Post-GAME 3 (4/30): Sharks 2, Red Wings 1 F

[OsGOD 3]

Here's an easy criteria I made - the True Fan Index (TFI). Do you watch most Wings games? Do you cheer for the team? Would you keep cheering the Wings failed to advance? Gratz, son, you pass. That's good enough for me. Everyone try it! How do you stack up to the TFI!

You should also add... Do you reside withing 200 miles of the JLA... do you attend games or just ***** about people not attending from your comfy chair in front of your computer.

My TFI is YES, YES, YES <--- I am come back every season and No, I didn't start watching post '96... I was a fan before it was cool And with my addition... YES, I attend a ton of games in the Regular season and post season... when My finances allow.

[Red4wings4life 0]

I wonder where they breed such tall horses?

I get tired of reading about these mythical "true fans" that pop in every once in a while to berate the hordes of non-fans that apparently reside here for their unforgivable behavior.

It's not always sunshine and rainbows, least ways on the heels of a tough loss. Should people be blaming certain players (say, Hasek)? No. But everybody deals with the loss in a certain way. At the end of the day, after all the disappointment and panic is gone, we still love that big red wheel.

Here's an easy criteria I made - the True Fan Index (TFI). Do you watch most Wings games? Do you cheer for the team? Would you keep cheering the Wings failed to advance? Gratz, son, you pass. That's good enough for me. Everyone try it! How do you stack up to the TFI!

I dont disagree with you at all, but I am getting sick of reading posts after every loss about how X player sucks and needs to be benched or Y Goalies sucks. It shows ZERO class and ZERO knowledge of hockey. The people that make those kind of post or those kind of comments get Zero respect from me because they dont know a thing about hockey.

Hockey is not about fancy goals, huge saves, crazy hot Power Plays. Hockey is about the small things, the battle for the puck in the corner, finishing your check, making smart plays, winning a faceoff. If you know Hockey, then you would have seen alot of great plays that were just a few inchs or a few miss steps away from breaking that hockey game wide open. I dont know how many times during Game 3, I was like "okay okay, nice idea, good play, just get it on net, or nice work, nice pressure but you didnt get a shot, need to work that puck back to the middle. Its the SMALL things that are missing right now.

There is a huge difference in being a Wings Fan and saying your a Wings fan. A true Wings Fan watched game 3 and though, Dam a few inchs here or a an extra step there and the Wings win, they seem to be just one step behind, in each of the first 3 game, the Wings seem just a little behind the play, the puck was just behind or infront of them. The posts, the wasted shot that missed the net, the extra pass to make a perfect goal. That is the issue right now, the Wings are just not in sync, I dont know why, I cant tell you that they are going to fix it.

The funny thing is that the Wings are still in the Series even though they are not playing their best hockey.

San Jose looks like a team on a mission and the Wings seem like they are Happy with a medium effort game.

[OsGOD 3]

The funny thing is that the Wings are still in the Series even though they are not playing their best hockey.

San Jose looks like a team on a mission and the Wings seem like they are Happy with a medium effort game.

Hey, they made it past round 1 FINALLY! they are exhausted this is getting close to the most hockey they have played since '02, we are just a little out of shape right now . We gotta cut them some slack.

Edited May 1, 2007 by OsGOD

[Grypho 195]

Most of the people on this Board are a Joke and should not call themselfs Wings Fans.

As Enid Strict would say:

"Jokes? Well...isn't that special.

And just who fed you clown for

breakfast? Was it......SATAN?

[CrossCheck24 2]

Sorry if I am repeating someone else's point, but did anyone else see the extreme poor officiating in game 3? It seemed to me like SJ was getting away witn alot of stuff.

[WingNutt 12]

Sorry if I am repeating someone else's point, but did anyone else see the extreme poor officiating in game 3? It seemed to me like SJ was getting away witn alot of stuff.

I noticed this as well but its still not excuse. I seen a number of interference calls that were not called but you get what you get. Hopefully the refs are better in game 4. We were totally controlling the game, until mid 2nd period. They got thier weak goal and it made them step up thier game. We had that game won if we would have kept playing like we were, controlling the tempo.

I was extremly disappointed in the game last night because I know how close we were to winning and making it that much easier on us to win this series.

We need to come out strong in game 4 and hit them early on again. Take away thier momentum and run with it. Its going to be more diffucult than last game though.

[Hank 0]

I dont disagree with you at all, but I am getting sick of reading posts after every loss about how X player sucks and needs to be benched or Y Goalies sucks. It shows ZERO class and ZERO knowledge of hockey. The people that make those kind of post or those kind of comments get Zero respect from me because they dont know a thing about hockey.

Hockey is not about fancy goals, huge saves, crazy hot Power Plays. Hockey is about the small things, the battle for the puck in the corner, finishing your check, making smart plays, winning a faceoff. If you know Hockey, then you would have seen alot of great plays that were just a few inchs or a few miss steps away from breaking that hockey game wide open. I dont know how many times during Game 3, I was like "okay okay, nice idea, good play, just get it on net, or nice work, nice pressure but you didnt get a shot, need to work that puck back to the middle. Its the SMALL things that are missing right now.

There is a huge difference in being a Wings Fan and saying your a Wings fan. A true Wings Fan watched game 3 and though, Dam a few inchs here or a an extra step there and the Wings win, they seem to be just one step behind, in each of the first 3 game, the Wings seem just a little behind the play, the puck was just behind or infront of them. The posts, the wasted shot that missed the net, the extra pass to make a perfect goal. That is the issue right now, the Wings are just not in sync, I dont know why, I cant tell you that they are going to fix it.

The funny thing is that the Wings are still in the Series even though they are not playing their best hockey.

San Jose looks like a team on a mission and the Wings seem like they are Happy with a medium effort game.

Yes the Wings have not looked in sync, but neither have the Sharks. Not for a full 60 minutes either. I didn't think San Jose looked like 'they were on a mission' for a full 60 yet. Neither have the Wings.

Maybe it's both their styles clashing that make one team look better than the other for a period at a time? Regardless, San Jose is more than beatable. The Wings need to play like they did in Game 6 of the Flames series. Put in a full 60 minutes with all lines firing. If there's a silver lining to last nights game it's that Lang actually looked like he gave a crap. Even the TSN announcers said as much. Looks like Babcock's benching (which was WAY, WAY, WAY overdue) woke him up.

But so far, I think the Wings have played just as well as the Sharks. And Nabakov does not look like a world beater. If we can put in a hard, physical effort for 60 minutes we'll win. But we need Dats and Zetts to really step up. We need them.

[Matt 1,048]

There is a huge difference in being a Wings Fan and saying your a Wings fan. A true Wings Fan watched game 3 and though, Dam a few inchs here or a an extra step there and the Wings win, they seem to be just one step behind, in each of the first 3 game, the Wings seem just a little behind the play, the puck was just behind or infront of them. The posts, the wasted shot that missed the net, the extra pass to make a perfect goal. That is the issue right now, the Wings are just not in sync, I dont know why, I cant tell you that they are going to fix it.

Hmmm... I don't tend to look at it as a case of "well, that's how the cookie crumbles" -- I mentioned near the start of this thread that after Clowe's goal the Red Wings started reacting instead of acting.

It's funny -- the harder the Sharks work, the "luckier" they get. The same goes for the Red Wings. Coincidence? I think not -- and the team does deserve to get criticized when they get outworked and that's exactly what happened in the second half of Game 3.

Ask captain Lidstrom: "We were almost just standing around out there." Ya think?

This series is going to boil down to a battle of wills. Goaltending, depth, skill -- it's all a wash. It comes down to who wants it more and when the chips were down in Game 3 that Sharks called the Wings' bluff. They wanted it more and that's why they're leading this series right now.

[seeinred 1,488]

It's funny -- the harder the Sharks work, the "luckier" they get. The same goes for the Red Wings. Coincidence? I think not -- and the team does deserve to get criticized when they get outworked and that's exactly what happened in the second half of Game 3.

It's funny how that strange coincedence is oft overlooked. Although the Wings bounces seemed unlucky when they were dominating, that's not usually how it works.

And I know it's trite, but I seriously think that was the worst officiated game I've seen in a while. The hook on Lilja, the interference on Lang,the multiple non-calls on Thornton's (or whoever that was) cross checks, the manhandling of Rex, including a *gasp* slew-foot that wasn't called. I know people point out that the penalties were pretty much even, but that doesn't mean anything if one team commits more real penalties than the other team.

That said, it's only 2-1, and I have confidence that we'll get our home ice back tomorrow. Datsyuk wasn't quite finishing his moves last night and he still had a few good chances and I expect him to be better tomorrow. Homer will be back and kicking ass as usual, and the Wings will just be pissed off in general I hope.

Let's go Wings!

[JaketheShark 0]

I wonder where they breed such tall horses?

Good One

The TFI is good too.

On the negative side, one sure sign of a hockey noob is someone who blames the goalie for losing a 1-0 or 2-1 game. Both goalies kept their teams in the game last night and gave them a chance to win and that's all you can really expect from a top goalie. Sure, occasionally a top-of-the-league goalie like Hasek, Brodeur or Luongo, or even a really good goalie like Nabakov will stop 40-50 shots, or more like 12-15 solid scoring chances, and win a 1-0 game, but it is way out there in fantasy land to expect that every game. Without Nabakov, the game could have been over in the first. Hasek kept the Wings in the game in the third. One good rush up the ice and score in the third by the Wings and all the Sharks third period dominance would have been for nothing.

Another criticism that I don't entirely agree with, and I see it on both Wings and Sharks boards, is that their teams didn't play 60 minutes or quit trying. It's more like one team controls the style of play and makes the other look really bad. If anything, you can blame the coaches for not being able to make adjustments during a period. These teams are both really good but play very different styles that take advantage of their strengths. For a detailed explanation of this see the posts by Grypho and Heroes of Hockytown.

As for the officiating, it was pretty bad. It seemed like the refs would just let things go for a while, then call some random penalty on the exact same thing that had been let go earlier. I didn't see bias though, the refs were impartially bad. For this I blame Bettman. Refs today are under pressure to call penalties and I see this in most playoff games. I liked it better when, at least in the playoffs, refs would pretty much swallow their whistles in the third or at least the last half of the third period and let the players decide. I have seen too many marginal or even non-existent penalties called late in the third period of playoff games and the refs are too easily fooled by diving. Of course, I want a call on the dangerous stuff, cheap shots, gross interference or something blatant that ruins a good scoring chance but late in a close game when players are trying really hard there will be more incidental contact. Call the game too close and you take the passion and intensity out of the game.

This is shaping up to be a great series between two legitimate Cup contenders. May the best team win and go on to get the Cup.

[OsGOD 3]

On the negative side, one sure sign of a hockey noob is someone who blames the goalie for losing a 1-0 or 2-1 game.

Unfortuantly for detroit 2 more of those games in this series and the axe falls on dom like it has on so many in the past... Our Uppers management fits the definition as Noob also, becuase they are the ones that consistently replace the goaltender to try to solve our lack of goal output past April 8th.

Offsides will have to update her avatar for the offseason to show the who's next victim for detroit goalies.... I wonder who kenny has his sights on now.. its getting to be that time of year.

Ah detroit breads the goalie love so nicely doesn't it. Bring on Howard... we are ready! Is he?

Edited May 1, 2007 by OsGOD

[sphere10 8]

First off, congrats to the Wings on their win saturday as I have been unable to update for a few days. You weathered a storm and then took that game over. You guys also took that game 2 momentum into the first half of game 3 and for a while looked like you were gonna run away with it, but nabby gave the sharks life and they took advantage of that and finally looked like the team sharks fans know and love in that third period.

So now then.

The officiating, as always, wasnt great, but just as the sharks may have gotten away with a few things, so did the wings (Cheechoo being dragged down on the reviewed no-goal play) and thus i dont think officiating had much to do with the outcome (and only preds fans blame officiating anyway). Also I still keep seeing comments in here comparing nabby to kiprusoff and the shark tank to the saddledome and it makes me wonder if some posters arent scarred by the flames. Nabby has put up pretty kiprusoff-like numbers with a 1.33 GA in this series so far and a higher save percantage then haskek (partially due to the fact the sharks couldnt find the net in games 1 and 2). He hasnt made many "highlight" saves but hes been incredibly solid and been in good posotion to make most his saves look easy.

As a few of you have noted, all the Wings need to do is split in San Jose and things are looking up for you with the home ice advantage. I think that places equal pressure on both the sharks and wings to win game 4, so I dont see anyone playing desperate hockey yet. I do expect to see some tempers flare during this potential mid-point series game as the phsyical and grinding play will be sure to pick up. Holmstrom back will give the wings a huge boost so Id like to see the sharks come out and play hungry right away.

Its nice to see opposing fans still optimisitc at this 2-1 juncture (the preds boards were littered with "Fire Trotz" posts after we took game 3 against them) and I think you have the right to be so. Its been back and forth so far and I expect that will continue. Best of luck Wings fans.

Go Sharks.

Edited May 1, 2007 by sphere10

[Red4wings4life 0]

Unfortuantly for detroit 2 more of those games in this series and the axe falls on dom like it has on so many in the past... Our Uppers management fits the definition as Noob also, becuase they are the ones that consistently replace the goaltender to try to solve our lack of goal output past April 8th.

Offsides will have to update her avatar for the offseason to show the who's next victim for detroit goalies.... I wonder who kenny has his sights on now.. its getting to be that time of year.

Ah detroit breads the goalie love so nicely doesn't it. Bring on Howard... we are ready! Is he?

Yea our upper Management is a bunch of noobs, riiiiiiight. How do you come up with this s***?

Hasek is not going to be let go after the playoffs, he is the reason we are here or did you forget that?

[OsGOD 3]

Yea our upper Management is a bunch of noobs, riiiiiiight. How do you come up with this s***?

Hasek is not going to be let go after the playoffs, he is the reason we are here or did you forget that?

Because I am a moron, how quickly you forget somethings.

Actually, if you would take the time to read what I was responding too.... Here will post it:

On the negative side, one sure sign of a hockey noob is someone who blames the goalie for losing a 1-0 or 2-1 game.

Going by that... the uppers always replace the goalie after the wings big "o" falters... ergo they must be noobs as defined by Jake.

Get it, got it, Good!

I never said it was good logic... just according to THAT specific comment one would have to gather such an answer.

And If I wanted... I would gather I would come up with that s*** from the toliet just so you know.

Oh yeah.. don't count on hasek coming back.. that is a fatal error. We win... RETIRE... we lose RETIRE. its over no matter what.

Edited May 1, 2007 by OsGOD

[SouthernGirl 0]

Hey fans! It was a good game last night. I was at the tank. The beginning of the game was incredible for Detroit as I watched them play their game and bring it to the Sharks like there was no tomorrow. There is no doubt that Detroit executed it's gameplan in the first. My first observation to my husband is that the Wings were standing the Sharks up at the blue line and not allowing them to play puck pursuit like the Sharks want to. In the second, I don't think either team dominated, it seemed to me like both teams were trying different tacks to see what worked. The third speaks for itself.

I agree with everyone who said this was a horribly officiated game. The no-calls went both ways. The officials made themselves irrelevant by their inaction. Their only impact was repeatedly impeding the Sharks offensive plays, idiots.

I can hardly wait until tomorrow night. I expect a full game from both teams.

DROP THE PUCK!

Edited May 1, 2007 by SouthernGirl

[OsGOD 3]

I can hardly wait until tomorrow night. I expect a full game from both teams.

Thanks for your keen observations.. lucky you to go the game That pretty much sums up the game I saw too... so its good to have confirmation I was watching the right game last night.

I have been saying I expect the Wings to play a full game for some time now.... Maybe tomorrow my wishes will finally be granted.

Perhaps the wings should bring back Joe Vision for the 2nd round.... I sure do miss that. It made staying up for the late game rather easy. However, I see the price beeing a 200% markup as well for Joe Vision....

Edited May 1, 2007 by OsGOD

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

San Jose looks like a team on a mission and the Wings seem like they are Happy with a medium effort game.

how dare you criticize our beloved wings?!?! obviously you are not a true fan.

[Jwo 7]

Atleast the Shark tank was not loud.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

The second half of the game was the Sharks team i was expecting at the start of the series. Constant pressure and exerting themselves physically. Thornton was an animal out there, he was playing 110% every shift and was dominant. When Joe's playing physical like that the Wings dont have an answer for him on defense.

Also I havent read the whole thread, but anyone who's knocking Hasek is nuts.

[DBR 12]

The second half of the game was the Sharks team i was expecting at the start of the series. Constant pressure and exerting themselves physically. Thornton was an animal out there, he was playing 110% every shift and was dominant. When Joe's playing physical like that the Wings dont have an answer for him on defense.

Also I havent read the whole thread, but anyone who's knocking Hasek is nuts.

Yep, agreed.

Now the series is 2-1 in the Sharks favor. Usually I would say there is still a lot of hockey to be played yet, so don't panic. But, this series, the Sharks, are physically dominating every angle all over the ice. Now that they know how to frustrate the Wings and make 'em look like they're standing still, guaranteed they will continue to do that. Unless the Wings can figure out how to play a full 60 minutes and grind it out, this series is over.

It's one thing to be down 2-1 against a team that doesn't have huge monsters on their ice, but playing against these guys is debilitating, unless the Wings can figure out a way to control the game over a full 60 minutes.

I'm glad they made it to the second round, but I think unless they can win Game 4 and get home ice advantage back, then it's over.

[SouthernGirl 0]

Atleast the Shark tank was not loud.

It wasn't as loud as I have heard it in the past but by the end of the game, it was getting up there. I read where someone else posted on the Sharks' board that the fans' expectations are more than the second round and the real noise won't come until later. I don't know if that is true, we will see tomorrow. Oh, I would say the fans were into the game more than they have been this season and finally they gave Nabby the love he deserves.