tampa series or had in Pho-Det one. This type of game is better suited for bigger teams and Sharks definitely are the bigger one. Sad that we have completely different hockey in 4 series going. More or less clean in Was-Tampa, Phi-Bos and clutch and grad stuff in Nash-Van and Det Sjs.

Does anyone else think we got out of shape during that 9 days break between series?

that is interesting.... I closed followed Kings-Sharks series. Kings were given every opportunity to succeed. More PPs, questionable calls, including that game 7 forcing one 5 minutes PP in game 6. Sharks were simply head and shoulders better. Now they are facing the Wings and suddenly everything changed... Didn't watch game 1 and will not watch the rest of this. Our season already ended.

From my POV people here fear a special officiating that could turn Clowe, Pavelski and Thornton into superstars. They are already good players, but given proper PP they could be dominating.

let's go my Red Wings!

so what do you mean? If the series is 3-0 and suddenly changes to 3-2 (meanwhile, it happened over 50 times in 100 years) then biased officiating is nowadays allowed in game 6 to force game 7? think a bit about that. 3-0 leads happened 7 times in the play-offs in approximately 100 years, 5 times prior to 2010 and two times since then. PS Would could have put such kind of video for SJ-DRW series last year...

they have nothing to loose already. At least in my eyes.

And this is Holland's fault. NHL tries to extend all series as much as they can. For those watching the play-offs last three/four years no explanation is needed. There are plenty of examples. At the end this is Vancouver's fault that they were up by 3 games.

assuming he is that old he would still be No. 1 center on a team link Phoenix. It is a shame that they have Belanger and Fiddler centering their top two line. I like our depth.

Finally. I actually think he deserved it last two years too.

Round 1 Template: VAN/CHI: 4-1 SJS/LAK: 4-2 DET/PHX: 2-4 ANA/NSH: 3-4 WAS/NYR: 4-1 PHI/BUF: 4-0 BOS/MTL: 4-1 PIT/TBL: 2-4 WC Champion:Vancouver EC Champion:Washington SCF Champion:Washington

it is pretty strange to me that after watching the last game of the season against Chicago some people still find a way to defend officiating. Blood with stick involved is 100% penalty in each and every NHL game as it is always called by default. Even if Franzen was hit by its own stick it should have been a call because of your ultimate reason - "referees are humans and the game is so fast". Same mistake should have been made when Stuart lost the puck in own zone that directly led to their first goal. Without multiple replays it looked like clear penalty so why didn't they make a call? They didn't have all these replays... That is bulls***. Last game NHL sent a message that there are "scenarios" behind some games. You'll see a plenty of such s*** in the play-offs. It is for those who still think that everything is fair. If it is still not enough for you then you are their target group. And well, it is not conspiracy nor corruption, it is just business. Wanna see some dramatic actions? The play-offs are ahead, you'll get a plenty of!