jpfalcon09

They gotta sell a series folks. They're gonna make every attempt at making Dallas sound like they're competing in the game, and they played hard tonight, no doubt. Not everyone is gonna kiss Red Wing ass in the media. That'll happen if the Red Wings lift the Cup in early June. Take it for what it is and move on, these guys are paid to sell the game.

Forslund is the Hurricanes announcer, Brickley is the Bruins color man. Billy Jaffe will be inside the glass.

Forslund and Brickley are doing the Wings game tonight. If you don't like the commentary, mute the sound and put on music or something. The reason why they can chat is because the game is there for you to SEE, not to HEAR. Try doing hockey on radio, then we'll talk, the TV boys get a break since the action is for you to see.

Shanny being gone is a good thing. He's old, slow, and has no shot anymore. He needs to retire after this season, he's been pretty sad in the playoffs so far. If you miss him so much, go root for the Rangers. I'll gladly take Franzen in his place.

Avs fans are gonna do whatever they can to find hope and rationalize what's going on. I can't blame them for trying to find some light at the end of a dark tunnel. Stranger things have happened in hockey, and for the Avs it only takes one win to gain confidence and turn around a series.

All Ron has to do is yell HANTA YO BABY! and he'll turn into Crazy Horse and raise hell against the rest of the league. Maybe then his team will start to play, knowing their coach can kill them at any point.

There wouldn't be any hockey on tonight if it were on ESPN, so be happy the game is being televised.

Ron was mumbling "Hanta Yo!" to himself.

Detroit - Nothing changes, a full 60 minute effort will yield good results. The Avs cannot match the depth of the Red Wings. Colorado - The Avs need a stronger forecheck, and will have to clog up the neutral zone to win. Joel's system right now isn't working, as the Red Wings have much more skill than the Avs do. Expect Colorado to try to jam things up and capitalize on turnovers.

Ya know, it's a shame that the Red Wings every year can't have 12 forwards who score 50 goals. A lot of your expectations on here for a 2nd-3rd line winger are way too high, especially under the salary cap. Take a look at the other teams in the league, and see how many of them have a player like Sammy who is interchangeable through the lineup, and who can contribute on a semi-regular basis. He had 41 points this season, which all said and done is pretty damn good for a player who only gets 15-16 minutes of ice time every night. I've coached players like Sammy who are good shut down and role guys, and they are vitally important to the chemistry of a team's lines. If you can think of a suggestion to replace Sammy who is a shut down forward, can stickhandle, can hit, gets to the puck to the net and who stays out of the box, then let me know. It won't be Hudler and it won't be Maltby. For $1.2 million, he's a pretty damn good deal once you get past all the usual "he shoots too much" crap. Some of you need to learn how to evaluate talent.

Theo will play so long as he isn't sick. Quenneville isn't gonna bench the guy who got them to the 2nd Round unless he has good reason to. Budaj played well, although he wasn't tested nearly as much. Budaj played well against the Wings this year during the season too, so I don't really it should matter who plays.

I thought he was pretty good tonight, he's gonna do what he's gonna do, but he's a very good shut down forward, which in the playoffs you can never have enough of. He's not gonna get benched, so why complain about his play? I guess Hudler should be benched since he was a -2 tonight. Seriously. Give up on the Sammy should be benched bandwagon, he's not going anywhere.

The NBC/Versus drinking game: Take one drink every time: Mike Emrick says " BIG DRIIIVE, WAFFLEBOARDED, CANCELED OUT or KNIFED AWAY" Pierre McGuire insults a team Someone gives an incorrect stat Ed Olcyzk wants a penalty called when none is coming Ed calls Mike "Doc" and Mike calls Ed "Edzo" Anytime Versus plays a bull-riding commercial Take two drinks every time: Bill Patrick discusses the intermission show Beninati says "BOMBS AWAY" Emrick confuses one player for another Anytime McGuire says that a team's bench is "communicating well" Whenever a coach is interviewed behind the bench Take three drinks every time: Emrick announces a save with ultra-descriptive words Ed Olcyzk refers to his playing or coaching career Emrick talks about former Devils players now on other teams You may add others.

Weiman's listed on the official Avs roster. The Wings can do the same with Howard if they so choose. Not uncommon to see that, especially since injuries can occur.

Al swung one in the zamboni area when the doors were closed.