51 replies to this topic

[GMRwings1983]

The 1995 team had Stu Grimson.


Close thread.

[GoWings1905]

The 1995 team had Stu Grimson.


Close thread.

Come on. That hardly compares to Tomas Kopecky enforcing with his face.

[frankgrimes]

Care to explain?

Sorry, but I don't agree with you. The pens deserved to win that series. The Wings drought in the last two games of that series really killed them. You can't win many games scoring only one goal in each game thats for sure.

I think he is refering to the changed schedule = less rest for the Wings and MORE for the Pens. Yes, the Pens deserved to win but the schedule was an absolute blowjob by the league.

[Crymson]

Care to explain?

Sorry, but I don't agree with you. The pens deserved to win that series. The Wings drought in the last two games of that series really killed them. You can't win many games scoring only one goal in each game thats for sure.

Deserved to win that series? lol. Tell me, do you think that Malkin would have scored goals had he had Datsyuk, the world's best defensive forward and in the midst of the best season of his career, riding him the entire series? Yeah, probably not. Do you think that the Wings might have scored more goals with a healthy Datsyuk, Hossa, Holmstrom, Franzen, Cleary, Lidstrom, and Rafalski? Yeah, I think so.

Had the Wings that extra week to heal, the series would have been a cakewalk.

[thegerkin]

The 1995 Devils finals was worse by far compared to the 2009 Pittsburg finals. The 1995 team was due for a huge bump in the road. Things were just a bit "too" good going into the finals. Being swept was a huge punch in the gut. The Pittsburgh loss didn't hurt as much (all finals losses are soul-crushing). Whereas the 1995 finals was a choke by Detroit, the 2009 finals was a fantastic series. Being in Game 7 in the finals is always a huge fight and we got to watch a great game even though we, well, you know the result.

So, my answer is the 1995 Finals vs. New Jersey.

[Nightfall]

Deserved to win that series? lol. Tell me, do you think that Malkin would have scored goals had he had Datsyuk, the world's best defensive forward and in the midst of the best season of his career, riding him the entire series? Yeah, probably not. Do you think that the Wings might have scored more goals with a healthy Datsyuk, Hossa, Holmstrom, Franzen, Cleary, Lidstrom, and Rafalski? Yeah, I think so.

Had the Wings that extra week to heal, the series would have been a cakewalk.

Thats the worst copout I have ever heard. In the history of the NHL, the finals have never been delayed a week to allow players to heal.

[GoWings1905]

The Red Wings won their series against Chicago in five games and had to turn around and play a back-to-back in the finals. When has that ever happened?

[The Axe]

Oh, boy. Crymson vs. Axe, round #174.

Sorry, but ive learned over the years that winning the stanley cup requires as much luck with injury avoidance as it does skill. Shanny and Yzerman hurt their ankles and bam- 1st round exit to the fricking Kings.

[Jedi]

Thats the worst copout I have ever heard. In the history of the NHL, the finals have never been delayed a week to allow players to heal.

It wasn't so much that the league would have given them an extra week to heal solely for the purpose of healing, it was the fact that the league was backed into a scheduling corner with NBC for games 1 & 2 of the finals (VS aired games 3 & 4). That week was NBC's Sweeps week, as well as the first week that Conan O'Brien hosted The Tonight Show, taking over from Jay Leno. NBC had invested FAR too heavily in that one week to have to bump programming mid-week so the NHL could get two broadcasts in. So the NHL's choice was to either schedule games 1 & 2 for Saturday & Sunday, or face an entire week off, which could be harmful to viewership of the finals with so much time off between series.

People also forget that Pittsburgh eliminated Carolina in the ECF on May 26th, whereas Detroit finished Chicago in the WCF on May 27th. So the Penguins really only had one day of rest more than Detroit (with game 1 of the SCF starting on May 30th). One extra day would have helped, I'm sure, but I wouldn't consider it back-breaking, by any stretch. Especially since we won games 1 & 2 anyway...

[cusimano_brothers]

Conan>NHL. I laugh...but it really happened.
Besides, Uncle Gary saw the upside and could smell the ratings available with a Saturday/Sunday start to the '09 SCF.
The players be damned.

[Crymson]

Thats the worst copout I have ever heard. In the history of the NHL, the finals have never been delayed a week to allow players to heal.

I see you chose to ignore the much more important segment of my post in favor of simply responding to the last sentence. Why?

[Nightfall]

I see you chose to ignore the much more important segment of my post in favor of simply responding to the last sentence. Why?

My statement of "The worst copout" was in regards to your entire post. Not just the last sentence.

[GMRwings1983]

I hate these excuses.  

 

Our team overcame a lot to make it that far, but should have been able to use home ice advantage to win game 7 somehow.  Instead, the Wings didn't start playing game 7 until the third period.  

 

Of course injuries mattered, but that's a part of playoff hockey.  No one said winning the Cup was easy.  

 

The Pens had to overcome a lot of adversity too, being down 2-0 and then 3-2, and having to play on the road in game 7.  No team had won a game 7 in the Finals on the road in almost 40 years prior to that.   

[Crymson]

My statement of "The worst copout" was in regards to your entire post. Not just the last sentence.

 

Ah, so injuries to nearly all of a team's star players matters not at all. Something tells me you'd be saying differently had the Wings won while Malkin was injured.

[The Axe]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Crymson" data-cid="2336990" data-time="1356747201"><p>
 <br />
Ah, so injuries to nearly all of a team's star players matters not at all. Something tells me you'd be saying differently had the Wings won while Malkin was injured.</p></blockquote>

It makes a lot of difference, but it does the same to each team.

[Nightfall]

Ah, so injuries to nearly all of a team's star players matters not at all. Something tells me you'd be saying differently had the Wings won while Malkin was injured.

 

Using it as an excuse in the SCF is.  Every team is banged up.  Its a war of attrition.  I give the Pens full marks for winning game 6 and game 7 of that series and winning the cup.  To say that they won because of Bettman, the schedule, poor health, luck, and so on is really just a cop out.  The Wings were beaten fair and square.  To not give the Pens credit is a show of poor sportsmanship IMHO.

[haroldsnepsts]

I hate these excuses.  

 

Our team overcame a lot to make it that far, but should have been able to use home ice advantage to win game 7 somehow.  Instead, the Wings didn't start playing game 7 until the third period.  

 

Of course injuries mattered, but that's a part of playoff hockey.  No one said winning the Cup was easy.  

 

The Pens had to overcome a lot of adversity too, being down 2-0 and then 3-2, and having to play on the road in game 7.  No team had won a game 7 in the Finals on the road in almost 40 years prior to that.   

This. 

 

People can talk about injuries, but that's the game.  The Wings were fortunate in 2008 regarding injuries and played some badly injured opponents.  

 

Thems the breaks. 

[irishock]

Also fortunate we didn't have to face Anaheim or San Jose in 2008. 

 

Pens were lucky they didn't have to see Boston right after going 7 games with Washington.

Edited by irishock, 28 December 2012 - 11:58 PM.

[Nev]

96>95>09

 

Really, we over-achieved in 2009.  We sucked through most of the regular season, defence and goaltending were horrible and it was only the much-maligned Hossa's goals that saved us on a nightly basis.  Even in the playoffs we didn't play that well as a team, and it was only Ozzie returning to 2008 form that carried us to the finals.

 

Then in the finals, we were actually outplayed in 6 of the 7 games, which given our injury list is no surprise.  Just to recap for everyone

 

Datsyuk - broken foot

Hossa - torn rotator cuff

Clearly - double groin tear

Ericsson - emergency appendectomy, came back after 1 game

Rafalski - separated shoulder AND herniated disc

Lidstrom - emergency ******** save, came back after 1 game

Kopecky - out with broken jaw

Lilja - out with broken brain

Holmstrom - no specific injury, but so badly beat up he was contemplating retirement

 

Now compare that to our 2008 injury list which was just Filpulla (playing with strained knee ligaments).  Then look what happened in 2007 when Schneider and Kronwall both went down.  Babcock admitted that he felt physically sick when he knew Schneider was done.  Its also telling that Babs, Mr Hard-ass, Mr Win-itdoesn'tmatterhowjustwin, spoke with pride about the team after they lost in 2009.  It was totally unBabcockian, to praise a team that had just blown game 7 at how to win the cup.  Because he knew, they had over-acheived getting that far, and once Fleury had stopped giving us 1 or 2 softies per game, we had no chance.

[LeftWinger]

Deserved to win that series? lol. Tell me, do you think that Malkin would have scored goals had he had Datsyuk, the world's best defensive forward and in the midst of the best season of his career, riding him the entire series? Yeah, probably not. Do you think that the Wings might have scored more goals with a healthy Datsyuk, Hossa, Holmstrom, Franzen, Cleary, Lidstrom, and Rafalski? Yeah, I think so.

Had the Wings that extra week to heal, the series would have been a cakewalk.

Dead horse I know, but if Malkin had been suspended for Game 3 like he was supposed to be (until Uncle Gary recinded the instigator penalty citing that "the game needs its stars to play") then Malkin wouldn't had been able to factor in to ALL the goals (except the EN)

 

If Detroit goes up 3 games to ZERO in that series, Detroit wins back-back Cups...Again! But Uncle Gary couldn't have that happen now could he?