Downey or McCarty?

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

When was Laraque's last Post season fight?

Go ahead I will give you time to look it up!

Laraque hardly ever fights in the regular season. He's a pathetic excuse for a hockey enforcer.

[OsGOD 3]

Hey, Downey dressed for the warm-up, gave Morrow a nice snow shower, hit Ribeiro with his stick (gently, calm down people), and did some other stuff. He didnt play, but 99% of the time when Downey hits the ice we end up winning.

Downey has suited up in warmups for all but one of the 5 playoff games i have been too... the last one being (game 5)... i see some truth to that

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

When was Laraque's last Post season fight?

Go ahead I will give you time to look it up!

Opie, I'm going to go out on a huge limb here and say that Laraque is going to be a non-factor.

Let's see what will Laraque accomplish?

He's a big hitter but he's not quick nor agile enough to nail most of the guys on the Wings who've made dodging big hits an artform. I mean seriously, how long have teams been trying to crush Red Wings players?

Who is Laraque going to fight? DMac would fight him if and only if there was something terribly awful being perpetrated during the game. And if that's the case, I have a feeling Laraque will be spending time serving a suspension for it afterwards so who cares if he face washes and shoves guys around in scrums? Let him.

I have only 1 real concern about this entire series. Marian Hossa

Holy crap have I not watched enough of this guy. He's damn near as good defensively as he is at scoring points and he's strong as a freaking bull. I haven't seen a player protect the puck and flat out knock defenders on their asses like he's doing in a long while. I think it was game 1 or 2 of the Philly series where he just drilled Flyers players and down they went in heaps. He's big, he's strong, he's got incredible offensive instincts. I think Lids can handle whomever he has to cover and I think Kronner and Stuart will do a fine job of making life difficult for Malkin. It's Hossa that I think could be a huge factor for the Pens.

[Dabura 12,232]

I have an idea, why not let the coach, who just happened to win his first WCF (for the wings) in his second straight trip there and has won 50+ games 3 years in a row and HAS HIS TEAM IN THE SCF, make the calls, or why not have a little faith in him.

I have a question for all of you line changers, Babs doubters, whatever you want to call yourself, what more does the man have to do before you show a little faith.

You are questioning the lines of a man who just took your (supposed) favorite team to the Stanley cup finals. If the Wings win the cup are you still going to come on here and ***** about Sammy on the PP point, Mac in not Downey, starting benching so and so. Or will you finally shut your traps and stop questioning Babs, you know the one who is actually behind the bench and has a hockey coaching resume that goes beyond Bantums!

Stupid post. Everyone here, I'm sure, respects Babcock. Personally, I happen to respect him and like him on a personal level; he's a great guy, period.

However, that doesn't somehow make all of his decisions unassailable -- especially when those decisions include putting Mac on the ice after he's taken three stupid, potentially back-breaking penalties in the most important game of the season thus far.

But it's not like anything we say here really matters in the grand scheme of things. This is a freaking fan forum, after all.

[Opie 308]

Opie, I'm going to go out on a huge limb here and say that Laraque is going to be a non-factor.

Let's see what will Laraque accomplish?

He's a big hitter but he's not quick nor agile enough to nail most of the guys on the Wings who've made dodging big hits an artform. I mean seriously, how long have teams been trying to crush Red Wings players?

Who is Laraque going to fight? DMac would fight him if and only if there was something terribly awful being perpetrated during the game. And if that's the case, I have a feeling Laraque will be spending time serving a suspension for it afterwards so who cares if he face washes and shoves guys around in scrums? Let him.

I have only 1 real concern about this entire series. Marian Hossa

Holy crap have I not watched enough of this guy. He's damn near as good defensively as he is at scoring points and he's strong as a freaking bull. I haven't seen a player protect the puck and flat out knock defenders on their asses like he's doing in a long while. I think it was game 1 or 2 of the Philly series where he just drilled Flyers players and down they went in heaps. He's big, he's strong, he's got incredible offensive instincts. I think Lids can handle whomever he has to cover and I think Kronner and Stuart will do a fine job of making life difficult for Malkin. It's Hossa that I think could be a huge factor for the Pens.

I agree 100 % except for the fact that you haven't watched enough of Hossa to see what you talked about, he just decided to turn it on for Pit.

I would say even after the first round I thought he was going to be mediocre at best. He has far surpassed what I thought of him.

Add to that the fact that he is an offensive machine, great shot, decent speed, strong, then you put him on a line with Sidney Crosby.

Listen I am not a very talented athlete and I have a destroyed knee to prove it, however you put me out there with Sid and Hossa and I score 45 points a year, just because of the fact that one or two of their shots or passes are going to hit me and end up either in the back of the net or on the others stick and low and behold I get the secondary assist!!

I do believe the Wings win this in 6, the teams win both at home, then the wings take game 6, a very close game 6 until the last 8-10 minutes when the Pens stop playing D in order to stave off elimination, but I see this as one of the most entertaining SCF's in a long time. I am hoping for wings in 5, I would love to see them win it at the Joe, not that I will be there in person, but you always want you team to win it at home!

I think the difference being Detroits vast superiority on D. Not that the Pens are dog s*** on D, they made it to the SCF and it wasn't on luck alone, but Detroit has the best D (team wise or top 4) in the league, IMO!