Yeah some day the Panthers will be relevant again...either that or they will move.

Wow....Klima finally got a haircut :)

It's amazing how much better a new coach, a new Hall of Fame GM, Simon Gagne and half a season of Roloson make a team.

Well...I do agree with some of this post

Again?

They did grace us with the whole throwing rats on the ice after each goal fiasco in the 90s.

That was only 1 year though...1996...

Thanks Barrasso :rant:

Amazing Barrasso stat line from that series...

05/24/96: L (60m, 56/61) 2-5 defeat at Florida (Vanbiesbrouck).

61 shots for Florida and 56 saves!

I'm sure Boucher was good during the regular season, but god he looks like the worst goalie in the NHL in this series...jeezus.

i got into hockey around the time tampa and ottawa got expansion teams.. i decided to make tampa my team at that time.. i really enjoyed the stanley cup run a few years ago.. i'm enjoying this run even more..

That being said, i'd be beyond thrilled if they moved tampa to kc.. and before someone jumps in and starts up on that.. i have NO information that will or is in the works of happening. Just a fans wish.

It's too bad i always liked Beadreu since he was a leaf......i could see him taking over a team like Ottawa once he gets canned from Wash in a few hours.

Yeah, Bruce has to go. I'm not convinced a new coach will fix things, but I don't think the Caps can move forward with him at the helm. The hard part will be finding a guy with enough stature to push back at the divas on the team.

Keenan?....Mac T?

Why would Tampa move? They may be the lone SE team, besides Washington, that doesn't have problems.

Another disappointing Wings loss tonight, and it comes down to not getting production from many of the secondary players. Filppula and Hudler are useless and both are grossly overpaid for what they bring to the table. Ericsson is a disgrace to defensemen everywhere, and will probably be gone after this season.

I really think Babcock is a great coach and I hope the players haven't tuned him out yet. I have no idea who we would bring in to replace him if Holland decided to get rid of him (which I don't see happening, but stranger things have happened). Regardless of that however, back to back 2nd round playoff losses to the Sharks, and to a former Wings assistant coach, is tough to swallow.

Yes, I realize there is still one more win required by San Jose to win this series, but I don't know anyone who thinks the Wings are going to come back from 3-0 and take this series. The Sharks have had our number for two years, and it is very unsettling.

In any case, some changes need to be made with this team in the offseason, we need to get younger, bigger, and a little more desire wouldn't hurt either.

We'll always have 1996.

That's a solid week for them now.

I'll really miss seeing the Caps in the playoffs.

:wagfingers:

The Flyers really need a goalie. All this year I thought Bobrovsky and Boucher were rotating because the Flyers original #1 was out for most of the season with an injury. Nope. They just didn't have anyone else.

I can't be the only one who hears Pop Goes the Weasel or something similar in their head when you see the musical goaltenders switch going on.

I almost feel for Laviolette...what are his other options?

Sounds like a job for Ken Hitchcock!

so will we.

signed,
the Colorado Avalanche

What a group of fuckers in Boston, show some humility and avoid the empty net!









:devil:

The Bruins sweep Philadelphia thanks to some timely goals and outstanding goaltending from Tim Thomas. I'm really looking forward to this Boston-Tampa series. Looks like it will start Monday or Tuesday.

Well played. :lol:

Not to take anything away from the B's, but if it wasn't for the Caps meltdown against the Bolts, the Flyers complete and utter collapse would be the talk of the playoffs.

On a side note, the Wings managed to hang onto the season by a fingernail, but I don't expect they will take game 5 in San Jose on Sunday.

Philadelphia did collapse but the Bruins completely outplayed them in every way in this series.

It's been said a million times....if you have 3 goalies you have none.

Johan Backlund is probably pissed he never got a shot

Congrats Boston fans...your team totally dominated in every aspect of the series. I know the talk is the goaltending, which it should be, but I was more disappointed in the horrible defense the Flyers played in front of whichever goalie was in.

Matt Carle played horrible, and since Pronger wasn't there to back him up with his in-zone turnovers, or lack luster attempts to get back, he was exposed. Coburn also had a horrible series turning the puck over. In Game 1 alone, they let so many Bruins alone in front of the goalie for the whole series.

I wouldn't mind the Flyers going after a goalie like Bryzgalov, however, I'd rather them stay away from Volkun or Varlamov. If that's the case just stay with Bob, who I think will be a solid goalie in the future.

The hopes and dreams of two little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

It helps if you start on top of a hill of beans, though.

Watching the Wings come back on the Sharks was a lot of fun. Even my daughter was up and yelling with me on that 4th goal.

I'm watching Roenick on Vs. call Marleau gutless and heartless. That's pretty funny. :)

Damn. That was one that should not have got away.

See you on Thursday for Game 7.

Marleau was (and has been all playoffs) completely awful today. Invisible offensively, horrible defensively...and even so, it took a ridiculous third period for Detroit to win. If Marleau could pull his head out of his ass and the team could play like they did for 2 periods today, no one in the league could stand up to them. Sadly, they can't seem to put together full games.

Should be a fun next game...hopefully it doesn't come down to a game 7.

Tampa Bay Faces Arena Conflicts for Eastern Conference Finals, Schedule for Upcoming Series Could Look Different Than Usual - Boston Bruins - NESN.com

If the Wings-Sharks series goes seven, the Bruins-Lightning series will probably have a five day break in the middle of it, due to the Tampa arena being rented out to Disney On Ice for four straight nights...

What kind of Mickey Mouse Organization rents the.. uh.. never mind.

This hardly qualifies as shocking, but...

Kerry Fraser on TSN re: make-up calls

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=364984

Word is Clowe did not make the trip to Detroit. :(

They say it was a result of "flu-like" symptoms. Wonder if it's really that or as a result of the him getting Kronwalled there at the end of the 2nd period.

No Franzen for the Wings tonight. Modano will be taking his place.

As for Roenick calling Marleau "gutless"... It wasn’t called for. Marleau didn’t have a great game and hasn’t had a great series to date, but you can’t throw the word “gutless” around like that.

Roenick is an idiot blowhard. I liked him as a player more often than not, but find him incredibly irritating as a commentator. He’s best ignored. He just spouts stupid shit that he thinks is "edgy" or Don Cherry-like, but is really just stupid nonsense (like a lot of what Don Cherry says, but without the charm and ridiculous suits). I take Don Cherry for what he is, but still watch "Coach's Corner" whenever it's on. I never try to watch/listen to Roenick speak.

It's nice to have at least one more game to look forward to. The Sharks have been the better team throughout the series. They have been the luckier team too, but a lot of that luck has been generated because they've been better, had more shots, controlled the play more. Even in that third period in Game 5, the Wings only managed 6 shots on goal (to San Jose's 12). They just happened to score on three of them. More often than not, much more so, San Jose will win that game.

Frankly, I'm glad Franzen is sitting out. As much as I love the guy and have enjoyed his playoff runs in the past, he's obviously severely hobbled right now and is more of a liability than anything else when he is on the ice. And with old man Mike suiting up, the Wings will at least have another faceoff guy to put out there on key draws and another sniper for the power play.

Yeah.....oops. :D

According to ESPN....

Good thing Niemi chose this game to stand on his head in goal. Now if only the Sharks can squeeze one goal past Howard in the 3rd...

Holy crap, don't think I've ever seen as many missed wide open nets as I've seen through 2 periods of this game. Niemi has been ridiculous but the Wings have missed at least 3 that I think I probably could have scored.

Count it

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Back to SJ we go

It's going to a be a long, quiet back to San Jose for the Sharks.

Am I the only person wondering why they pulled the goal with 1:30 to go? Seemed rather a little early to me. Classless by Detroit to score though.

Still don't see Detroit winning game seven but this has been a great series and as a hockey fan I am glad to see it one more time.

This makes no sense

What doesn't?

Seems pretty normal to me. That should have been too many men on the ice for the goal as well.

How is it classless by Detroit to score on an empty net up 1?

It was a joke. Go back through the thread. :)

This is the problem with 12 page threads.

My fault. I figured you of all people were being weird for posting that.

Are the Red Wings about to become the first team to be on both sides of an 0-3 comeback in sports history?

If San Jose blows it in Game 7, it's going to be brutal. All those monsters they thought they had slain last year, the crushing doubts and all that stuff will come raging back. It's been a helluva sea change since the start of the third period of Game Four when San Jose was only 20 minutes from a sweep.

I'll also be slightly annoyed because I'll be pretty much down to Tampa as the only team I'll hope wins the Cup and they'll probably be the longshot of the final four.

This is a great series. I would be ecstatic if the Wings come all the way back to win.

The Wings have all the momentum now, and the Sharks have tons of pressure on them. They blew a 3-0 series lead and are at home for game 7. This will be a fantastic finish regardless of who wins (hopefully the Wings) and I am proud of this team for showing some balls when I thought they were done.

Looks like Glendale city council just bought themselves another year of Coyotes games for the cool price of $25mil. Despite the blow this is to Winnipeg's chances at a team, it certainly is an interesting development overall. Intriguing scenarios such as:

- will the NHL cut payroll to minimize losses? The team lost something like 37mil this year, so that leaves 12mil uncovered by the city. Are the other owners cool with another 10+ million flowing into the desert?
- even if the owners are willing to keep salaries respectable, will anyone besides fringe players want to sign there? The situation is so murkey, why would any decent free agent willingly tie themselves to that horse.
- if the Thrashers do end up in Winnipeg as some have suggested, how fucking crazy will games between Winnipeg and Phoenix be? I would pay top dollar to be at the MTS Centre for one of those match ups, the crowd would be insane.

Well, one game series it is. The Sharks have been brilliant for long stretches in this series, but like all season they are struggling to put together an entire game. Should be a hell of a ride in game 7.

Something got lost in transit between this article and the league's newly released sked. NESN says the Lightning can't use the Forum Thursday thru Sunday thanks to Toy Story III ON ICE!, but the NHL's schedule has Tampa hosting games Thursday night and Saturday night...

Yeah, here's a local story on it:
Glendale approves $25 million more for Coyotes


Glendale has approved two $25 million payments. One was collected last week to cover 2010-11 and this one will help offset the rest and any future losses next season. So, I doubt it will impact the "on ice" Coyotes much. They will have approved $50 mil to the NHL in less than a month to cover this and next season's issues.

It appears that Jerry Reinsdorf is considering making another bid to keep the team here as well. He has a place in Phoenix and was close to making one 2-3 years back. But, the team appears to be in better shape talent-wise and attendance has actually increased over the past 3 years (despite all the uncertainty).

In the end, players are mercenaries and I expect a lot of one-year deals until things get resolved. Still, when considering a winter in Calgary, Philly, New York, Ottawa or Phoenix, Phoenix still has certain advantages over those other locations. ;)

I just can't see the NHL ever going back to Winnipeg. Throwing out the weather/attendance and questions about the stadium, but I can't see the NHL wanting to move from a top 8-12 US market (Phoenix/Atlanta) to tiny Winnipeg right before they try to sign a new TV deal with ESPN. I can't imagine a situation any worse than it's been in Phoenix the past 3 seasons, yet the NHL is still fighting like heck to keep the team here and doing everything it can to avoid heading to Winnipeg.

I freely admit to going bonkers during the 3rd period last night. Living in Chicago I'm sure none of my neighbors are Red Wings fans, but you can bet every single one of them knew what was going on. :D Cannot wait for tomorrow night...

The NHL recently signed a new 10 year TV deal with NBC/Comcast/Versus. So, that issue is behind them for at least another decade.

I am not sure what the NHL is thinking exactly. The Coyotes have been in Phoenix for, what, 15+ years now? Sadly, it hasn't worked. I am not sure if the NHL is fighting so hard to keep them their so Bettman can save face or if they actually have some reason to believe that the Coyotes can be a profitable and successful franchise in Phoenix. I really wish they could be.

I hate when sports franchises move. I never want to seem them re-locate. If it wasn't for the fact that Winnipeg lost the Jets originally I would never want to see the Coyotes move. And, if they aren't going to go to Winnipeg, I really don't want to see them go anywhere.

With my impending move to the Phoenix area at the end of this month, I would also like to see them stay there. How else am I going to see any Wings games?

Well, maybe that's why the NHL is fighting so hard to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix. You are "Favored Bitch #2" after all.

Yeah, tell that to Bettman though. He refuses to answer my letters.

That's only because you refuse to include signed nude photos of yourself.

Yes. That explains a lot.

Funny, Gary Bettman answered all of my letters...

Come to think of it, you didn't answer my letters either..........:(

you think he has an endless supply of mauve crayons?

Nude pictures of Colin White?

NHL source confirms Thursday night that the Flyers will host the 2012 Winter Classic game on Jan. 2 vs. NY Rangers.

Now that is the effort that has been lacking the past few games! Two more periods...

Oh dear Henrik Zetterberg. Backhanded finesse passes out in front of your own net are never a good idea, especially in a key game 7.

Wings dominated the last 10-14 minutes. Going to be an exciting 3rd period

How in the hell did Datsyuk get that puck into the net?

What a game...what a series.

Just glad I don't have to watch Datsyuk anymore this year.

A lot of celebrating happening in downtown SJ tonight. I can hear it from my house. People are dumb, but at least it's been only positive so far.

But only s favored team, like Pittsburgh, would get to play in 2 WC's before other teams have played 1!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great to see them battle back like that, the Wings just couldn't quite muster another 3rd period comeback last night. It was a valiant effort.

I see four main reasons for last night's loss:

1. The power play. I don't think they had more than 1 or 2 shots for all of their powerplays combined and none of them was any good. The power play totally failed them.

2. Injuries. Somewhat related to the power play issues was the fact that before the first period was done the Wings were down Cleary, Bertuzzi and Franzen. That's your second line there. That left a lot on the shoulders of Zetterberg and Datsyuk (and Filppula to a lesser extent). The second power play unit of Filppula, Hudler and Appelgator doesn't scare anyone.

3. Niemi. He made some great saves in the second period when the Wings were pressuring.

4. Hudler. He was a waste of space throughout the series. The only thing of note he really did was block one shot and knock Dan Cleary out of the game. When I heard Draper was in last night I was hoping it would be Hudler who say. I am not a fan who hates on Red Wings players. Over the 20+ years I have been following the team closely, there may be only 3-4 players who, when on the team, I actively disliked. Jimmy Carson, Jim Cummins, Marc Potvin and Andreas Lilja are the only ones that really spring to mind. After this series Hudler may join that infamous group. The worst thing about him is that he's the 4th highest paid forward on the team.

As of know, I really don't care who wins the Cup, but if I had to choose it would be Tampa, Boston, Vancouver and then San Jose in that order.

Just wanted to add:


WOOOHOOO Down goes the Deadwings!


sorry, long suppressed hatred coming out there ;)

great game, pretty amazing series all around.

Now lets see if Tampa can beat the shit outta Boston.


My dream matchup: Tampa VS Vancouver.

Call it the Jetlag Cup.

Okay. New plan for 2012. Atlanta moves to Winnipeg, Detroit goes east. San Jose-Detroit in the finals. 11 of 12 games decided by one goal (empty net not withstanding) Gotta give the edge to Vancouver early after that. Niemi will have to steal one early.

Seems too early to start an offseason thread, but...

Isles sign Michael Grabner to 5 year/$15M deal.

He might score 40 next year, that is a steal. But, since it's the Isles, I am expecting a piano to drop on his head any day now.

Speaking of the possibility of the ATL moving to the 'Peg and the resulting shifts of divisions, I'm not so sure it'll be Detroit that shifts. If Detroit does move, it's almost certainly to the Northeast Division, but then the logical dominoes would seem to be Buffalo to the Atlantic and either Pittsburgh or Philly to the Southeast. I'm sure there's some drooling at the thought of Ovi/Sid six times a year instead of four, but it'd still break up the Pennsylvania rivalry and I'm not sure either the Pens or the Flyers are keen to do that.

It couldn't be Nashville because that would leave the odd situation of having a team that's further west than Detroit and Columbus be in the Eastern Conference and be the only Central Time Zone team in the East to boot. Also, not sure if the Preds want to give up all the gates they get from playing Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis three times each at home. They'd replace it with games against the Northeast and Atlantic teams, though, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

That leaves Columbus and while something of a stretch, they'd actually work as a Southeast Division replacement. They're fairly close to DC and actually would go almost due south to get to the Florida teams. This would keep the Northeast and Atlantic intact as they are.

As for the West, the most likely scenarios are that the Jet(hrasher)s go to the Northwest and then a choice of Minnesota, Colorado, or Dallas to the Central. Minnesota probably would be fine either way as they would finally have a local rival in the Northwest should they stay and Colorado moves out. Colorado probably could also go either way, but if they were in the Central, they probably get better rivalries. Dallas definitely would want to go to the Central because it'd be easier on them overall being in the same time zone. Ideally, it'd probably be Minnesota or Dallas to the Central and then Colorado moves to the Pacific if Dallas moves.

New York Rangers Forward Derek Boogaard Passes Away at 28 - NHL - NESN.com



:(

RIP

Wow, RIP. I had heard he was expected to retire due to fighting-related concussions.

Wow. That's horrible news.

I know he suffered a pretty bad concussion after a fight that put him out for the rest of the season. I wonder what the cause of death will be.

I've always followed Boogard's career because I saw him play at the 2001 prospect tournament the Wings held in Traverse City. He made an impression.

Pretty much spot-on analysis. Like you, there are only a handful of Wings players I truly disliked in my 25 years of fandom, and the ones who come to mind are Paul Coffey, Andreas Lilja, and Jiri Hudler. I am still trying to understand why Modano only played in 2 games the entire playoffs, while Hudler was on the ice in important situations. Why does Babcock hate Modano and love Hudler?

In any case, there should be some changes made, regardless of whether Lids comes back for one more year (which I believe he will). Hudler and Ericsson are both useless, and somebody needs to show Abdelkader how to NOT take penalties in crucial moments of playoff games.

Still proud of this team for a great comeback.

Any plan that puts the Red Wings in the East is approved by me. Having a eastern time zone team playing in the Western Conference sucks.

oops, didn't see the story was posted above.

28 is such a young age to pass on. I hate stories like this.

I really don't see either Philly or Pittsburgh leaving the Atlantic division with their natural rivalries with NJ, Rangers, and the Islanders. Why not just have Atlanta/Winnipeg move west and have Nashville move east into the Southeast division?

Damien Cox already starting to twist this into pro-fighting/anti-fighting


How can you hate Paul Coffey?


Agree Atlantic stays intact.

Nashville or Dallas make sense I guess, except still seems odd that Detroit and Columbus would be in EST and play in the West while Nashville or Dallas are CST (I think) and play in the East.

Dola

Matthew Barnaby arrested on domestic violence charges

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hocke...-barnaby_N.htm

semi-related, I am not a huge ESPN watcher anymore, but had no idea he and Michelle Beadle had something going on

Anyway, I hope when the cops arrested him, he made this face

Michelle Beadle?



http://www.buffalonews.com/city/poli...icle423231.ece

Local paper:

"Former Buffalo Sabres player Matthew Barnaby pleaded not guilty today in Amherst Town Court to five charges, including one felony, following a Friday evening domestic incident involving his estranged wife and another adult."

My gut tells me the estranged wife was banging another guy.