08-09' Blackhawks (46-24-12) 104 PTS - 4th Seed In The West!

[Cynosure]

37 SAVE SHUTOUT

[Flames24Rulz]

I am absolutely PUMPED for the playoffs. What a great game and a great finish to the season.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Hot, cup-winning goalie.

 

Sixth-best point total in the league.

 

Certainly we aren't favorites, but I don't see any reason why we couldn't win the whole dang thing.

[NewUserName]

As good as the Wings are, they never play a physical style. Even acknowledging that, they are clearly not taking this game as seriously as the Hawks are. They are making the Hawks look like a physical team. That's not easy.

 

Yea, they have 11 fights all year.

 

 

when are you going to learn that fighting is not toughness? I would suggest that fighting is lack of toughness. I guess you will in the playoffs

[kujay]

They've got me thinking Conference Finals again. I still think I would consider a first-round win and a tough out in the second round to be a good finish. But there is no reason if they are flying and Khabi can stay hot that they can't make the Campbell Conference finals.

[Cynosure]

As good as the Wings are, they never play a physical style. Even acknowledging that, they are clearly not taking this game as seriously as the Hawks are. They are making the Hawks look like a physical team. That's not easy.

 

Yea, they have 11 fights all year.

 

 

when are you going to learn that fighting is not toughness? I would suggest that fighting is lack of toughness. I guess you will in the playoffs

 

Where did I ever say that?

 

But if you want to count Chelios getting away with countless slashes/crosschecks toughness it's all good. They aren't very physical overall... when you play more physical you get into more fights.

 

I know how the playoffs work, there's barely ever any fights.

[NewUserName]

As good as the Wings are, they never play a physical style. Even acknowledging that, they are clearly not taking this game as seriously as the Hawks are. They are making the Hawks look like a physical team. That's not easy.

 

Yea, they have 11 fights all year.

 

 

when are you going to learn that fighting is not toughness? I would suggest that fighting is lack of toughness. I guess you will in the playoffs

 

Where did I ever say that?

 

But if you want to count Chelios getting away with countless slashes/crosschecks toughness it's all good. They aren't very physical overall... when you play more physical you get into more fights.

 

I know how the playoffs work, there's barely ever any fights.

 

No I dont want to count Chelios at all, my guess is you will not see him very much in the playoffs. Also, Cyno you do have homer glasses on when it comes to officiating.

 

I think the Wings play plenty physical(at least enough to be stanley cup champions.) They just rarely fight. Today they obviously were coasting. I actually dont think the Hawks were exactly playing hard today either. Just their goaltender was great, ours was ok.

[Cynosure]

As good as the Wings are, they never play a physical style. Even acknowledging that, they are clearly not taking this game as seriously as the Hawks are. They are making the Hawks look like a physical team. That's not easy.

 

Yea, they have 11 fights all year.

 

 

when are you going to learn that fighting is not toughness? I would suggest that fighting is lack of toughness. I guess you will in the playoffs

 

Where did I ever say that?

 

But if you want to count Chelios getting away with countless slashes/crosschecks toughness it's all good. They aren't very physical overall... when you play more physical you get into more fights.

 

I know how the playoffs work, there's barely ever any fights.

 

No I dont want to count Chelios at all, my guess is you will not see him very much in the playoffs. Also, Cyno you do have homer glasses on when it comes to officiating.

 

I think the Wings play plenty physical(at least enough to be stanley cup champions.) They just rarely fight. Today they obviously were coasting. I actually dont think the Hawks were exactly playing hard today either. Just their goaltender was great, ours was ok.

 

Oh for sure... game was meaningless for both teams and I think the Hawks just wanted it a bit more since it was the home (season) finale. Not to mention Khabi played the game of the season today, Wings had enough chances to score 4-5 goals... just bad bounces that happen to every team.

 

The reason I get pissed about the refs is not really because of the penalties the Hawks commit (majority of the time they are real penalties). I get pissed when big name players (Chelios/Datsyuk for example... yea I know Chelios is not really a "big name player" anymore) can get away with a bunch of crap on the young Hawks players without getting called.

 

Inconsistency is what gets me, not the penalties themselves.

 

Oh well, ONTO THE PLAYOFFS!

[jaydee]

The Wings aren't very good without Lidstrom.

[Cynosure]

The Wings aren't very good without Lidstrom.

 

And Hossa.

[Cynosure]

Khabibulin went from:

 

.917 SV% - .919 SV%

 

2.39 GAA - 2.33 GAA

#6 - #4

[kujay]

Khabibulin went from:

 

.917 SV% - .919 SV%

 

2.39 GAA - 2.33 GAA

#6 - #4

 

Glad to see that. He really has been one of the elite goaltenders in the league this year. He had a few rough games last month when coming back from that injury, but otherwise, he's been great.

 

I don't want to take away from what's going on now, but with Khabi clearly not coming back, it seems to me that Huet will have trouble ever being "the guy" here. Q hasn't shown a lot of confidence in him, and obviously the fans have made their choice this year. I have a feeling Crawford and/or Niemi will be getting a ton of PT next year.

[jersey cubs fan]

Dont want to cloud up the playoff thread with this, but while watching Havlat being the best player on the team in the 2nd half, I can't help but thinking if they will keep him, and what they will be doing in the near future. I think you let Khabi walk. If they lose in round 1 or 2, it will be easiliy justified. If he takes you to the Cup, great, but the man is old and didn't live up to his contract until this year. If you can get rid of Huet, then you can consider it, but the longterm health of the franchise requires resigning the young guys, not Khabi.

 

But I think they have to keep Havlat. Aside from Toews and Kane, they just don't have enough effective forwards to withstand losing Havlat. And neither Toews or Kane is going to make up for that loss by contending for the scoring title.

 

The Campbell contract, which I was for, could really hurt them in a couple years, let alone 6-7 years down the line.

[Soul]

Yeah, I think we saw last night the value of having Havlat on the team. He was supposed to be a vet who would do something like this, when it really counted. It was so great to see him come through last night.