LET'S DO THIS = 12

Wings Going Away Party hosted by Blackhawks - Day 1

Blackhawks host Red Wings in series opener

Tuesday, 05.14.2013 / 6:05 PM

Brian Hedger - NHL.com Correspondent

RED WINGS at BLACKHAWKS
(Game 1 of best-of-7 series)
TV: NBCSN, CBC

Season series: The Chicago Blackhawks went 4-0-0 against the Detroit Red Wings during the regular season, but the lone game decided in regulation was a 7-1 rout on Easter Sunday at Joe Louis Arena. The other three games all went past regulation: Nick Leddy's goal 2:45 into OT won the first meeting on Jan. 27 at United Center. Patrick Kane tied the March 3 game in Detroit at 1-1 with 2:02 left in regulation and won the shootout. In the final meeting, rookie Brandon Saad got the winner in another shootout victory, 3-2 on April 12 in Chicago

Big story: The Blackhawks, who ousted the Minnesota Wild in five games in the first round, have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time with their current core group of stars, including a Stanley Cup victory in 2010. But one thing this group hasn't done is beat Detroit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- Chicago's last series victory against Detroit came in 1992. The Red Wings beat Chicago in the 2009 Western Conference Finals in five games -- three that went to overtime. The Blackhawks who experienced that series would like to return the favor. Seventh-seeded Detroit is in the unfamiliar role of underdog after upsetting the second-seeded Anaheim Ducks in a seven-game Western Conference Quarterfinals series.

Team Scope:

Red Wings: Detroit has dealt with a multitude of injuries that forced the Red Wings to play young guys in regular roles much sooner than the Red Wings normally would. Those young players turned it up a notch heading down the final stretch of the regular season, when Detroit needed to win its final game to assure a playoff spot. After knocking off the Ducks, the Red Wings have their sights set on the top-seeded Blackhawks, who piled up 77 points to win the Presidents' Trophy. They haven't beaten Chicago in seven straight games dating to last season, but sound eager to face the NHL's regular-season champions.

"It's going to be fun to play them again," captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "They had our number in the regular season, so it's going to be a challenge for us. We've played better the last 10 games
of the regular season and the postseason. We improved as a team and [have] been through a lot. It's going to be fun to see what we can do against Chicago.''

Blackhawks: Chicago wants to ramp up the intensity for this series after eliminating the Wild fairly easily in the first round. Coach Joel Quenneville was not pleased with his team's level of play in the series, even in comfortable victories in Games 4 and 5. During three practices held after clinching the opening series, speedy forward Viktor Stalberg has worked on a line outside the top four groups and might not dress for Game 1. It might also be a motivational tool by Quenneville, who hasn't said Stalberg won't play. It's all part of the Blackhawks' pre-series plan to increase the hunger and anger in their game.

"The fact that we're playing the Wings, whom we've seen a bunch of times over the years, kind of sparks things off the ice with the fans and the media," forward Patrick Sharp said. "On the ice, we know what kind of team they have. We have a lot of respect for what they can do. It's going to be a tough, hard-fought series right from the first shift of Game 1."

Who's hot: Sharp scored five goals for Chicago in the first round after scoring six in 28 regular-season games. Bryan Bickell added three goals and an assist, Patrick Kane dished out five helpers and Marian Hossa scored three goals and picked up three assists against the Wild. … Zetterberg scored three goals and added two assists combined in Games 6 and 7 against Anaheim, while Pavel Datsyuk added two goals and five assists.

Injury report: Blackhawks forward Michal Handzus (unspecified) missed two straight practices for what Quenneville termed "maintenance," while center Dave Bolland and goalie Ray Emery are expected to suit up the first time this spring. … Detroit won't have speedy center Darren Helm (back) or rookie defenseman Danny DeKeyser (broken thumb) for the entire series and will start without veteran forward Drew Miller (finger/hand fracture), who might return at some point against Chicago. Goalie Jimmy Howard is also playing through a nagging hamstring issue.

I guess I'd like to stalberg back too but let's be clear, him being out of the line up did not lose this game...they lost this game because there were about 22 other guys in the press box with him!!!

Seriously, if stalberg is "the key" to this team, or series, the hawks are not the team I thought they were!

TIME FOR REVENGE AGAINST THOSE OF THE "TIRE-FAIRY" LOGO FOR 2009!!!!!  

HERES TO THE HAWKS SETTING THE TONE AND TAKING IT TO THE DEAD WINGS IN GAME ONE!!

The article is dumb, but believing in curses and jinxes is equally idiotic.

Lets not forget that during the final Wings game this year, their broadcast crew was absolutely giddy over the prospect of playing the Hawks in the playoffs.  Lets wipe those (even though we live in the worst city in the country we are still better than everyone else) smirks off their faces !!

Smokinmedic1, on 11 May 2013 - 01:44 PM, said:

It never ceases to amaze me that you think playoffs is the time to start experimenting. We had tons of opportunities to call up Pirri in the season with Bolland out (and I advocated it) but for some reason Q or Stan didn't want it.
But now is not the time to do it imo. "give him a few games, if it doesn't work, we'll take it from there"...
if it doesn't work, the season is probably over.
btw that second line wasn't horrible:
Sharp 5g 1a 6p +4
Kane  0g 5a 5p +3
Zus   0g 2a 2p +2

granted, Handzus isn't the ideal solution but he's reliable, he has experience, his face off stats will most likely improve.
I don't want a rookie now at 2nd line center.

sro, on 23 May 2013 - 09:11 PM, said:

Get over it. They're not playing well enough to win.  It's the team's fault, not the zebra's.

The Wings have outplayed the Hawks by a mile.  End of story.

Our best players aren't being our best players. Detroit's are. End of story.

First time I've seen this team melt down like this all year. Started off better, but we ultimately got outworked and to some degree outcoached in this one. If it doesn't light a fire underneath them, we don't deserve to advance to the next round at all. Now on to the unpopular sentiments that I never thought I'd say:

Toews needs to stop whining to the refs, looking for calls or trying to argue his case and start playing his best hockey. He's letting his frustration get the better of him and this team absolutely follows his lead. He's the leader - act like it and stop with the feeling entitled to better calls or favorable outcomes. It's crap, and it's taking the rest of the team down that road with him. Q, Hossa, Sharp, anyone needs to pull him to the side and tell him to knock it off yesterday. He doesn't have an orca on his chest, he has the indianhead, and for this team that's not going to cut it.

Flame away.

I-miss-Wis, on 14 May 2013 - 07:46 PM, said:

Toews fighting Kane is as likely as Ghandi and Mother Teresa having a go.

hsbob, on 14 May 2013 - 03:59 PM, said:

Things get pretty heated when they make an uneven number of chicken tenders up there.

Something is going on behind the scenes with this team and it started to show in game 2 with that pathetic performance.  Then the arguing on the bench something is not right.

vipermuscle83, on 20 May 2013 - 08:31 PM, said:

We have scored 1, 1, and 2 goals in the games we have lost in the  playoffs thus far this year.  I dont care if God is in net, if you cant score, the best you can hope for is an infinitely looooong game of 0-0 hockey.

Bolland with 3 hits, 4 shots, and 64% at the dot...  Man, is he built for the playoffs, or what?

I say Blackhawks win in 3.

Who will be the one to blame Crawford for that second goal?

"Crawford sucks, he left the net wide open."

I'm so glad we got Jamie Kompon to fix our PP this year.  What a steal!

links to streams :
http://www.firstrow1.eu/watch/188082/3/watch-detroit-red-wings-vs-chicago-blackhawks.html
http://nutjob.eu/
http://cricfree.tv/l...reaming-ch2.php

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/95242 this is Sopcast stream, HQ but needs sopcast IE plugin/player




Hawks in 6.
Go Hawks !

CC doesn't deserve the rap.....his team just gave up 3 point blankers and he stopped them all.