Stanley Cup Playoffs, Western Semifinals, Detroit Red Wings vs San Jose Sharks

• bigkahuna

  6-0
  
  I'm speechless...
  
  Let's start the rally and win the series!
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Yeah, somehow knew the Wings would not repeat 2003 and be swept in the playoffs by another California team.
  
  I expect San Jose to win game 5 though.
• wildcats20

  

  Wow
• Laley23

  

  4 goals and 6 points. Johan Franzen has had a good game.
• wildcats20

  

  Had a hat trick in the 1st, I'd say it's a good game lol
• Laley23

  

  The crazy thing is how close he is to 5 goals and 7 points. Granted, the save mightve been made had Bertuzzi not deflected it with his leg, but still.
  
  What a freaking game!
• wildcats20

  

  I just got home from work, but was getting updates on my BB. Couldn't believe it when I saw 4-0 lol
• wildcats20

  

  Lil' frustrated are we San Jose??
  
  Holmstrom gets shoved on top of the goalie and then pummeled by a Shark player lol
• wildcats20

  

  Has any NHL team ever come back from 3-0??
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  No. I don' think so. 3-1 yes, but not 3-0.
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  Two teams have come back from 0-3, the '42 Leafs came back on the Wings in the finals to win the Cup and the '75(?) Islanders came back on the Pens and then in the very next round (this is the crazy part) the Isles came back from 0-3 against Philly to force a game 7 but lost....
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  The islanders NEVER held a lead in the first three games of the Pittsburgh series and they WON game 7 on the road. In the final four games of the series, which the Isles won, of course, Pittsburgh NEVER held a lead. God, what I wouldn't give to have been alive for this. I would definately be a New York Islanders fan right now if I had......
  
  http://www.whowins.com/features/comeback.html
  
  An 0-3 comback didn't happen again until 2004 when the Sox cameback to win against the Yanks. They watched the movie "Miracle" in the clubhouse prior to game 7.
• bigkahuna

  Well I'm just being optimistic
  
  I just think it would be kind of funny if the Wings won the series 4-3 after losing the first 3 games all 4-3. I think I was most excited when the score was 4-0 because there was no way we were going to lose 4-3 yet again lol
• KnightXC1

  

  No better way to win the game then to smoke them and send them back to the coast having a little doubt in the back of their minds. One game at a time so have to continue to play well Saturday and force it back to the Joe for a game 6. Lots of work to do still but they are good enough to make it happen.
• End of Line

  

  Strapping Young Lad wrote: The islanders NEVER held a lead in the first three games of the Pittsburgh series and they WON game 7 on the road. In the final four games of the series, which the Isles won, of course, Pittsburgh NEVER held a lead. God, what I wouldn't give to have been alive for this. I would definately be a New York Islanders fan right now if I had......
  
  http://www.whowins.com/features/comeback.html
  

  Al Arbour was a beast of a coach during his time.
• killer_ewok

  

  Sharks won 2-1 last night. San Jose moves on to the WCF and Detroit is eliminated.
• Non

  

  Good Detroit is out.
  
  San Jose and Chicago are talented but still they lack experience in the finals if they get there.
• KnightXC1

  

  Another badly missed call against the Sharks leads directly to the winning goal. Just awful officiating throughout the NHL playoffs this year; they want to enforce certain things and because they look for it, even if it is not a penalty, they call it. Missed hit on Franzen should have given them a 5 minute major penalty, yet the Sharks come down and score on the next shift to take the lead.
  
  With all the injuries and everything this year for the Wings, to make it all the way to the 5 seed and win in the first round shows how much heart these guys have. People are calling this the end of the Wings dynasty, to which I laugh. No team has better scouting, a better front office, or a better group of coaches and players. Their core guys are locked up for years and young guys have been worked in over the last few years. Will be right back next year again.
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  Detroit needed to draw a penalty badly in that third period. Sucks that it didn't come until the final minutes of the game when they were forced to pull Howard. That almost works against a team in a way having a PP in the final minutes b/c the defense can just shoot for the empty net and not worry bout icing and all that.
  
  SJ is just way better than Detroit, obviously. I didn't get to watch a lot of this series, so I kinda thought Det could have a shot at coming back, just b/c they're Detroit. But watching that third period, even at their most desperate, they were just no match for the Sharks.
  
  That third period was so fast , it looked like a freaking video game. It was insane. I hope that wasn't Lidstrom's last game in the NHL. He's still extremely valuable, even at 40 and being not much of the player he once was. Still one of the best in the game.
  
  SJ and ChI should be a hell of a series. A ton of talent will be on the ice should they meet.
• KnightXC1

  

  ^^ Sharks were not way better than the Wings. All of their wins were by 1 goal, and all 3 wins in SJ had highly questionable calls lead to goals for the Sharks. Series could easily have been 3-1 Detroit going into last night. Outplayed the Sharks for much of the series but were hurt by bad calls and taking a few bad penalties. Biggest reason they lost was faceoffs which killed them but in no way were the Sharks "way better" than the Wings.
  
  Blackhawks will give the Sharks a lot of problems because defensively, the Sharks cannot match up with only Boyle and Blake doing anything.
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  I don't know. From what I saw of this series the Sharks were "way better" than the Wings. I know a lot of DET fans were complaining about the officiating, but when the Wings got PP opportunities they couldn't bury them, seemed like they were either playing from behind or blowing a lead. The Sharks obviously looked like the younger, quicker, more confident team. Detroit made more mistakes in key times and the Sharks scored the big goals, not the Wings. I just don't think this Wings team was on the same level as SJ and it showed in the 4-1 outcome.
  
  Granted, I didn't see every period, but when I watched thats what I saw.
  
  I can say the same thing about Buffalo-Boston. Every game was close, but if you watched it all, you know that Boston was far superior than the Sabres. Scores don't tell the whole story.
• KnightXC1

  

  Wings actually had the lead going into the 3rd period in 3 of the 5 games and they were tied in another. Wings PP wasn't great but SJ had about double the chances the Wings had, which perplexed Wings fans since Detroit was the second least penalized team in the league. The 4 games to 1 is not indicative of how close the games were. All 3 go ahead goals in the games in SJ were the result of bad calls on the Wings or a non call in Game 5, where the Sharks scored shortly after. Like you said, you didn't see much of this series and I watched every second. Series could easily be over with the Wings adavancing but they didn't get the breaks, which you have to get in order to win the Cup.
  
  Just take my word for it that it was much closer than a 4-1 final.
• Strapping Young Lad

  

  I will agree that officiating in the NHL can win or lose a series. It's freaking awful. The league should be embarrassed by it actually.
• gabuckeye

  The officiating was just way inconsistent. I won't blame it for the losses, because it was coupled with poor effort, particularly in the 3rd period of nearly every game for Detroit, but the outcome was assisted is all. San Jose is a really good team though and I would be surprised if they did not make it to the finals.