To Mitch Albom:
I’m Joe Hass. Let me declare my biases in advance.
Game #1: Wings 4, Stars 1
In the first game of the Western Conference Finals, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Dallas Stars, 4-1. For a more thorough look at the game, be sure to read Joe’s liveblog here.
Below are some photos taken by my dad at the game. You can view the rest at Flickr.
Chris Osgood makes a save.
Captain Nicklas Lidstrom takes a slapshot.
Franzen scores another one.
Brad Stuart blocks a Dallas shot.
Brenden Morrow scores one on goaltender Chris Osgood.
Niklas Kronwall uses his body.
Al Sobotka twirls an octopus in the zamboni pit
Game 1 (Sorta) Live Blog: Wings/Stars
Joe here. Unfortunately, the NHL did not consult with me about deciding to have Game 1 on a day when I made previous plans. Add to that the fact that the game is on Versus (which I don’t have at my house), and it looked like I was going to be in trouble.
But fear not. I will be live blogging the game via a TiVo at my office. What that means is that I’ll start the blog as soon as I can get here from the beginning, and will do my best to catch up as fast as possible.
Follow along after the jump.
Conference Final TV Listings
Joe again with a heads up on where to catch the games on TV.
For the rest of the playoffs, all of the cable games will be exclusively on Versus. Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond get to enjoy the games as fans from here on out.
If you’re hoping to get an reprieve via CBC, you’re half-in-luck: they picked the Battle Of I-76 for their full-series coverage, but will take Games 2, 5, 6, and 7 of the Wings/Stars series.
Here’s the TV schedule with start times (note the Saturday night start for Game 2, which was obviously influenced by the CBC: NBC wants those weekend games as day starts, while CBC likes night games).
Thu May 8: at Detroit, 7:30 pm ET, Versus, TSN
Sat May 10: at Detroit, 7:00 pm ET, Versus, CBC
Mon May 12: at Dallas, 8:00 pm ET, Versus, TSN
Wed May 14: at Dallas, 8:00 pm ET, Versus, TSN
Sat May 17: at Detroit, 1:30 pm ET, NBC, CBC
Mon May 19: at Dallas, 8:00 pm ET, Versus, CBC
Wed May 21: at Detroit, 7:30 pm ET, Versus, CBC
Wall Street Journal: The Return Of A Great Game
Joe here. The NHL has an unbelievably good article in today’s Wall Street Journal online. Entitled “The Return Of A Great Game,” it leads with a stunning piece of news: Don Cherry is going to file reports for ESPN during the Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals. If you recall, last year Cherry went on NBC during an intermission and verbally beat down Brett Hull.
Beyond that, the article gives a great overview in a place that you’d hardly expect it. Not a long piece, but one that has to make them happy in Toronto and New York, especially in light of the Fortune fiasco.
NHL says Al can twirl octopi once again
Zamboni driver Al Sobotka can finally twirl octopi thrown onto the ice after the NHL changed its rule regarding the twirling of objects thrown onto the ice. Sobotka still cannot pick up the octopus on the ice during the game, but a linesman can now hand off the octopus to Al. He can then twirl the octopus in the zamboni pit.
Essentially, you can view this as a compromise. Ideally, it’d be nice for Al to twirl the octopus on the ice, but the league stands by their position that the twirling resulted in matter getting stuck on the ice. Thus, twirling in the zamboni pit allows the crowd to see it and still get pumped up while preventing matter from flinging off the octopi and sticking in the ice.
It’s great to see that the Wings can once again embrace the 17 year twirling tradition without risking a $10,000 fine.
Round #3 Predictions
After going 12/15 last postseason, I struggled in the first round at only 4/8. Yikes. I improved with my predictions in the second round going 3/4. With that warning, here are my predictions for the conference finals.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers
In the battle of Pennsylvania, I see this series going to six games and while the Flyers have certainly impressed fans with their play against the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens, I just don’t see them overcoming the Penguins. [Penguins in 6]
Detroit Red Wings vs. Dallas Stars
This will certainly be a tough series. Between top forwards like Modano, Ribeiro, and Morrow, and the defensive prowess of Zubov, and the strong goaltending of Turco, it’s going to be quite a challenge to make it past the team that defeated both the San Jose Sharks AND the Anaheim Ducks. If Turco plays like he did in the 4OT game against San Jose (and doesn’t play like he usually does against Detroit), this is going to be a long series - seven games long.
Keys to this series: Detroit needs to stay healthy. Hopefully the few days of rest gave the players time to rest and heal those bumps and bruises. It’s key that Detroit stays out of the penalty box and particularly avoids dumb penalties (ie. too many men on the ice). Once again, scoring needs to be spread out throughout all four lines. With Johan Franzen likely drawing plenty of attention from the Stars, hopefully this will open up some space for his linemates. [Wings in seven]
Burnside makes his Conn Smythe picks
Scott Burnside @ ESPN.com picked his top three Conn Smythe candidates from each of the four remaining NHL teams. Chris Osgood, Johan Franzen, and BTJ favorite Niklas Kronwall made the list for Detroit.
• Hard to look further than “The Mule,” Johan Franzen. The unheralded Swedish goal-scoring monster leads all postseason scorers with 11 goals and is tied for second with 14 points. His three game winners are what would put him at the top of this early ballot. Scoring in bunches is one thing; scoring when it counts is another.
• Franzen’s exploits may have overshadowed another dynamite performance in the Motor City. Niklas Kronwall is enjoying his finest injury-free stretch since coming into the NHL as the 29th pick in the 2000 draft. It’s Kronwall who enters the conference finals as the leading point-getter among defensemen in Detroit, not Nicklas Lidstrom (Kronwall has eight points, Lidstrom seven). The hard-hitting defender also is blocking shots, taking out opposing players and generally looking like a stud on the Detroit blue line.
• How about the new kid in goal, Chris Osgood? OK, he’s not so new and not so young. (He wore the winged wheel a decade ago when the Red Wings won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998.) Still, Osgood took over for a shaky Dominik Hasek in Game 4 of the first round against Nashville as the Wings looked like they were coming apart at the seams. Osgood has since won six straight games and leads the playoffs with a 1.52 goals-against average.
5/06 Quick Links
Until I post my conference finals predictions sometime Wednesday evening, here are some quick links:
Valtteri Filppula did not practice today with the team due to a knee injury suffered during the last round. Bruce MacLeod is reporting that Mike Babcock believes Filppula will play in Thursday’s game, but if Filppula can’t practice with the team tomorrow, Babcock’s plans will change.
Jamie Samuelsen at WDFN interviewed Kris Draper about playing in overtime in the playoffs and the Detroit-Dallas match up. You can listen to it here.
The Detroit Free Press Twist section did a nice piece on Leslie Winfield-Baker, who makes meals for the players, DRW staff, and the media.
Her moment at center ice: When she turned 40, team members assembled on center ice and beckoned to Leslie to join them. “They all started singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, and then I got a face full of shaving cream,” laughs Leslie. “I’ve pieced it together. It was (Kris) Draper. Plus, a couple of guys told me it was him.”
A team’s affection: On her 20th anniversary on the job, the team called her into the dressing room, where Draper announced that because of all she did to take care of them, they wanted to give her a little something. It was a necklace with a Stanley Cup image and inscribed “Love, the boys.”
Ansar Khan at MLive.com writes about how Aaron Downey is staying positive despite being a healthy scratch for the entire playoffs.
“You can sit back and feel sorry for yourself because you’re not playing, (but) you know what, the situation is we got good players in this locker room and I knew that coming into camp,” Downey said. “I said if I make the team I might be lucky to play 40 games, and I played 57. I’ll take that, and I was happy. Playoffs? We’re halfway done and I could still get some games, but if not, I still feel a part of it. … Doesn’t matter what I got to do to win a championship. If I got to fill water bottles, doesn’t matter to me.”
Wings to play Dallas after 4OT thriller
After the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks went into a fourth overtime last night (actually around 2:15 this morning), Stars captain Brendan Morrow scored the series winning goal 9:03 into that period to win the game, 2-1. As a result, the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Stars in the Western Conference finals with game one on Thursday evening. The good news? Dallas is closer than San Jose so in terms of travel, they are the better option. The bad news? Marty Turco just played the game of his life so his confidence has to be pretty high right now. I couldn’t believe some of the saves he made last night (in total, he had 61 saves).
Updated with game times:
Game #1: Thursday at Detroit - 7:30pm
Game #2: Saturday at Detroit - 7:00pm
Game #3: Monday (May 12) at Dallas - 8:00pm
Game #4: Wednesday (May 14) at Dallas - 8:00pm
Game #5: Saturday (May 17) at Detroit - 1:30pm
Game #6: Monday (May 19) at Dallas - 8pm
Game #7: Wednesday (May 21) at Detroit - 7:30pm