Stuart's mistakes hurt, but in any event we were still out-hustled for much of the game and probably did not deserve a win. I think we've gotten too old. Drapes, Holmstrum, and Maltby are no longer in their prime. They can't keep up with the young players. I'm not sure our defense can be led by a 39 year old Lidstrom and a 36 year old Rafalski either. Part of that is coaching philosophy, as Babs tends to go with experience, and sat out some young players tonight who just might have made a difference.
I think the 1997, 1998 and 2002 team would have beat this Penguins team. Pens to me are a very good team, but not a great team. They play hard, and Crosby and Malkin are quite a pair, but they are only average defensively.
changes will come regardless of what, Holland has to let go some players just to fit under next year salary cap. but you are right, age is catching some players. at least living from canada as far away as possible I do not have to hear next year every day, how great crosby is.
Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other guys. They won 4 of the last 5 games. They were hungry and it showed. The puck just didn't bounce our way. The game reminded me of the 1980 olympic hockey game against the Russians. USA just outhustled the more experienced Soviets to win the game. We needed Vladislav Tretiak in goal tonight.
Didn't like the way that the Wings played tonight, but they were still in it until the bitter end, including the last shot in regulation. Great season that uplifted a city that needed it tremendously. Too bad there was no happy ending.
Sounds like the team up the road in Auburn Hills...The Wings were always a step- or stick to slow on all rebounds I thinking that Fleury should have won the Conn Smyth Trophy despite the five goals he gave up in game 5. He was spectacular. I guess in this case youth won out over experience. Looks like some of the fans showed no class in booing the Penguins, but maybe they did it to us last year. Not even Muhammad Ali in a Red Wings shirt could help us.... Roscoe that was some fast move in taking down the Octopus counters. I guess I need a new avatar :(
I wonder what they'll do with Hossa. He would be very expensive to keep (and would prevent us from retaining some younger players), and he had a very middling playoffs and finals, so I am guessing we don't re-sign him and would agree with that call. Maybe he was injured, but he lived up to his reputation of not showing up in the playoffs (though he was great for Pittsburgh last year). He has got to be feeling pretty bad right now, on a number of levels.
Pittsburgh, it must be said, has a very bright future. They probably will only get better. They should be in the thick of it next year too.
NHL Network selling Crosby right now, with all of his hightlights from the time he was drafted. Let the marketing begin!!! Now Lebron is upset .....
The difference between LBJ and Crosby is that Crosby is not about hype. He doesn't seek it out, the league does it to him. He's actually a pretty quiet guy. I gotta wonder if Hossa is a jinx, or if it is bad Karma for him hopping teams trying to buy himself a championship. At the end of the day, the Wings defense was too sloppy to play their puck possession game, they had so much trouble getting the puck out of the zone, or keeping it in on the offensive end. Both goals came off defensive miscues by Stuart. I'm not sold on Ericcson. I don't think Stuart is a #2, and I don't think Kronwall is a #1. Great series by Ozzie, I wish they had won so he could get a Conn Smythe trophy. Everyone wants to re-sign for cheap when you are winning, but this team needs some help on the blueline. Would have liked to have seen more Abdelkader.
Babs is now 1 for 3 in the Cup Finals, and 0 for 2 in game 7's. He has got to be feeling some pain now too. Right now, I'm sure he hopes he never sees another finals game 7 again. I wonder if he over-coached the team a bit, and if they were a little tight and overly cautious. He seemed to be doing a lot of experimenting with his lines throughout, and I wonder if that hurt our continuity a bit.
I think you're right about Crosby. I believe he lives in Mario Lemiuex's home. That shows a lot of modesty right there. I wonder if Hossa was bothered mentally by the prospect of playing against the team he left, in order to chase a Cup. It will be interesting to get the injury reports now that the Finals are over. Was Nick playing injured? Rafalski? Hossa? What exactly was wrong with Pav's foot, and how much was he hampered? Or was he really injured somewhere else?
Would Scotty have made just enough of a difference in a very closely-fought series to put us over the top? Babs is very good, but he is not at Scotty's level, at least not yet.
Man, scoring with 1 second left to tie in a game 7 would have been something. Very evenly matched teams.
Pittsburgh threw us off with their aggressive forechecking, and hampered our ability to get the puck out of our zone cleanly and quickly. We were quite bothered by that, and were unable to make them pay for that aggressiveness. Our forwards did not do anywhere near that kind of forechecking. I wonder if that is just a difference in coaching philosophy, or if the reality is that our older defensemen are just vulnerable to that kind of aggressive forecheck. I think that ability to forecheck and hamper us in starting plays in our own zone was perhaps the major difference in the series. Our prior four Stanley Cup teams did not have this problem.
there is no need to overanalyse or to make apocalyptic predictions or bash certain player or to bring up one momentum and "label" everything with it. Simply put, this series was very close: one more or less lucky goal and voila!, different results. I am not so mad as I should be...why? because of I am sure this team will have some more chances. I already notice that some have fallen to usual fan myth: "this guy from bench should have helped, why stupid coach did not play him, fire coach".
