CenterIce

What guys are these? The stick looked high, and the puck was gone. How would there be a penalty on Franzen. Any contact was after the goal.

We don't know the extent of the injury, but they could say an upper body problem, and his groin is the issue. They never want to give any kind of advantage to the opposition, which they shouldn't. The assumption on the groin injury is that Rafalski was missing practice and some games trough the end of the regular season, and he missed their last practiced. So, the assumption was that it flared up, again. Who knows. Just need a win!

Rafalski had been resting a sore groin down the stretch. That is why he was missing some practices. When it was reported that he missed the last practice, it made me a little worried that his groin was still bothering him. This can be the chance that Ericsson can show his shot on the powerplay, depending on how many minutes he gets there. From the article, it sounds like Lidstrom will play most of the two minutes, while Kronwall and Samuelsson mix in. It stated Ericsson and Stuart might see some time.

I think they have something now where you can only have 4 non-emergency call-ups, while your AHL team is still playing. I think that is how it goes.

Actually, before the playoffs, Holland said that he would call someone up, if Babcock said he would play him, so it sounds like Babcock has the call, right now.

There have been some verteran referees that have not made the post season the last few years. One that comes to mind is Kerry Fraser.

Sounds like game 2 will be NBC. Just guessing.

The Mr. Irrelevant is from the NFL. Not sure where this guy is making the connection.

I think St. Louis has won it before. Datsyuk has won the last three, so I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted someone new. Edited for typing too fast during lunch.

It is up in the air, now. The second round cannot start until the first round has ended. I think the tightest series is Chicago/Calgary, and the earliest that could finish is Monday. If that were the case, the Wings might open on Wednesday, depending on how late their opponent finished. My guess is that they won't be playing on the 8th. If the second round series goes that deep, I see them more on the 9th or the 10th.

As it has been discussed on here before, it all falls to this summer. There is a deadline to renew the lease for the Joe, which would indicate no new arena for a while. The other side would be to finish the lease next year and move into a new building. Since it seems to take more than a year to build an arena, I am guessing they are going to be at the Joe for a while longer.

If you following the games on WingsLive, Chelios, Meech, and Lilja have been posting comments from the locker room, during the game.

Add Draper to the list. He is in there, too.

Mine wasn't working at the beginning of the game, but I just checked, and it is in HD, now.

The last time they posted the upcoming games game 3 was the last FSD HD game listed. So, I don't believe this game is available in HD.

Lilja is on there, too.

Chelios has mostly been posting. The fans have been saying hi, and Chelios is getting in commercials for his resturant.

If you pay any attention to WingsLive on the Wings' site. Chelios and Meech are posting from the dressing room.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=419551

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56984

I was kind of expecting this. It gives him more time to heal what ever the injury is, and it doesn't mess with a winning lineup. Basically, it is what Maltby had last year, when he didn't get in until the Colorado series.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=418327#...id=nhl-sitrm-rr

They had said initially that he was going to play in game 1, so it must be, as some said, an injury that made it hard to swing his stick, since he is skating. I don't think he would be a coach's scratch, since Babcock uses him for faceoffs, especially deep in the defensive zone.

Babcock thought he could have been in the NHL 2 years ago. http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/20...3e466194925.txt

I've seen a lot of teams against the Wings have a winger jump, before the faceoff, and never get called. However, when the Wings, especially Draper, get a little agressive, they throw them out. Hopefully, the officals don't try to make a point of this, but most of the time that they do, they catch the other team doing something, so it usually works out.