Rafalski and Draper will not play in Game 3

[SoDakWing 8]

we should stop relying on rafalski and hossa and datsyuk should step the f*** up and get on the score sheet. best defense is our offense

holy cow... freak out much?

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Good news though, Babs says he is hopeful that Rafi will play in game 4.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20...alski_kris.html

"I'm sure hoping so (for Game 4),'' Babcock said. "I was hoping for Game 2. Doesn't matter how much I hope.''

That's definitely not a good quote from Babs... He's saying that he's hopeful, but that hope isn't necessarily based on solid evidence/facts.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

This really sucks. I think having Raffi playing could be the difference between winning and losing. He is so importand on the PP and does such a good job with getting the puck out of our zone at even strength. It would be nice to have Drapes back to for his faceoffs and experience, but Raffi is needed much more imo. We need to come home from Cali with at least a split and that could be in jeopardy w/ Raffi missing. I was really confident going into this series, but now I'm getting really nervous and having serious doubts about making out of this round.

To an extent, he is. Having Rafalski back is a game-breaker right now. These two teams are playing so damn close... adding a top 10 scoring defenseman to one would most definitely be a huge difference.

[Yzermania 156]

Raffy has an upper body swine flu.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Man, worse news of the day. I'm so sick of Anaheim getting bragging rights because they play with a healthy roster, and we're constantly down a pair of regular Dmen.

[MaynardJKeenan 1]

Man, worse news of the day. I'm so sick of Anaheim getting bragging rights because they play with a healthy roster, and we're constantly down a pair of regular Dmen.

QFT, I feel the same way. Same way it was in 07, which made the difference that year, imo. I can't stand losing to the Ducks and am not going to take it very good if lose again this year. Please hockey Gods, let Raffi get healthy or even things up by letting Pronger or Nieds get hurt/sick, lol.

[Hockeytown_Ryan 122]

Who knows what is going on with these guys... All i know is this is a playoff series where Raffy is a huge player and Drapes could make a huge difference in place of Malts.

All this "Upper Body" and "Lower Body" crap is just a huge front. Scotty used to have guys put Ice bags on just to get teams off their games. Who knows .... Bad tooth? hang nail? Athletes foot? what ever it is I hope it gets taken care so we can take care of business.....

[clutchngrab 12]

An upper body groin injury?

lol. There should be at least partial truth in advertising, eh?

[Vladifan 680]

Who knows what is going on with these guys... All i know is this is a playoff series where Raffy is a huge player and Drapes could make a huge difference in place of Malts.

All this "Upper Body" and "Lower Body" crap is just a huge front. Scotty used to have guys put Ice bags on just to get teams off their games. Who knows .... Bad tooth? hang nail? Athletes foot? what ever it is I hope it gets taken care so we can take care of business.....

Neeeuooo, not in place of Malts. In place of Kopecky, please. Why would you break those two up when they play so well together? BRING HELM ONTO THAT LINE.

Thank you.

[CenterIce 83]

By reading between the lines in the story, I think the groin theory for Rafalski is true. They say he has an upper body injury, but he didn't skate, today.

I think the Wings have to assume that they have to win this series without Draper and Rafalski. The coach keeps saying they are coming soon, but as we have seen with Draper, that is not much. They can win without them, but they have to have everyone step it up another notch. They played better as the game went along, Sunday, so that is a good sign for tomorrow. They need to get the intensity back that they had from the Columbus series. They have to take the play to Anaheim and not let Anaheim set the tone.

[Wingsallwin 0]

I hope the same story does not repeat this year as 07. In 2007, I remember we played pretty good, actually played better even though many people said the Ducks would win that series. That year, Kronwall, Schnider were out so we had to call up Quincey. The only D-man playing that year and this year is Lidstrom.

This year, however, we played far better than the Ducks and it is not Hiller is somewhat unbeatable. The thing is, we look to find the same spot to beat Hiller; most people say his weak part is upper part so we shot a lot but I do not know what happened but Hiller looked comfortable against upper body shots.

Raffy is a big piece of this team regardless of some people's comments "he is a liability defensively or he sucks blah blah blah.." I really do not know why some of important Wings players get injured during the Ducks series while the Ducks keep the roster healthy.

Minus Rafalksi is a big lose for us but it is not like we cannot win without Rafalski. We still have to find a way to beat the Ducks. I seriously do not think our defenses and 4th lines have been poor. They looked pretty look and shifted well. The thing is, the rest of the series must be decided by the status of our first line especially Datsyuk and Hossa. If they do not step up, this series will be too tough.

All of Ducks difference makers step up but not all of Wings difference makers have not stepped up yet.

[LidstromIsASuperhero 29]

I think having another elite puck moving d-man in this series would make a huge difference for us as well. Watching how anaheim is boxing out our forwards away from the net, having another player back there capable of quarterbacking the offense and allowing our forwards the necessary time to get to the front of the net to possibly pick up a rebound on or deflect a shot from the point would help us generate a lot of offense. Also, people seem to be forgetting that Datsyuk's line pretty much always played as a five man unit with Rafalski and Lidstrom so not having one of those two back there is naturally going to reduce the effectiveness of him and Hossa.

[shoe 165]

An upper body groin injury?

lol its his upper groin!

[Motown4013 350]

I think having another elite puck moving d-man in this series would make a huge difference for us as well. Watching how anaheim is boxing out our forwards away from the net, having another player back there capable of quarterbacking the offense and allowing our forwards the necessary time to get to the front of the net to possibly pick up a rebound on or deflect a shot from the point would help us generate a lot of offense. Also, people seem to be forgetting that Datsyuk's line pretty much always played as a five man unit with Rafalski and Lidstrom so not having one of those two back there is naturally going to reduce the effectiveness of him and Hossa.

On the positive, Erikkson has been playing very solid and Lids is playing his best hockey of the year! I think the boys will want Game 3 badly and hopefully we can pull it out tomorrow night and have Raffi back for Thursday!

[KrazyGangsta 79]

If we win tomorrow, I say give Rafalski off one more night just for him to be 110%.

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

If we win tomorrow, I say give Rafalski off one more night just for him to be 110%.

No way - as soon as he is cleared he will play - Raffy on the ice could be the minute difference between the Wings winning and losing a game, or the series. The Wings won't sit him for the hell of it in the POs....

[8 Legged RedWing 367]

Injuries suck...

[dragonballgtz 273]

I don't see how they can sit these 2 when Yzerman was playing on one leg.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

These guys have to win tomorrow, or Wings Nation is going to lose its collective gourd. We need some good friggin' news for a change.

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

I hope this is the "bad news" they are about to relay on the Ticket - not something else.

[uk_redwing 495]

He probably has swine flu. Theres no hope for him.

[yzefan 2]

I cant beleive how many of you are packing it in already. Come on ..we are in game 3 and the series is tied a 1 each. Relax and enjoy the rest of the victories that WILL be coming our way!!!

[CenterIce 83]

I cant beleive how many of you are packing it in already. Come on ..we are in game 3 and the series is tied a 1 each. Relax and enjoy the rest of the victories that WILL be coming our way!!!

Agreed.

[Blaayze 25]

Frick'n Ducks are so lucky.

Last time it was Schnieder and Kronwall, this time its Raffy, Lils, Drapes. Heres hoping for game 4 return for at least someone, (hopefully Raffy)

[j.hoop 64]

i envision the eye of the tiger starting up... and rafalski making his appearance, though thought to be scratched