Just remember that.  Jiri Hudler was a hero in game 4 for Detroit against Pittsburgh.  In game 5, his careless stick led to the Pens power play, and their game-winning goal by Petr Sykora.  Now everyone forgets how good Hudler was in game 4, and all they remember was that his stick drawing blood led to the power play, and to the game winning goal.

Sports are funny that way, and sports fans are notorious for their fleeting memories.  Only some cities carry grudges, and those cities that do never let them go.  But that's another entry for another day.  Most sports fans look only at who to blame when their team loses.  The perennial number one candidate is the referee.  He, regardless of title or sport, is always under attack by the fans.  Too many calls, not enough calls, blowing the calls that were made.  Refs are always goats; they'll never be heroes.

But players are something else.  Fans get behind a player for some reason - a great game, a great season, a transcendant moment.  Then, when that same player blows it, the viciousness of fandom is aimed full blast at that player.  Look at Geno Malkin - for the regular season he was the Pens' dandy.  The hero, the savoir, the go-to guy among go-to guys.  What's he done in the playoffs?  Nothing.  Not lately at any rate.  What are fans doing?  Getting on his case.  And why?  Well, they want production.  They've seen production.  Now they're not getting it.  Yesterday's hero, today's goat.  Like Hudler, who's game to game turnaround is remarkable.  A stalwart, a key component to a machine-like Wings team, and today he's looking to hide under the bus, after someone throws him under it.  Hell, being under the bus is probably safer for him!

So don't forget, fans of sports, that celebrating a player for his greatness, his skill, his talent is offset by the fact that WHEN he screws up...you'll let him know that, too!

It is challenging to write anything without going crazy with the adjectives - amazing, great, wonderful, nail-biting. But no sport quite has the intensity of sudden death overtime quite like hockey, and last night (and into this morning) Pittsburgh and Detroit put on a display of quality hockey.

Detroit came out flat. Or tight. Or both. But they were clearly out of their zone, and Pittsburgh got two early markers. That woke them up, as they roared back with three unanswered goals. Thirty-second seconds from hoisting the cup over their heads. The fans were ready - they were celebrating. After all, how often does the team with the goaltender pulled actually get a goal? The entire city was ready to go. Then Max Talbot had something to say about that, and we go to overtime.

The first overtime period was all Detroit until about 5 minutes to go. Then, the Pens woke up and got some offensive pressure, but a 13-2 shot advantage tells you all that you need to know about that period. And here's the other thing you need to know: it was tied after that period.

The second OT was even - the Pens I think ended up out-shooting Detroit 8-7 in that period (or they were tied 7-7). The Pens and Wings both had excellent scoring chances - a post there, a crossbar here. They would get sustained pressure, absorb some and repeat.

In the third OT, I began to wonder if there was any way for the Pens to win. Both Brooks Orpik and Hal Gill looked so tired on the ice that making a thirty-foot pass sometimes seemed to escape them. The giveaways, especially in their own zone, were atrocious. And yet, Pittsburgh's excellent goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the rest of the team recovered, and Detroit's vicious pressure to start the 3rd OT netting nothing. Then, after a must-call 4-minute minor penalty, the Pens power play unit hit the ice.

Earlier in the game, Sergei Gonchar went head-first into the boards after screaming down the ice to back check. It was a hard, hard hit, and face first. Gonchar looked woozy at best. He left the ice, and did not figure to return for the entire game - thus the immense pressure on Pittsburgh's remaining 5 defenseman.

But on the 4-minute minor, Sergei Gonchar took the ice in his familiar position at the point. The power play unit that had been so lethal during the regular season also took the ice - the old lineup of Malkin, Whitney, Gonchar, Malone and Sykora went to work. Gonchar's impact was immediate - he was able to patrol the blue line, and Detroit had to respect him. A quick shot towards the net was deflected, came to Skyora who shot and missed the net by a wide margin, but the puck took a good bounce off of a ref and to Geno Malkin, who zipped a pass to Skyora. The one-timer was a thing of beauty, a pure sniper's shot, and went over Osgood's shoulder into the back of the net. Game over.

Many things come to mind about this game. First, that both teams are going to be at a disadvantage come Wednesday night. Neither team will get adequate rest to recover from that game 5 whopper. So fresh legs, and younger players will have to get more minutes. That means more third and fourth liners come Wednesday night. Some might say the Pens have a distinct advantage here because their entire team save for a couple of key veterans are young, some very young. The Wings have 8 players over 34 years old. I'm sure their conditioning is prime, and that they will be ready to go, but over the course of what will likely be another long, tough game, that age difference could become an issue. That is perhaps most true of Osgood. While he didn't get the same volume of work that Marc-Andre did, he was tested throughout the game. He'll have to return to top form. The Pens, playing at home, will get an emotional boost from their crowd. That home crowd will be amped, and hopefully can instill more energy into the team.

Here's the bottom line. Detroit has proven that they are the better team. They are more defensively sound. They are better at patrolling the neutral zone, and terrific in their own end. But their forwards are not quite as good as Pittsburgh's, and the hopes that Skyora and Malkin are finally awakening are rising. If both players start clicking and buzzing and working well together, and Pittsburgh then actually rolls two high-quality scoring lines at Detroit, then Detroit's advantages are again minimized. And with the game in Pittsburgh, and with everything on the line, you've got to figure that Pittsburgh looks good going into game 6.

Here's basically why. Over a 7-game series the best team usually wins out. But if the lesser team can force a game 7, then all bets are off. Game sevens are unique animals. The pressure, the fact that a marathon season of 82 regular season games, double-digit pre-season games, and then at least 15 victories in the post-season for both teams means that over 100 games boils down to one. And everyone knows that in one game, all kinds of things can happen. Where chance was not as much of a factor early on, chance becomes a tremendous factor in game 7. Things that are beyond player's control - funny bounces off the boards, tricky ice conditions and sheer good luck - become magnified. Sure, the skill has a lot to say about it, but those funny bounces can make or break a team.

I think the last area where Pittsburgh has tremendous momentum is in goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury was a big question mark when the entire post-season started, and that question mark wasn't entirely erased by the start of this Finals. Why? Fleury, while being excellent, had not really been tested and found worthy in the previous three series. This series, and last night's game in particular, have I think permanently erased that question mark. Fleury is obviously capable of purely stealing a game now, and last night was a major theft. He stonewalled Detroit in the 3 OT periods, and made the routine saves look entirely routine, and made the great saves look spectactular. His left-toe save in the first OT was the save of the game.

I won't say Pittsburgh has the momentum. They have a lot to be pleased about, and they have a lot of confidence, especially now that they've won one in Joe Louis Arena. They are down 3-2 but coming home. They are down 3-2 but riding the tails of a hot goalie. They are down 3-2 and have signs that their second dominant scoring line is awakening. They are down 3-2 but coming home. Force a game 7 and roll the dice. That's where Pittsburgh is heading.

GO PENS!!

Learned something after game 3.  Don't write blog entries immediately after a game - especially one as exciting and enjoyable as game 3 was.  Just don't - you're liable to write off the wall stuff and look like a schmuck.  So...I say that because that's exactly what I did.  And exactly how I looked.  Oops.

Anyway, tonight is a pivotal game 4 in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.  Pittsburgh's 9-0 home playoff winning streak is on the line against a Detroit team that absolutely cannot allow Pittsburgh to climb back into this series.  Winning a 7 game series is one thing; winning a 3-game series is something else entirely.  Short series turn on critical moments - a bouncing puck here, a controversial call there.  You can't build the momentum, can't afford mistakes, can't relax, not for a second.  Of course, Pittsburgh *wants* a 3-game series - and if they win tonight they get what they want.  Why does Pittsburgh want it?  I think it's obvious - Detroit is slightly better.  Not all the time, not critically better, but slightly better enough from top to bottom that Pittsburgh's really only chance of winning is to get into that 3-game series and roll the dice.  No one knows what's going to happen, and so therefore tonight's game is a total must-win for Pittsburgh.

What can Detroit expect from the Pens tonight?  Energy, pure and simple.  Pittsburgh found space and time in game 3, and were able to generate some offense finally against Detroit's vaunted D.  Pittsburgh's incredible home crowd spurred the team on and the game 3 showed a marked difference.  The Pens finally figured out what Detroit was doing to them, and was able to start countering.  The Wings were still able to dominate stretches of the game, but unlike games 1 and 2, Pittsburgh was able to counter.  So the teams now have a lot more healthy respect for one another, and that's why tonight's game is such a critical one.  There's no telling what's going to happen.

The Wings have got to get their stars getting some goals - and along with that get their PP working.  Zetterberg had a late game 1 meaningless goal (on the PP no less) and Datsyuk have none.  Not what was expected - nor needed - for Detroit to win.

Pittsburgh needs to first score any goals - game 3 was the first time they filled the net at all this series - and it has to be more than Crosby and the fourth line.  The Pens fourth line has been great all playoffs long, and so far in this series they've lived up to their expectations.  But where's Malkin?  Sykora?  Malone?  Staal?  They are con####uously absent from the scoring tally, and if Pittsburgh expects to win another game let alone the series, these guys have got to step up big.

I think that the Pens will win tonight and force at least a 6-game series.  I just get the feeling that they are ready for a break-out type game.  It will still be a long, difficult series because both teams (despite what I said earlier about Detroit's slight advantage) are very, very good.  There won't be any more 3-0 wipeouts for either team.  They will all be the 4-3 variety I think.  Good hockey.  Fun to watch, and yet painful because of how intense it is.  Any way you cut it, tonight at 8PM I'm glued to the television set. 

GO PENS!

Ten days ago, when the Pens and Wings were slated for the Stanley Cup Finals, most people expected a fast, superior skating, skillful and even affair.  Except that in games 1 and 2, Detroit hammered Pittsburgh, winning by a combined total of 7-0.  People were fearing the sweep, that Detroit was simply too good, too tough, too defensively sound, too whatever.

Tonight, for 5 minutes in the third period, fans of hockey were treated to the extreme, up and down, fast skating hard hitting action they've been hoping to see since the Finals were set.  Maybe the NHL had to get onto NBC to get better ratings (ha ha).  Seriously, there is no sport like hockey, not when 5 minutes of action are both the fastest and slowest thing you can watch.  Posts, hits, misses, near misses, huge shots - everything..except stoppages in the action.  It was a showcase of hockey.  I was pacing back and forth.  My wife threw me out of the den and banished me to the basement (however that's not as bad as it seems...).  The curses came fast and furious.  How can you miss that, I yelled at one point!  Then, during commerical breaks, I'm pacing back and forth like a caged animal.

Detroit deserved to win games 1 and 2.  There's no question that they were the better team.  However, tonight, Pittsburgh showed that they are competitors.  They are game, and are equal to the task.  Both teams had the better of the play at times tonight.  Both teams had such fantastic chances, missing by less than a hair (how did that NOT GO IN!!!!  And that was echoed by Wings and Pens fans alike at different times).  I recall the legendary story in OT in the Cup and the player hit the post - it would won the game late: "HE HIT THE POST!  HE HIT THE #### POST!"  Can Pittsburgh pull off a two-in-a-row job at the Igloo?  Tune in Friday night.  You can bet your butt I'll be tuned in.

Depressing.  No other word for it.  Detroit's utter and complete dominance over the Pens has left me in a rather dejected state of mind.  I can't imagine what the actual hockey players are feeling - but from the looks of it they're too stunned to come up with coherent thought.  Maybe coming home playing in front of the home fans will provide a boost.  It had better.  For a series that coming in looked so even, matching fine talent against talent...so far has been a total flop.  This hurts to say, but...Detroit's kicking our ####.  There's no other word for it.  No other description.  Just a total, complete, behind the woodshed ####-whuppin, and unless the Pens can somehow pull themselves together and FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY JUST SCORE ONE DAMN GOAL maybe they can move beyond that first step and actually win a game.  Course, could Pittsburgh be the first team to get swept in a Stanley Cup Finals without scoring one goal? 

Not John Madden - Pittsburgh's ESPN radio shock jock Mark Madden.  Word came down that ESPN fired him today.  Five days ago, upon hearing the news that Senator Edward Kennedy had brain cancer and survived his recent scare, Madden's comment was that "he was glad that [Senator Ted] Kennedy survived so that he could be assassinated."  I have never liked Mark Madden, and have long avoided his show from top to bottom.  Frankly, that comment was only one of many that the #### Madden made, and he earned exactly what he got.  Comments like that - whether you agree with Senator Kennedy's politics or not - are the kind of things you might say to your buddies in a private conversation.  It is not the kind of thing that a radio personality should say on the air.  Ever.  Madden deserved exactly what he got.  Couldn't have happened to a better guy.  I wonder how the self-proclaimed "cerebral assassin" feels now?

In a little more than 24 hours from this moment, the puck drops on the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings.  The accolades that people have been tossing about this week in the run-up to the start of the series have been off the charts.  NHL people are crowing about growing TV shares on Versus and NBC.  Sports writers have been talking ad nauseum about Sidney Crosby, Henrik Zetterberg and even dragging old Mario into the mix time and again.  Even casual fans - have they clicked on or read any newspaper articles - have been told time and again how tight this series will be, how evenly matched the teams are, how they are by far the two best teams in the NHL right now, and how this will be the greatest Finals since...well, forever.  Or at least 1994, when the Rangers (oh, by the way, in the largest media market in the country) won the Cup.

My question is this: have these Finals been over-hyped?  While the hype has not reached the crescendo that one sees for the World Series or Super Bowl, it's getting more than its fair share of national attention.  More, probably, than any NHL Finals in a long time.  There are so many good coincidences coming into play here - an Original Six team versus an Original Expansion team.  Two well-known hockey teams with strong to rabid local followings, and strong national followings.  Two teams featuring a plethora of offensive talent and stars (either bona fide or in the making).  Two teams on or near the East Coast, so the bigger markets know at least where Detroit and Pittsburgh are.  Two American teams.  So many things, and people are extremely excited - especially at the NHL executive level - to see these teams clash.

What if it's a dud?  What if Detroit really is that damn good and hammers the Pens into submission in a five-game series?  What if one of the key stars gets hurt in the first minutes of game 1, and the whole series turns because of that injury?  Will there be a tremendous let down? 

Most people are thinking this will be a long series.  And that, if it comes true, can do nothing but good things for the NHL.  Seven games to watch the likes of Crosby and Datsuk, seven games to talk great, tight, exciting and intense hockey games.  This won't be a ####-'em-up series - it will be intense and physical, but not a pounding one.  Both teams use the body well, but their forte is speed and skill.  Most people are thinking that before too long, the body shots will go somewhat by the wayside, and the only thing that will be seen is that same speed and skill. 

Personally, I hope that the hype comes true - I hope both teams live up to it.  I know that watching a seven-game series will be grueling from a fan perspective - that I will be tremendously thrilled or painfully abject after a win or loss, and Detroit fans will feel the same way.  The constant momentum shifts even within a game will be difficult to watch.  The scoring, how in this series I believe that no lead is safe until the third period is showing all zeros...or that last, final shot hits the net in OT.  I hope that all comes true.  But I know that it's possible that it won't.  That one team or the other could leap out to a quick lead, and put a stranglehold on this series.  That Detroit is an excellent team, and no matter what Pittsburgh fans say, the Pens have not faced this complete a team in this playoffs yet.  And one could argue that Detroit has faced and soundly beaten a team that is at least as sound as Pittsburgh.  Are the young Pens overmatched?  Or are they young enough, and "dumb" enough not to worry - and play fast and loose and with joy?  And take it to Detroit? 

I have no clue.  I really don't.  I figured that Pittsburgh would easily beat Ottawa, thought they had enough to outlast the Rangers, were fairly certain that they could take the Flyers.  I knew Detroit had too much for Nashville, and Colorado's injuries were certain to doom them.  I thought Dallas was better than what they showed, but in watching game 6 I began to wonder how exactly Pittsburgh could mount any offensive attack - Detroit's defense was smothering.  I know that Detroit hasn't faced an offensive lineup like Pittsburgh's yet - that Pittsburgh's offense is equal to or far better than any offense Detroit has yet faced.  Pittsburgh doesn't quit, even when they're down by two or even three goals.  They play hard, with relentlessness, and they come at you in waves.  Can Detroit's defense withstand that constant attack?  In this hyped finals, we will slowly but surely get the answers.  If the answers to all of these questions - and more - are that these truly are the two best teams, and so closely matched that a seven-game finals is inevitable, then no amount of pre-series hype would have been enough.  But it doesn't take much in sports to turn a series, or a game, and any number of things can easily happen to kill that hype, and to make the sport look pitiful again.  Regardless of how it turns out, I am rooting (of course) for my Pens to win it in game 7 in JLA, after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to win a most celebrated Stanley Cup Finals.  In that, the Pens/Wings would create hype that might benefit the NHL for years to come...not to mention bring another championship to one of my favorite teams.  But I'm aware that the NHL needs this series to be lengthy and tight and all the wonderful things that hockey can be.  And I hope for the NHL's sake that it works out - that the hype wasn't even close to the play on the ice.  That's what the NHL needs, and I hope both teams bring it!

GO PENS!

On April 8, 2008, the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs opened.  16 teams were vying for the Cup.  And maybe they never do it, but in some little part of their heart, the NHL executives had to be hoping for a marquee kind of finals, the kind of finals that could energize the casual fan, bring a broad-based interest to the sport.  The NHL executives were hoping that teams using boring offensive and defensive styles - the dump and chase and trap respectively - were not in the finals.  That teams without strong hockey pedigrees were not in the finals.  They wanted major players in the finals - the kind of players that the NHL can hang their hat on, and celebrate their star power in the sport and hope that it translates to star power without.  It would not surprise me one bit if the NHL wanted to see a series between Pittsburgh and Detroit.  And they got it.

Why?  Neither team plays the stifling, boring trap system on defense exclusively.  Now, either team gets a lead?  Both teams are well-known for getting a lead and going into to lockdown mode - and that usually revolves around the trap.  Neither team dumps the puck in the zone and chases it down as their sole mode of offense - done so that their forwards have time to support the defense when necessary.  No, their players tend to carry the puck in, angling gentle shots into the corner so they can more easily retrieve it, and then use a vicious cycling game to get the defense tired.  Both teams have star power - Zetterberg & Crosby, Datsuk & Malkin, Osgood & Fleury.  Both teams have a solid historical pedigree, and a tremendous following in their home cities.  And, both teams have a high enough profile that the casual fan is aware of them, even in traditionally non-hockey cities.  Plus, for whatever reason, all of Canada seems to have adopted Pittsburgh as it's "seventh" Canadian team.  I don't know why, but the Pens enjoy a tremendous popularity in Canada.  Their PKs are top notch, they play forwards on the PK so there are shorthanded chances, and both teams feature dangerous power plays. 

What the NHL is truly hoping for is seven games.  All of them within one or two goals - no boring blowouts like last night's Detroit win, or Sunday's Pittsburgh win.  The NHL needs these games to be close and competitive - the casual fan will watch an entertaining 4-3 game for a lot longer than a boring 4-1 version.  The NHL needs the teams' big stars to step up huge - which they've already done throughout this playoffs - so that they can crow about the skills of Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg and Datsuk.  They need scoring, and a lot of it - the NHL wants games to be of the 6-4 variety.  More scoring, more excitement, more back and forth/ebb and flow, more momentum shifts, and more more more.  That's what the NHL wants - actually it's what it may need.  The NHL is decidedly the fourth professional sport in America.  So to get a great, competitive, and balanced final series is exactly what the NHL needs to get itself resited on the map of American sports.

The analysis will come later.  Trolls will come out of the woodwork.  People will say dumb things, in that they will say how great their team is and claim the other is mud.  That's fine - that's part of what fans do to get them wound up for the game.  But from a professional sporting league point of view, this is *the* marquee matchup that they were hoping for.  The NHL's regular season best versus the NHL's preferred young guns.  A team with many Cup banners in the JLA versus the team with two...and some guy named Mario who saved the team three separate times.  Two teams that believe entirely in their team, and have been by far the best teams in the playoffs this year.  Two evenly matched teams, sure to generate an incredible Stanley Cup Finals.  Exactly what the NHL wanted.  And got.

Game 6, from the American Airlines Arena near Dallas Texas will be the hub of the hockey world this evening.  The story lines are quite intriguing...

Can Dallas force a seventh and deciding game?  The Stars are poised to send the series back to Detroit with a win tonight.  Not only that, it would force a one-game playoff where nothing historical matters.  To do that, the Stars are going to need another utterly perfect game.  The Wings are going to be coming hard and fast.  The Stars showed earlier in the series that they are susceptible to Detroit's puck-management pressure game.  Marty Turco is going to have to be phenomenal again.  That being said, Dallas has now shown Detroit that they are capable of playing the Wings, and beating them.  The Wings absolutely do not want to see a game 7, under any circumstances.  None at all.  The risks are too great, and I don't care what any player says, Detroit's facing the pressure.  Dallas can be loose - down 3-0, no one expected them to get back into the series.  So they can afford to be the looser team (although being honest here, "loose" is used loosely).

This series has featured two different styles, and each team has demonstrated how their style works.  A big reason the Stars won their first two series is that they are custom-built to defeat a dump-and-chase kind of team.  San Jose, for all of their skills, plays dump-and-chase, and only Ron Wilson honestly knows why.  Anaheim has no skill players capable of playing any other way, and besides, they were built for that offense and that offense alone.  So Dallas can easily defeat that style.  Problem is, Detroit doesn't play that style, so the Stars have had to adjust.  And they've done so.  Talked about constantly on NHL radio on XM is how the Stars biggest adjustment so far is on the PK, where they wait for Detroit to bring the puck up, then drop-pass to another on-rushing player.  Dallas has looked for that drop-pass, and attacked it.  So Detroit's counter is to stop it, and attack with the skating player.  Dallas has also choked off the passing lanes - another way that Detroit confuses offenses with their cross-ice passing.  Dallas's defense has stopped that, and has forced Detroit towards the boards.  Those two things alone have brought Dallas back into this series - and as a bonus, Turco hasn't seen quite as many top-shelf chances because of it.

However, Detroit had it figured out in some aspect last game...and missed the net.  Time and again, they had good or great looks, and missed the cage.  That was out of character - Detroit is a high-percentage shooting team.  Detroit will have to settle down, get their possession game working, and keep working for the high-percentage shots.  The chances will be there, and they know that they won't be that flat two games in a row.  The Wings have adjusted to Dallas' adjustments - now its time to exploit.

I still think Detroit is the better team.  They play a style of offense that is tough for Dallas to stop.  Taking Turco out of the equation really puts the Stars defense on their heels - its amazing how much they rely on Turco's puck-handling skills, in that its almost like they have a third puck-moving defenseman.  So for the Stars, handling that constant pressure without Turco's benefits will be a challenge.  Detroit has to handle the pressure - of the game, and of Dallas' defense.  The Stars will be tightly defending their zone, and playing in front of what's sure to be a zany home crowd, so the going will be tough.  And on top of that, Detroit is supposed to win, and there's nothing like knowing that to make a player tight.  On defense, Detroit has to keep working hard against Dallas's attack.  The Stars have manufactured some goals in the past two games, and Detroit must work against that.

And while I apologize in advance for this blinding master of the obvious statement...the team that gets the first goal will probably win this one.  For Dallas, it would amp up an already primed crowd, and getting that crowd into the game only does good things.  It would make Detroit think, and feel the pressure all the more.  Plus, for Dallas, getting Detroit back on their heels some might make them press.  Nothing could be better for Dallas to get Detroit into that situation.  Now, reversing roles...and this is what Dallas absolutely cannot allow.  If Detroit gets that first goal, it's so easy for the floodgates to open - look at yesterday's game between the Flyers and Pens.  You just knew that the Pens had a break-out game in them, and for Flyer fans it came at the worst possible time.  But the Flyers got back on their heels, had to play catch-up, and in that they played right into Pittsburgh's hands.  The same thing is true of Detroit - get that first marker, and make it early, and I think that you can write this series off.  The later the game goes without a goal, the bigger advantage Dallas gets. 

I just don't see Dallas being able to hold off the Detroit juggernaut again.  The Wings are too good from top to bottom, too skilled and too driven to allow Dallas to get in their way.  It's the same reason that I think the Pens are going to have their hands full - if they can even win - if Detroit is in the finals.  I think that the Pens could beat the Stars - the Pens do not play an offense that Dallas's defense is built to defeat and I think that the Pens would give the Stars the same measure of fits that Detroit's done.  But I think Detroit has at least as much firepower as Pittsburgh if not more, and would be a better matchup against the Pens.  So, all that being said, I think Detroit wins this series, and I think they win it tonight in Dallas, and I think that they'll do it emphatically.  It's too easy for this kind of game to get out of control in a blink of an eye, and I think that putting Dallas on that razor's edge of failure will be the major key in this game.  Detroit wins, 6-2, in a relatively easy laugher. 

To borrow from Dennis Miller..."But that's just my opinion.  I could be wrong."

DALLAS (AP) -- Detroit's goal with a guy barely in the crease, if at all, didn't count. Dallas' goal with a guy clearly in the crease did count.

Apparently, that's what it takes to slow the mighty Red Wings.

I don't suppose that this is the kind of publicity that the NHL wants.

I was curious about the Interference of the Goalie call, and so I went to the rulebook.  The rule is pretty clearly stated, but here's the part that really gets me.  "Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside the goal crease, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.  The rule will be exclusively enforced in accordance with the on-ice judgment of the Referee(s), and not by means of video replay or review." 

In watching the entire reply of the controversial non-goal, Holmstrom slid across the front of the crease in front of Turco, but never actually got into the crease.  The shot was fired, and Holmstrom basically screened Turco - a perfectly legal move in hockey.  But the refs were immediate in their decision.  Waved off.  No goal.  Evidently it was reviewed, but I guess that the underlined part of the rule was returned by Toronto - its the refs call.  They waved it off.  Toronto was not in a position to overturn the call.

One rather astute Detroit Red Wings fan tonight in the ESPN conversation suggested that the reason that Holmstrom's goal was disallowed was to send a message to Detroit that his incessant crease-crashing antics were not going to be tolerated any longer.  Maybe Dallas' coach finally got the ear of the refs.  Maybe Gary Bettman or Colin Campbell informed the referee group tonight of exactly what Interference of the Goalie meant.  No matter what you believe regarding that particular comment, what is not disputed is that the ref was immediate, and obviously believed that he saw something in Holmstrom's move that constituted goalie interference.  He was not wishy-washy about it - he simply waved it off.  Period.  End of story.

Obviously, tonight or tomorrow on referee review, this particular call is going to be discussed heavily and at length.  The ref is going to have to explain what he saw, and why he made the call when he did, especially in the light that it was the wrong call.

Now I don't tend to bash refs.  They have an impossible job.  They are simply wrong 100% of the time in the eyes of the fans no matter what they do.  Allow the goal and Dallas goes ballistic.  Disallow it and Detroit loses their mind.  We, as fans, and TV hockey analysts get the benefit of four or five angles of the play, slowed down a great deal so that the details can be reviewed carefully and at length, and then they get to criticize all that they want.  The same is true in the NFL and Major League Baseball especially.  But when you see a play that takes less than two seconds in real time to occur, you have to call what you see.  There's no other option.  The ref saw goalie interference.  He saw what he saw.  No one else knows what he was thinking except him.  And now that we can review it in slow motion, we can all complain a great deal.  And yet, watching that same reply in real time - it was so quick.  Shot, goal, celebration, dismay.  In the time is takes you to read those four words, the play happened.  That quick. 

I am not a believer in conspiracy theories, nor do I think that the refs are biased one way or the other.  It seems everyone has been down on officiating this year, but as more cameras and angles come on line, it's more and more obvious that no matter what the refs do, they're just wrong.  So - it's not a conspiracy.  It's not that the refs were out to get Detroit, force a game 5, generate more revenue, or any other wild and crazy half-witted theory that's been going around on the 'net tonight.  It's that a split-second play resulted in a split-second decision, and tonight it was the wrong one.  Hey, it happens.  It's too bad, but it did.  No use crying over it.  But I think that nearly everyone that watches the NHL or takes an interest in the sport ought to read the rules.  They are what they are.  It could not have been overturned.  It was a split-second decision on a split-second play.  That's how it goes.

Parity?  What parity?

Detroit is making Colorado look like what they really are - an old hockey team with enough talent to get into the second season but not enough to do much damage once they're in there.  Detroit is simply overwhelming the Avs, picking them apart piece by piece, and with Stasny going down you might as well chalk this series up for a sweep.  Maybe Colorado saves face and wins tomorrow night, but even if they do they'll get decimated at the Joe in game 5.  The Avs are done.  There's no other possible conclusion to reach from how the Wings have taken it to them.

The Sharks are done.  Giving up 3rd period leads in two games in a row is a killer, and losing game 3 in OT hurts even worse.  Plus you get the questionable quick whistle that disallowed a would-be goal, which would have put the Sharks up 1-0 early - but of course playing what if is inane.  What if Marleau got that goal, and then Dallas got a goal after that?  The fact remains that the Sharks were outplayed at home two games in a row, had a third period lead and couldn't fend of Dallas.  The Sharks too may win a game, maybe two, but all in all Dallas has this series in hand I think.  The Sharks cannot seem to muster that desperation that's necessary, and boy is it setting up for a truly classic Western Final.  Wow.

Finally, the Pens absorbed New York's frantic game last night, yet walked away with a 5-3 win.  5 goals in MSG?  They scored what - 5 goals all regular season at the Garden?  Yikes.  Worse than that, the Rangers had the building, they had the momentum, and while they didn't have the game in hand, they had the Pens right where they wanted them.  They had the Pens back on their heels, looking confused and out of synch, and then the Rangers goon took a stupid penalty, and Malkin made them pay.  Much like game 2 of the first round, where Ottawa fought back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game in the 3rd, the Pens didn't panic.  Instead, they countered.  And New York, like Ottawa, couldn't shrug off the counter and get back into the game.  The Pens counter-strike ability - their ability to score a goal shortly after the opposition scores a big one - speaks volumes about their resiliency and maturity as a team, and isn't it nice to have those weapons?

Tonight, the Flyers look to try to put the Habs into a nice tight box and keep them there.  The Flyers physical game will be at its peak, and regardless of who the Habs put in goal, the Flyers are going to pester him.  Choosing Price may be the right choice - certainly its the one I think that the players want to see - but in the end the Canadiens have to play a better game of hockey in the Wachovia Center or they'll be dusted. 

Amazingly enough, nearly every series except the Detroit/Colorado one was forecast to go at least six games.  I don't think anybody could have predicted in their right mind that the Pens and Stars both would jump out to 3-0 series leads.  I think some people may have felt the Pens were capable of winning both at home and taking a 2-0 series lead, but everyone expected them to fall back to earth at the Garden.  I think everyone expected the Stars to take home-ice advantage by winning at least one in the Tank, but not both, and then certainly not taking game 3 when the Sharks have been such a good road team.  It's baffling - although looking at how the teams are playing, understandable. 

The Rangers power play has been their demise.  They can't score.  They had two rather lengthy 5-on-3 power plays last night, yet couldn't get the puck behind Fleury.  They passed and looked and probed, but nothing opened up.  When they shot the puck, the Pens blocked it, or Fleury stopped it.  When he didn't a Pens player was there to clean up the mess.  The Pens managed to clear their zone twice in the second 5-on-3 and you could hear the MSG crowd grumbling.  Hell, on that PK TWO Pens players took shots to their legs which hobbled them, and yet they still managed to gimp around the ice long enough to get the job done. 

Where this all leads to no body knows.  I can't imagine three of the four series ending in sweeps and the other ending in five.  But the way things look right now?  I don't suppose it would surprise me too much...

So the Sharks discovered grit, Kiprusoff fell back to earth and the Sharks escaped the Flames to move onto the second round.  The Wings won solidly against a game but overmatched Predators squad, and Dallas is scary - and hot. 

Wings & Aves.  Hmmm.  Has a ring to it - that of history, of series past filled with pure intensity and utter loathing.  Most of the names have changed - but will the intensity?  This is not the early 00's where Colorado was more of a force. 

Wings - superior talent needs to rise to the top.  The Wings need Zetterberg, Datsuk and Lidstrom to play to the top of their ability.  The defense will have added pressure - the Aves are a tough, net-crashing team and it will pressure the defense.

Wings - get the early series lead.  The Aves have some questions - quality blue-line, grit/toughness - and things along those lines.  The Wings may be able to put the Aves under tremendous pressure with a quick series lead. 

Aves - the Wings have few flaws, but a potentially fatal one is goaltending.  Hasek was pulled, replaced by Osgood...who in my opinion is a nice but not dominant goalie.  The Aves are going to have to force the play into the Wings zone, and crash the net relentlessly.  The Aves have it in them to chase the Wings goalies, and they'll have to do that to force a long series.

Aves - the old guys had best rediscover some youth.  The second series in the second season, against a tough, veteran foe will wear on the older, injury-prone Aves.  They have to keep up the pressure and maintain some youthfulness if they want to play on.

Out of the gate, everything points to a Wings series win.  Better talent, younger talent, home ice, far better blueliners.  But Colorado is game, and will throw everything they have at the Wings - and if the Wings were somewhat tested by a talent-sparse Preds, they'll be sorely tested by the deeper, better Avalanche.  Energy and intensity will be a key element in this series. 

My gut tells me that the Aves have 2 wins in them.  And that's it.  Wings in six.

Sharks/Stars.  I think that - Pens/Rangers included - the most interesting, intriguing series left.  Dallas, hot, ousting the defending SC champs.  Sharks, hot, finding their playoff rhythm against a tougher team. 

Sharks - instead o####rinding, dump-and-check, pound-it-out foe, they face a fast, quick, mobile team that comes at all angles, from everywhere.  This could work to their benefit because they are a team built for speed, precision (some might say finesse...but I won't...but you can think it).  The Sharks can play Dallas' game, and that's to their advantage.  A faster, better-skating team like the Sharks can really explode in this series.

Sharks - are they for real?  So many play off demons, and some answers, but not all.  Like it or hate it, people are still openly, actively doubting the Sharks.  They are perceived as weak - not physically but emotionally, heart-wise.  The Sharks have to continue to shed those demons - the fans expect nothing short of at least the conference finals.

Stars - the intensity, PP and momentum that came from whipping Anaheim ought to feed their emotions for this series.  The Stars will come out ready to play, and if they think that they can put the Sharks back on their heels, they'll do everything they can to do so.  There's little doubt that Dallas has the leadership, talent and heart to push the Sharks - and they'll come out ready from the get go.

Stars - Marty Turco.  Too many years he's heard the whispers and this year he came back strong.  But he faced an "offensive" offense (for the lack thereof) in Anaheim, and San Jose has no such problems.  Turco is going to have to turn in another stellar series.

Both teams harbor great expectations.  I think fans in each city thinks the other city's team is beatable.  I think the teams "know" that as well.  This will be an even series, and in even series the little things count the most.  Is Nabakov just that much better than Turco?  If you believe that he is, then the Sharks get that first little edge.  There are more - many more.  I think the intangibles are going to play a tremendous role in this series, where physically the two teams match up well. 

This is a very difficult series to pick.  I like the Sharks - Thorton, Nabakov, home ice, some mo' by winning a 7-gamer against a mean opponent.  I like Dallas - Richards now looks comfy, Turco, big mo' by whipping Anaheim.  Both teams can skate.  Both can hit.  Both can grind it out, although I think both prefer an up-and-down game.  Like I said, then, intangibles become huge.  San Jose gets home ice - Dallas' home rink is a zoo.  The Stars seem to have more chemistry, perhaps a touch more personality than the Sharks.  The Sharks just won't escape the toughness (mental & physical) questions until they win it all.  That being said, I'm thinking that the Sharks have just enough to get past Dallas.  Just enough.  In seven.