Drake_Marcus

I agree 100%. When you have a chance to grab a team like the Ducks by the throat you better damn well do it. Being up 2-0 walking into the Ponda and being tied 1-1 is night and day. Sunday is essentially a game 7 atmosphere for both teams.

Man I hope you're right! My gut says 7 games, though. This one could've went either way. I felt very, very relieved when Lidstrom scored. Tonight was really stressful! (But damn fun too)

Listen to the Goff Warboss! He knows what he's talkin' 'bout.

The Ericsson fan in me is excited he's getting this opertunity and hopes he really, really steps it up and impresses the hell out of everyone. Adding that kind of size and grit to the top pairing is definitely a good thing. But the realist in me is praying Rafalski is back for game 2!

Really? Because the hardware he's won says otherwise

Go double check how many give-aways he had.

Actually, no one's been riding Lilja this year for the most part. He's the only member of the defense that took a step forward this season.

At this point the biggest concern is conditioning. His head may be ready now (I hope it is) but he's got weeks and weeks of conditioning to regain. He hasn't been to the gym since the injury... When you haven't lifted weights in more than a month it's an uphill battle getting back to where you were. These players aren't used to taking a week off of skating, let alone a month! It will likely take him the same amount of time to get back into the shape he was in before as it took him to get out of conditioning. So let's say he's been away from the gym for 5 weeks. The rule of thumb is he'd need another 5 weeks to get that conditioning back. Franzen was lucky because his injury didn't keep him away from the gym this long... at this point Lilja's conditioning is just wrecked. Anyone remember how terrible Cleary looked after he came back from his jaw injury? At least Lilja's been able to maintain a non-liquid diet

I dunno, I quite enjoyed HavlatandRuutuPwnZetterberg's delusions of grandeur.

Because he's a selective, biased, bulls*** ref. Every time there's a goaltender interference call against Holmstrom I turn to my girlfriend and say "I bet you O'Holloran's reffing tonight." And every single time when I check the boxscore low and behold- it's O'Holloran. He's so predictable it's pathetic. He calls goaltender interference so far outside the other refs' norm it's plain shocking that he hasn't been reprimanded. It's like he has his own little set of special O'Holloran rules. No one else calls goaltender interference so ******* liberally. A d-man checks you into his goalie? Goaltender interference. Your ass is over the crease while your skates stay out? Goaltender interference. Your stick touches the goalie? Goaltender interference. Well, those examples are only goaltender interference if you're number is 96 and O'Holloran is reffing.

Looks good. Maybe we could get LGWers to email enmass?

I was pissed about this as well. I could understand why they moved game 4 from TSN to TSN2 to make way for the Devils-Hurricanes game given how one-sided the CBJ series was, but this is bush. Wings-Ducks is poised to be the best series in the West and arguably of the entire semi-finals. We'll see how competitive the Caps are tomorrow, but based on their play against the Rangers I'm not sure that series will live up to expectations (hopefully it will, though). The bad blood between the Wings and Ducks should combine with their respective dominance so far to make for an awesome series. But hey, you won't see me complaining if the Ducks decide not to show up for this series. The best we can do is call or email TSN to *****. I'm not sure they'll do anything since I've yet to have them answer an email.

There was some confusion in this area last round as well... I wouldn't give up hope that it's not going to be on FSN or FSN+ yet. Last round NHL.com didn't have FSN marked as a broadcaster of the first few games but they ended up being on FSN anyway. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't get too upset unless you see this info come out of FSN directly.

Even if he comes in third place, it's still a great, great honour to receive enough votes to make the top three. The only other Red Wings to ever make the top three in Hart voting were Fedorov, Yzerman and Howe. Although I'm fairly sure Lidstrom's made the top five before.

After.

I just hope we don't get another Crosby soundbite about Ovechkin that includes the phrase "like it or lump it".

Crosby told me that Ovechkin's mom is so fat she sat on a rainbow and Skittles popped out! *ohhh no he didn't*

Yeah, we had our fill of them in the 06-07 WCF... I can't believe I have to endure them again. At least it's for a good cause

That site is amazing Jedi! Thank you.

This is exactly the series the Wings need to light some extra fire under their asses. Everyone on that team who played in the 06-07 series has an axe to grind when it comes to the Ducks. That hate was evident this season, and it'll be evident on Thursday. I expect Babcock to go about fanning the flames with some video replay This will be a brutal series, but I'm confident we can walk away winners if the boys play Red Wings hockey.

Agreed 100%. Looks like Brashear was a bit charged up after the Voros hit and took it way to far but putting a Pronger-esque hit on someone. Plus, and this does count for something, Betts was severely injured by the hit. He's obviously gone for a handful of games.

Well we can both agree that if he continues to put 100+ pts up every year for the next 15 years he'll definitely live up to the expectations up upon him.

Oh really? Datsyuk turned 30 this year, so that's news to me. And noting Datsyuk's age when he entered the league it's fair to say he's a late bloomer- this isn't necessarily his career peak. I find it more absurd that you believe Crosby offensive output is trending upwards so dramatically, despite a lack of evidence to point to that fact since his amazing 06-07 campaign. This year he didn't even manage to beat his rookie point total. Crosby's had a 120 point campaign (2 seasons ago)... how much more do you think he's going to score? Do you expect he'll have a 150 pt campaign in the modern NHL!?! A 200 pt campaign? While the sky is the limit for Crosby, I have a hard time imagining he'll reach that kind of 1980's - mid-1990's point total. Regardless, playing a defensively responsible game is much tougher than you believe.

Man you're a pompous ass. Here's a tip- don't imply Crosby's had the most significant impact over the last 4 years. He hasn't. Ovechkin has. Only Ovechkin's swept the 4 major NHL awards. Ovechkin's also won the Calder in that span and another Rocket, and likely another Hart and Pearson. Here's a similar letter one could write: Dear Commissioner Bettman, As I sit here staring at my Calder, two Harts, two Pearsons, two Rocket Richards, and my Art Ros trophies, I've realized that after four amazing seasons over which I've lead my team and the league in goals scored, become the first player since 1953 to be named an NHL First Team All-Star in each of my first three years in the NHL and enjoyed amazing success, that I feel it's time to step up and shoulder a bit more burden for the game I love. If you would like, I'm willing to be marketed by the league more so than as a minor star player. If you'd like, you could say I'd like to become the 'face of the game'. I'm willing to take on the terrible, terrible burden of public responsibility in exchange for the pool full of money I know will come from lucrative endorsements from companies like Gatorade (or is that "G"?). I mean I'm only 22 after all, I wanna have some more fun! Please note, that in deference to my ascension to manhood, I've decided to capitalize my i's when referring to myself. No hard feelings I hope.... Sincerely, Alexander Ovechkin Validictorian of Awesome University