THN.com Playoff Blog: Don't count out Big D yet
Home ice advantage could help Marty Turco and the Stars find the win column against Detroit. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Adam Proteau
2008-05-12 11:54:03
Another great weekend of playoff hockey wrapped up in Pittsburgh Sunday, with the Red Wings and Penguins both staking out 2-0 series leads in the Western and Eastern Conference finals.
To these eyes, the Pens seem to be a near lock to move on against a depleted Philadelphia squad, but Detroit still has some significant challenges ahead against the Stars as Game 3 looms large Monday night at American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
Detroit will be missing upstart goal factory Johan Franzen for Game 3 and Wings goalie Chris Osgood hasn’t truly been tested yet in the series, facing an average of less than 20 Stars shots in Games 1 and 2.
As noted in my Friday mailbag, I’m not insinuating the Wings may not be as good as they’ve looked throughout the regular-and-post seasons.
However, if Dallas continues to receive gutsy performances from goalie Marty Turco and can turn the advantage of playing at home into more than a single goal-for per game, we could have the makings of a long series to enjoy.
• I’ll be co-hosting CBC Hockey Night In Canada Satellite Radio with the occasionally brilliant Jeff Marek from 4:30-6 p.m. EST Monday through Wednesday of this week. Monday, we get to speak with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for the last half-hour of the show.
If you’ve got any questions for the commish – minus the vulgarities, of course – send ‘em along (aproteau@thehockeynews.com) and I’ll attempt to work in a couple.
• Finally, I&
I’m telling you this because Dave, in an apparent moment of temporary insanity, decided to name a character after me in Season 2 of Dirt. And because Dave’s got such a great sense of humor, he made the character a rich, dashing playboy type whom the Internet Movie Database referred to as a “notorious gigolo.”
Hilarious, I know. And a bit depressing, too.
The point is, if you’re channel surfing one night and you hear the lovely and talented Courtney Cox mention my name, you’re not hallucinating.
THN.com's Playoff Blogs, featuring analysis and opinion on the action from the night before, with insight on what happened and what it all means going forward, will appear daily throughout the NHL playoffs. Read more entries HERE.
Adam Proteau is The Hockey News' online columnist and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Mondays and Wednesdays, his Ask Adam feature appears Tuesdays and Fridays, and his column, Screen Shots, appears Thursdays.
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Shoxxx (Posted 2008-05-13 09:56:25)
For all Detroit Fans to Adam Proteau and THN: How do like me now, Adam? Did you really think that Mike Ribiero would continue to have such a high shooting percentage? Did you really think that Mike Modano would never run out of gas? Did you really think that Dallas' rookie/make shift defense would be able to handle the speed and finesse of the Detroit offense? Did you really think that Marty Turco, who was possibly trade bait earlier this year, was the better goalie? I thought you guys were experts! Face it without Morrow and Zubov this team is mediocre at best.
Flea Frusciante (Posted 2008-05-12 19:20:08)
The Wings already won without Franzen and while the Wings' D may prevent quite a few shots, the one's that get to Osgood are usually quality chances. One could make an arguement that this is in fact more difficult for a netminder and it certainly makes his outstanding numbers that much more impressive (fewer shots = each goal being more damaging to your stats). What does THN have against the Wings? Did they pee in your Cheerios? Run over your dog? Make unseemly advances toward your life partners? I am not saying that Dallas is not a great team. I am not saying that on any given night there aren't too many variables to call anything a certainty. I am not even saying that Dallas couldn't somehow come out on top...but it's not likely. I don't think I am going out on a limb by saying that Detroit will probably win this series and it may be sooner than later. Was that so hard? Say it with me..."Detroit will probably win the series and it might not be the drawn-out defensive battle we've been predicting for the last 2 rounds." Very good. Class dismissed.
Alicia (Posted 2008-05-12 18:25:24)
It's good to know a team (the Flyers) is completely "cooked" after losing 2 games in a "best of 7" meaning this series is far from over neither team has won 4 games so as dumb as this sounds don't count you chickens before they hatch. And as far as I'm concerned the saying is that it's not a series untill someone wins on the road well that hasn't happened yet. I know the Flyers d-men are dropping like flys but still this isn't over. The Flyers go back to the Wachovia Center tomorrow and after the 1st period we will know if the Flyers are in fact "cooked". Marty Biron still hasn't stolen a game and I believe that he will and I also believe the Flyers first line will show up so don't count them out untill this is over. I'm sure everyone counted San Jose out and they were a goal away from forcing a game 7. Only 2 games have been played so this isn't over. The Flyers are resiliant and don't like to make things easy for themselves. They were in a 10 game losing streak and everyone thought they were done. They had to beat the Devils just to get in the playoffs and everyone thought they were done.They drew the Washington Capitals and no one gave them a chance.They went to a game 7 and everyone thought the Caps won the series before that game even started.They had to play the Habs and people thought the Habs would smoke them in 5 or 6.They were trailing 3-1 in game 5 in Montreal and people thought that series would go to a game 6 and 7 but they won. Now they are down 2-0 against the Pens and they are done once again welll...this is to be continued
Alex Potter (Posted 2008-05-12 15:31:15)
Guys, there is no way that Dallas is coming back in this series, they are just not as deep as Detroit or as talented. Looking at the stats for this season and then watching the playoffs, I find it hard to believe that this Dallas squad only scored 17 less goals than Detroit. The Red Wings power play is almost unstoppable, having Homer in front of the net with the likes of Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, and Rafalski on the first line. The only hope that I see for Dallas is if Marty Turco shuts down the Wings completely, seeing that Dallas cannot score on Ozzie with that great Detroit defense.
Chris Hoeft (Posted 2008-05-12 12:42:00)
Everyone says that Osgood hasn't really been tested in the playoffs yet and I think thats true, but he never will be. The wings play such great defense that Osgood will never get tested. I'll be suprised if the Stars every crack the 30 shot mark in this series.
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