I didn't expect your red wings to come out and have a flat performance (other than Howard, who stood on his head). I thought the momentum from Game 7 would have carried over (I'm glad it didn't). I don't like all the damn time off inbetween games. They should be playing tonight, not tomorrow. I hate 2 games off inbetween games in the same city. Makes no sense. Why drag it out? My wife already hates my playoff beard
I agree about the 2 day layoff. I liked the results of game 2 a lot better though.
Cherry has the weird collar on his shirts with the knot of the tie completely hidden - I'm sure there's a term for it, but I have no idea what it is.
Anyways, Hawks and red wings tonight at 7:30. Hoping the Hawks rebound from, probably their 2nd worst game of the year. I read that Stalberg will, most likely, be back in the lineup, which means Handzus is probably out. I'm ok with that. We need speed.
I still think that Chicago has better talent, but they haven't been in a tight situation yet this year. Detroit has been coming back since the last week of the regular season. Should be interesting on Thursday night after yet another two day layoff.
I have not been a fan of Crawford all year. He will make some saves that he has no right making, but then he allows ridiculously soft goals. I just want consistency. Put Emery in! The difference between Detroit's star players and the Hawks stars is Zetterberg, Datysuk etc are skilled and physical while Toews, Kane and Hossa are skilled and afraid of being touched.
bodoyle wrote:I have not been a fan of Crawford all year. He will make some saves that he has no right making, but then he allows ridiculously soft goals. I just want consistency. Put Emery in! The difference between Detroit's star players and the Hawks stars is Zetterberg, Datysuk etc are skilled and physical while Toews, Kane and Hossa are skilled and afraid of being touched.
If you were not worried before, now is the time to worry.
bodoyle wrote:I have not been a fan of Crawford all year. He will make some saves that he has no right making, but then he allows ridiculously soft goals. I just want consistency. Put Emery in! The difference between Detroit's star players and the Hawks stars is Zetterberg, Datysuk etc are skilled and physical while Toews, Kane and Hossa are skilled and afraid of being touched.
I felt the same way. I'm impartial to the Blackhawks but two of my buddies are die-hard Blackhawks fans. The major thing with them was that they were way too confident heading into the playoffs. Sure, we all knew they'd beat the Wild, especially with the Wild being pretty banged up and not all that deep on the blue line. My concern with the Hawks was that they hadn't been challenged all year, really. They steamrolled pretty much everyone early and coasted to the end of the regular season. Some teams have that extra gear it seems when it comes to playoff time- in football, it always seems to be the Giants whenever they get in lately and in basketball it's almost always a top team that coasted to the #1 seed, like Miami this year.
Considering that Chicago has not had a lot of playoff success since they won the cup, I worried that they wouldn't be able to flip the switch. That has borne itself out so far. Boston has been the exact opposite. They already had their scare, I suppose. Maybe this is Chicago's scare? Who knows. Is Emery even healthy?
I hope this is the Hawks scare. If they lose tomorrow night, it's over. I believe Emery is healthy. He was out injured for the Minn series, but he's been back on the bench and Q said he is healthy - who knows really.
Hawks played like ass yesterday. The team has no fight, just sitting there and taking it. I still think we will lose the series b/c Crawford is not an NHL goalie.
bodoyle wrote:Hawks played like ass yesterday. The team has no fight, just sitting there and taking it. I still think we will lose the series b/c Crawford is not an NHL goalie.
You're blaming Crawford? I'm no hockey genius, but that's asinine. The blame belongs squarely on Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. Both have been complete no-shows. If Quenneville had any balls, he would move them down a line or two, move guys like Kane and Sharp up (who have actually played like they care), and send a message to his top 2 forwards that their BS is no longer tolerable. 3 penalties in one period by one player is unacceptable. I'm starting to sound like a Blackhawks fan....
As an aside, I'm kind of enjoying this Red Wings run. It's always nice to see the old guys who won a lot struggle and bit and turn it on in the playoffs. Reminds me of the Celtics team that made the Finals against LA a few years ago. They weren't the greatest, but they were smart and knew how to win. I'm not a Red Wings "fan" in the truest sense of the term, but I always like seeing an oldie-but-a-goodie still on top of the mountain.
bodoyle wrote:Hawks played like ass yesterday. The team has no fight, just sitting there and taking it. I still think we will lose the series b/c Crawford is not an NHL goalie.
You're blaming Crawford? I'm no hockey genius, but that's asinine. The blame belongs squarely on Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. Both have been complete no-shows. If Quenneville had any balls, he would move them down a line or two, move guys like Kane and Sharp up (who have actually played like they care), and send a message to his top 2 forwards that their BS is no longer tolerable. 3 penalties in one period by one player is unacceptable. I'm starting to sound like a Blackhawks fan....
As an aside, I'm kind of enjoying this Red Wings run. It's always nice to see the old guys who won a lot struggle and bit and turn it on in the playoffs. Reminds me of the Celtics team that made the Finals against LA a few years ago. They weren't the greatest, but they were smart and knew how to win. I'm not a Red Wings "fan" in the truest sense of the term, but I always like seeing an oldie-but-a-goodie still on top of the mountain.
I hate the Wings as a franchise (evil empire and all that), but I'm a big fan of players like Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Howard, etc. And Toews is a bitch.
clenz wrote:I have a lot less hawk friends on Facebook right now than I have the last couple months....
As a wing fan that makes me happy
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I seem to have a lot more Wing fans now than I did before the playoffs. Funny how that happens.
I've always been a wing fan...I just don't *care enough* about hockey to post about it only when my team is good....
I posted a picture of Al the other day strictly to piss my "hawk fan" friends off....only Wing post I made this year....probably the only one I'll make unless we somehow win the cup.
Crawford has allowed terrible goals. As I have stated all year long, he will make some saves that he has no business making, then he allows a goal from 60ft out, then one to Datsyuk from 30 ft out with no screen, no deflection, nothing. Just a cheap, soft goal. I hope we put in Emery tonight. He has been consistent. He can't make the great save like Crawford sometimes will yank out of his backside, but with Emery, you know what you're going to get. Hossa has not played up to what he is capable of, but he still has some points. I know we will either never find out, or not until the Hawks are eliminated/win it all, but I could swear that Toews is injured.
rkwittem wrote:I think I speak for a lot of folks when I say that slashing call that led to the penalty shot was pretty weak.
Not as weak as the call against Pittsburgh the other night, but that was just a penalty call, not a penalty shot (and Pittsburgh won anyway, so it didn't really matter)
rkwittem wrote:I think I speak for a lot of folks when I say that slashing call that led to the penalty shot was pretty weak.
Gotta keep that #1 seed in it...
I seriously hope this isn't where we're heading in the next round if the Hawks win. By some accounts, Boston and LA are every bit as good as the #1 seeds...but if they have to be perfect every game, they'll get screwed more than the other guys will. To be clear I want a Boston-LA Stanley Cup. I'm just not sure the NHL does. In all reality, the NHL can't complain with who's left- Chicago, Detroit, LA, Boston, Pittsburgh. Some pretty big hockey markets and some national brand-name teams. They should get decent ratings in the states.
