OT: The Red Wings seal the 5th seed in the West.

Submitted by TTUwolverine on

3-2 Wings in overtime, Brad Stuart gets the game winner. I am personally thrilled that we don't have to play the Canucks in the first round, although Phoenix is no slouch. Either way, the Wings are without a doubt the best team in the West right now, and I'm looking forward to another deep run. GO WINGS!!

JustGoBlue

April 11th, 2010 at 5:55 PM ^

was SO nice.

Great 1-on-4 Rush by Z, takes the defenders to the boards, passes to get the puck to an open Clearly, who throws it back to Stuart for the open net goal.

hockeyguy9125

April 11th, 2010 at 5:59 PM ^

I like the Red Wings in this series. They have the talent and experience to make a run. This will NOT be easy though, Phoenix is a good team. I see this going 6 or 7 games and could realistically go either way.

That said....RED WINGS in 6!!!! they are going to make a run this year, and it will take a lot to beat them

GO WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Other Matchups:

San Jose/Colorado
Chicago/Nashville
Vancouver/Los Angeles

I think Nashville could be dangerous, but Chicago should win. I think LA will shock Vancouver, and unfortunately San Jose will probably roll over Colorado (but who knows which Nabakov will show up...shitty nabakov or god awful nabakov?) that could go either way if San Jose plays like...well San Jose

jvp123

April 11th, 2010 at 6:06 PM ^

I moved out to Arizona 2 years ago and met my fiancee who is a season ticket holder of the Phoenix Coyotes. Now, we have tickets for the whole playoffs which guarantees that I see the Wings in person at least twice!

ypsituckyboy

April 11th, 2010 at 6:19 PM ^

I assume the flight to Phoenix is better than the flight to Vancouver. Travel is an underrated aspect of the playoffs. That being said, I think Vancouver is a better team than Phoenix. I'm glad we got this draw.

Mi Sooner

April 11th, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^

can become an issue down the road, if they make it that far in the playoffs. For this reason, Phoenix is the shorter flight w/out customs being an issue. (Note: Canada has stepped up custom inspections.)

i think that Phoenix is a better team than Vancouver; so it might be a toss up at this point.

Monocle Smile

April 11th, 2010 at 6:21 PM ^

play like classic Wings, it won't matter who we play. Phoenix is a good choice, but the Wings have a history of just tearing through the first round regardless of the team. (that one bad Anaheim year doesn't count because I hate Chris Pronger).

Red_Lee

April 11th, 2010 at 7:04 PM ^

Or having to hear that damn "LOOOOOOOUUUUU" cry from the Vancouver crowd every single time he makes a save no matter how basic. It's almost as annoying as the Tootoo whistle. A TRAIN DOESN'T GO TOOTOO.

wlvrine

April 11th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^

I am so happy.

Earlier this season, there were many who claimed that the Red Wing era was coming to a close. But with a tenth consecutive season of a hundred points or more I would say the Wings are competing at much the same level they have been for over a decade. Since the break the Wings have been the hottest team in the league.

There are teams who think (and are) good enough to beat the Wings. But none of those teams would choose to play Detroit in the first round.

Keep it rolling Detroit! Win the Stanley Cup!

TTUwolverine

April 11th, 2010 at 7:06 PM ^

I think it's pretty obvious that injuries were the culprit in the Wing's lackluster start. Not to mention I think that losing in the Olympics lit a fire under everyone on the team that was involved, since we had zero Canadian olympians. Just look at Rafalski; he tore up the olympics after a slow start and hasn't looked back.

Sambojangles

April 11th, 2010 at 7:28 PM ^

I just learned today that 14 of Phoenix's wins are in OT/Shootout. I'm not saying they're bad, but their point total is probably a little inflated. On the flip side, it seems like the Wings lost a ton of possible points in OT games. This series should be easy--6 games max, probably 4 or 5.

Unless there's an upset in the West, that means the Wings get San Jose. We've beaten them before, we can do it again. 4th straight Conference Finals! It's like they're becoming the Pistons.

weasel3216

April 11th, 2010 at 7:40 PM ^

People are saying that they are happy we don't have to face Luongo but we still have to face the red hot Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov is 42-20-6 this season with a 92% save percentage and a 2.29 GAA. Luongo is 40-22-4 with a 91.3% SV and a 2.57 GAA.

The advantage i see with Bryzgalov is his inexperience, as well as the inexperience of the entire Phoenix team. The advantage of facing Vancouver is that Luongo is, well Luongo (inconsistent), and Vancouver is really bad at defense, i think 28th in GA since Olympics. However, Vancouver is in the top three for scoring since the Olympics.

My personal take is i wanted Phoenix, mostly due to their inexperience and the fact that they have relied on OT and SO so much this season.

weasel3216

April 11th, 2010 at 8:06 PM ^

True and good point.

I also just noticed that both of Phoenix's wins against the Wings came in OT/SO this year. Guess i just forgot about that.

Also just looked up Phoenix's team stats and did not realize that their offense was that weak, 2.57 GFA and only 14.6% on the PP.

jcgold

April 11th, 2010 at 10:02 PM ^

Unfortunately for you, the Yotes have been neither this season. They've struggled to score while Bryzgalov has done a hell of a job keeping the puck out of the net. The defense is not the problem: the offense is.

What scares me, as a Coyotes fan, is the fact that Detroit is on a roll, and we're cooling off. Shane Doan and his line needs to be productive during this series, which he has not been lately.

Either way, I'm just happy to be back in the playoffs after an 8 year absence. Hopefully they'll make it to another round, but I'd be happy with a competitive series (and to have the team stay in Phoenix).

Go Yotes!

Hannibal.

April 12th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^

On a lot of nights, Versus lists the Wings/'Yotes at 10, and then lists Colorado vs San Jose as "Joined in Progress" at 10:30. Does this mean that they won't cut away from the Wings games until they are finished? If so, it seems kind of useless to broadcast the 10:30 game for just half an hour. I hope that the JIP games will have the full broadcast on Center Ice.