Round 2 - Detroit Vs. Anaheim

Well, I hope Detroit scores a few goals (I have a buttload of Detroit players in my work playoff pool) but I still stand by my prediction of Anaheim squeaking out victorious.

davetherave wrote:

wprager wrote:

davetherave wrote:[That's why I don't post on those other boards which are almost invariably infested with morons.

Oh ... silly me, I thought it was because you post at an average rate of 745,156 posts per day here and that, along with necessary bodily functions, take pretty much most of the day.

Now you know the truth...don't you feel better now? cool)

31.59 according to the stats, I see...and I'm sure you're not interested in details of bodily functions.

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

I drink, therefore I am.
- Rene Descartes (paraphrased by Monty Python)

wprager wrote:I drink, therefore I am.
- Rene Descartes (paraphrased by Monty Python)

I can certainly see that you know your wine. Most of the guests who stay here wouldn't know the difference between Bordeaux and Claret.
John Cleese (Basil Fawlty)
Fawlty Towers

Anaheim 2, Detroit 3

	1	2	3	T
ANA	1	1	0	2
DET	1	1	1	3

Final

7:00 PM ET, May 1, 2009, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Lidstrom buries 2nd in final minute to lift Wings past Ducks in Game 1

DETROIT -- Nicklas Lidstrom usually plays a subtle style of hockey appreciated most by coaches, players and die-hard fans.

The Detroit Red Wings defenseman's latest performance, though, was so spectacular it impressed an opponent.

"Special player," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said.

Lidstrom scored his second goal of the game with 49.1 seconds left and had an assist, lifting the Red Wings to a 3-2 win over the Ducks on Friday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series.

"I just get so amazed how he performs out there in a big game like this, in the last minute like that," teammate Jonathan Ericsson said. "He's so calm out there. I guess the experience speaks for itself. I get goose bumps."

Lidstrom is a finalist for the Norris Trophy. If he is honored as the NHL's best defenseman for the seventh time, he'll tie Doug Harvey's total and pull within one of Bobby Orr's record collection.

Despite turning 39 earlier this week, Lidstrom simply hasn't lost a step.

He started the winning play behind his net, skated up the ice, shot and scored off the rebound.

"It came off my pad and he was there all alone," Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller said. "He was patient enough to wait until I moved."

Lidstrom scored a go-ahead goal for the defending Stanley Cup champions in the second period.

He assisted on Johan Franzen's goal that tied the game in the first following Detroit's only deficit of the playoffs, drawing praise from his coach.
"He's a talented player," Detroit's Mike Babc0ck said. "We're lucky to have him."

Chris Osgood had 22 saves to improve to 5-0 in this year's playoffs.

Hiller stopped 34 shots for the Ducks, who got goals from Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne.

"I'm upset from the standpoint that I thought we missed an opportunity tonight," Carlyle said.

Game 2 is Sunday in Detroit.

The last two Stanley Cup champions were evenly matched, but Detroit got the best of Anaheim in the final minute of a hotly contested game.

"It's playoff hockey and there's a lot of intensity out there," Lidstrom said. "Both teams want to win real hard and that really comes out in a game like this."

Since the NHL expanded in 1967, the defending champion and the previous Cup winner are meeting in the playoffs for the third time. The others were in 1991 when the Edmonton Oilers played the Calgary Flames, and in 1971 when the Montreal Canadiens faced the Boston Bruins.

Anaheim eliminated the Red Wings two years ago in the Western Conference finals en route to the title, and the fourth postseason matchup in a decade between the teams was intense.

Fast Facts


• Detroit has won Game 1 in seven consecutive series. It's the longest current streak of its kind and the longest streak for any team since Minnesota/Dallas won seven in a row from 1990 to 1994.
• Johan Franzen had a point in all four games in round one and now has a five-game postseason point streak (3 goals, 4 assists).
• Friday was the first time the Wings have trailed in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
• Detroit is now 4-0-1 vs. Anaheim this season including the regular season. Four of the five games were one-goal games.
-- ESPN Stats & Information


The fifth got bloody early.

Ducks forward Mike Brown was ejected in the first period, appearing to land an elbow to the head of defenseless Jiri Hudler.

Brown, who insisted he hit Hudler with a shoulder and his visor cut him, hopes to play in Game 2.

"I don't know if it's necessary to get that suspension," Brown said. "It was a clean hit.

"I wasn't meaning to do any harm. I was just playing physical."

The game was delayed briefly while Hudler was helped off the ice and blood was scraped off it. A towel was pressed against a big cut above Hudler's left eye.
Detroit took advantage of the power play, tying the game on Franzen's goal off Lidstrom's assist.

Lidstrom gave Detroit a 2-1 lead early in the second period with a power-play goal off a slap shot.

But the Ducks didn't go away. Selanne scored a power-play goal with 17 seconds left in the middle period.

The eighth-seeded Ducks were competitive in the third, playing four days after knocking off the top-seeded San Jose Sharks. Second-seeded Detroit was on the ice for the first time in more than a week.

Game notes
Red Wings D Brian Rafalski was out with an upper-body injury and replaced by 47-year-old Chris Chelios, who played in his 261st playoff game and 24th postseason to extend his own records ahead of Patrick Roy (247) and Ray Bourque (21). ... Detroit and the Ducks have both won two series against each other. The Red Wings eliminated Anaheim en route to the 1997 Cup and in 1999. ... The Ducks beat Detroit in the 2003 playoffs with Babc0ck as their coach. ... Babc0ck (72) and Carlyle (49) have the most playoff victories and highest winning percentages since 2003.

DTR was praying for OT....

shabbs wrote:DTR was praying for OT....

Is there anything better than playoff OT?

Factoid: In 1997, Detroit-Anaheim series, 3 games go to OT including one double OT and one triple OT.

We love OT.

Anaheim at Detroit

GAME TWO, STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS WEST SEMIFINALS
RED WINGS LEAD SERIES 1-0

2:00 PM ET, May 3, 2009
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

TSN/NBC/RDS

Ducks-Red Wings Preview

DETROIT (AP) -- Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf and Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen seem to have some similarities.

They're both in their fourth NHL season.

The 6-foot-4, 216-pound Getzlaf is an inch taller and 4 pounds lighter than Franzen.

Getzlaf has 39 points in 50 playoff games in his career to Franzen's 35 points in 45 postseason games.

Red Wings coach Mike Babc0ck, though, said they're not the same type of player nor are they in the same class.

"Johan is a real good player," Babc0ck said. "Getzlaf is one of the best players in the world."

Getzlaf will get another chance to show what he can do Sunday in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal.

The Ducks need Getzlaf to deliver just as he did in Game 1 when he assisted on both of their goals in a 3-2 loss at Joe Louis Arena, giving him an NHL-high 10 points entering Saturday's games.

Getzlaf extended his points streak in the playoffs to five games.

"I'm just playing the same way I did during the regular season," Getzlaf said, shrugging his shoulders. "Obviously, I've had a little playoff experience since I've been here, so that helps."

Getzlaf played in 16 playoff games as a rookie in 2006, led the Ducks with 17 points the next season when they hoisted the Cup, then signed a five-year contract extension worth $26-plus million.

Last month, Franzen signed an 11-year contract worth $43.5 million in part because he likes blending in on a talent-laden roster.

"It's pretty comfortable to have it like that," Franzen said. "So many players in here can score goals, it takes the pressure off you a little bit."

If the 29-year-old Franzen, known as "Mule" in the Motor City, would've had some fodder for suitors if he chose to shop his skills.

Franzen proved he wasn't a one-postseason wonder during this past regular season after helping Detroit win the Stanley Cup with a franchise-record-tying 13 goals in a postseason. He set career highs this season with 34 goals, 59 points and a plus-minus rating of plus-21.

Franzen, Joe Sakic, Jarome Iginla, Martin St. Louis, Daniel Alfredsson, Mats Sundin, Jeremy Roenick and Mark Recchi are the only active players with at least 20 goals in their first 45 postseason games, according to STATS.

That kind of production is not what Detroit dreamed of when it drafted him 97th overall five years ago.

It would also be difficult to find somebody in Sweden who would've predicted it.

"People back home thought he was good, but he's gone to another level no one saw coming," teammate and countrymen Mikael Samuelsson said.

Getzlaf was projected to be good when the Ducks drafted him 19th overall in 2003 out of Regina, Saskatchewan, and he has surpassed expectations.

He's had 173 points during the past two regular seasons and was an All-Star each year. The 23-year-old Getzlaf ranked third in the league with 66 assists this season, setting a franchise record, and sixth with 91 points.

"All of the young guns -- Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- have great hands, but Getz has the best hands I've ever seen," 38-year-old teammate Teemu Selanne said. "I haven't seen a more dominant player than Getzlaf in the league."

Even though Selanne sounded overcome with hyperbole, Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood didn't think the boasts were outrageous.

"He's an underrated guy because he plays in Anaheim and doesn't get a lot of attention," Osgood said. "Obviously, he's one of the top five power forwards in the game."

Let's go WINGS. I predicted a win in 6 games but I hope I'm wrong and the Wings roll over the Ducks.

Ozzy makes a huge save on miller and now the ducks take a dumb penalty...they cannot afford to do this if they are to have any chance to win against the wings

stuart score on the powerplay

getzlaf and perry hook up to get the game tied up

goal was scored by getzlaf nice chip play from perry

So, the Ducks have two goals...

Make that three...

no just two getzlaf scored the first from perry and then they just got a quck pp one

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:no just two getzlaf scored the first from perry and then they just got a quck pp one

Well, I was insinuating they scored the Detroit goal too...

ducks are pouring on the pressure to the wings

shabbs wrote:

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:no just two getzlaf scored the first from perry and then they just got a quick pp one

Well, I was insinuating they scored the Detroit goal too...

thats true they did but i dont think the ducks defense like to see it that way

Detroit is worried about teams crashing the net and running the goalie??? i find that pricelessly ironic considering how they like to play