Post-GAME 4: Flames 3, Red Wings 2

[sibiriak 84]

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.

The Flames scored on none of those odd-man chances. The Wings lost today because of the 2 5-on-3 goals gift-wrapped and delivered to Calgary, and because they didn't score on their own PPs. That is all.

If Babcock can fix the specialty teams, Wings will win in 6. Otherwise, Wings in 7.

Go, WINGS, Go!

Edited April 20, 2007 by sibiriak

[aheer22 0]

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.

The problem is that this looks EXACTLY like 2004 and 2006.. The Wings looked great in game one last year and then got COMPLETELY man handled by EDM.. except for the last 7 minutes I didn't see anything that made me believe the wings can turn this around this weekend.. They are getting no room at all to maneuver on the PP.. Games 1 and 2 DET was playing well defensively, making smart decisions, hitting and skating.. Now it looks like they are right back to making the pretty play or rifling shots from the blue line.. too much standing around and not enough reacting..

Flames in 6.

[Guest Tunbo Batman]

i have never been so embarassed for the league or the officials. unreal.

Im officially disgusted at 2 things :

1-The Team.

2-Blaming every loss on the refs. We got a power play with 8 mins left to tie it and did sweet f***all okay?

Why can't this bunch of ******* chokers come out strong in the face of adversity once in a lifetime? Hoe about getting ONE ******* GOAL when it counts? This series should be in the bag : every other good team has dispatched their 1st round opponents easy; everybody's leading 3-1 or has already advanced. But what do the wings do? they keep out of the crease and pepper the goalie endlessly with easy shots until they are sent golfing by a vastly inferior team. I think Im gonna puke.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

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

Yeah I just made that in a statement above. Honestly, the teams were fairly matched up tonight. These two games have just been tough breaks for the Wings. Look at the goals. 1 bad break and two 5 on 3s. Had the 5 on 3s gone the Wings way, wed all be celebrating a victory tonight. Sure the Wings didnt play their best and their PP was atrocious, but Calgarys 5 on 4 PPs didnt do anything either tonight. If anything, we should acknowledge the fact that although the score was the same tonight, Calgary is needing more and more help with scoring their goals while Detroits goals are just hard work and skill.

[Offsides 21]

[Wings_Rule_1010 4]

To look on the optimistic side. When we played Nashville in 04' we were up 2 game to none and lost both games there. Then came back home and won; then won there. I am saying wings in six.

[Sting 11 0]

...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.

I'm not ignoring anything. All I'm saying is a.) I've seen signs in the last 2 games that are disturbing and familiar, and b.) Game 5 is crucial.

[Viperar 16]

man offsides, that machine has been broken for a while, we gotta get a new one, that one doesnt do the panic in here justice

[Matt 1,048]

Power play sucks. Plain and simple. Sammy has got to be removed from that unit pronto, I think having him on the point trying to run the power play is a disaster.

Oh, it goes way beyond Samuelsson for me... They're just standing around out there, waiting for plays to magically appear on the ice. Prime example was their last power play of the game, where Calgary players were diving left and right in attempts to block shots that never came.

Now, you'd think the Wings would take advantage of these temporarily prone players on the ice, wouldn't you? You know, if you were already moving you could take a stride or two and take advantage of the new lane made available to you for a pass or a shot right?

Noooooo....

... Let's just stand *right* where we were, stickhandle the puck while I stay in the same position and wait for the PKer to get back to his skates again.

PATHETIC! It's like the Flames know you're just going to stay parked in the spot you're standing at!

Skate around in the god-damn offensive zone! Make the PKers MOVE! Get them OUT OF POSITION! I swear to god this power play has one helluva case of Langitis (you know, Mr. All-I-Do-On-A-Power-Play-Is-Stand-At-The-Half-Boards?)

/rant off (I feel better)

[YoungGuns1340 1]

The Flames scored on none of those odd-man chances. The Wings lost today because of the 2 5-on-3 goals gift-wrapped and delivered to Calgary, and because they didn't score on their own PPs. That is all.

If Babcock can fix the specialty teams, Wings will win in 6. Otherwise, Wings in 7.

Go, WINGS, Go!

Nor did they score on any of their 5 on 4s (technically I know they did, but it was 1 second after the 5 on 3 expired so obviously it was still a 5 on 3 for all intents and purposes).

Take away the 5 on 3s and its a 2-1 Wings victory simple as that. Fewer lame calls and we're fine.

[Wings_Rule_1010 4]

LMAO

[Must Kill 0]

im still saying this series is far from over

[Sting 11 0]

The Flames scored on none of those odd-man chances. The Wings lost today because of the 2 5-on-3 goals gift-wrapped and delivered to Calgary, and because they didn't score on their own PPs. That is all.

If Babcock can fix the specialty teams, Wings will win in 6. Otherwise, Wings in 7.

Go, WINGS, Go!

I don't care if they scored on them or not, quite frankly. My concern is that they shouldn't be getting said chances in the numbers they have been. They shouldn't be stepping around our defenders like they have been. Those are problems that need addressed posthaste.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

im still saying this series is far from over

Amen.

[BlueMonk 102]

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.

No question the Flames have improved by leaps and bounds. One minor quibble, though: the stats do, indeed, lie when it comes to hits. Those are kept by the home arena and are notoriously unreliable. The coaching staff keeps hit totals and if we had access to those, we'd have a much more honest appraisal of which team was outhitting which.

As for the rest, yeah, there's a story being told by the numbers for sure.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

I don't care if they scored on them or not, quite frankly. My concern is that they shouldn't be getting said chances in the numbers they have been. They shouldn't be stepping around our defenders like they have been. Those are problems that need addressed posthaste.

They didnt get many of those chances in game 3 and when they did tonight, Dom was there. He IS part of the team too and he made the stops. You can say odd-man rushes, I can say amazing stops by our goaltender. Either way, we didnt get dominated by Calgary at all yet.

No question the Flames have improved by leaps and bounds. One minor quibble, though: the stats do, indeed, lie when it comes to hits. Those are kept by the home arena and are notoriously unreliable. The coaching staff keeps hit totals and if we had access to those, we'd have a much more honest appraisal of which team was outhitting which.

As for the rest, yeah, there's a story being told by the numbers for sure.

Dan Cleary wasnt credited for a hit in Game 3. Phaneuf would say otherwise.

[puckloo39 5,686]

They didnt get many of those chances in game 3 and when they did tonight, Dom was there. He IS part of the team too and he made the stops. You can say odd-man rushes, I can say amazing stops by our goaltender. Either way, we didnt get dominated by Calgary at all yet.

Dan Cleary wasnt credited for a hit in Game 3. Phaneuf would say otherwise.

couldn't agree more.

[Wings_Rule_1010 4]

They didnt get many of those chances in game 3 and when they did tonight, Dom was there. He IS part of the team too and he made the stops. You can say odd-man rushes, I can say amazing stops by our goaltender. Either way, we didnt get dominated by Calgary at all yet.

Dan Cleary wasnt credited for a hit in Game 3. Phaneuf would say otherwise.

LMAO... I don't understand how he didn't get credit for a hit. I think it was Redmond who said that Cleary should have gotten credited for two hits for that one.

[Guest Tunbo Batman]

Calgary in 6. This team is done. They just don't want it.

[Viperar 16]

couldn't agree more.

I checked your PM fyi slowpoke

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Amen.

Ditto.

Calgary in 6. This team is done. They just don't want it.

HAHA shocking coming from you! You change your mind every game.

Please tell me how they don't have any heart? I'd really like to hear it.

[Sting 11 0]

You can say odd-man rushes, I can say amazing stops by our goaltender.

We shouldn't be putting it all on the goaltender like that. Hasek has played very well, but the defense - on and off the penalty kill - really needs to step it up.

[Viperar 16]

Ditto.

HAHA shocking coming from you! You change your mind every game.

Please tell me how they don't have any heart? I'd really like to hear it.

Reem, i think he posts these

1. hoping hes wrong just to rile people up

2. i stopped taking him seriously, and he knwos that

[zetterbergfuturemvp 0]

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?

well the reasons williams and samuelsson dont work on the point is well ....cause there not that good to be playing there on the ppl to begin with , they dont have hard shots , they dont have playmaking abilities , and there a defensive liability if they make a mistake .........when we had fedorov on the point it worked out , i think it could work with filppula .....hell hes one of our best players every night and he gets no ppl time , thats bs if you ask me rookie or not if hes playing good he should play , i think he could do a good job on the point

The problem is that this looks EXACTLY like 2004 and 2006.. The Wings looked great in game one last year and then got COMPLETELY man handled by EDM.. except for the last 7 minutes I didn't see anything that made me believe the wings can turn this around this weekend.. They are getting no room at all to maneuver on the PP.. Games 1 and 2 DET was playing well defensively, making smart decisions, hitting and skating.. Now it looks like they are right back to making the pretty play or rifling shots from the blue line.. too much standing around and not enough reacting..

Flames in 6.

in the words of aerosmith .........DREAM ON

[The_Cub 0]

Looks like Nick will get his first test as captain over the next couple days.