b.shanafan14

Works for the Ducks. Flopping left, right, and center. Don't always get the call, but never get the gate for diving either.

Howard does not inspire confidence.

Wow, thank god Perry whiffed that one. That scare shows all this pressure without finish doesn't mean jack. Over doubled up on shots and almost 2-0

Nyquist and Bert (minus that giveaway) look great. Top six?

Seriously, how many times can the Wings have the puck on the doorstep and completely wiff?

Whenever the Wings get a chance they can't get any good stick on it. Like they are all playing with mops.

Sigh... Saw that coming. PP goal on the way.

Datsyuk: "I played most of the season with Cleary, I can play with ANYONE!" *number 37 hops over the boards* Datsyuk: "fuuggggggghhhhh! "

We make Hitler look like Roy.

Already playing soft along the boards. Defenseman already making horrible, unnecessary plays in front of their own goal. Howard already looking lackluster. Come on boys!

For me, the dives on the part of the Ducks (which are getting pretty frequent and obvious) make it even harder for the refs to call hooks, holds, etc. against them. While I do agree the Wings had a lot of stuff let go early on, its hard to call some of this stuff when the Ducks are flopping anytime someone breathes on them and the entire building immediately calls for blood. It could be argued that the Ducks really get their "money's worth" with their penalties, ranging from the gooning, to boarding, the hooks and slashes. While the Wings definitely got away with plenty early, once the line was established with the limited whistles, the Ducks really took advantage. When you see one or two roughing or blatant, violent boardings get called and then once the PIM start to climb the same stuff starts to be let go, that's what I'm specifically referring to. There was a point after Koivu, Selanne, and Getzlaf all got a cheap one in that was penalized that Abdelkader was hounded, cross-checked, and punched completely away from the puck for a good 20 seconds, but the refs chose to do nothing. Same thing with Perry trying to wrestle Eaves stick away from him right in front of the ref. The Ducks had reached their quota, so no call.

Wrote this just now in the Dekeyser injury thread, but its relevant here: While I hate PP laden games, and I do wish the Wings could police the ice themselves like in the good ol' days, Ducks M.O. has always been to goon, and toe/cross the line with full knowledge that the refs may call them for more penalties, but not nearly has many as they have earned. We saw that again last night. The Wings got called for legitimate trips, hooks, and holds. The Ducks did enough gooning that the refs eventually stopped calling everything, not only crosschecks and roughings, but even some of the blatant interference plays.

Its incredible to see the level of douchebaggery permiate the entire Ducks line up. Started with Pronger, then the supposed classy Scott Neidermeyer, then supposedly classy but always overly bitchy Teemu, and now even Saku Koivu was stepping over the line. After Abdelkader got stuffed into the boards from behind and was shaken up, Beleski was standing over him jawing until Pasha stepped in. And Souray was out of control all night with little to keep him in check. Its incredible that the penalties were nearly even despite the fact that for about the span of a period the Ducks were in full goon mode. Its the same philosophy its always been in Anaheim: goon all you want, they refs will only call so many penalties and if we end up with one more PK then the opposition but can manage to injure or otherwise shake them, the juice was worth the squeeze. The refs have never had the balls to call the Ducks consistently. Eventually, they worry about the PP discrepancy and put the whistles away.

Not to mention replacing your arguable 2-3 defenseman with Lashoff or Cola, who are both cold (at the very least) and distributing more minutes to Smith, Quincey, or Ericsson who have all been intermittently dreadful. I would say there are only 5 players or so who's loss would be worse. I still have faith, but if that final 10 minutes shows anything...

I think you are understating his importance. And in Game 1 only Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall, and Kindl played more minutes, and he's looked better than both Kronwall and Kindl.

Dekeyser has easily been our best most consistent dman since he got here. Yes, better than Kronwall. Huge shut down presence and extraordinary first pass. Played beyond his years.

This does not bode well. Dekeyser has easily been the Wings best dman since he got here.

Also explained the s***-show in the third.

Dekeyser out for the year. That is terrible.

I wouldn't assume he didn't.... Or that he was the only one. Tomorrow when I watch the highlights I'm gonna pretend it was a 5 goal to none shelling, and the Nyquist goal was so exciting because it was his first.

Hahaha erased that s*** show dozen minutes in the third! I'm glad I don't need to break anything tonight! NYQUIST I LOVE YOU!

Nyyquist!! Thank god!! Great play by flip!

They'll already need five to win this one. 12 minutes should also be cake to hold a 3 goal lead in the playoffs.

Agree... If they win. If I have to watch these goons and their manufactured, bandwagon fan base go nuts after an OT loss, I may go catatonic.

Choke. Howard can do whatever in the regular season, but if he can't play even decent when he finally gets goal support in the playoffs, he'll always be average.