Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Hannibal]

Awful awful end to the season.

The team simply doesn't look hungry, and they don't play with the discipline that won them their last cup.

[Hannibal]

"pop!" go the Red Wings chances. Against a goalie as hot as Pekka-head, we have no chance of winning the next 3.

Eh. Rinne is probably beatable. Problem is, Wings are helping him pad his stats by shooting their customary 35 shots a game from the blue line into his chest protector.

[Optimus Prime]

Quick v. Rinne will be a battle!

[Mike]

The Canadiens still holding down 15th in the East?

Gentlemen, please take OP's comments with a grain of salt. He's actually a very knowledgable hockey fan but pretends not to be every spring in an attempt to ruffle some feathers among the Red Wing faithful. I refer to it as his period. It's difficult to blame him when his favorite team finished dead fucking last in the Eastern Conference and his adopted son, Alexi Bure-Crosby, is an international disgrace, captaining a team with a GAA of 7.33 in the playoffs - largely due to his refusal to play on his team's side of the ice.

As for the Wings, I don't buy the "weren't ready to play" complaint. They were outshooting Nashville 32-12 early in the 3rd with NUMEROUS quality scoring chances. They just didn't cash in - much like Game 3 - and Rinne stood on his again. IMO, Detroit has been the better team for much of the series they just haven't any puck luck. Nashville got two gift goals in Game 1 and their first one tonight was a deflection off Abdelkader's leg that went out front to a wide open Pred for the slam dunk. The Wings have had to earn all their goals - no dumb luck. However, Nashville's 2nd goal in the third was perhaps the most disgusting thing I've ever seen from a Red Wing team in 25 years. That play alone might end up signifying the end of the dynasty. Just awful.

[Mike]

Quick v. Rinne will be a battle!

True dat. Although, St. Louis will be heard from in the West. I'll be pulling for them shortly.

[Optimus Prime]

Mike I am kidding, we do this every year! Hot goaltenders will steal a series, Vancouver and Detroit faced hot goalies, no shame. Pittsburgh simply Choked! Which is far worse.

[Hannibal]

Rinne isn't stealing the series. In order to steal the series, he would actually have to be making tough saves. He isn't. He swallows up pucks fired from the blue line with no traffic in front and holds them for a faceoff. Nor is Nashville getting lucky. Good things happen when the other team decides to give you odd man rushes or leave a guy wide open five feet from the net like the first guy out for practice. That's how Nashville has been scoring.

[Mike]

OP, I know. I feel obligated to give you shit!

Hanni, Rinne has made several beauties in tight. The one on Cleary early on tonight was outstanding and there have been many more. Too often Detroit hasn't cashed in on great opportunities and that's been the difference coupled with some lucky bounces for Nashville. There's no way you can say the first two goals of game one weren't fortunate for the Preds. The first one is a centering pass to NOBODY in front of the Detroit net that deflects in off Stuart's leg. The second goal of the game was the 60 foot wrister that deflected off a stick and changed course on Howard. Tonight the first goal for Nashville went off Abdelkader's leg right to a Pred on the doorstep for the slam dunk. NONE of those 3 goals were the result of a great play by Nashville. Just dumb luck but that's playoff hockey. I don't think there's a single player with his name on the Cup that wouldn't say you need to have a little luck go your way to win the Cup. Obviously, the better teams tend to compete deep into the playoffs but often times when teams are very evenly matched a bounce here or there decides it and that's what has happened with this series.

However, the Buffoonery Bomb is unacceptable for the first week of training camp.

[Hannibal]

The save on Cleary was an easy one. Rinne had his pad down before the pass was even made. He didn't have to move to stop it and Cleary didn't lift the puck. Rinne didn't have to move across the crease to make a save all night long, and he could have left his blocker and glove in the locker room and still made pretty much every save. This is just like almost every other series that the Wings have lost in the past 15 years -- they are being stymied by good defense and making the opposing goaltender look good by firing shitloads of pucks from bad angles and long distances.

The guy who scored the first goal for Nashville looked like the target of the pass anyways. He was wide ass open for that goal -- looked like a blown assignment to me. There have been a few pucks that have drifted out in front of Rinne. The difference is, Nashville doesn't leave our guys wide open down low. They also don't turn the puck over in their own zone like we do, which leads to quick goals. The Wings are like a football offense than can move the ball all day, but can't score and are always finding a way to turn the ball over.

That second and third goals for Nashville were pitiful, and perfectly representative of what we have seen out of the Red Wings since their last Cup. It's not luck. It's discipline and desire. You could see it happening as early as the '08-'09 season, but the salary cap hadn't caught up to them yet. Now that it has caught up with a vengeance and we haven't been able to reload, the Wings don't have enough talent to win games where they make a few big mistakes in their own zone.

[Tom W]

Rinne isn't stealing the series. In order to steal the series, he would actually have to be making tough saves. He isn't. He swallows up pucks fired from the blue line with no traffic in front and holds them for a faceoff. Nor is Nashville getting lucky. Good things happen when the other team decides to give you odd man rushes or leave a guy wide open five feet from the net like the first guy out for practice. That's how Nashville has been scoring.

I would have to agree with that. It was pretty clear midway through the game last night, when the shot total was 3:1 in the Wings favor, and Nashville hadn't gotten a single shot in what seemed like forever, that some crappy goal was going to win it for the Preds.

We've seen this before, mostly against those Calfornia teams, and it's maddening. Nobody on the Wings seems to be stepping up- even Lidstrom seems to have already moved back to Sweden.

[Paul L]

Nashville's 2nd goal in the third was perhaps the most disgusting thing I've ever seen from a Red Wing team in 25 years. That play alone might end up signifying the end of the dynasty. Just awful.

That pretty much sums up the Wings these past two months.

Piss
Poor

[entropy]

That pretty much sums up the Wings these past two months.

Piss
Poor

yep..

[Optimus Prime]

For the third time in four games the better team lost, having Helm's speed on the forecheck, pressuring Nashville's Defense, forcing them to turn with the puck on the boards would certainly help. Powerforwards Franzen & Burtuzzi have the size to pressure on the forecheck creating turnovers, but have a single goal in four games besides TB at 37 years of age no longer has the speed to match his strength.

Pekke Rinne has been able to stop nearly every puck he sees and controls most of his rebounds. Tough to screen a guy at 6 foot 5, he is seeing everything even when he is out of position but still you have no business wining a game with only 17 shots on net..... Nashville patiently waited for the opportunity to counterattack on a cold Howard, 200 feet in the other direction.

The Wings have the offensive skill to make Nashville pay and sure the perimeter shots are frustrating but you need to keep getting the puck on net and hope for break, like Hurdler's post late in the third, a cm or two to the inside, ties the game!

The series should be tied at 2-2 but that is playoff hockey, doubt Detroit can win the next three.

[Hannibal]

Chances are, Lidstrom will retire and Stuart will go somewhere else. Wings should go after Weber with that freed up chunk of money. They would still have quite a bit left after that. IMHO they should let Hudler go, and I wouldn't mind seeing them put some other guys like Filppula or Cleary on the trading block to free up some cap space. Filppula just isn't cut out for the playoffs (up until this year, he wasn't great in the regular season either). I like Cleary a lot when he's healthy, but he hasn't played a full 80 game season since the lockout. He misses 15-20 games every year and right now he's not at 100%. They can go after a Top 6 or even Top 3 forward in the free agency market. The pickings aren't great, but there will be some guys out there (Semin, Wolski, Duchene, Versteeg).

[Optimus Prime]

I don't know your team well enough Hanni but I did read somewhere that Lidstrom may stay another year and frankly that is a good thing, he still has game and is widely respected among other players. Weber would be an excellent candidate for the future but the "bad blood" this series will likely send him elsewhere and he will get top-dollar.

Honestly, Detroit has enough skilled shooters to get Rinne going east-west in net, it should be a Wings' strength?!? Lastly, tough to win ANY game by a single goal, just look at Vancouver, 4 goals in 3 games? They obviously have to score more but before the series started, I doubt many thought it would be this bad....not many have made money betting against Detroit.