I agree 100% with this.
I'm waiting for one of the NHL commercials to feature Konstantinov on the ice getting the Cup from The Captain right after winning it in Washington.
"History can make grown men cry."
My poor Vladdy, I still have your jersey hanging in my closet. Minus one self centered limo driver this team would have a couple more cups.
Yup, the Caps made it further than the Pens this year so it's sour grapes for Pen fans.
All in all, Tampa finished only 4 points behind Washington so it wasn't a huge upset. I'd give Boudreau 1 more year with his new system and trade Backstrom and Green for high priced veteran defensemen who can play solid D behind young Carlson/Alzner. Move Mojo up to take Backstrom's spot on the first line and acquire a cheap center for the third line, hell they can't do any worse. Obviously this would only be if they can keep Arnott.
I was rooting for the caps. I thought the caps were going to sweep TB. Not sure how they got owned so badly by a team that had to go to 7 games against the pens without crosby and malkin.
Bruce B. looked flushed and confused on the Caps bench, and it only got worse. Guy B. paced like a caged lion, and you could read the intensity in his eyes. You don't have to know what was said in the locker room to see the marked difference in the attitude and energy coming from the players on both benches.
Guy B. is a scary guy. He looks like he kills people for the mob for a living.
waah, waah, it was a stupid joke. don't get too butt hurt over it.
Oh look, TB up by 1 now.
The Wings fans will be behind TB since it's Yzerman's team. After Friday I'll start cheering for them.PHI-DET would have been a great draw. BOS-DET as well. Can you imagine if the SCF is TB-NSH? Would NBC just not show any of the finals?
Tied again. We're awesome at evening up the score...
TB was the scariest team going into the playoffs and they're the best team still in it. They're well coached, play good defense, and have enough offensive firepower to force you to try and do the same.
I didn't want the Flyers to have to play them, and it looks like I'm getting my wish for the wrong reason.
I gotta root for someone else to win the East, though, because they will be a ratings nightmare in the finals. The league needs all the exposure it can get right now.
Boston (or, by some miracle, Philly) out of the east is a lot better for the league than Tampa. Especially because if its not Detroit out of the West (again, miracle-type odds), it won't be a major market team. I don't mean that as a slight to Vancouver, it's just that Americans don't tune in to watch the Canadian teams, and I'd really like hockey to get more popular in the US.
PHI-DET would have been a great draw. BOS-DET as well. Can you imagine if the SCF is TB-NSH? Would NBC just not show any of the finals?
I just don't get some of the Wings players. The second and third line players are playing with zero heart right now. I cannot wait till the day we can get rid of Bert, Flip, Homer and Hudler. These guys have just simple vanished this series, they are not even making an effort to compete out there. It's amazing how a 40 year old Lidstrom and 39 year old Draper could play with such passion after all these years but those guys cannot. Also how strange that Friday could be the last game for both of them.
In the words of most Red Wings right now
LET'S GO BOLTS!!!
The Wings fans will be behind TB since it's Yzerman's team. After Friday I'll start cheering for them.
Aren't those 4 you mentioned locked up in pretty big contracts? Was listening to one of the Detroit execs on Home Ice last night (their president?), and they asked him about some of those guys (like Bert) locked up in big contracts and if he thought they could win with the current team. He said he thought so, and felt they weren't going to change much... just that the puck wasn't going their way. He said Howard is their goalie for the future and he still felt they could pull off the series.
Home Ice asked him about splitting Zetterberg/Datsyuk and he said they actually preferred to do it since it extends their depth at Center since their next best option is Filppula. The only reason the two were paired, according to him, was because Zetterberg wasn't fully healed and it would ease his workload by being on the same line as Datsyuk. /shrug
RE: Howard in goal for the future, I'm not positive that he's the answer yet. Niemi is outplaying him (for example allowing Setogucchi's soft 2nd goal in game 3, out of position for the OT winner), albeit the games have been pretty close.
No big contracts on those guys but Bert and Homer are signed with NTC next year, Flip has 2 full years left, Hudler has 1 more year. The Wings will look damn near the same next year but like I said I cannot wait till those players are gone.
Bert is not a legit second liner and should be playing 3rd line minutes. His desire, turnovers, work ethic are all pathetic. He is a shadow of the player he use to be and he cannot be relied on to produce consistently.
Flip isn't the true second line point producer the Wings need and he won't be IMO. Sure he can play defense but he cannot seem to take his game to another level when needed. Games 1 and 2 of this series is an example. With Z and D were together no other line was doing squat and the Wings cannot be a one line team come playoff time. Teams like that don't get far and it's being proven in this series since he cannot step up his game and produce when needed.
Hudler just got softer after last year in the KHL.
Homer isn't Homer any more. He can be used on the PP but that's about it. It's time for him to hang them up.
Mule is the only one with a long contract that has not lived up to expectations of level of play. Mr. Playoffs has left the building this year.
Really when it comes down to it the Wings depth is to inconsistent to be relied upon.
http://www.csnwashington.com/05/05/...o-mon/landing.html?blockID=517501&feedID=9656I dont want to say too much but it was way more serious than all you people were thinking, Boudreau said. There was a reason why he wasnt practicing to save himself for the game. You know that when somethings wrong, somethings [really] wrong and hes never going to be one of those guys that sits there and takes days off. He would take a practice off so he could play in the game.
Ovechkin admitted to being hurt and intimated it could be more than one injury.
"I have a couple of injuries," he said. "But it is what it is, I get hurt, everybody gets hurt."