[Honolulu_Blue]

Last night's game was a bit different than the first two. Not nearly as much trapping by the Oilers. Almost all of their goals were created on turnovers casued by a solid forecheck. From some reason Detroit is really struggling to get it out of their zone. A bunch of misques that have led to Oiler goals. Legace did not play well. The wrap around goal by Smyh was inexcusable. That should never happen, no matter how good a player Smyth is behind (or anywhere within 5 feet) of the net.

Pronger has been the best player in the series bar none. He has completely outplayed Lidstrom, who has looked very average. Lang has been nothing by a liability. Same goes with Shanahan. He looked lost out there the entire game. He never took the puck cleanly and wasn't involved at all in any sort of physical play. He's been awful throughout this series. In fact, his playoff performances in the last 5-6 years have been extremely subpar. If he hadn't scored 40 goals this year, I would say he just doesn't have it in him anymore.

The only players on the Wings who have played above average have been Zetterberg, Yzerman, and Schneider. Yzerman got hurt during the 3rd period last night and couldn't take another shift. No idea how serious it is, but losing Yzerman would be devistating on many, many levels.

I think Edmonton's chances in this series are better than evens now. The Wings have not really shown the ability to be effective 5 on 5. Almost all of their even strength goals have been very flukey, eg, Maltby's 2 goals and Williams' goal.