Gizmo

The consensus was that we'd split them in Pittsburgh. We only lost by one goal and still out shot them. They weren't playing in "panic mode" like the Pens in Games 1 and 2. We lived through this with Nashville and Dallas... I think we're still on-track. So far we've blown them out of the water twice and lost a close one. I'm cool...

The way he landed and then gingerly got up, it looked to me like it may have been his back that was hurting him.

Me (in the Homer jersey) and my friend Matt (we got the tickets through Matt's brother) Warm-up photos... Pre-game show...

Nikon D300 w/ 18-70mm "kit" zoom lens. ISO 1600. The warm-up stuff was shot at ~f4.5 @ 1/400th sec and the "dark" show stuff was f4.5 @ 1/40th sec and the "brighter" stuff was f4.5 @ 1/60th sec. It was a busy sports weekend for me... I went to Game 2 on Monday and the day before I took these photos: Link

I'm feeling strangely "good" about this evening. I think the Wings' memory of letting Nashville and Dallas come back up for air will be fresh in their minds and help them stay on task.

I thought that too at first, but I don't recall every seeing such info put on the part with tape that might fall off or get peeled away. Normally, it's written right on the piece with a Sharpie marker.

Ditto... My guess we'll split at the Igloo. I also can take some comfort in knowing how the Wings responded to the adversity of the Preds and Stars challenges. However, this is the first time the Pens have walked into a buzzsaw this playoffs.

IIRC, the reason he was initially removed from the lineup this time was that the leg that had the bone chip in it was hurting him. However, I don't know if now Babcock is rewarding Lilja or not with his continued presence.

Agreed, he got nudged backwards enough to fall backwards on the side of the goal... You'd have to be pretty stupid to dive behind your own net when there's a live puck on the ice out front, even if it's in your team's possession... Particularly in a SCF Game in the waning moments and you have a shutout going!

They both did... One started the idea and the other seconded the notion.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do something like that (and I said #2 was one option that would be better than whining). You can publicly "call out" your team without getting personal or pointing out examples... and save that level of detail for the locker room in private.

Well, a more mature player who's given the "C" could do one of the two things (or a combination): 1) Admit your team's short comings so far, but then try and rally the troops to re-group for Game 3. 2) Call out your team and challenge them to pick things up to the level of play that's needed. Whining about the refs and complaining about "the other guys" isn't going to get the job done.

Got home this morning from JLA at 2 AM..... Wow, wow, wow, wow.... that was a TOTAL blast last night! The crowd totally rocked JLA. We were in upper bowl center ice and it was great. Ozzie ruled the night, Kronwall and Drake were dishing out hits, Homer scored (and it stuck). Lots of bummed out Pens fans. Nice enough for the most part and had some nice conversations in the restroom lines. I got a lot of nice photos from the pre-game warm-up and pre-game show that I'll post later.

As we listened to the Crosby and Therrien comments at their presser after the game last night I thought "Man, if that's your response to your situation... 'Osgood dives', 'the refs aren't calling the game right', and blame almost everyone else but yourselves, then Dude, you've lost the series!!!"

We listened to it on the radio in the van on the way home from the game... and we almost drove off the road we were laughing so hard at Crosby's comments.

Greetings from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I work the race as a photographer in the pits each year. Yesterday I wore my Holmstrom jersey here yesterday for the driver's meeting and got a lot of thumbs up and "Nice jersey!" remarks from people. Today I wore a Red Wings hat on the starting grid. Before I had to clear the grid, I realized that a number of people in the upper deck of the Paddock seating area were chating "Lets Go Red Wings!!!" Before I could locate the source, it stopped.

I'm going to Game 2 with friends that got their tickets off of StubHub. They were bummed out that what was FedEx'ed to them were e-tickets. I recall that at the Yzerman retirement night people with e-tickets could receive a souvenir "regular" ticket at JLA. Is anyone aware if they are doing something similar for the Finals tickets???

Nope, it was definitely a Wings cheer. For starters, in the 20 years I've been going to Indy I've never heard an organized cheer of any kind. There are a lot of Michigan folk in the crowd. I saw a guy in a Lidstrom jersey today and passed other people wearing Wings T-shirts. It sounded like 10-20 people leading the cheer at its peek. Also, for the record all month all I saw was one guy in a Pens T-shirt.

Someone posted the results of a simulation from the FutureSports (?) website that said that their projection was that Mikael Samuelsson would score two goals in Game 1.... I scoffed at the notion and called such a performance "miraculous". Well, I hereby formally apologize to Mikael. Well done... I'm sorry I doubted you.

Man the Pens coach in the post-game presser sounded and looked like someone just shot his dog!!!

Implode or explode???

Draps, you old dog! I didn't know you still had it in you!!!

The name plate one is the cheaper one. If you want one like the players wear (name stitched directly to the fabric and a fight strap, you're going pay more.

I stand corrected.... He is locked for one more year. I recalled reading here someone musing about how The Mule's stellar performance might impact his imminent contract negotiations.

Since Frazen's contract is up after this season, it might be wise to get a Z just to be safe. But I would also argue that you really ought to get a Holmstrom home jersey!!!!