Abel to Yzerman
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Ducks Better in ‘07? Nope. Just Healthier
by IwoCPO on 10/29/08 at 11:30 AM ET
Comments (18)
So says Helene St. James this morning.
Q: Take us back to the 2007 Western Conference Finals when the Red Wings lost to the Ducks. Did management and coaching staff look at that and say, ‘This is where we need to get better.’ Was that at all a turning point for them?
A: No. I think they looked at it as, ‘We didn’t have Mathieu Schneider. We didn’t have Niklas Kronwall.’ Take the two of top three defensemen off any team – how well are you going to perform?
Exactly. No “improvement” required to beat that team, just a little health.
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Comments
Looking forward to this game tonight. Getting a late afternoon coffee so that I’m awake for this one. Must warn family of impending psycho-ness and foul language once Prong-head hits the screen.
Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 10/29/08 at 12:34 PM ET
hope mac is ready tonight… he has a date with a mustache
Posted by christpuncher from Asheville, NC on 10/29/08 at 12:49 PM ET
Coffee???? Huh? Oh that stuff I drink at about 6 bells in the am....
Stricly malted barley in prep for this meeting Hockeychic… though I seem to think you’re a vodka girl?
If Lilja didn’t hand Teemu the pick, we’d not needed improved health to beat’em either. Or if Gary. Ass. didn’t have his mindless minion send Pavel to the box for nothing..... juts sayin’.
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 10/29/08 at 01:12 PM ET
My neighbourhood in Totonto has stronger than average Red Wings support. First there’s me to represent the ‘hood on the Pipes & Tubes, then there is the Detroit Eatery a few blocks away. This is the shop that took out a full page ad inviting Draper to bring the Stanley Cup there when he had the Cup. How did Drapes respond? by bringing the Cup by for lunch… class guy… meanwhile I was half a country away on pop tour, dammit.
In the other direction, a few blocks away, the best Chinese BBQ place in the city sits. You know the kind, with meat hanging in the front window. Included in this meat buffet is my dinner tonight, BBQ duck cooked with a crispy skin and moist meat, impaled through the neck and hung proudly in the window ready to be chopped down and masticated.
With the strong Red Wings neighbourhood influence we will pressure the restaurant to have jersey numbers braised on the ducks’ backs for game night, if they don’t already do it. That way fans walking by can go in and order a Pronger to go with a side of Giguere’s legs. Let the feast begin.
Posted by VooX from Behind the Bar in the Hasek Club Car on 10/29/08 at 01:21 PM ET
VooX, I hope that’s the last you talk ‘bout food, you cheeky bastard. “BBQ duck.” I don’t like you very much right now.
After San Jose, this was the game I was looking forward to the most so I’m going to be out tonight at the casinos (most probably at Brendan’s Irish Pub in the Orleans Hotel/Casino). It should be interesting to see how the chemistry between Datsyuk and Hossa stacks up against Pricker and S.Niedermeyer.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 10/29/08 at 01:53 PM ET
Duck may in fact be healthier, but better? They haven’t shown to be better on the scoresheet (although DET isn’t exactly lights-out defensively this season either).
GP W L OT G/G GA/G PP% PK%
DET: 9 7 1 1 3.67 3.11 32.4 81.4
ANA 10 5 5 0 2.80 3.10 13.9 83.0
DET is outshooting opponents 39.4 S/G versus 28.6 SA/G
ANA is gettting outshot 32.9 SA/G versus 28.0 S/G
Neither is a defensive juggernaught as of yet this season—but at least DET is lighting up the scoreboard.
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 19 on 10/29/08 at 02:15 PM ET
Okie,
Take a gander at the #’s HTT just put up in the Whoa post......
Like Whoa? And we’re 7-1?????
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 10/29/08 at 02:21 PM ET
Off-Topic: In case anyone missed it, here’s the latest on Winter Classic ticket info
Of course, the most expensive tickets (including obstructed view, I assume) are in the upper deck for $325 a pop. I’ll probably try for the cheapo $75 seats even though I may not be able to see any actual ice surface. Thanks Gary...well, you know the rest.
Posted by cephalopod from Chicago, on the poop deck, not over it yet on 10/29/08 at 02:33 PM ET
Neither is a defensive juggernaught as of yet this season—but at least DET is lighting up the scoreboard.
Well, it’s a bit early to get overly critical about stats, especially noting that the Ducks inexplicably began the year 0-4 (outscored 8-17).
The ship is starting to right itself in Anaheim, especially since the trio of Getzlaf-Perry-Kunitz started scoring. Those three players had 0 combined goals in the first 7 games, but have combined for six goals in the last 3.
It’s not a fine-tuned machine yet by any means, but I can handle gradual improvement.
Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 10/29/08 at 02:35 PM ET
Cephalopod… reading some of the comments there was pricefrigginless. Even not hockey fans bitching about Gary.Ass. BWWWAAAHAHAHAHA.
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 10/29/08 at 02:37 PM ET
If Lilja didn’t hand Teemu the pick, we’d not needed improved health to beat’em either.
This explains everything. It wasn’t Kronwall or Schneider. It was that we had Lilja in the lineup.
End. Of. Discussion.
Posted by Primis on 10/29/08 at 02:37 PM ET
End. Of. Discussion.
Have to laugh, because for a lot of us, this discussion ended eighteen months ago.
But if you say so!
Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 10/29/08 at 02:39 PM ET
this discussion ended eighteen months ago.
You didn’t nor don’t have Lilja on your roster. Discussions invoving him are always fodder for discussion here.....
Both these teams are finding their way back to their ways per say. Nights like tonight are either a kick in the ass in the right direction.. or a kick right square in the beanbag.
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 10/29/08 at 02:45 PM ET
Ceph, thanks for the laughter. The comments, as noted by MO, are outrageously hilarious.
Thanks, Gary. Ass.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 10/29/08 at 02:45 PM ET
I hope to watch the game tonight. Managed to severely sprain my ankle, it’s in a soft cast and I am on vicodene. Sometimes I make sense other times I don’t. So we shall see.
Posted by hankyspanky40 from Michigan on 10/29/08 at 02:56 PM ET
Hank—sorry to hear about your ankle. On the other hand you’ve got a great excuse as to why
Sometimes I make sense other times I don’t
.
I have no excuse whatsoever!!
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 19 on 10/29/08 at 04:06 PM ET
Hank - sorry about the ankle.
Yes, MOWingsfan, I’m normally a vodka girl but due to extreme stress, I’m sticking with coffee this evening. Unfortunately, I won’t be part of the liveblog, unless I can peak in between periods. Now that I have a bigger house, the computer is not in the same room as the TV. HORRORS! Maybe I need a laptop just so I can participate in live blogs, yes that’s the reason!
Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 10/29/08 at 06:39 PM ET
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Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 10/29/08 at 12:17 PM ET