Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[madootra]

Maybe we have a series!

[Mike]

Yeah, a series of All-Star games.

[madootra]

Heh......They ain't my teams! ;-)

[Mike]

I know one thing. Either of those teams would kill to have Jimmy Howard!

[madootra]

Probably true......

[Optimus Prime]

Only 3 teams have ever comeback from a 3-0 deficit, most recently the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins against the Flyers last year. Although Detroit initially earned the split, at present:

Vancouver 1-3
Pittsburgh 1-3
Detroit 1-3

Any of the 3 teams above have the horses to win the next 3 games in a row and their respective opening series in 7?

It's essentially a race to 4 games, does it matter how you get there?

[Mike]

Vancouver looked like a completely different team last night with the addition of Danial Sedin to the lineup. I don't give any of the 3 teams much of a shot but if I had to choose one to pull it off, it'd be Vancouver.

[Optimus Prime]

Phoenix's OT win over Chicago last night gives them a 3-1 stranglehold as well in the series.

Schneider at 900K looked damn solid again in net, not that Luongo at 10M played poorly in the first two games. AV would be foolish not to try and shop him but a (no-trade) long-term contract will make it tough...maybe Burke and the Leafs will bite?

Frankly, Hurdler's late in the 3rd period post in game 4 and the incompetence or corruption by the Linesman's in game 1 against the Pens, each series should be 2-2. Sure Pittsburgh's meltdown has cost them the 2 games that followed but Flyers surrendering 10 goals in game 4 is equally disastrous for their club.

Wouldn't surprise me to see one 1 of the 3 defy the odds.

[Optimus Prime]

The Greatest One weighs in:

GRETZKY SURPRISED BY INTENSITY AND EMOTION OF 2012 PLAYOFFS
TSN

Only a handful of players have played more Stanley Cup playoff games than Wayne Gretzky, so The Great One is no stranger to playoff hockey.

However, the intensity and physicality that has characterized the postseason so far has caught Gretzky by surprise.

"It's a little bit risqu? right now," Gretzky told Philadelphia radio station 97.5 The Fanatic. "There's no question. Emotions are high in every aspect. And if you look at every series right now each and every team is playing with a little bit of a bite, and yeah it's a little bit surprising."

But Gretzky has noticed a change from the league's hard-hitting past and what has unfolded over the past eight days.

"They talk about the Flyers back in the '70s –guys like Bobby Kelly, 'Moose' Dupont and Dave Schultz - but you never really saw those guys go after guys like Bobby Orr or Mario Lemieux or Phil Esposito. It was just sort of honest, hard, rough-nosed hockey, and it's changed - there's no question - the players are bigger and faster and stronger today than they were when we played, and obviously there's a lot at stake playing for a Stanley Cup, and emotions are definitely really high and subsequently you're going to have issues."

While Gretzky acknowledged that the league is doing its best to corral the extra-curriculars, he offered up an alternative mindset for players trying to get under the skin of their opposition.

"The bottom line is you got to win the hockey game," he said. "That's where it hurts the most, not cross-checking the guy in the face. It's winning the hockey game that hurts players the most."

Having twice beaten the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final, Gretzky knows first-hand what it's like to try to win in Philadelphia in the playoffs. And the Hall of Famer has taken note of the ongoing rift between Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and the Philadelphia players and fans and believes Crosby's intensity is coming out on and off the ice.

"Whether it was Wayne Gretzky going into Philadelphia or Mario Lemieux or Sidney Crosby, you're going to be public enemy number one and the players are going to do whatever they can to throw you off your game," Gretzky said. "So he's just an emotional young man that wants to win. He's a tough kid that plays the game hard and emotions run high. And I'm not surprised - he just wants to be a winner and he wants to put his name back on the Stanley Cup, so emotions do run high."

With experience both in Philadelphia and as part of the heated Battle of Alberta between the Flames and Oilers that dominated the Smythe Division in the 1980s, Gretzky can obviously relate.

"The Flyer fans are great fans, as are Pittsburgh fans," he said. "When you have a rivalry, it's not just the individual player but it's the teams themselves and obviously the Flyer fans don't like the Penguin players and obviously the Penguins fans don't like the Flyer players."

"Reggie Jackson said it best: 'They don't boo you if you're a nobody. They boo you if you're a somebody.'"

[Optimus Prime]

Hanni you called it in 5. Wings suck Bo Bo.

[madootra]

Horrible effort.....but not unexpected. Did anyone pick the Wings to win this series?

[Hannibal]

This team needs a serious shakeup. I wonder if Babcock has lost his ability to motivate the team. They haven't been a hard working team since the Cup.

[WingsFan]

Did anyone pick the Wings to win this series?

I picked the Wings in 7, with a little blind faith. I was hoping they would start the playoffs like they played before Pavel Datsyuks injury. Its not easy for me to juggle work hours to watch early night games live (during week days), after game 3 I seen the writing on the wall and decided to work my usual hours.

[Optimus Prime]

I too took the Wings in seven games, a wealth of playoff experience especially against an opponent with hardly any. Wings failure to score quickly , frustrated the club seemed to snowball, didn't expect that from an experience standpoint. Let's see what Holland does in terms of addressing needs. Too many expensive veterans that failed to produce IMO, 9 goals in 5 games?

[madootra]

Yeah, the lack of effort really surprised, and frustrated me.