Red Wings Take Beating, Walk Away With Win

[FedorovGurl 2]

Is it 'grit' vs 'class'?

Then I'll take the Wings in a series.

The Wings can always get 'grittier'.

I doubt the Ducks can get 'classier'.

(just sayin')

[ashenhigh 9]

Is it 'grit' vs 'class'?

Then I'll take the Wings in a series.

The Wings can always get 'grittier'.

I doubt the Ducks can get 'classier'.

(just sayin')

sure but when pronger is trying to poke everyone's eyes out, there comes a time when the wings need to dump the class and just start hitting.

[wingslogo19 281]

Ok this about the game last night, not who we want in a Wings jersey

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Is it 'grit' vs 'class'?

Then I'll take the Wings in a series.

The Wings can always get 'grittier'.

I doubt the Ducks can get 'classier'.

(just sayin')

Having class doesn't win you hockey games. Outclassing your opponents via actual aspects of the game such as being more skilled than them or tougher than them or having harder working players, yes.

But lady byng's don't win you stanley cups

[seeinred 1,488]

People are saying we handed the Ducks their asses. What i'm saying is that's bulls***. We didn't hand anybody their asses. We scored a 5 on 3 goal and a goal off a broken stick. Is that how we measure handing somebody their ass? I reiterate, let's get some perspective people.

When you say it that way, I have absolutely no problem agreeing with you. We did not hand them their asses, but at the same time it was no fluke that we beat them, which is the feeling I got from you in your original post.

And regarding clearly. The point, which you missed, is that we don't have enough toughness. The point is that Dan Cleary having to go toe to toe with a guy who clearly outmatches him is not my idea of a tactically good strategy. Yes, it's always good to get Pronger off the ice. But, I don't think having our valuable, non-fighters going head to head against 6-6 guys who can fight is a good plan. And what happened? We lost Danny for the game and Pronger was fine and came back to score a goal.

Agreed again, but I missed the first 15 mins of the game last night, so I don't know if Cleary fought him because he was messing with him or if it was because he was messing with other players. If Cleary wanted to fight Pronger for a bad hit just on him.... whatever. But if he felt like he had to fight to stand up for his team, then you're absolutely right.

The whole point was that we didn't hand their asses to them. And no, I don't try to be different. I try to be reasonable in a sea of homer bulls*** that seems to plague the board whenever we're on a roll.

I've seen this team be on a roll too many times to just think everything is fine and dandy. I don't watch the games just to see how great we are and toot our own horn. I look for weaknesses that another team can exploit so I don't have delusions of grandeur about how good we are or how great we match up to someone or how we handed somebody their ass in a 2-1 game where we got one goal on a 5 on 3 and another off a lucky break. 5 on 3's and a broken stick are not handing somebody their ass. Now, what Montreal did to Boston the other day, that's handing somebody their ass. Perspective!

Well, as it turns out, being reasonable is a relative thing. When "homer bulls***" as you call it runs rampant, then completely objective perspectives seem antagonistic, but at the same time it's a good thing to have.

[esteef 2,679]

Well, as it turns out, being reasonable is a relative thing. When "homer bulls***" as you call it runs rampant, then completely objective perspectives seem antagonistic, but at the same time it's a good thing to have.

Don't go using logic around here, you're gonna screw everything up!

[rwfan007 18]

What's the message? Is it that we can score 5 on 3 and that Beauchemin should switch to a wood stick? Yeah, we really shot the lights out last night. What was the score again 6-1? My tivo must be screwed up I thought it was 2-1.

You gonna stick with that argument?

What was our PP rating last night?

What was it in last year's playoffs?

What was the score last night? Who won? Oh yeah, the Wings won! The only thing that matters in the playoffs is which teams won 4 games in the series. If the Ducks play like they did last night, they will be out in 6 games because they took too many careless penalties caused by their own mantra of punishment over the basics of defensive positioning. They don't play smart, they are aggressive and tough, but that is not always the smart thing to do, and Detroit capitalized on their lack of smart play in scoring on its 2 man advantage. Once we get Z back and take whatever Holland does at the deadline, then the Ducks better brush up on the basics of hockey and try to play smarter hockey or they will get dismantled by the Wings on the scoresheet.

The best revenge, and the final one, is the scoreboard. This night, we had more goals than they did. That's all that matters.

Exactly

Edited January 24, 2008 by rwfan007

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

What was the score last night? Who won? Oh yeah, the Wings won! The only thing that matters in the playoffs is which teams won 4 games in the series. If the Ducks play like they did last night, they will be out in 6 games because they took too many careless penalties caused by their own mantra of punishment over the basics of defensive positioning. They don't play smart, they are aggressive and tough, but that is not always the smart thing to do, and Detroit capitalized on their lack of smart play in scoring on its 2 man advantage. Once we get Z back and take whatever Holland does at the deadline, then the Ducks better brush up on the basics of hockey and try to play smarter hockey or they will get dismantled by the Wings on the scoresheet.

Exactly

Just like we did last year, huh?

Ducks played the exact same way last year as they are now and it didn't work. What makes you so confident it will work this time? I'm just curious how you can be so confident.

Me, I want to face the Ducks in the WCF. I think they're built to win the Cup and therefore I want to go through them to get to Stanley.

Here's a fun factoid for you: Anaheim took more penalties than Detroit in 5 of the 6 playoff games last year.

Total pim's for series

Anaheim=112

Detroit=81

The difference is the equivalent of 15 extra powerplays for Detroit.

Now, let me ask you, who won?

Edited January 24, 2008 by GordieSid&Ted

[Sergeiwasmyfav 0]

Just like we did last year, huh?

Ducks played the exact same way last year as they are now and it didn't work. What makes you so confident it will work this time? I'm just curious how you can be so confident.

Me, I want to face the Ducks in the WCF. I think they're built to win the Cup and therefore I want to go through them to get to Stanley.

Here's a fun factoid for you: Anaheim took more penalties than Detroit in 5 of the 6 playoff games last year.

Total pim's for series

Anaheim=112

Detroit=81

The difference is the equivalent of 15 extra powerplays for Detroit.

Now, let me ask you, who won?

Just to play devil's advocate, we were missing Schneider and Kronwall in that series. Would it have made a difference? Who knows. I guess I'm just trying to say that the Wings gave them a pretty good run for their money with two top defensemen out. If everyone is healthy this year and we get a little bit tougher, I think we can take them in a seven game series.

[chrisdetroit 189]

GMR, you are completely right.

What are the chances Downey sees playoff time though? Put Z in and you have to take out Ellis or Downey. Bring Drake in and Downey has no shot at seeing the ice.

Then you look at Anaheim. Come playoff time you can be guaranteed that Pronger, Beauchemin, Moen, May, O'Donnell are all going to be on the ice.

Not too mention that little s*** Kunitz. People don't realize it but he's nearly as good a hitter as Dustin Brown is.

Getzlaf is not only their best player but could probably beat up anyone on our team except for Downey.

The problem Wings homers have is they see Cleary fight Pronger and they're all "yeah, Cleary is a badass and such and such" I agree, I couldn't be more happy that Danny boy manned up.

However, Dan Cleary couldn't beat up Chris Pronger if he had 10 tries at it. Pronger is too acustomed to fighting and is far too tall for Danny to fight effectively.

The bottom line is we lost Danny for the rest of the night and Pronger didn't miss a beat. That's not a good trade off.

We need to get tougher with guys who can actually play. What I wouldn't do to have a Jamal Mayers or Travis Moen.

For F$#! sake we beat them. They tried to goon it up and we ended up winning because the goons were watching from the penalty box.

Yes, it was a close hard fought game but their game plan didn't work.

By the way, that makes 2 out of 3 we beat them this year and 3 out of 3 against San Jose.

Enjoy it. If wwe see them in the playoffs it will look much like what we saw last night.

And I don't want to hear about a broken stick. That's the breaks in hockey.

[Yemack 1]

ok i didn't read all 5 pages so.. i might sound total idiot but here we go

I'm sure people are going to agree that we need bigger player to better cope with teams like Anaheim.

but some of you guys didn't have to go all over people by saying 'we didn't dominate you pukes'.

that's my take anyway

[FedorovGurl 2]

Okay then maybe I should have said " grit vs skill" instead of "class". Whatever you want to call it, its still the same argument if you ask me

Wings can add grit, can the Ducks add skill? Even with the return of Oh mighty hockey God I'm-too-good-to-play-a-whole-season Selanne, I will bet on the team that has ruled the league all year over one that keeps reinventing itself.

And as for Pronger? What about him?! We should lower ourselves to his standards or lack thereof? HA! We could sink, and sink, and sink, and sink ... and never reach the depths of that wretched bastard.

(just sayin' - pt 2)

[Duck Guy 86]

Ducks played horrible last night. Careless penalties and they could not get any offence going. You cant expect to give a team like the red wings so many man advantages or you will lose. When it was 5 on 3 they should of just automaticaly made the game 1 to 0 cuz you could of seen that goal from a mile away. Ducks would make it to the wings zone and then just get swormed by the wings and lose the puck. Yet the wings would just walk in the ducks zone and pepper jiggy with shots. And out shot the dux 33-25. And the Bert Getz and perry line did not look the same. I was suprised to see clear go up against Pronger. And bad breaks happen Beauchemin lost his stick stuff like that happens hence game 5 of last year. Ducks played horrible. The only way they could get shots was from the blue line where their only goal came from. Oh well it was a physical game with a playoff atmosphere so it was worth to watch.

Edited January 25, 2008 by Duck Guy

[Lou_Siffer 1]

For F$#! sake we beat them. They tried to goon it up and we ended up winning because the goons were watching from the penalty box.

Yes, it was a close hard fought game but their game plan didn't work.

By the way, that makes 2 out of 3 we beat them this year and 3 out of 3 against San Jose.

Enjoy it. If wwe see them in the playoffs it will look much like what we saw last night.

And I don't want to hear about a broken stick. That's the breaks in hockey.

I agree, however, being that you're one of the guys who continually makes excuses for why Anaheim beat the Wings last year....how come you dont use that same train of thought when talking about game 5 or the Wings injuries? Isnt what happened to the Wings last postseason just the breaks too???

[Hockeytown Red Wings 245]

I agree, however, being that you're one of the guys who continually makes excuses for why Anaheim beat the Wings last year....how come you dont use that same train of thought when talking about game 5 or the Wings injuries? Isnt what happened to the Wings last postseason just the breaks too???

Yes, but they happened to us, so they dont count.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

Yes, but they happened to us, so they dont count.

Ok just so im understanding this right:

Anaheim got to play Minny and Vancouver in the first 2 rounds - Luck

The Wings face the Ducks without Schneider and Kronwall - Luck ( for Anaheim)

The Wings score 2 goals in game 1 off of Anaheim's skates - the breaks of hockey

Anaheim scores off a Lidstrom deflection in game 5 - Luck

Beauchemin's stick breaks last night leading to a goal - the breaks of hockey

Is that how it goes?

(i know you were just being sarcastic by the way)

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Okay then maybe I should have said " grit vs skill" instead of "class". Whatever you want to call it, its still the same argument if you ask me

Wings can add grit, can the Ducks add skill? Even with the return of Oh mighty hockey God I'm-too-good-to-play-a-whole-season Selanne, I will bet on the team that has ruled the league all year over one that keeps reinventing itself.

And as for Pronger? What about him?! We should lower ourselves to his standards or lack thereof? HA! We could sink, and sink, and sink, and sink ... and never reach the depths of that wretched bastard.

(just sayin' - pt 2)

Yeah, but we could sure try a hell of a lot harder.

[auxlepli 17]

Many writers are stating the game was a statement game.

An example ....

The Red Wings head into the hiatus on a roll. They swept the three California teams to close out their pre-break schedule, and Wednesday's victory in Anaheim was about as close to a statement game as there is in January.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

No, the Wings didn't just flat out dominate Anaheim in last night's game. However, I believe that Detroit played their game better than Anaheim's style for good portions of the match (maybe a 60/40 or 65/35 percentage comparison for rough estimate, with Detroit being 60/65).

Anaheim has their way of winning games, and it works FOR THEM.

Detroit has their way of winning games, and it works FOR THEM.

The two styles are different more often than not.

I seriously do not want Detroit to revert to Anaheim's system of play too much. Not because of the perceptions (whether they are right or wrong) that Detroit is "classy" or Anaheim is "dirty", again it's just the styles of play both teams use to win are different and they both work in their own ways. I wouldn't expect Anaheim to try to significantly change their style to become more "skill-dominant" like Detroit if what they use to win works more often than not.

Anaheim will always be the more bigger and probably more physical team when these two teams meet. I'm sorry though, even though Anaheim won the last playoff matchup, I don't think they just beat the Red Wings to a bloody pulp in the physical game. Sure they probably threw more checks and hits, but it's not like the Wings were just cowering away or just magically stop grinding or working. We learned last playoffs that they will always skate and work hard regardless of how physical the other team might be against them, and I doubt that's going to change this upcoming postseason.

Would I like the Wings to be even more grittier and a little more physical? Sure, but not at the expense to where it signifcantly changes how they comfortably play and know how to win.

If these two teams meet in the playoffs, I'd definitely be concerned of Anaheim's physical game, but on the flip side, it'd be hard not to convince me that the Ducks would not be worried about the overall skill and playmaking level of the Red Wings and think they could just pummel Detroit to oblivion and expect to easily get away with it or easily win. It'll probably be another tight series.

And, whether some like to admit it or not, flukey bounces and deflections, broken sticks, flubbed passes, etc. have an impact on a game regardless of what teams are out there and what styles they might play. And sometimes the impacts are much bigger than a team perhaps being "physical" throughout an entire game (see broken stick last night, Lilja's backfired pass in game 5 playoffs, etc.).

[IceMunkee 15]

IF there was any "message" it was that the Wings would not back down physically form PrickPronger and his group of (to quote my hero, Al Swearingen) dirty cocksuckers.

I mean, WTF? It was THEIR home game, played at THEIR regular time in a manner more consistent with THEIR style of play and WE came out with a W.

IF WE would have lost because of a 5-3 or a broken stick, wussy little whiners would be saying we just didn't have the toughness to compete and we needed to get some more goonies to fill the roster!

Al Swearingen is awsome. I love deadwood!!!!!!

Oh and the ducks lick, and I hate them.