POST GAME - Game 1 (4/26) SJ 2 DET 0

[Must Kill 0]

just got home and watched the game, we didnt play s***ty its just the sharks capitalized on our mess ups, and nabby made a few good saves, but honestly he doesnt scare me like kipper did, and lets face the sharks arent the flames, they are much more skilled team and they proved that tonight.

I say wings will come out strong saturday and win in a nail bitter, tieing the series up

[Jiggy_12 0]

I cannot believe you guys were shutout on home ice. Total shocker.

I completely expect next game to be a blowout win.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

.

I completely expect next game to be a blowout win.

That's exactly what I said.

[Must Kill 0]

is homer gonna be be back this saturday

[rwfan007 18]

is homer gonna be be back this saturday

not til game 4 according to freep

[Jiggy_12 0]

That's exactly what I said.

Great minds think alike. You must be a closet Flames fan...

Just a reminder Wings fans, game 1 is statistically the least important of a seven game series. More teams are able to win a series after losing game 1 than any other game. I believe out of the 1st 4 games, game 4 has the highest statistical advantage.

[Must Kill 0]

not til game 4 according to freep

ah s*** talk about a kick in the balls

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Great minds think alike. You must be a closet Flames fan...

Just a reminder Wings fans, game 1 is statistically the least important of a seven game series. More teams are able to win a series after losing game 1 than any other game. I believe out of the 1st 4 games, game 4 has the highest statistical advantage.

Hmmm..or are you a closet WINGS fans?!

While are games are important you're pretty much right on about Games 1 & 4.

[Tiburon 0]

Whew! I can't believe we got away with that. 1/2 a period of good hockey followed by 2 1/2 periods of trying to shut down the game is not going to work against you guys. We stole this one tonight, I just hope that our boys come out more aggresively on Saturday although I'll be shocked it we take two in a row at JLA. I was really impressed with Detroit's skill level, they can play some very pretty hockey and I was surprised at your team speed. I honestly didn't realize how fast your team is.

As a Sharks fan I thought the game was nerve-wracking, but as a hockey fan I agree that it was pretty boring. I suspect that will change soon enough. I was pleased though that it was a pretty clean game, and I thought the reffing was decent. Good luck on Saturday, but I don't think you'll need it. I expect the Wings will come out fired up and rolling.

Oh, and sorry about the trolls. They're kind of like that crazy, drunk uncle we all have. It's best to just ignore them.

[teal zebra 0]

I wasn't all that impressed with the game tonight, especially on the Sharks' end.

Nabby made the saves when he had to, but I was concerned with the number of rebounds that made their way back to the slot. Granted, they were quickly collected by the Sharks' D for the most part (phew).

Again, the Sharks employed the prevent defense, this time for 50 minutes. It bit them in the rear end during Game 1 (3rd period) against the Preds and will do so in the future if they revert back to it at any point in this series.

Both teams can play so much better, and I think Saturday will be one helluva game -- one that the Wings absolutely have to win. It will take the Sharks' best effort to prevent that from happening.

Edit: sorry about Samadelphia -- he's somebody who's best ignored.

Edited April 27, 2007 by teal zebra

[clutchngrab 12]

Ugggg - Our ******* lame ass specialty teams are gonna kill us in this series. Scottie was right... he understood how execution in this area is the difference the deeper you went into the playoffs. We outplayed them 5 on 5 for a huge majority of the game, but because we cannot execute on specialty teams we lose. That's the playoffs Babs - time to take it seriously.

[sphere10 8]

Hi there, first post here, yes I am a sharks fan. no, im not a troll.

First, my boring game 1 anaysis that no one cares about:

The Red Wings outplayed the sharks tonight in a lot of areas, the biggest being 5-5. We were always reacting to your offense it seemed, we never generated much of our own attack (hence the shots on goal differential). The sharks were better on special teams, scoring on their one pp and killing off 3 of yours. This of note because its the complete opposite of how the sharks played against Nashville where they dominated the 5-5 play but were 0 for 17,000 on the power play. I would have liked to see the Sharks come out much more aggressive than they did, but their performance (and nabokov's play) were enough to steal this first game.

Now, a question:

Why was JLA so quiet? I am honestly asking because I was not expecting that. Not sold out? You have fans all over the US, (including ones yelling in my ear at my local sports bar) and yet you couldn't sell out a second round playoff game? What happened to hockeytown?? And the building just seemed dead with the fans that were there, even before the sharks scored. It was quite puzzling.

Also, what is the fascination with kipprusoff? "Nabby is no Kipprusoff" seems to be all anyone can sayso far in this series. You just beat kiprusoff, forget about him, you wont seem him for months. Nabby is the one you have to worry about and he's already held the wings scoreless for 60 min with good effort but not really having to work extremely hard. Nabby may not be as good as kiprusoff, but that fact alone isn't going to win you this series.

That being said, your Wings are good. I didn't underestimate them coming in and the fact that ESPN seems so confident the sharks will win this series chills my bones. Holmstrom will create a lot of problems for us when he returns, and unless cheechoo can find a way to bury some of his many opportunities I see us having a lot of trouble scoring goals this series. I expect we'll lose game 2 by a pretty big margin,(5-2) but I like our chances at home. Best of luck in the series Wings fans.

Go sharks.

Edited April 27, 2007 by sphere10

[Jiggy_12 0]

Also, what is the fascination with kipprusoff? "Nabby is no Kipprusoff" seems to be all anyone can sayso far in this series. You just beat kiprusoff, forget about him, you wont seem him for months. Nabby is the one you have to worry about and he's already held the wings scoreless for 60 min with good effort but not really having to work extremely hard. Nabby may not be as good as kiprusoff, but that fact alone isn't going to win you this series.

Because Kiprusoff is Jesus, and Wings fans understand that now.

Seriously though...from their perspective. They just got past the best goalie in the conference, so that has to boost the confidence. Unfortunatley, the Wings haven't had to play an actual NHL hockey team until now. The were playing Jesus and a bunch of plain old peasants last round. Its going to be a tight series...cause you can bet the Wings just woke up.

Welcome to the board.

Edited April 27, 2007 by Jiggy_12

[clutchngrab 12]

Jiggy - you rock!

So many shots, so little goals...

Why do the Red Wings have to shoot like 55 times to score 2-3 goals while their opponents only need 19-20 shots to score the same amount of goals?

I've often wondered the same every year we get bounced.

[Power Pete 0]

Hey, first post. Sharks fan, but the Wings have always been second favorite, and I don't have a third.

About the game...it was definitely nice to play against a classy team again. Bottom line though, we got lucky. We've had that defensive strategy backfire pretty badly before. Nabby was solid, one save of his off a deflection looked pretty good, but he wasn't anything special. Zetterberg impressed me. Game would have been boring if I was a Wings fan or a neutral, but it was a nail bitter as a Sharks fan.

About game two- I'm scared out of my mind. I feel like some kid who snuck into a dragon's cave and stole a piece of gold, and now I'm just waiting defenseless for the dragon to hunt me down and destroy me with no mercy. This game may have been all too effective of a wake up call for the Wings, which doesn't bode well for the Sharks. So I'm definitely scared, but excited that we should have some quality playoff hockey coming up.

[Dr. Sapirstein 0]

Wings don't need to outrough the Sharks, it's not their game. They have to play solid though and most important, they have to play their game (puck control, solid defense, discipline and smart overall hockey).

ALLEZ LES ROUGES !

P.-S. Let's hope Holmstrom comes back, he is a KEY element on that team.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Hi there, first post here, yes I am a sharks fan. no, im not a troll.

First, my boring game 1 anaysis that no one cares about:

The Red Wings outplayed the sharks tonight in a lot of areas, the biggest being 5-5. We were always reacting to your offense it seemed, we never generated much of our own attack (hence the shots on goal differential). The sharks were better on special teams, scoring on their one pp and killing off 3 of yours. This of note because its the complete opposite of how the sharks played against Nashville where they dominated the 5-5 play but were 0 for 17,000 on the power play. I would have liked to see the Sharks come out much more aggressive than they did, but their performance (and nabokov's play) were enough to steal this first game.

Now, a question:

Why was JLA so quiet? I am honestly asking because I was not expecting that. Not sold out? You have fans all over the US, (including ones yelling in my ear at my local sports bar) and yet you couldn't sell out a second round playoff game? What happened to hockeytown?? And the building just seemed dead with the fans that were there, even before the sharks scored. It was quite puzzling.

Also, what is the fascination with kipprusoff? "Nabby is no Kipprusoff" seems to be all anyone can sayso far in this series. You just beat kiprusoff, forget about him, you wont seem him for months. Nabby is the one you have to worry about and he's already held the wings scoreless for 60 min with good effort but not really having to work extremely hard. Nabby may not be as good as kiprusoff, but that fact alone isn't going to win you this series.

That being said, your Wings are good. I didn't underestimate them coming in and the fact that ESPN seems so confident the sharks will win this series chills my bones. Holmstrom will create a lot of problems for us when he returns, and unless cheechoo can find a way to bury some of his many opportunities I see us having a lot of trouble scoring goals this series. I expect we'll lose game 2 by a pretty big margin,(5-2) but I like our chances at home. Best of luck in the series Wings fans.

Go sharks.

First off, Welcome to the boards. Great post by the way. You tell it like it is and that's great to see!

About the fans at the JLA, they are usually extremely loud during the playoffs. In fact, every game so far they've been INSANELY loud. I don't know what the deal with today was but it certainly was out of the ordinary. It's weird because before the puck even dropped I felt the game was going to be boring, and that it would feel like a season game..and that's how it panned out. I'm guessing everyone at the JLA felt the same? The Wings are VERY much loved in MI, but with the economy doing so horribly, the expensive as heck ticket prices and with the Pistons, and Tigers all playing as well and around the same time..it has an effect on the Wings. That being said, everyone knows the further the Wings go the more everything will go back to normal. It also has a lot to do with expectations of this team. WIth going out early the last four years, lots have decided to give away their season/playoff tickets. What can ya say..Wings fans are spoiled. I can guarantee though that if they make it to the WCF tickets will sell out just like that and the buzz would be completely back. Regardless of what is going on right now, Red Wing fans are some of the best most loyal, die hard fans there is anywhere. The crowds at the JLA really don't say a lot *in how we all really feel and care about the Wings* that's just what I think anyway..

[Yemack 1]

I can't believe some of the writers thought Sharks dominated us. Dominated? and they call themselves professional writers? Give me a break!

Also I couldn't believe the crowds booing our players. Wings pressed very hard to the end yet they get booing for return.. wow I think those morons don't know much about hockey.

I honestly think that very very good hockey was played tonight. It's disappointing that we lost.. I think we were used to Calgary's level of playing and Sharks made quick strikes early on. You all saw Wings changed gears after that but it was too late against good club like Sharks.

I hope these medias feed Sharks heavy dose of overconfidence so Wings can laugh at the end of the series.

[FabHckyBbe 2]

I cannot believe you guys were shutout on home ice. Total shocker.

I completely expect next game to be a blowout win.

Yes, but for whom?

Not to get all flamey or kick you when you're feeling down, but I have noticed a lot of posters make the comment that the Wings didn't bring their "A" game tonight. I accept that as a fair assessment of your team's performance from you who know the play of your team best. However, as a fan of the Sharks who has watched all of their games this season, you should know that the Sharks didn't bring their "A" game tonight either, and they were still able to emerge victorious.

I expect a more up tempo and entertaining game on Saturday and may the best team win. Go Sharks!

[ih8music 0]

Boring game, but smart road playoff hockey on the part of the sharks. They got an early 2 goal lead, killed a bunch of key penalties in the 2nd, and then clogged up the neutral zone and protected the lead through the 3rd. Nabby made 2 or 3 great saves and was otherwise lucky to not get burned by any of the fat rebounds he was giving up.

You may not like it, but if Detroit pulls off the same thing in game 3 or 4 in SJ, you'll all be calling Babcock a genius. There's a reason SJ why was the best road team in the NHL - they have the discipline and defensive talent throughout the lineup to not get greedy when holding on to a lead, especially when on the road.

No reason to be surprised or upset about the game... unless you predicted a 4 game sweep, you expected the wings to lose at least one, right?

I think we can all agree that one thing at least... here's to a more wide-open game on Saturday!

[Henkka 0]

God damn we sucked. The Sharks totally dominated and shutted us down.

This series is going to be a sweep.

What a pity.

[sharkoholic 0]

Sharks are known for going into defensive mode once they get solid lead, so that is exactly what they did tonight. Not a "pretty" hockey for sure, but their goal was to win and they achieved it.

If Wings were up by a goal I am sure you guys would have seen a different Sharks team. Btw, hats off to both teams for playing a clean game.

I can't believe that you have empty seat in your building. I tried to get a pair of tickets for game on Monday here in San Jose but all of the available tickets were sold out in 4 minutes. The atmosphere in tank is amazing and there are a lot of red jerseys every time wings are in town.

OK. Enoiugh blabing for tonight.

Night everyone and we'll talk on Sat after the game.

[Guest limpingjaret]

I think I was the lone shark fan at JLA tonight...anyhow it was quite a yawner. Hats off to the Wings for playing good, clean hockey, quite a welcome change from those nasty preds. The noise at JLA was kinda surprising though, I somehow expected more from you guys...it almost felt like any regular old game. I thought our defence was outstanding. The moment I saw that we were playing prevent, I dreaded the worst since Ronnie loves to play prevent and we get burnt most of the time(Preds Game 2), but the defence stepped up big time. As far as Nabby goes I don't get the whole "he's no kipper" "kipper>nabby" arguments. While that may be true, I hope you guys aren't counting on getting through the Sharks and Nabby just cause you got through Kipper. Calgary, for all intents and purposes, is a one trick pony. While Nabby didn't stand on his head, I thought he had a stellar performance; he was always in good position to make the saves seem easy. He's no Kipper and he's no Dominator, but he's still a very good goalie. All in all I hope fans on either sides aren't calling the series from this 1 game. Had the wings actually scored a goal, things might have been very very different. Good luck to both teams on Saturday

Edited April 27, 2007 by limpingjaret

[Hank 0]

I don't know guys. I didn't think the Wings played a bad game, as I think it was more San Jose imposing their will on us.

The 1st period looked like men among boys. But the 2nd and 3rd Detroit outplayed the Sharks. However, the Sharks totally took any of the middle ice away from us as Nabakov kicked away one easy, long shot, after another. He was never really challenged.

I think the turning point in this game was when Dats didn't manage to get off that shot when he was in the slot and had some time. It seemed like he wanted to make another move or two and ran out of time. He should have ripped it. However, the puck also wasn't 100% settled so maybe he was trying to settle it down first.

My thoughts on the game are that it was a very entertaining one. There was a lot of north-south skating with some great hits and chances on both sides. Joe Thornton was an absolute beast. This guy is going to be very hard to contain all series. If he actually wanted to shoot more, he'd be way more dangerous. Marleau was also awesome. He has tremendous speed and really used it against our D.

I thought Hasek was great too. If not for him, we would have been down 5-0 after 20 minutes. But he played great.

Our PP needs a serious overhaul. It's so predictable it's not even funny. For that reason, we only got off 4 shots on 3 consecutive powerplays in the 2nd period. That alone killed us. If we score 1 PP goal there, things might have ended differently.

But all in all, I think the Wings played a solid game. Remember, it's a lot like boxing. You can't always impose your game on anyone at any given time. Sometimes the other team has a lot to do with how you look.

This could be the first series since the '91 St.Louis series where I felt like we were the true underdogs. I still feel this way. If the Wings can take Game 2 we'll be right back in there, but San Jose is so big, so fast and so talented that this is going to be one huge challenge.

[Firehawk 305]

Nabby is a solid goalie but he was not tested at all last night. Most of his saves were from the side perimeter when they'd get through on occasion. He hasn't had to stand on his head yet.

I thought SJ's defense was very good as well.

Maybe we should throw the 3rd or 4th line out on the PP to see what happens.