chrisdetroit

For the Hawks to win the series, they have to beat us 4 out of the next 5 games. The historical probabilty of tyhe Wings winning the series having the home ice in the conference final and a 2-0 lead is 89.3%. At this point, we need to minimize the number of games and get some rest for the finals.

Bulin has a .897 save percentage and the Wings average 40.3 shots/game during the playoffs. (1-0.987) x 40.3 = 4.151 Ozzie has a 0.922 save % and the Hawks average 29.4 shots/game (1-0.922) x 29.4 = 2.293 Final score Wings 4-2 just based on goaltending.

What are you talking about? The Wings owned the Hawks for years.

If Neidemeir retires AGAIN, the Ducks are done. They have no depth so I don't see them being a force in the future. The same thing happened to the Avs. Where are they now?

That was 4 years ago. This year Khabibulin has am .897 save percentage and a 2.86 GAA. They cannot win with those numbers. The Wings are averaging 40.4 shots/game this year in the playoffs. That means that ON AVERAGE the "bulin wall" will give up 4.16 goals/game. Unless 'bulin starts playing much better or Chicago cuts down on the number of shots allowed, this is going to be a short series. In game 1 Detroit had 43 shots and 'bulin had a .905 save percentage.

It tells me that they have a poor coach. This is really simple, the top guys need to play the most. Q was so worried about line matching that he let his best players sit. Just poor coaching....

Sorry but you are wrong. Past performances mean nothing. If you want to rank goaltenders you look at the save % this year in the playoffs. 1 Jonas Hiller ANA 13 494 .943 7 6 0 30 2.23 524 2 0 0 0 806:43 2 Tim Thomas BOS 11 302 .935 7 4 0 21 1.85 323 1 0 1 0 679:44 3 Martin Brodeur NJD 7 222 .929 3 4 0 17 2.39 239 1 0 0 4 426:41 4 Cam Ward CAR 14 409 .927 8 6 0 32 2.22 441 2 0 0 0 865:14 5 Chris Osgood DET 11 279 .921 8 3 0 24 2.06 303 1 0 1 0 698:29 6 Simeon Varlamov WSH 13 357 .918 7 6 0 32 2.53 389 2 0 0 2 758:52 7 Roberto Luongo VAN 10 278 .914 6 4 0 26 2.52 304 1 0 0 0 617:57 8 Marc-Andre Fleury PIT 13 336 .901 8 5 0 37 2.72 373 0 0 0 2 815:10 9 Nikolai Khabibulin CHI 12 284 .896 8 4 0 33 2.76 317 0 0 0 0 716:5 That's your boy 'bulin down there at #9 with an .896 save percentage.

The Ducks made the series close because of Hiller who finished with an increadible .943 save percentage. If he lets in just 1 or 2 more of those shots, Aneheim does not win one of those 3 1-goal games that they won and the series is over in 6. Fortunately for the Wings, Khabibulin is not nearly as good and the Hawks defense isn't even in the same league. Nobody is going to beat the Wings playing a run-and-gun game with an average goaltender. The Hawks don't have a Hiller, Getzlaf, Neidemeyer or Pronger or anybody comprable. And even with those guys, the Ducks lost. As far as being physical, you are really suggesting that the Hawks are as physical as the Ducks are you? Wings in 5

I'm really surprised that none of the "experts" have pointed out the second biggest problem the Hawks have. Obviously inexperience is their biggest. Their second biggest fault is their goaltending. Khabibulin has amassed a 2.76 GAA and an .896 save percentage. And this is against Vancouver and Calgary - 2 teams that are not known for scoring. In fact Chicago has given up 2.92 GAA. This compares to the Wings 2.18. Goals per game is almost the same between the 2 at 3.64 and 3.67. Simply put, the Hawks cannot beat us if they are going to surrender so many goals and I would expect the Wings to score MORE than Calgary or Vancouver.

Now that's just stupid. Luongo is currently 3rd in GAA in the playoffs and 4th in save percentage. So you are scared of the 4th best goaltender? Incidently Hiller has the best save %.

Let's look at where we are at. Series is tied 2-2 which means we are back at where we started except: 1. Hiller was lit up in the last game and Carlyle won't even commit that Hiller will be in goal. Not good for confidence. 2. Getlaf has average over 25 minutes a game well above every other forward in the league by a huge margin. He's gotta be tired. 3. Wisnewski is likely out with a bruised lung and even if he does play, will be less than 100% 4. Getlaf is likely hurt as reported by TSN and the fact that he sat the last period. 5. Kopecky is out for the series and is replaced by Abdelkader. 6. Ralfi and Draper remain out. 7. The Wings have home ice for 2 of the 3 games. 8. The Wings have momentum after blowing out the Ducks in Aneheim 6-3. 9. The Ducks have won 2 of the 4 games. 1 in triple overtime and the other on a blown call by the officials. 10. The Red Wings percieved weakness coming into the series was Osgood who has a .922 save percentage and a 2.08 GAA. The GAA is better than Hiller's and the save percentage is just behind Marty Brodeur's This is the Wings series to lose and they will NOT lose it. LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!!

It's 88.2% in favor of the visitors (Carolina) winning the series. Goodbye Bruins... When this all started there were 3 top teams contending for the Cup - Detroit, San Jose and Boston. Aneheim and Carolina are the surprise teams but hands down the most talented team that still has a legitament shot (series tied 2-2) is the Wings. I think that it is ours to lose. Granted that things could change quickly but.....

Really? I thought it was brilliant. Because of the fight Beauchemin had to sit for 5 minutes at a critical time. Kopy is expendable.

ahhh. You are comparing Abby's numbers while playing in the AHL playoffs to Kopy's numbers while playing in the NHL Playoffs. Didn't it occur to you when you were typing this that that's not a fair comparison. In fact it's more than not fair, it's just well... never mind. Granted that Kopy hasn't done much and it will be good to see what Abby can do but keep it in perspective.

Wait. You haven't seen him play much but you say that he is a downgrade. That makes no fricking sense. If you haven't seen him play much how can you say he's a downgrade? Where's the logic in that?

Jesus Christ. Watch the replay. Hostrom never even saw him. Lidstrom interference every shift. riiiiiight. That's how he got the six freaking Norris Trophies You are one stupid Ducks homer

Yes it is absolutely. 2007 Wings down 2-1 to Sharks and 30 seconds from going down 3-1 playing in San Jose. The Wings score, win in OT and rattle off 3 straight wins for a 6-4 series victory. I see 3 straight Wings victories....

What are the chances of the Ducks winning by depending entirely on one line to do all of their scoring? I'd say not very good. Do you realize that Getzlaf has either assisted on or scored all 6 of their goals? Do you realize that Getzlaf is averaging 25:51 minutes of ice time? This is #9 among players in the playoffs. The top 8 are all defensemen. The closest forward still playing is Alex O at #34 at 22:49. This is not a recipe for sucess. This is going to become apparent in the next couple games. The wings are going to take control of the series because the Ducks #1 line is going to hit the wall and they depend entirely on them.

Oh for Christ's sake. Osgood was screened by Stuart and never saw it. And I agree, it was not offsides. Close, but not offsides.

You mean in 2007 when we didn't have Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart or Hossa?

You're kidding right? Maybe he was a little slow after having played 5 periods of hockey. It was a great shot. He played a great game. How can you not give him the benefit of the doubt after the game he played...

Not necessarily. In 2007 they split the 1st 2 home games with the Sharks who were "bigger, faster and stronger" and then lost game 3 in San Jose. After that they won three straight and sent the Sharks packing.

I agree game 1 was very even. So what would be different? It was quite apparent that the Wings were rusty in game 1. There passing wasn't sharp and they weren't skating well until the 3rd period when they took the game over. They outshot the Ducks 18-7 in the 3rd period. Obviously the rust had worn off. So same line-up but the Wings are no longer rusty. I'm not expecting a blow-out but it's more than a 50-50 shot. The Wings have the edge. On another note Getzlaf played 27:55 in game 1. I have never heard of a forward playing those kind of minutes, but I guess that's what happens when the team has no depth on forward. If they stay with this strategy Getzlaf is going to be drained ...

It's game 2 and the Wings have home ice. They are heavily favored by everybody in the Media. They are only missing Rafalski and you say it's 50-50. Where do you come up with this crap midfly?

I'm with you, I think the B's will take it rather easily, though I have to cheer for the Canes since we have home ice against everybody but the B's. That said, I don't see anybody that can match the Wings....