vegas_shark

Thanks guys. I guess my earlier post touched a raw nerve in some LGW members. I understand . . . and it was not my intention. As a Sharks fan it's not always easy to come over here and keep things friendly. Detroit has always been like a more successful older brother to us and we'd like to see our boys drink from the big shiny silver thing someday soon, just like you have so many times over the years. Any way, good luck tonight. I wouldn't mind seeing this series go a few more games.

Alrighty then. I post an encouraging message about the greatness of you beloved team and their chances to come back in this series. About the quality of some of your veteran players who may retire when this season is over. And you light me up? Stay classy dude. Sharks in 4!

With 20 consecutive seasons in the playoffs, six SCF appearances and four Cups in the last 15 seasons, the Red Wings have been the closest thing the NHL has had to a dynasty over the last two decades. Winning the fourth game in a playoff series is always tough, but to do it at The Joe, against a great team like the Wings is even tougher. Take it from a guy who knows both teams that will line-up against each other in Game 4. You may recall that you guys whipped our asses pretty good in Game 4 last year. If, however, the Sharks learned their lesson from last year's beatdown and look like they're going to get the sweep this time around, enjoy watching what could be the final games for some of the classiest players in the league. Here's the link to a nice tribute to these guys from ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.g...erre&id=6487568 Whether your season ends after Game 4 or you live to fight another day, Red Wings fans have a lot to be proud of. Lace 'em up . . . drop the puck . . . and may the best team win.

As you can tell by my handle . . . Sharks fan living in Las Vegas which makes it tough to figure out what freakin' channel Game 3 will be on. But we're all hockey fans here so here's what I found out. Drumnj and Wingsinaz are correct. I know this to be true because I talked to a guy in scheduling at the NHL office in NYC and a guy in programming at Versus in Philly. Versus will have exclusive rights to Bruins-Flyers at 7:00pm EDT and plans to join Sharks-Wings whenever the first game ends. But Versus does not have exclusive rights to Sharks-Wings so it will air on FSN-Detroit and CSN-California for anyone in those local territories or anyone outside the local territories who subscribe to CI or GCL. The guy at Versus also told me Sharks-Wings would be on VS-Alternate at 8:00pm EDT although it might flip to the VS primary channel when the Bruins-Flyers game is over. But, as always, your ability to actually watch or record this game may be affected by your cable/satellite provider. My question is . . . why do you Red Wings fans want to watch the Sharks win again??

Greetings Wing-Nuts! So we meet again. Nice to see the overflowing optimism from the LGW posters. This is gonna be one hell of a series. An all out war that I think goes the limit. The Sharks D-corps and goaltending mostly sucked vs. LA, but were outstanding in the last half of the season. I expect our boys to play up to the level of a quality opponent in the WCSF. As is true of most playoff series, I think goaltending and special teams will decide this one. I also think, like many series between equally matched teams, a role player from the third or fourth line will be a deciding factor. The Wings destroyed the Yotes but, after sitting around for 10 days, will they be able to turn on the playoff intensity again? But rehashing last year's series is meaningless. References to either team's first round series is pretty useless as certain teams always match-up better or worse with others. When the puck drops on Friday night it's gonna be about the team that works harder and wants it more. About which team is willing to make the sacrifices and pay the price to win. Good luck Detroit, and may the best team in this series go on to win the Cup.

Honest assessment. And I've been down that road all too often with the Sharks. BTW, Nick will be OK. Four rings and a sure spot in the HHOF should make him feel good about his career.

Nice to see a couple of my Feeder buddies, Fab & Doom, weighing in with their opinions here. Not to be disrespectful, but I would like to know. Given the way the first three games have gone, how many of the LGW faithful really believe you can win four straight against us?

1. Will it be over quick? - Tonight . . . or Saturday at the latest. Wings had their hearts ripped out Tuesday night. They'll try to bring their best, but in the back of their minds, they know this series is over. 2. Will your Sharks give you a scare? - They always scare me. You never know when they'll cough-up the puck in their own zone or completely miss a defensive assignment. But as much as they scare me, I think they are also scaring the Red Wings players just a little. 3. Do the Wings playing with nothing to lose worry you? - Seems to me the Wings have everything to lose. Their season could be over tonight. But no matter what the situation, playing the Wings at The Joe always worries me. 4. If it goes to game 7 who wins? - It won't go to a Game 7. 5. If they lose this series who do you want traded/released/fired? - It won't go to a Game 7. It's gonna be an epic battle tonight. Good luck and may the best team win.

As a Sharks fan and a long time member of The Feeder/Let's Go Sharks site, let me start by saying (in my best Bill Clinton voice) "I feel your pain." Last night's game had to be devastating for true Wings fans, as I know all too well from seeing my Sharks cough-up so many playoff games in years past. But, keep the faith because this series ain't over yet. Sure, a team coming back from an 0-3 playoff hole has only been done twice before, but if it is to be done, yours is the team to get it done. An organization as good as the Red Wings will not, and should not believe all is lost. When the series started I felt the biggest factor would be between the pipes and, after Howard's performance in Game 3, maybe starting Ozzie would be a wise choice. The guy has always had the magic touch in the playoffs. Other than that . . . I got nothin'. You guys have had the great fortune of having the most successful team in the NHL over the past decade or so. But as someone from LGW posted last night over at The Feeder, maybe 10 playoff series' in the last 2+ years is starting to catch up to Detroit and maybe it's finally our time to spend a little quality time with the big shiny thing. For the Sharks to win this series, after all of their past failures, would be huge. And winning it against the Red Wings would be what would make it special. Anyway, good luck Thursday night and may the best team win.

Thought I'd chime in here after watching you guys thoroughly embarrass my guys last night. No excuses, this was just a good old-fashoned ass-whippin' and the final score is about what you'd expect when one team plays well and the other doesn't. Nabokov set the tone with his peewee-like whiffs on Franzen and Datsyuk and at that point, I knew it wouldn't be our night. But full credit to the Wings who continually backed our D-men in, giving them time and space to execute their deadly offense as well as terrific forecheck and neutral zone pressure that forced the Sharks into numerous giveaways and dump-outs on their possessions. Personally, in some ways, I am glad that this happened. We needed to get slapped around a bit to get us back to playing like we did earlier in the season. And you are right when you remind us that, based on our past playoff performances, we ain't done nothing yet. But what I will be looking at is what happens Saturday, at home against the Rangers. And Tuesday against the Canucks. And our next road trip to St. Louis, Dallas and Minny. As you guys know, it's how a team responds to adversity. If we bounce back with four or five wins we'll know that things will be different this spring, that this is an improved version of a very good team. If not, it'll probably mean tee-times in May again for the Sharks while the Wings skate into June. But I'm still hoping for a Sharks-Wings WCF this season. That is when winning really matters. Until the 17th of January . . . good luck.