Drake_Marcus

I'll trade you a date with her for a signed Stevie Y jersey. No touchie! haha Seriously though- of all the playoff match-ups, we had to play my girl friend's team... it's made for some tense moments around here.

Hmmm.... well: Malkin is an aboslute beast. He attracts so so so much attention from the other team but you just can't afford to put too much attention on him since last year's hart winner is sitting on the second line! That's the most frustrating thing about the Pens- they've got so much talent. While the entire Pens defense has been playing tightly and well above expectations I don't think they have the talent or mental toughness on the back end to survive a real sustained onslaught. Yes they've played well in the playoffs, but I'm not sure how well they'd do after having given up a few bad goals. Know what I mean? The one thing that the Pens truly lack is a strong 'team defense'. Staal plays an excellent 2-way game but Malkin and Crosby's defense is pretty much limited to remembering not to cheat too much up the ice (ok- that's an exageration, but you get my point). The key here is that the line for line match-ups favour the wings simply because our forwards are just so defensively responsible. I'm giddy at the idea that Datsyuk and Zetterberg are so damn responsible in their own zone AND can put up so many points! Detroit's other main advantage is Holmstrom and Franzen's play infront of the net. It seems like the Pens tend to have trouble clearing players from infront of Fleury. Look for the Wings to cause some serious consternation there... Honestly- the Wings are lucky this is the first deep run for this Pens team... because I really think you've got a sick group of talented kids that will be Detroit's #1 cup threat for the next 10 years. If the Wings were in the East I'd say this has the potential to be a Detroit-Colorado situation- two big dogs with tons of talent that bite at each other all year long Here's to a good series and another cup in hockeytown! P.s. Don't mind some of the homerism you'll see on these boards- many, many of the fans here are intelligent and insightful posters. Every forum on the net attracts the other type of poster...

Hey guys and gals- if there's another Canadian around I could use their help in this just incase my current source has the same problem Vlady had. Thanks everyone! If you don't hear back from me via PM I'm already on the road... so just ask Vlady- I gave her my phone number. I'd post it in this thread but I don't want text spam (some of my friends are getting random text spams now so I assume bots fish on the net for numbers as well as emails).

My girlfriend and I are taking a bus trip up to Quebec to watch her favourite band play (Nightwish). We planned this trip more than 4 months ago- so I was none too pleased when the first game of the WCF was scheduled inside the 8 hour period I was on the bus! The problem is that I don't have an XM radio and the buses don't have internet connections. I'm kinda freaking out because I've got OCD and have have a very specific ritual for my playoff Wings games This will be only the second game I've missed this year (including the preseason) and the other missed game was a regular season one. Regardless... you can imagine how stressful it'd be to be completely out of the loop about the game! So I need someone to text me updates- how people are playing, goals, injuries, etc... If you're concerned about the costs of texting me I can send you a paypal payment to cover it. Just make sure your phone company has reasonable texting rates My texts only cost 10 cents so I'm not so worried about sending them Please send me a message on here and I'll give you my phone number. Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it. Marcus

Thanks everybody- I've recieved some PM's and it looks like I'm covered. Whatever happens- please boys, please win tonight! I'd feel too guilty for not doing my regular routine I do for a win! GO WINGS!

I'm with you as well. I'd love to see Kronwall hit guys like he has been so far in the playoffs- good, clean hits where we all shout and yell for our buddy to come watch the replay, but neither player is injured. It really, really sucks that Mich was hurt on that play and I'm sure Morrow wished him no harm. I've watched all the Dallas games so far (my gf is a Dallas fan) and I've been really impressed with their play. This series is going to be really challenging for both sides and we're about to see some entertaining hockey! Go WINGS!

Are you guys sure it's Sergi? It could be Fedor Fedorov- Sergi's brother. Fedor scored a goal and an assist against Canada in the pre-tournament exhibition game while wearing 81... I have no idea whether he's changed numbers since more NHL players have arrived- but it makes more sense than Sergi changing his number, no? That being said- I don't really think you see many number changes that late in the game unless someone who wasn't originally in Russia's changed their minds and that resulted in a late shuffle of numbers? EDIT: Forget all that posturing- I found a roster on the iihf website: http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/132/IHM132D03_54B_1_0.pdf Sergi is wearing 29... and the only reasonable explanation I've heard is the one above about his number used in international play early in his career. That or 91 is retired by the Russian national team.

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked that a St. Mary's student is a Crosby fan. They're just so rare in Halifax. Seriously- did you see the game last night? Therrien couldn't trust Crosby or Malkin on the pk through the second period. The pens taking stupid penalties took Crosby and Malkin right out of the game in the second period (obviously- that doesn't include the pp at like 17:00 of the second or somewhere around there). That's to be expected when your star forwards aren't among your 6 best defensive forwards. Note that either Malkin or Crosby is on the ice for every single even strength NY goal. Obviously that's partially effected by the fact that those two are on the ice in some combination for like 40 mins of every game, but the point is the Pens are vulnerable to a team that can shut them down at the same time as it's generating scoring chances with that same shut-down unit. Now- of course you can say that about near anyone. My point is this- the Wings are deep, deep, deep in the capacity to shut a team down. The Rags have played rotten so far- and the Sens were an absolute joke in the first round- the fact that people praised Flurry so much made me laugh. (he did drop 4 goals in 24 shots in the first game against the Rags) He was being called the best tender of the first round when he hardly deserved it- Turco was an absolute monster. The Pens still suffer from the same affliction they did last round- emotional vulnerability. It's amazing that people praise their amazing ability to withstand the heart-breaking loss of being behind in the first game against NY. I'll say this- crack Flurry early and shake the Pens confidence in him and they fall apart around him. If NY hadn't pissed their first game's dominant lead away the Pens would be on the brink of death right now- they're just not emotionally strong yet. They almost play like a team full of young 1st round draft picks (imagine that!). Hell- I'd respect them more if they didn't get full out blown every ten seconds on TSN. All these comments aren't directed towards you, and we all know the Pens have a great team, but I'm sick of hearing the Canadian media slobber all over Crosby's jockstrap. I watched him play from freaking adam hockey up- I'm aware that he's good and that he's not Ovetchkin. Feel free to quote stats at me- I don't really care because I'm well aware of all of them. I know the Pens are playing well, but I'm not going to be impressed until they face a modicum of adversity in these playoffs. EDIT: I've watched every Dallas game in the playoffs so far and they've impressed me the most. They're getting amazing play out of 22 players a night and Turco's been a monster. The only vulnerability I see is denying them PP chances and wearing their young dmen out with crisp puck cycling.

That's what I see too. The Sharks are still spineless and the Pens are pathetic in their own zone and far, far too soft. People accuse the Habs of being soft but they're alot like the Wings- accused of being soft but they're harder then they're given credit for. EDIT: No one mention the big three in Pits- it takes more than scoring to win the cup. Flurry proved in game one against the Rags that he's still far too inconsistent.

Thanks Wings! I love seeing 60 mins of hockey from 22 players wearing winged wheels.

I strongly disagree with a few of Yemack's grades- especially for Hudler, Filppula, Lidstrom and Rafalski. Disagreeing is different from insulting, however, so don't lump me in with some of your more vocal opponents in this thread. Eva Unit Zero, as one would expect in a numerical evaluation, did a great job evaluating the team. Here's my attempt to grade the team in round one (overall): Datsyuk A (he played at his best for most of the series- he was always the best player on the ice this round) Hudler A- (he was fantastic this series- really, really impressive) Draper A- (great face-offs as expected, he was one of our top forwards, I was definitely pleasantly surprised with how he raised the level of his game this series) Franzen A- (he gets a grade boost for being clutch) Zetterberg B (this grade is low simply because it's Zetterberg and he didn't play up to his own standards!) Holmstrom B (at times he was a shadow of his past self, other times he was pure 100% Holmstrom... see my comment on Zetterberg) Cleary B- (still not playing like the Cleary of last year's playoffs- that Cleary would get an A+, but he forechecks like a bastard and gets his nose dirty in the corners) Drake B- (deserves higher grades for his work in game 6 though) McCarty B- (great play overall- I expect it to continue to rise) Helm C+ (fantastic play in games 5 and 6- he's an exciting addition to this team) Hartigan C (did great all things considered- no one expected him to play more than a 4th liner but he was competent and hard working) Samuelsson C- (played great in games one and two... horrible otherwise) Filppula C- (horrible series by Filppula. He was saved from getting an F by the way he played in games 5 and 6- especially the play that lead to the OT goal) Kronwall A+ (played huge this series- massive hits, tight defense, he's simply elevated his game) Lidstrom A- (did not play up to his own standards most of the time- seemed less dominant than he's been in the past but he looks to be returning to pre-injury form) Rafalski A- (so, so critical in sparking the offensive break-outs, a great puck-carrier) Chelios B (abrasive like he needed to be and dominant on the pk) Stuart B- (horrible positioning that should be cured over time- see Rafalski in October) Lebda C (a fast skater) Lilja C- (brutal in every respect he gets nagged for- he played much, much better in last year's post season) Osgood A+ (hopefully he carries this level of play through to a cup. this is a generous grade but I can't fault him when I look at his stats and big saves) Hasek C+ (played fantastic in games 1 and most of 2 but he wasn't playing to his own standards) Edit: repeated myself

Please. You're hardly the Wings' chief scout. Many, many, many people have been aware of Franzen's skill and poise before you. Many. Why is it that you constantly need validation? Quality posters are recognized without their own calls for recognition.

Oh man- my gf jumped when I screamed! Hahaha... What a great break away by Franzen and a damn good pass by Kronwall! He may be big as hell, but apparently Franzen has hands when he decides to use 'em. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Great game boys!

Please god. Please make a Red Wing score on Ellis tonight (and make it count!)! Pllleeeaaaassseee?!?

*sigh* Nashville is playing perfect "prevent defense". Detroit needs to get those point shots on net and Holmer needs to actually bury a fricking puck on his 3rd chance! The boys'll come out strong in the 3rd! GO WINGS!

Thanks Loo for taking the mature route. Looks like you're more like Dom then I expected. Dom put the team first when he gave his remaining salary up following his groin pull on the return to D-town, and even though I imagine it pains you to do it- you're putting the proverbial team first by backing a switch in goal. I think the situation's clear here. You've said this all year. For some reason the Wings have to have full confidence (i.e. >99.9%) in their goalie or they can't seem to elevate their game. We saw that last year with Joey MacDonald- he played great but the boys hung him out to dry. Well, as we saw throughout this season, if Hasek went through a rough patch and gave up some bad goals the Wings seemed to melt around him. It usually took a stolen game in Hasek's part to bring their confidence in him back. Let's face it here. There's no time to give Hasek a chance to win that confidence back- regardless of whether he should have to earn it or not! The boys play with full confidence in front of Ozzy. Ozzy has a great record against Nashville. Nashville feels emboldened and cocky against Dom right now. Please Babs. Please give Oz the start on Friday. Please?

Ericsson is a better choice than either of them right now. Why? He's big, has a fantastic slapshot and would see it as a one game try out for the playoffs/regular-season. Look what happened with Quincy. He went from meh to a solid young defenseman in mind of many when he played in last year's playoffs. Plus- hey, I'm an Ericsson fan

You must not read many of my posts I've always been a Hudler fan.

He's most definitely been the most disappointing Wing so far, although he's hardly the only underperforming one! My issue with Val so far is his poor puck control and tendency to carry the puck into the zone then turn it over, or, more disturbingly, to fail to pass it out of the Wings' end. Last night I used his name in conjunction with a select number of swear words more then a couple of times! Honestly- I felt like he was a hindrance to Datsyuk last night. He and Dats would enter the offensive zone, Filppula would lose the puck, everyone would exit and try and have another go at it. From the looks of it Filppula's playing like he did back during the start of the season when he was slumping. No confidence or consistency. Filppula is capable of being a great player- he's just not playing like we know he can. If I were Babs I'd demote him to the third line and pull Hudler up for a couple of shifts in his place. I love Hudler's chemistry with Draper, but he's definitely earned top six minutes and he's the top Wing in terms of points earned in the post season so far.

Bring on the anti-Hasek crew. Sigh. God DAMN I'M PISSED. Lilja was WAY out of position on that last goal. Completely unacceptable. Filppula's been playing horrible- terrible passing, puck control and all the rest. He turned it over at critical times. Stuart's been way, way, way too focused on hitting. Zetterberg seems to have lost that extra jump in his step, but he's played fine overall. Datsyuk still seems a bit off. Regardless- we didn't have to sweep this series. Splitting these two away games will have to do. A team that wins in the first 4 is often at a disadvantage in the next series because they've been sitting around waiting to play.

YEAH! DATSSSSYYYYUUUUKKKKKKKKKK Steps it up F-ING YES! Thank god he didn't pass it to Filppula.

I hate to have to say this... but: Datsyuk and Zetterberg need to step up right now.

Dear Hudler Haters: Time to man up and eat your crow. Seriously- I remember who you are!

Heh- reminds the Wings not to turn their back or lose track of where that dirty little turd is. So anyone else think the commercial with Iggy talking about 45s shifts in the playoffs was really, really, really good?

I always suspected Newton was a Wings fan!