Zetterberg & Cleary will play vs LA!

[Miller Brew 0]

That second line would make me kill myself by the end of the first period, at which time the score would be 65 - 0, and Homer/Bert/Abby would all be -65.

Exaggerate much?

[gcom007 1,465]

So let me ask you a question. In the playoffs the last 2 years if we switched goalies with any of the teams we faced do you think the winner of the series changes? .....Me either.

Oh yeah, this is still a stupid ass question. You're out of your mind if you think Osgood wasn't a huge part of our success both years. I don't think we would have won with Conklin. I certainly don't think we would have won with Hasek. Aside from giving us a chance every game, Osgood gave the team a tremendous amount of confidence last year. When you've got the best goalie in the playoffs playing for you, it helps every aspect of your game. Make no mistake of that.

2008:

Predators: Tough to say considering Hasek and when Osgood came in, but probably not as Ellis was solid for the Preds so it would've balanced out as opposed to Hasek utterly s***ting the bed.

Avalanche: No.

Stars: Good chance. Imagine if we had Turco and then had to face Osgood. They'd score a lot more and we'd score a lot less. It would've been a lot closer than it ever was and I think Dallas very well could've pulled it off if Osgood played as well for him as he did for us and Turco did what Turco does more often than not...

Pittsburgh: Yes. We got the best of Fleury in his first outing and Osgood got us off to a great start posting two straight shutouts in games 1 and 2 against a very potent offense. Pittsburgh went on to play a lot better as did Fleury, but what ultimately set us up to beat the Penguins was Osgood's two shutouts in the opener. If Osgood was able to pull off such a feat for Pittsburgh in the same year, I absolutely believe we would lose the series. Again, Osgood posted two shutouts to open up the Cup Finals against Pittsburgh. I guess that's no big deal...

2009:

Blue Jackets: No.

Ducks: Probably not, but maybe. Osgood never s*** the bed in the playoffs sans that weird game 4 against Columbus in which something was wrong. I don't remember what the deal was, but it wasn't like he just had a bad game. There was some strange injury or dehydration issue if I remember correctly and we still won. But he never dropped the ball the rest of the playoffs whereas Hiller really had that one rough game. In a series that goes to 7 games, you need your goalie to give you a chance in every game. Osgood did that, Hiller didn't. So do I think there's a chance that Anaheim could've beaten us? Yeah. Unlikely, but more possible than you want to think.

Blackhawks: Probably not. Less likely than Anaheim, but possible. Don't forget, 3 of the 5 games were one goal games, and there was the blowout win when we faced a cold Huet after Bulin when down.

Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh would have won either way. They might've won in less games with Osgood though, who again, was the only goalie to post a shutout in the series.

Edited January 7, 2010 by gcom007

[Theophany 110]

Exaggerate much?

HAY WUTS HYPERBOLE AND CAN IT BE USED AS A RHETORICAL DEVICE?

:facepalm:

[shoe 165]

looking ahead does this mean oz is in for San Jose? or maybe long island next week? Probably depends on how well Howard plays in LA.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I haven't read the entire thread, but is Babs putting the ZDH line together because he doesn't want Z overworked at Center in his first game back? Dats and Bert have really found a nice chemistry together and its not as if Babs has ever been shy of splitting Z and D up.

Just in time for Datsyuk and Bertuzzi to go down!

Well aren't you a treat.

[mmamolo 287]

I don't think Babs will split Pavs and Bert come game time, so much chemistry between em.

The lines will be:

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Zetterberg-Filppula-Cleary

Draper-Helm-Eaves

Miller-Abdelkader-Maltby

There are a few points I want to make:

1. I think Babcock will start the game with ZDH and Bert/Flip/Cleary because until he sees where Zetterberg and Cleary's legs are at he wont want them both on the ice at the same time. Also, right now I don't think there is much to be gained by putting Filppula on the 3rd line and having Datsyuk and Zetterberg centering the top 2 lines because then you demote Helm and split up the DHE line. Once the game gets rolling if Zetterberg and Cleary are looking sharp I think you might see Zetterberg and Bertuzzi switch spots and we get back to the chemistry we know should be there with:

Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Holmstrom

Zetterberg - Filppula - Cleary

2. In all hoensty, despite how strong Howard has been, I was surprised Osgood didn't get the nod tonight. Seven starts in a row is a lot. That being said, I don't thnk it's always a good idea to have massive changes across your entire line up. You want some stability. So havign Osgood start after such a long break when both Cleary and Zetterberg are returning the coaching staff may have felt that there might be too much rust with all three of them. Either way, I'd be blown away if Osgood didn't start against SJ....well unless Howard is lights out and posts a shut out.

3. With all these players returning I think Leino may be riding the pine quite a bit. It's really unfortunate but right now you can't justify putting him in the line up ahead of Miller or ABdelkader. It'll be interesting to see how this plays itself out.

[edicius 3,269]

Howard to start 7th consecutive game as well, poor osgood

After that crap game Howard had against Anaheim? Yikes. Mind you, the rest of the team looked like garbage too, but Howard was really shaky. I'm worried how he's going to bounce back against a GOOD team like Los Angeles.

[edicius 3,269]

ZDH and Bertuzzi-Filppula-Cleary?

Badass!

[Pucks 66]

Oh yeah, this is still a stupid ass question. You're out of your mind if you think Osgood wasn't a huge part of our success both years. I don't think we would have won with Conklin. I certainly don't think we would have won with Hasek. Aside from giving us a chance every game, Osgood gave the team a tremendous amount of confidence last year. When you've got the best goalie in the playoffs playing for you, it helps every aspect of your game. Make no mistake of that.

2008:

Predators: Tough to say considering Hasek and when Osgood came in, but probably not as Ellis was solid for the Preds so it would've balanced out as opposed to Hasek utterly s***ting the bed.

Avalanche: No.

Stars: Good chance. Imagine if we had Turco and then had to face Osgood. They'd score a lot more and we'd score a lot less. It would've been a lot closer than it ever was and I think Dallas very well could've pulled it off if Osgood played as well for him as he did for us and Turco did what Turco does more often than not...

Pittsburgh: Yes. We got the best of Fleury in his first outing and Osgood got us off to a great start posting two straight shutouts in games 1 and 2 against a very potent offense. Pittsburgh went on to play a lot better as did Fleury, but what ultimately set us up to beat the Penguins was Osgood's two shutouts in the opener. If Osgood was able to pull off such a feat for Pittsburgh in the same year, I absolutely believe we would lose the series. Again, Osgood posted two shutouts to open up the Cup Finals against Pittsburgh. I guess that's no big deal...

2009:

Blue Jackets: No.

Ducks: Probably not, but maybe. Osgood never s*** the bed in the playoffs sans that weird game 4 against Columbus in which something was wrong. I don't remember what the deal was, but it wasn't like he just had a bad game. There was some strange injury or dehydration issue if I remember correctly and we still won. But he never dropped the ball the rest of the playoffs whereas Hiller really had that one rough game. In a series that goes to 7 games, you need your goalie to give you a chance in every game. Osgood did that, Hiller didn't. So do I think there's a chance that Anaheim could've beaten us? Yeah. Unlikely, but more possible than you want to think.

Blackhawks: Probably not. Less likely than Anaheim, but possible. Don't forget, 3 of the 5 games were one goal games, and there was the blowout win when we faced a cold Huet after Bulin when down.

Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh would have won either way. They might've won in less games with Osgood though, who again, was the only goalie to post a shutout in the series.

C'mon man you forgot one simple point in all of this you wrote. The fact we'd be shooting on Osgood in all these match ups. Can you imagine Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Hossa, etc. shooting against Osgood. They'd light him up man sorry. He's a decent goalie that played well for us but any team that we played that had Osgood in their net would have lost to us.

[Pucks 66]

Glad that those guys are coming back. I'm not sure how much they will provide tonight, I just hope they comeback and don't get hurt again.

[mmamolo 287]

So long as they make strides to getting back into the swing of things tonight I'd be happy. I dont need to see a hat trick by Zetterberg tonight. SO long as we're moving in a positive direction and ppl stay healthy then I'm happy. Goals and Wins will come