Anyone predict a sweep? Anybody? One guy did.
Ken Campbell, The Hockey News Senior writer
Detroit over Colorado 4-0 – Just a hunch, but it says here the Red Wings will prick the Jose Theodore bubble early and once that happens, the floodgates will open and pucks will come rushing through.
Am I ready to join that parade, even up 2-0? No, not yet. But I do have a couple other views your family may find interesting.
Why Joel Quenneville didn’t immediately announce Peter Budaj as his Game 3 starter is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong. Seeing Three...no, Four back in net for the next one would fill me with Christmas morning like joy. But I’d be shocked if 60 waddled out to start that game. If he does, Quenneville is perhaps the stupidest man in hockey. And, if Three...oh well, make it Four does start that game, it’s proof that Joel Quenneville actually wants to be fired. Quenneville should announce it today so that the “controversy” is over by Tuesday. And that’s the extent of my constructive advice for that team. You wanna start Three was bad, but Four?, go ahead. Roll the dice. We welcome that kind of brash behavior.
“We’ll talk about everything, but Jose’s been our guy,” Quenneville said. “Coming off what he went through is not easy. I thought ‘Boods’ did a real nice job in relief again, but Jose’s the one who brought us here.”
Wow. Pretty dumb. Yep. Your boy JoeSay got you there Joel. He got you in a big pile of stinking trouble is what he’s done. You let him convince you he was healthy enough to get by the heaves long enough to keep you in Game 1. Then he blew more chunks while allegedly healthy in Game 2.
If Budaj doesn’t start Game 3 and the doors get blown off again? Dive fans may want to take a wistful look at Mike Babcock, a coach who is unafraid to make a goalie change in the playoffs, a coach who has no problem sitting a legend, and the rewards he’s reaped from that decision. Sitting a mediocre goalie who just happened to play well in the final year of his contract? Is that a tough call? Must be.
Keep him in there idiot. We’re hoping you do.
Petey gonna play? I don’t know. I’d guess probably. The Dive must have been so excited to see their hero take the pre-game skate. Of course, when he didn’t actually, you know, play...the consensus is that his teammates, the ones who fought for their playoff lives for six months before Floppa decided to join them in late March, well...they got kinda sad and deflated.
And this from Ryan Smyth: “I think if he’s ready to play, he wants to play at 100 percent. It’s an unfortunate thing because he’s a huge part of it. There’s nobody who knows his body more than him. If he doesn’t feel that he’s ready, then he feels that he’s not an asset. That’s his judgment call. I don’t think he’s a big distraction, no.”
Ah yes. He wants to be 100 percent. Pavel Datsyuk would like to be 100 percent, and I’m thinking he’s not. We know Holmstrom isn’t. Zetterberg’s not. Cleary, McCarty, Stuart, Lidstrom, Samuelsson...none of them are. You think Smyth’s 100 percent? Here’s what I think Ryan Smyth would like to say.
“Forsberg’s a coward. Play or get the hell out.”
He’ll be in there Tuesday. And someone will convince Quenneville that Budaj needs to start, so he’ll be in there too. Hannan will probably be back. Game 3 is their Game 7 and the Dive will be desperate.
But desperation is one thing, depth is another. And they don’t have the depth to stop Johan Franzen. Don’t worry. Nobody has for the last two months. No Red Wing in recent history has had this kind of impact. Eleven game winners through March and April? Are you frigging kidding me? Three game winners out of the six Wing playoff wins? 7 goals in six games. And here’s the real issue for those hoping to stop him.
Who has the defensive depth to stop Zetterberg and Datsyuk, then roll another line capable of stifling Franzen? No one. That’s who.
Khan(!)
“He’s hanging onto the puck. He’s got his head up and he knows where the other players are,’’ Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said of Franzen. “That’s why he’s able to do some of those things. His balance is so good that he’s tough to knock off the puck. He’s brave, too. He takes the puck hard to the net.’’
A “brave” Swede. Wonder if the Dive wish they had one of those?
Big talk from me today. Optimistic tone and all that. Deserving? Of course. The Wings looked brilliant yesterday, except for the two minutes after the French guy’s goal. They looked a little rattled but snapped out of it. Osgood was steady. Every phase was good, no let up and no signs that Denver had any right to be in the same building.
But I think back nine years to 1999, the last time the Wings had themselves a 2-0 lead against the Dive. Heck, I think back two weeks, the last time Detroit had a 2-0 lead in a playoff series.
Again, Mike Babcock will earn his new contract this week. Forsberg or no Forsberg. Detroit has to leave Denver with a 3-1 lead or a sweep. Hopefully, lessons were learned against Bubba...a team with heart. Hopefully, the conversations have already begun about how important it will be to stifle any signs of life left in Denver.
How about this for a ‘Digger headline:
“Mule kicks Avs”
By Chuck Pleiness
Journal Register News Service
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/042708/spo_sports01.shtml
Bruce is traiing him well!
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Posted by w2j2 on 04/27 at 10:36 AM