Post-GAME 4: Flames 3, Red Wings 2

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Unlike most I guess, I dont think these games have been reminiscent of Calgary in 04 or the Oilers last year. Or Anaheim either. Kipper has been beatable, weve been physical, weve won a lot of the battles, havent backed down from physical play, and have gotten scoring from all of our lines.

People have to recognize that sometimes things simply dont go your way and honestly, if the Wings dont have the attitude to come back to Detroit and give the Flames an ass whopping, we werent meant to be here in the first place.

This isnt an unbeatable goaltender, an impossible trap, or physical dominance. ITS PLAYOFF HOCKEY. The Wings are a better team than the Flames. The proof is in the fact that the Flames only dominance has been on 5 on 3s. We can do this. Its not impossible.

Edited April 20, 2007 by YoungGuns1340

[Must Kill 0]

i think after how games 1 and 2 went we all underestimated these flames

[zetterbergfuturemvp 0]

I wrote Schneiders name twice on purpose. He has a bullet of a shot, knows how to pick his spots, is a good passer with decent speed and knows hot to keep the puck in. John Tortorella plays St. Louis and Lecavalier for over 25 minutes a game. You cant tell me when your PP isnt clicking that you cant have your 1st/2nd best Dman out there for a full two minutes up a man.

your forgetting one thing .....vinny and st louis are in their 20's , schneider is almost 40.......i wouldnt mind if we kept zetterberg and datsyuk for a full 2 minutes on the ppl , but babcock would never do it

[Offsides 21]

Wow, doomsday here.

It wasn't a great game. So far the playoffs have gone like the regular season. 2 Wins and home and 2 for them at their home. If it takes 7 games...well it does...oh well.

But we only lost by 1 in each game. I definitely think the game was winnable, and if we would have won it...no one would be bitching like this...so whatever.

[Guest hockeygal]

Well I am worried, This team is choking

Flames have won on the road when they had too, they have all the confidence and Momentum now, and I just think they want it more...This is too real of how the wings play in the first round

And Lidstrom, where was he....he was pathetic in both games.

and Zetterburg,,,.has he even gotten a point in this series yet.

I just think with the way the confidence and the Way Kipper is playing, we aren;'t going to beat this team now.

They are hot

they no how to block shots, and not just stand there like we do.

As to a past poster

on if we think the wings will win this series

Honestly, NO, not now

I say Flames take game 5, and then win it on home ice in game 6.......sorry, fellow wing fans, its just to much like the past right now,

And the Flames and Kipper are in the Teams head right now, and have them really wondering....all the Pressure is on the wings now.

were just lucky, that they didn't split when they were here...or it would be over alot sooner

Edited April 20, 2007 by hockeygal

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

The other difference in the series is the Flames no longer look like they're skating in sand. They've been much faster which has allowed them to get in and pressure the Wings befoe they can make their tape to tape passes. I really thought Iginla had a lot of jump today. And the Flames are also being harder on Datsuyk, lessening his effectiveness. The young F's on the Wings need more ice time IMO

actually, it's be better for us if iginla langkow and tanguay got less ice time.

[OsGOD 3]

I blame Osgood, honestly... I he could only take notes better... Babs would have something to look over to realize the lines were working.

[webwing91 4]

They may have played ok, they may have had their chances, and maybe some calls didn't go the wings' way. But they didn't win. And that is all that matters.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

your forgetting one thing .....vinny and st louis are in their 20's , schneider is almost 40.......i wouldnt mind if we kept zetterberg and datsyuk for a full 2 minutes on the ppl , but babcock would never do it

...and Schneider is a defenseman. Used to playing more minutes. And its the playoffs. He can do it. Lilja has proved to be an amazing PKer. Lidstrom plays the full PKs with Lilja, Chelios, and Markov picking up the rest. Schneider plays the full PPs with Lebda and Lidstrom (sometimes Markov) picking up the rest.

[calfan 0]

I'm in the West, SoCal, with my two brats that are driving me crazy!!!!

JK, they're great.

See ya around man!

esteef

Should have remembered you were in SoCal - that's how you came up with your name. Enjoy the twins while you can. If I recall correctly, they should be about 3 now. 3 is a great age. You think they drive you nuts now, just wait till they're 15.

I bet they just wrap Daddy around their little fingers.

[The_Cub 0]

Funny thing I texted to my cousin five minutes into the game "Wings are dodging hits not initiating any. This is not a good sign. Looks like 2006." Ah and the result was the same.

[jenova0 0]

We WILL win game 5.

[drw1319 0]

Game 5 is crucial i think that if we win we will win the series, but if they do i think they will be winning the series. I love the wings, but I am kind of nervous because of our past expierences in the 1st round. Babcock better show us that he is different than Lewis.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

The other difference in the series is the Flames no longer look like they're skating in sand. They've been much faster which has allowed them to get in and pressure the Wings befoe they can make their tape to tape passes. I really thought Iginla had a lot of jump today. And the Flames are also being harder on Datsuyk, lessening his effectiveness. The young F's on the Wings need more ice time IMO

Anybody who checks the stats will see that basically, the Wings came out gangbusters in Detroit, fired up, blocking shots, throwing hits and winning the one on one wars. If you peek at the stats for all 5 games you'll see Detroit steadily lessening the amount of hits and blocked shots, increasing the amount of penalties they are taking and losing the majority of man on man battles and races to loose pucks. Contrast that with the stats for Calgary and holey moley wouldn't you know they are increasing the amount of hits, blocked shots, time of possession and lessening the amount of penalties they take pretty steadily over each game.

Its all in the numbers and numbers don't lie. Flames did all the little things more often and they did them better. They earned both wins.

[Zenithian 0]

Y'know, the Wings' power play has been inconsistent throughout the season, so to a degree, I can't say I'm all that surprised with it. However, their penalty killing has been terrible in Games 3 and 4, and that's rather vexing. This team is pretty good on the PK, and shouldn't be struggling nearly as much as it is. If that aspect of special teams was going as it should, the Wings would be up 3-1 in this series, at worst. What Calgary is doing on their PP isn't complicated, and furthermore, can be further mitigated by by making some adjustments in the neutral zone at even strength.

I'm no bandwagoner - I still have the faith!

[zetterbergfuturemvp 0]

at least dallas just won in overtime lol

[Sting 11 0]

Unlike most I guess, I dont think these games have been reminiscent of Calgary in 04 or the Oilers last year. Or Anaheim either. Kipper has been beatable, weve been physical, weve won a lot of the battles, havent backed down from physical play, and have gotten scoring from all of our lines.

People have to recognize that sometimes things simply dont go your way and honestly, if the Wings dont have the attitude to come back to Detroit and give the Flames an ass whopping, we werent meant to be here in the first place.

This isnt an unbeatable goaltender, an impossible trap, or physical dominance. ITS PLAYOFF HOCKEY. The Wings are a better team than the Flames. The proof is in the fact that the Flames only dominance has been on 5 on 3s. We can do this. Its not impossible.

I look at things like odd man rushes and quality scoring chances. The Flames had us on those tonight...much like what happened often in the previous three losing playoff series.

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

Babcock better show us that he is different than Lewis.

he didn't show us last year.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Look on the bright side. Detroit did all they seemingly could in the playoff series of the past years and couldnt get anything done. At least now we know when the Wings play their best game, they win.

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

I look at things like odd man rushes and quality scoring chances. The Flames had us on those tonight...much like what happened often in the previous three losing playoff series.

exactly.

[sibiriak 84]

Screw it, at this point it ain't working. It didn't work well with Williams and it sure as heck ain't working with Sammy.

IMO, put Lebda out there. At least his wheels help him recover and honestly, Lebs has about as much offensive instinct as Sammy does. If Lebda were a forward I think he'd outproduce Sammy in his sleep. I say Lebda takes his spot from now on.

So you have Lidstrom and Schneider on the first PP unit, and Lebda and who on the second?

[zetterbergfuturemvp 0]

...and Schneider is a defenseman. Used to playing more minutes. And its the playoffs. He can do it. Lilja has proved to be an amazing PKer. Lidstrom plays the full PKs with Lilja, Chelios, and Markov picking up the rest. Schneider plays the full PPs with Lebda and Lidstrom (sometimes Markov) picking up the rest.

id still rather see cleary and especially filppulla be given a chance on the 2nd unit instead , thats just my opinion , i respect yours ..........i wouldnt mind seeing datsyuk and zetterberg sticking it out for 2 minutes though , and bring in lidstrom schneider and holmstrom on the 1st ppl unit and lebda bertuzzi filppula on the 2nd unit

[YoungGuns1340 1]

I look at things like odd man rushes and quality scoring chances. The Flames had us on those tonight...much like what happened often in the previous three losing playoff series.

...so you are just going to completely ignore games 1 and 2?? We havent dominated games like that in years. We can do it again. Weve already proved it twice. People are forgetting that the Flames havent been THAT impressive. Theyve BARELY beat us both times when theyve played their best yet when we play our best we KILL them.

If the Wings buck up their special teams, this series is OVER and the Wings are on to the next round, as simple as that. With a few PP tweaks, we should be fine.

[zetterbergfuturemvp 0]

Look on the bright side. Detroit did all they seemingly could in the playoff series of the past years and couldnt get anything done. At least now we know when the Wings play their best game, they win.

the only plus for me is the last 2 loses in calgary at least we weren't killed , we lost by 1 goal each game and we were in it till the end ..........and another plus for me is zetterberg is pointless , so he's due to breakout right ????? hes had 4 games to get in shape

on a side note 3-1 anaheim now , looks like minnesota is next to be gone

[YoungGuns1340 1]

id still rather see cleary and especially filppulla be given a chance on the 2nd unit instead , thats just my opinion , i respect yours ..........i wouldnt mind seeing datsyuk and zetterberg sticking it out for 2 minutes though , and bring in lidstrom schneider and holmstrom on the 1st ppl unit and lebda bertuzzi filppula on the 2nd unit

I just dont like the idea of having a forward on the point. We tried it for TWO years straight (Sammy and Willy) and its been a disastrous experiment. Defenseman should always man the points and Babcock should ONLY be choosing from Filppula, Hudler, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Homer, and Bertuzzi to be out on the PP. If he needs other guys he should look to Cleary and Franzen. And that should be it. Speaking of which, Franzen was probably our best forward tonight and Babs didnt have him out there on the PP. I love Cleary and love how hes played lately, but Franzen-Lang-Bert was clicking. Why switch it up on the PP?