Last year it was the PITF.
Could this year be the KITN?

We’re screwed…probably.

Posted by O-Joe on 04/23/07 at 11:33 PM ET

O-Joe, don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.  It’s working.

And a KITN could very well be possible.

Posted by IwoCPO from Sunny San Diego, bitches on 04/23/07 at 11:55 PM ET

So do you guys seriously think the Wings have no shot against the Sharks, or is this just an attempt at Karma-manipulating schtick?

Posted by HockeyinHD on 04/24/07 at 04:46 AM ET

Let me put it this way HD:  I’m more optimistic than I was before I saw how the Wings played against Calgary.

I still think, though, that San Jose is going to offer us the toughest test we’ll face throughout the playoffs.

Posted by IwoCPO from Sunny San Diego, bitches on 04/24/07 at 04:54 AM ET

C’MON!! Our boys beat down the best goalie (in my opinion) in the league. They prevailed even when the game became UFC and then intramural softball. Yeah, so we stunk up the joint in our previous matchups with SJ this year…..feh…..
I’m thinking the West Coast travel jinx must be aboot worn out by now, and flights to SJ and back aren’t the same as 10 day West Coast road swings.

Wings in SIX!!

Posted by dougie on 04/24/07 at 05:58 AM ET

Not NO shot, but a smaller shot than against Dallas.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/24/07 at 06:06 AM ET

Well stats wise, we have better goaltending.  The PP & PK are fairly close and I think that San Jose is a great team, but I think this is the year the stats and superstitions all go out the window.  From here one out anything can happen.  I think Detroit can beat these guys.

Posted by Tony from Mid-Michigan on 04/24/07 at 06:54 AM ET

Can Detroit win?  Sure, it’s not impossible, but maybe not so probable either.  I’m puckering over the possibility that the road for Detroit just to get to the SCF could end up being through Calgary, SJ and Ana (making the wildly presumptous assumption that they get past SJ) - that’s brutal.  I really wanted to see SJ and Ana beat each other up and only have to play one of them along the way.

Oh well, I’m sure Babblecock will have some clear, concise message to soothe our battered psyches before the day is out.  Time for the MBCQOTD mayhaps???

Posted by Hoser from Downer Peninsula on 04/24/07 at 07:22 AM ET

Maybe I’m just out there, maybe I just love setting the team up for Karmic Katastrophe, but I think the Sharks are eminently beatable.

If we’re talking about the toughest tests Detroit looks to face the conversation ought to stop with the Ducks, who have far superior defensemen and decently superior goaltending to the Sharks and who went 5-2-1 against the Sharks.

The key to the Sharks series is going to be Detroit evading the SJ forecheck and getting the puck down on their defensemen and goalie.  Detroit can take those guys, if they can get to them.  Once the puck gets across center ice the team needs to switch from puck-possession mode to stick it in your eye mode, because Rivet, Hannan, Carle, McLaren and Vlasic…  those guys can be beaten.  Nabokov or Toskala are no Kiprusoff.

If the Wings end up getting constantly penned in by the Sharks aggressive forwards it’s going to be bad news, mostly because the blue line just isn’t big and physical enough to push their way through that… which means at least one forward has to come down to clear… which means the flow into the offensive zone is pretty much dead meat.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 04/24/07 at 09:11 AM ET