Stars vs Wing...who wins???

[Adidas410s]

Who wins the series and in how many games???

[Sweetwater Red]

You wanna talk about someone's BP rising? You should've seen
me last night when Chauncey Billups did the splits and fell face
down on the floor. :(

I voted for Red Wings in 6.

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
You wanna talk about someone's BP rising? You should've seen
me last night when Chauncey Billups did the splits and fell face
down on the floor. :(

I voted for Red Wings in 6. Wonder who voted for the last option.:devil: :devil:

[Adidas410s]

I'm going Wing in 7...think it'll be 6 but I refuse to imagine us on the losing end of a handshake at the AAC.

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by DaHop72
Wonder who voted for the last option.:devil: :devil:

Something tells me you won't be the last.



Okay who voted for the Stars in 4? :foul:

[DaHop72]

Me??:thinking: :thinking:

:D :D


GO STARS!!!!!!!!!

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
Something tells me you won't be the last.



Okay who voted for the Stars in 4? :foul:

I was gonna vote for the Stars in 5, but changed it to 7. :D

GO STARS!!!!!!!!

[Macarthur]

You know, I started out thinking the Stars would not win this series.

However, as the week has gone on, I feel more confident. Turco has tons of confidence right now and frankly, he a better goalie than Osgood.

Wing has tons of skill, but I think they have had a very easy path to this point. The Stars are much more battle tested. We shall see. Should be fun.

[crzyjournalist03]

My heart says Stars in six; my gut has this horrible feeling about Wings in five.

I think I'll have a much better feeling one way or another after tonight. For Game 1s, I think this one is as influential as they come. Detroit is riding Osgood's undefeated streak in the playoffs, while the Stars have never trailed in a series in the postseason, winning all four games on the road to start their first two series. A win either way tonight can go a long way toward hurting the other team's momentum...I had a dream about the game Tuesday night though, and the Stars won 2-0...so I'll go with that as tonight's prediction.

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03

I think I'll have a much better feeling one way or another after tonight.

That reminds me...I may be outta pocket all day tomorrow. I'll
know one way or the other after tonight.:thinking: :D

[Lion_Addict]

Went with the Stars 4-2. I love the 4-0 vote though! :thumbsup:

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
That reminds me...I may be outta pocket all day tomorrow. I'll
know one way or the other after tonight.:thinking: :D LOL

On a side note & totally unrelated topic :devil: I will not be able to watch Survivor tomorrow or Friday. I'm guessing I won't be able to watch it until Sunday sometime! :eek: :eek: :(

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by pirate4state
LOL

On a side note & totally unrelated topic :devil: I will not be able to watch Survivor tomorrow or Friday. I'm guessing I won't be able to watch it until Sunday sometime! :eek: :eek: :(

Then I guess we'll discuss it Monday morning.:thinking: :)

And Go Red Wings.:D

[waterboy]

I said Stars in 7. Honestly don't know if it's wishful thinking or not. It looks like Marty Turco is in "a zone", and if that's the case, it's hard to bet against the Stars. Besides, I'm a homer, and I say GO STARS!

[piratebg]

:thinking: :thinking: :thinking:

Stars in 6. :)

[kaorder1999]

Originally posted by Lion_Addict
Went with the Stars 4-2. I love the 4-0 vote though! :thumbsup:

;)

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by kaorder1999
;)


Oh! It's like that huh?:foul:

Care to put one of these on it?:thinking:


http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg53/detroit8990/100dollar.jpg





And hell yeah I'm joking.:D

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
Oh! It's like that huh?:foul:

Care to put one of these on it?:thinking:


http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg53/detroit8990/100dollar.jpg





And hell yeah I'm joking.:D

If you decide to start gambling on your Detroit teams, let me know! I'll be your bookie!!! :devil: :D

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
If you decide to start gambling on your Detroit teams, let me know! I'll be your bookie!!! :devil: :D


:2thumbsup

[Txbroadcaster]

I think Stars in 7

would not surprise me to see Wings in like 5 but with 3 or 4 OT games in the mix

[Sweetwater Red]

Long read but good.:thinking: :D

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=frei_terry&id=3386495

The first instinct is to consider this Western Conference finals matchup a renewal of a rivalry.


But it has been 10 years -- 10! -- since the teams, then both in the Central Division, met in the postseason.



Chris Osgood is 6-0 with a 1.52 GAA and .937 save percentage since taking over for Dominik Hasek in the first round.

That's almost hard to believe.


Seeking their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship in 1998, the Red Wings knocked off the Stars in a six-game Western Conference finals.


Actually, one of the major memories of that series for many (including me) remains the emotional interlude between Games 3 and 4, when former Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov, who had suffered debilitating injuries in a limousine accident after the 1997 championship celebration and spent five weeks in a coma, took a break from his rehabilitation in Florida and returned to Detroit to meet his former teammates on the off day and stuck around to watch the next game.


At the time, Mike Babcock was in his fourth of six seasons behind the bench of Major Junior hockey's Spokane Chiefs. Perhaps he was respecting the work of the eventual Memorial Cup champion Portland Winter Hawks and wingers Brenden Morrow and Marian Hossa, and hoping Chiefs co-owner George Brett wouldn't throw a fit after any Spokane losses. ("Who own the Chiefs?" "The Brett Brothers.")

Since then, Pavel Datsyuk notwithstanding, the Wings' roster has gone from a heavily Russian-influenced group to having more Swedes than ABBA on stage -- with a backup band of musicians from Ornskoldsvik and Gothenburg. From the international cast of characters (and character), Nicklas Lidstrom has been the bedrock, and Kirk Maltby (who has yet to play this postseason because of a hamstring injury and the team's subsequent reluctance to tamper with its winning formula), Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom and the returned Darren McCarty remain.


In 1998, it seemed that Dallas defenseman Craig Ludwig's pads were older than some of his teammates. But Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen and Sergei Zubov have hung around for another decade.


Am I forgetting anyone?


Other than Red Wings' holdover anthem singer Karen Newman and longtime public-address announcer Budd Lynch, the war hero who lost his arm in Normandy fighting shortly after D-Day? (By the way, his new book, "My Life: From Normandy to Hockeytown," is fascinating reading.)


Oh, yeah. The Red Wings' 1998 playoff goalie.


Chris Osgood.


He was the successor to the more renowned veteran, in this instance, Mike Vernon, and it was as if everyone involved held "Ozzie" at arm's length. It's not fair to say he was the weak link, because he wasn't. He was the link nobody seemed to trust completely, though he had posted pretty good postseason numbers in the past and had been the No. 1 goalie during the Wings' record-setting 1995-96 regular season.


Ten years later, that's the one thing that hasn't changed.


Osgood has knocked around since, going to the Islanders and Blues before returning, and Dominik Hasek is waiting in the wings, so to speak.


But for now, it's Osgood versus Marty Turco.


In 1998, Osgood was looking down at the other end and seeing Ed Belfour, who would spend the next two playoff runs (but not this one) arguing or at least trying to prove he was better than Patrick Roy. But that -- Dallas' back-to-back seven-game conference finals victories over Roy and Colorado -- would be in the future.


In 1998, Osgood got the job done.


And you know what? He's going to do it again.


It's been awhile since he allowed a goal on a shot from the Lodge Freeway, his Achilles' heel in the past. He is so much more popular "in the room" than the flighty Hasek (both in general and wherever both goalies have gone in their travels), he even makes teammates root for him.


So far in the postseason, after taking over from Hasek during the Nashville series, Osgood is 6-0, with a 1.52 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage.


On Wednesday, Osgood attributed it to "just doing the right things in practice with [goaltending coach] Jim Bedard and staying ready. Even when I wasn't playing, I felt confident, even before I went in, that I could do the job. Just being ready, so I wasn't standing there doubting myself whatsoever … Then again, the second part is, you know, the team's playing really well. I don't feel like I need to go in there and steal games. I just have to play solid and play sharp, and make the saves when I have to. I feel like I'm capable of doing that."


Babcock on Wednesday brought up his belief that Osgood "reinvented himself."


"He went back one summer after his first year back here and learned how to butterfly," Babcock said. "As simple as that seems, he would always say to me, 'The 15-year-old kids butterfly better than I do.' Well, you can't play in the league today without that ability. So he fixed his game and reinvented himself. And I think a lot of us have to do that, whether we're a writer, whether we're a coach, whatever walk of life we're in. It's about lifelong learning and getting better, or someone else has your job. And if Ozzie hadn't made those adjustments, he still wouldn't be playing."

The Red Wings' amazing ability to play keep-away with the puck enters into it, of course, but the Stars -- Modano, Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards, et al -- will be good enough at battling that to give Osgood a legitimate test.


That's not saying he will outplay Turco, who last season rid himself of that playoff albatross and has been good this postseason after it turned humid in the Metroplex. That's not the issue.


Although there's a significant chance Hasek could be in the Detroit net by the end of the series, and it would be folly to rule that out, the feeling here is that Osgood's going to be good enough against the Stars … and beyond. Rested from a full week off after the sweep of Colorado, he gets his first chance to prove that Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.


"We relished the time off," he said. "It was good for our team; we feel refreshed. What happens is you get excited to play again, because you kind of get sick of practicing. We've had some time off here, and we're ready and raring to go."


Osgood won't necessarily be the reason the Red Wings win. Not with the way the Wings dominate zone time and possession; Brian Rafalski and Lidstrom get the puck up ice; Henrik Zetterberg and Datsyuk work together; Johan Franzen is becoming the most famous "Mule" since Francis, the talking movie star; and a myriad of other reasons.

Ten Years After's greatest hit was "I'm Going Home." (And the group sang it in front of the multitudes, some of who were clothed and coherent at Woodstock.)


Osgood's gone "home," too, and a decade after he hoisted the Cup overhead, he'll advance to the Cup finals again.

[crzyjournalist03]

Something else to consider...

The Stars are 2-0 in their last two appearances in the conference finals.

The Red Wings lost their last appearance in the conference finals.

A totally useless stat that Stars fans can cling to as they search for momentum!

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
Something else to consider...

The Stars are 2-0 in their last two appearances in the conference finals.

The Red Wings lost their last appearance in the conference finals.




Lmao! Those stats sound like something either ESPN or Phil C
would say to make it sound either better or worse than it actually is.:thinking:

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
Lmao! Those stats sound like something either ESPN or Phil C
would say to make it sound either better or worse than it actually is.:thinking:

haha...I don't know if you happened to watch ESPN after Game Five of the last round for the Stars, but the Stars message boards blew up with comments that one of the teases going to break at Sportscenter showed the Sharks and said something to the effect of, "Can an NHL team take another step toward beating history? Find out next on Sportscenter." The series was 3-1 Stars at that point and ESPN was talking about the Sharks becoming only the third team ever to come back from a 3-0 deficit...

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
haha...I don't know if you happened to watch ESPN after Game Five of the last round for the Stars, but the Stars message boards blew up with comments that one of the teases going to break at Sportscenter showed the Sharks and said something to the effect of, "Can an NHL team take another step toward beating history? Find out next on Sportscenter." The series was 3-1 Stars at that point and ESPN was talking about the Sharks becoming only the third team ever to come back from a 3-0 deficit...

I lol when they're doing one of those teases and the final score
of the game they're talking about scrolls by at the bottom of the
screen.

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red



Okay who voted for the Stars in 4? :foul:

Ahem...cough...cough...:thinking: :D :devil:

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
Ahem...cough...cough...:thinking: :D :devil:
a crazy man I tell ya....

Now my thoughts.

1. The 3rd goal was clearly intereference as he was standing in the crease screening out Turco...and you can't do that. Should've been reviewed.

2. Osgood is playing as good (or better) than I've ever seen him play. The stop on Hagman was nice (though not amazing as he knew Hagman was going glove side) but the power play stop where Morrow and a wing defender were in front of him and it skipped between them and Osgood gloved it...WOW!!! That wasn't a good as the Nabokov or Turco saves from OT on Sunday but it was still an awesome save.

3. The Stars looked worn down for the first 2 periods. I don't know if it's because the last 4 periods they played were on dead legs and they didn't adjust well to the wings speed (who can fly btw)...but it wasn't until the 3rd period that I thought we were watching the Stars we've seen during the playoffs.

4. wing is a beautiful thing to watch. That 4th goal was just awesome and Turco was hung out to dry. Fistric (who took a dumb penalty that lead to the first goal) made a stupid move to leave his defensive spot and wing just blew right by him. Was very impressive.

[crzyjournalist03]

I was ticked off at Fistric's roughing minor that put the team down 5-on-3 that led to the first goal...in the playoffs, you just don't go down 5-on-3; the success rate is around 50%...to say that Fistric was the ONLY guy roughing in there? It looked like he had one shove, and the Red Wing player who was the "victim" had three good ones.

I thought that it was a great 5-on-5 game, and I thought that the middle of the second through the rest of the game was great hockey. But if this series is going to be called that tightly by the referees, I think hockey fans are the real losers in the deal. These two teams are very talented and have fought very hard to get to this point...let them play! Call a penalty on something that's a penalty, but don't just go fishing for calls to send a message that you're not going to tolerate physicality.

I'm never one to blame the referees for a defeat, and I'm not blaming that at all. (Some guys on the Stars boards are calling the final score Refs 3, Wings 1, Stars 1...kind of humorous I thought.) But something's just not right when the Stars lose their best defensive forward for half a period in a scrum where the Stars are the ones going down two men, and then another goal is allowed when a players is blatantly bumping into the goalie.

With all of that said, the Red Wings capitalized on their opportunities. Who knows how the game unfolds if the Stars score on the opening power play?

I just really hope that Game 2 is decided at even strength, because I think hockey fans deserve to be able to watch what could very well be an epic battle.

[Sweetwater Red]

My thoughts....

1. There should've been a penalty called when Zetterberg was
taken down right infront of Turco. Dallas benefited from more
than one no-call.


2. Detroit wasted a handful of two on one breakaways. If they
would have executed a little better, the score would of been
a little more lopsided.


3. Sometimes Morrow looked like he was more worried about
finishing hard checks then playing the puck. I guess he made
up for it by scoring the one goal though.


4. I'm not taking anything away from this game other than it's
1-0. The Red Wings came in after a ten day layoff...Dallas...what
a day and half? This was simply a rested team taking advantage
of a heavy legged one. I look for game two to be alot more
competitive.


Go Red Wings!:D

[crzyjournalist03]

The Red Wings had better watch out...it looks like Matt Niskanen will be back in the lineup for game two...