Mikey D

As soon as the clocked reached zero, I had the TV off. I couldn't watch Pittsburgh dog-pile on top of one another, and I couldn't watch the Red Wings, in defeat, line-up for the obligatory shaking of the hands. I went to bed with my stomach in knots and my hands literally shaking from the nerves of the last few minutes of play. A bad feeling to say the least. But after a night of sleep I woke up in a reflective mood. Emotions aside, I can't complain too much about this year's playoff run and Cup Finals.

First, can we all agree that Pittsburgh deserved to win this series? Games 1 and 2 were in no stretch of the imagination dominate Wings wins, and could have easily gone to the Pens. Save Game 5, this series could have been over in five or six. They played excellent hockey for the most part, and kept us from getting into any sort of rhythm (again, save Game 5). And while we did a fantastic job of stopping Crosby, their secondary guys (Talbot...oye...) stepped up. Good teams, Stanley Cup winning teams, have contributions from all their guys. Perhaps if we had more of a contribution from our guys the outcome might be different.

Like Hossa. He admitted after the game that the pressure may have gotten to him; that he's only human. I can give him that. It was a nightmare Finals match-up for him, but he's an all-star caliber player, and pressure or not, he had seven games to contribute something- and he didn't. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. A bad series for him should be a mere couple of goals. To say I was disappointed with him would be an understatement. But let's stop criticizing Hossa there. He played like shit, but can we stop with the "he should have stayed with Pittsburgh" talk? Like he pointed out at the end of the game, if he would have signed the more lucrative deal with the Pens their team might be completely different. Hossa's cap number would have prevented them from signing/trading for some of the key guys they have on their roster right now. It worked out fine for Pittsburgh in the end, now let Hossa be about that whole ordeal.

Going into the offseason I want Stuart and Raflaski gone. That's harsh, I know, but they were so very awful. The two goals Pittsburgh scored, the odd-man rushes, the turnovers...I can point to those two men as the culprits for all of them. Yes, other guys had bad series too and didn't show up, but these two guys hurt our team more than anyone. Like I told Kevin during the game, I felt bad for Osgood. He had a great series, but the amount of quality scoring opportunities Pittsburgh had because of our defensive lapses was ridiculous. He can't stop every two-on-one...

But I think next year will be good for us. We had a lot of young guys infused with our older guys, and hopefully we can stay healthy for a whole playoff run. Pittsburgh and Detroit again in the Finals? Seems likely...

Random question that I keep forgetting to ask: The announcers during the playoffs mentioned numerous times that Osgood had to be sent home during the season for a period of time (no pun intended) for an "attitude adjustment". Anybody know what that is all about?

Anyway, congrats to the Pens, they deserved it. I still won't ever be able to watch highlights of this series or look at pictures of them holding the Cup, but they earned it. And congrats to the Wings. Even playing poorly in the Finals we were able to force a Game 7 against a talented team playing at the top of their game. That's something to be proud of in my mind. If there are such things as moral victories, that should be one.

Well, there's always next year.

~Mikey D