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Especially when said player has elevated his game not only beyond what we thought possible, but even beyond what I believe he himself thought of himself. He found that "extra gear," He has gone beyond what we, and possibly he, thought possible. He's not only been a contributer, he's been a hero, and in the playoffs you can't ask for much more.

I mentioned the same thing in the other Lilja thread ("Lilja deserves props"). I hope we rally around Lilja and support him better than we did vs. Selanne in that play. He has elevated his play so much I think he deserves at least consideration of playoff MVP (we'll see if anything comes of that if Wings make finals...). He made a mistake, it happens, and I would say about 75% chance it wasn't his fault (bad OT ice a big factor) but it doesn't change how big this guy has played all playoffs long. If I had to list the heroes of this playoffs it would be Cleary, Lilja, Cheli, and Holmstrom.

A few things here. First off , I have confidence in the magic game 6, it has saved us twice so far these playoffs. I'm sick of Giggy getting lucky vs. the Wings. Is he a good goalie, yes. Is he capable of stealing a series for the Ducks, yes. Can the Wings beat him? Emphatically yes! Statistically Wings have 4th best goals for/game, more importantly they lead the league in goals vs/game, BELOW 2!!! They have the highest power play goals for at 17 even though they are 4th in percentage. They are middle of the pack in PK though they have more (4) shorties than anyone else. They are second in faceoffs to a defunct Dallas, though in this series Pahlson has been great, and that scares me. Anaheim has103 points/16players, Detroit has 103points/17 players. Detroit has a tiny bit more in depth and we are missing Schneider now. The truth is folks, this SHOULD be the conference final. Detroit went through more to get where they are and that experience may be the decidning factor. That said, Anaheim deserves to be where they are as they have equalled Detroit's output with 2 less games. Should Detroit win, no shame in their game. That said, I think the magic game 6 will save them and even if they don't win the series, game 6 should be theirs. And even if they don't win there is no lack of pride for me in this team for their achievements this post-season.

Again, I can't believe I'm saying this but excellent! Spot on for the Wings. It seems he has taken his time being able to train with guys like Lids for the best, and though maybe it took playoff experience to bring the best out in him, what the hell. He's ours now and more power to him! (Hopefully this just makes him more hungry for a game 6 win...)

Maybe a rally point for the Wings? We don't have the presence of Stevie for a rally point, how about a win this one for Lilja rally? I'd love to see the team rally around the unsung heroes of this playoffs like Cleary, Lilja, and Holmstrom instead of the ever solid Drapes, Lidstrom and friends. This is a TEAM, and the best way you show off a team effort is making heroes of the least recognized people.

Regardless Draperfan's analysis, I did see the shift other posters commented about. He was literally all over the play. He laid a hit, handled the puck several times and laid a few great passes out there. It wasn't his fault his linemates didn't finish any plays. He couldn't have done better short of scoring a goal himself. I can only guess either Babcock was worried about his defensive play or he hurt himself, after a shift like that almost any player gets rewarded more ice time. Does he give the puck up? Sometimes yes, but he's a little like an Ozolinsh (SP?) or a Bergeron. You outweigh the bad with the good, and he had a brilliant spot in the 2nd that would get any rookie or vet more time. My guess is he's hurt again.

I'm seriuosly pissed off. Now before you judge me a hater let me explain, not at Lilja. This is a play that 99% of the time is no risk. He happened to hit the one bad bit of ice and one bad stick motion that combined to make a negative result. My opinion of Lilja has gone from Lang-like proportions to MVP and he just caught the bad end of a break. What pisses me off is how many times from '03 to present that the Wings have been caught in bad break situations. How many times have we outplayed the opposition and gotten beat by bad luck? As stated, how likely would that goal be if it was anyone other than Selanne on the ice? In the end I hope Lilja doesn't take too much responsibility on this one. Franzen could have cleared it out, somebody could have been on Selanne, Hasek could have waited longer to commit. A bunch of cold've/should've worked together to make this play not happen. I can't believe I'm saying this but I hope Lilja is back next year, he FINALLY proved himself to me despite this unfortunate result. Wings outplayed these jags and here's to hoping that being the better team pays off next game! There's no words to express how much I HATE being the better team and losing. Wings have had the magic game 6 so far this playoffs, so best of luck to our guys!

2. Relocation of existing franchises. Even though the Pens are locked into Pittsburgh now, there are other NHL franchises that continue to struggle financially. The Atlanta Thrashers and Florida Panthers are in big trouble with gate receipts and overall income from merchandise sales and local TV revenue. If the Thrashers and Panthers head West...the Wings might move East along with Columbus. The Washington Capitals also bear watching because this franchise has almost the lowest attendance (paid seats) figures in the NHL. Don't rule out the Caps leaving DC some day too. I don't see the Thrash moving, they've had good attendance. Caps aren't going any anytime soon, any team with that big a core of young talent will stay where they are (case in point, Pitts. I'm positive chances are astronomically higher a chance of them not getting the arena deal without Crosby/Malkin/Staal). If Ovechkin and comrades move on though, that future is much more bleak. Panthers I already mentioned. Even though they aren't talked about much as players in the moving game (It was all Nashville and Pitts. this last season), I still am amazed nobody brought up Florida for a move. Not that this has much bearing on Detroit's alignment, I still would predict CBJ realligned before Detroit.

super long, so bare with Brilliant, how does the NHL make it work? I've gone through like 10 different aligments in my head but they all end up with Chicago as the only O-6 team in the west and (though they have been a non-entity lately) that makes no sense. Geographically it would work out better to be Detroit, TO, Montreal in one division and New York and Chicago in another. That's still a ton of travel. Detroit is the only logical O-6 team to face Chicago. The only alternative I see is Detroit/Chicago/Toronto in 1 division and Boston/Montreal/NY in another. Detroit is to Chicago as Montreal is to Boston. NY's natural rival isn't U-6 teams, it's the Isles and the Devs. Montreal's rival is Boston and the 2 Canadian teams. Detroit's rival is Nasvhille, Colorado, and Chicago, deeper in histroy it's Toronto. Unfair as it may seem travel-wise, Detroit's biggest enemies are mostly still in the west. some things to remember -it's a fact. Big cities are more widely spaced in the west than in the east. Why do you think CA is the only state in the west with 3 teams? -Detroit travels west a lot but they are GAINING time. The only time the lose it is coming back home. -teams in the west also travel a lot so chances are about 50/50 that they catch a team on the road right after they also got done travelling. -Fans complain more about the travel and late games than Detroit's players do. When's the last time you heard travel as an excuse for a Detroit loss? -Regardless the complaining, the current schedule is a 3-year cycle. NOTHING will get changed until after this coming season and that's that. Cope with it guys... -there are only a limited number of cities left with populations to support a hockey team. Wisconsin is a hockey state yet there's only 1 big college and 1 AHL team because no city in WI is big enough for an NHL team. -Expansion takes time. I don't see anything coming for at least 2 more years. I think the most likely team for relocation is Florida because they simply have s*** for attendance. (Phoenix would be 2nd on that list if it wasn't for the new arena.) -I am not the first person to say this but Colombus is more likely to get moved east than Detroit due to geographical position and.... (next point) -As I said before, if Detroit moves east, Chicago is the only O-6 team left in the west, and their most natural rival. The league would not take away the one game several times per season that draws the biggest crowd to a struggling Chicago franchise. Bottom line it would be easier to move TO west than Det. east because Detroit is used to the travel, realignment won't come until 2008, West needs a powerhouse team like Detroit, another team is more likely, expansion is not as close as some people think, and Chicago would remain alone. Get over it. Detroit stays in the west unless expansion or a team move forces it, and even then I think it will take 2 teams moving or added, not just one. I also agree that Detroit is better off in the west as they get better competition there.

pic 29 with the puck frozen mid-air with the logo facing right at you. That's a great shot.

JLA's horn is great, I like Ottawa just because it's different. I love Edmonton's, it's the only one that literally gives me shivers but when they altered it for the playoffs to make it more noticeable it just made it really abrasive to my ears. Calgary's is cool because you can hear it fading. MN's horn sound isn't so great but the steam coming out of it as it blows is sweet. About half the league's horns are all too much of the same thing, a lot like Buffalo's but not as good. (Chicago, Nasvhille, and others all sound way too much the same to me.) Kernkraft's Zombie Nation is the best post-score song, hell, when that song was fairly new and used after goals I could hear that ANYWHERE and imagine a slow-mo replay of a one-timer connecting. I loved Vancouver's and Montreal's oh-way song with the crowd singing along. The "hey" song is just overused and yeah I don't have much respect for Gary Glitter anymore either.

I see points both sides of the argument. Giggy's a good goalie but he also "pads" his stats with big gear. He does look a bit Santa Claus'esque with his huge chest protector but he can also move around well to get square with the puck. That said, he's not a small guy to begin with. The league made rulings on glove (the cheater portion behind the glove) and leg equipment and it has helped slightly, mainly in increased 5-hole goals. That said, chest protectors are not limited. Watch a documentary on History or Military Channel and see how tight/form fitting chest protectors are for military personell. You can't tell me that we can't make goalies safe with smaller equipment on the chest. In fact we could make it much smaller and make them SAFER than they are now, not to mention more flexible (dragon skin body armor with individual plates conforms to body poisiton). So why not take advantage of new technology and make smaller protection which not only would get rid of advantages to bigger armor but also offer more protection and moblility to the goalie?

Should be a couple great series both in the west and in the east. I give equal chance to all 4 teams to be in the SCF and for once all 4 teams to DESERVE being there. Giguere, Kipper, and Roloson all played pretty much the best of their lives when they beat us (and teams after us) in the years we were beaten but then proved to be human after all in the finals. The best (IMO) goalie this playoffs is out thanks to you guysand no fluke hot goalies are in it now. We have the best of the best teamsall playing each other and I think we could see conference finals series that will be better than the SCF. Specifially in the west I think that there's another x-factor that wasn't covered before by another poster and that's simply shot blocking. While I think we have the best goalie left in the playoffs, I don't think he'd look so good if Detroit's blocking hadn't been improving all playoffs long. I didn't see nearly as many Ducks games as Wings games this playoffs but (if anyone knows the stats, feel free to correct me) I think Detroit has been the best shot-block team in the playoffs thus far. That said, Pronger is maybe the best point shot in the league so Detroit may have to step up shot blocks even more this series. All that said, I think Detroit can have the edge if nothing else we have a confidence back that we haven't had in a while. This is a team that plays with more of a team mentality than they have in a while, and in the end that could be the key to success. Holmstrom's still fresh from a long rest (that injury may have been a blessing in disguise), Z maybe will be up to 100% finally, Quincey looks strong, Lebda seems getting close to full speed, Cheli's playing incredible, Lidstrom strong as ever (if anything he'll just be better this series), Markov taking more point shots, and Lilja best hockey of his life this postseason. You do have Pronger and Neidermayer but what about the other 4? We have the edge on depth on D and we have more scoring on deeper O lines, at least on the road (at home we're all about the top line). Should be great though. 6 being the lucky number I say Wings in 6, winning the series on the road again. Anyhow, welcome Ducks fans. My question is, are the fans at the Pond (err Honda Center.. blech) going to boo Cheli or Bert?

Obviously I miss Holmstrom as Wings do as a bona fide sh** disturber in front of the net, especially with Nabby giving up rebounds. But speaking of d-men pinching, let's break it down a bit. Schneider and Chelios - pinch down to the hashmarks, though Schneids usually only down to the top of the circle and shoot. Lidstrom and Lillypants - pinch down to the bottom of the circles for a shot. Markov - usually point shots only. Quincey - I don't really know enough about him but seems a point shot guy. Kronner - great point shot but he's out, so it doesn't matter. Lebda - oh he only shoots from EVERYWHERE. This guy goes in below the goal line, with speed, and will set up a forward's shot from down below the circle. For all that's missing with Holmstrom out - not to make Lebda more important than Holmstrom - Lebda adds that unpredictability that can really throw off an opposing team's D. He reminds me a bit of a certain (then Mighty) Duck that played against a certain Detroit who got beaten in a certain playoffs. While that style of play has me biting my nails at times (kinda' like Dom's wanderings), it also gets me out of my seat and when it works makes the whole team that much more scary. Now when you combine that with Holmstrom's net presence, their combined loss is way more crucial than one or the other's. That said, yes I was extremely frustrated with our forwards (especially the first line) lack of shooting quickly. It seemed I saw too much thinking before shooting instead of going with the gut and taking the quick shot. Even without d-men pinching or Holmstrom screening, those shots have to be taken, for there were chances for rebounds had those shots come on too quickly for Nabby to be ready to freeze them.

actually the romance one's best moment is the waiter's response "how could you, ma'am?" Agreed on the Enterprise ad, seriously I'll switch to ANYTHING when that comes on. (Car Soup needs to die as well.) Anyhow, these two are very good, just making the sound match the game footage might help, most glaringly Gary Thorne's voice with the VS. logo, an audio clip of Doc would make a lot more sense; also the goal horn going off after a center ice faceoff doesn't make much sense either. Otherwise I liked them a lot. As a tangent, how much do most of the ads we see on vs. cost? Honestly, why couldn't we get a tad more variety? I know it costs to produce them but if people like me are switching off the channel out of boredom/annoyance, aren't they being counter-productive at that point? At least Geico, though not hilarious, are somewhat amusing and they are swapping between about 4-6 different ads so I don't want to stab myself in the neck when one comes on...

IceMunkee put it well. After the second game in the series was lost I kind of turned on my apathy defense button. But this is a home game and I care again. Honestly I think we need a dominant game. A squeaked-out win won't give us back the confidence we need. Another game like 1 or 2 could quite possibly give us the momentum to end it in 6, a close one I say 7 with no prediction of the outcome. That said, we need the best elements of all 4 games to tie in today. We need more shots, more confidence and more discipline. We need to play as 5-man groups sticking up for each other but without the over-desperate action of holding guys up with sticks instead of good skating and body position, something this team thrives on. Honestly my gripe is not enough shots ON the NET. Even with a non-rebound goalie like Kipper, shoot enough rubber his way, he will let a juicy one go and someone will be there to punch it home. With all the great shooters on this team that should be a given, but game 4 we missed a bunch of those chances. I think, beyond discipline this is the #1 key to beating this team and will remain as much for the next 2 or 3 games. All that said, home ice will help. This series strikes me as the most likely (it did even before the series started) to go 7 games, all won by the home team. I don't like it, but it makes sense. Analysts keep griping about the Flames being the most-home-ice-wins team in the league but they keep leaving out that Detroit tied for 2nd in that stat.

First the up points. Given they came out of a lockout without much prep time even to know certainly we would have a season when they got the contract, congrats to them for getting any product at all last season whether good or bad. Good on them for getting enough people together to be able to have competent booth guys (note : I said competent, not good; there is a difference... heh...). Props to the network giving them few restrictions for the playoffs, they improved this year over last year. My biggest Kudos goes to the network for getting an agreement to carry CBC feeds. (Jim Hughson is my favorite play-by-play guy and I look forward to CBC feeds of any and all Vancouver games where he's in the booth.) Downers. The, eastern-time-zone heavy Monday and Tuesday coverage in the regular season. Thursday and Saturday are the most game-heavy days in the league. Once a month or so I'd like to see both nights covered on different weeks, preferrably a later (western) game so they can do more with their intermission and post-game highlights than just the game we had been watching. My other big complaint, for as important as NHL is, they really ought to get a daily or near daily (like 5 days a week) half hour recap show on the day's activities (a la nhl 2night). Also, in the coverage off cbc I would love if they didn't cut away so quick to commercial or the studio as I'm interested in what the CBC guys are saying right before break (that's when a ton of Hughson's best lines come). Their studio work is mediocre. They need a little more variety in teams especially more late (west) games. And take a cue from NFL. Have the capability to switch to important games per the playoff races. Not so much complaints as "I wish." Pregame show, especially in post-season or in later games when there's other games already partly through. Billy Clemente, get back in the booth. He's getting better as presenter but still was a better color guy. All in all, it cancels out IMO and the product makes up for the presentational shortcomings most of the time. They need more coverage either in more games or a separate show or both, and more variety in teams covered. But for a young network who deals with prerecorded shows most of the time they are doing alright though there is room for improvement.

yay, I'm going to be at both of these. Finally get to hit a Wings game. I've been to Hawks and Wild games (due mainly to living in Wisconsin, these two teams a quite a bit closer geographically), Wild games are pretty crazy with that crowd. Hawks are a bit... meh... with their crowds. Can't wait to see the crowd at the Joe. No real predictions here I just want to see Bert score, and to hear the horn at the Joe. Oh, and I can't wait to see if the Chicago crowd has a bigger Wings fan contingency or not.... heh...

first time I get to see Bert (finally), I actually got a shiver when they mentioned his name in the pre-game....

oh, and just because nobody mentioned it before, if Bettman and co. think fans don't like the fights, then WHY in the HELL does the crowd BOO when the linesmen break up an iminent fight? heh.. seriously... Other than that yeah, I think I pretty much agree with what everyone else says. I mean how many people in the stands do you see actually sitting down during a fight? Think about it Gary...