Classy Champs Not Out of the Woods Yet

Robbed of a critical goal late in the third game of their Western Conference playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, the Detroit Red Wings weren't about to cut it close this time.

MARK AVERY/aP

Depth, class and skill. Wings are a group to be feared.

Instead, they pounded six goals into the Ducks net on Wednesday night, including five on rookie goalie Jonas Hiller, ripping Anaheim 6-3 in an exhibition of skill and class.

The champs, it's clear, have lots of both.

But they've also got a fair bit of guts. After losing Game 3 on a terrible missed call by referee Brad Watson, the Wings found themselves down 1-0 in the first minute of Game 4.

But with the newly constructed line of Val Filpulla between Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa doing most of the damage, Detroit gradually took over the game and drove Hiller from the net early in the third after piling up a 5-2 lead.

Franzen had two goals, giving him 17 in his last 18 playoff games, while Hossa finally showed signs of life offensively and demonstrated the depth Detroit has up front with Hossa, Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Ducks, meanwhile, don't have the firepower to match Detroit, particularly when they're only getting offence out of one line, namely the Ryan Getzlaf-Bobby Ryan-Corey Perry unit. Getzlaf didn't play much in the third last night, and if he's injured, that sucks even more of the life out of the Anaheim attack.

It's pretty obvious that Detroit is the better team, particularly when the Ducks aren't as effective with the physical game as they were in Games 2 and 3. Anaheim now has to bounce back for Game 5 in Motown, and Hiller has to show he can bounce back as well.

Both Western Conference semis are now tied 2-2, with Chicago coming from behind to stun Vancouver in overtime last night in the Windy City.

The lesson of this one? Just hanging on to a one-goal lead is a difficult thing to do in the post-lockout NHL, and the Canucks paid dearly for playing a remarkably passive game from the midway point of the second period on last night.

The Canucks seemed to be in control, but Roberto Luongo was victimized late by Martin Havlat and then in OT by an Andrew Ladd deflection. Mats Sundin, meanwhile, was barely noticeable for Vancouver, which seemed to suck the life out of the youthful Blackhawks for 55 minutes but then made key errors to lose the hockey game, 2-1.

A National Insult? Hardly

Great to see the country's "national newspaper" has taken on the task of being the propaganda arm for Jim Balsillie. Normally businessmen of that stature have to pay for such services.

The way that media outlet talks it is as though southern Ontario hockey fans are some great oppressed people straining under the rule of the tyrant Bettman, with the liberator Balsillie prepared to set them free. Guess the NHL commissioner's trips to Calgary and Edmonton in recent months to push for new arenas to support NHL teams in those cities was also about somehow denying Canadians their national birthright.

And here I was just thinking it was about the business of hockey.

Here's what's interesting. If Jim Balsillie had followed through on his original plans to buy the Nashville Predators back in 2007, right now he could be preparing to go to the NHL board of governors next month and make his case for relocating the team to Hamilton.

He could have spent the last two years building alliances with different NHL owners and gaining their trust. He could have been carefully courting the support of key league administrators and generally making himself known in the NHL community as something other than an unpredictable maverick.

Assuming the Preds had still not been able to flourish in Tennessee after two seasons under Balsillie's ownership, his fellow governors would have had to listen to his plea to move the team.

Theoretically, the Preds could have been in Hamilton by next fall. Of course, that would mean that all those people (15,000?) who put down season ticket deposits of $500 to $1,000 two years ago would be getting calls now to come up with the rest of the $8,000-$10,000 for a pair of tickets to see the Hamilton Predators.

Betcha a lot of people in this current economy would be thrilled to get that call, huh?

But Balsillie didn't have the patience for simply buying a team, getting into the club and then biding his time. He wants a team in Hamilton now, and on his terms. So to bankruptcy court in Phoenix today we go.

A couple of other points before we move on to today's mail bag.

-- Isn't it funny how those westerners who sarcastically ridicule Toronto as the "Centre of the Universe" are suddenly so impressed with us that they proclaim the GTA to be the logical place to place a second NHL club?

-- Got one comment saying Phoenix is a lousy hockey market because it has no history in the game. Fact is, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the WHL were the first pro sports team to ever plant roots in Arizona back in 1967.

-- The players union backs the relocation of Phoenix, but also wants the NHL to get off NBC and get back on ESPN. Well, where do you think ESPN would prefer a team? Phoenix or Hamilton?

-- Sorry, but 73,000 email communiques for Balsillie's website don't impress me. American Idol got 60 million votes for its competition on Tuesday. Now that impresses me.

Some questions for today:

Q: Hi Damien,
Quick turn from the NHL Playoffs to the AHL Playoffs for a moment. Do you find it odd that even under a new administration, the Toronto Marlies STILL played their backup over Pogge during the playoffs? (Game#6)

Jim G., St. Catharines

A: Odd? Not really, not this time. Last year it was about not giving Pogge a shot. This spring, well, Pogge got his shot in the NHL and was found wanting. I'd imagine there's a pretty good chance he won't be re-signed at all this summer. Maybe Adam Munro becomes the goalie of the future.

Q: Hey Damien,
Any news regarding the 'Monster' from Sweden? From what I've read he's been merely ok. Do you know if Burke still has interest or has things cooled off?
Thanks Damien,

Tom Bajusz, San Antonio, TX

A: They're still interested. But it sounds like Jonas (The Monster) Gustavsson is going to shop his services around. In Toronto he'd get a shot at being No. 1. Not sure which other NHL club can offer him that opportunity next fall.

Q: Hi Damien,
In one of you recent blogs you wrote about the in-game entertainment packages in the Verizon Centre, the Wachovia Centre and Madison Square Garden which put MLSE to shame.  Can you please provide more detail as to what these buildings are doing for their ticket paying public?

J. M., Toronto

A: Well, you have to go and decide for yourself if you find it appealing. It's just a livelier, more current show all around, less about performing skits designed to insult the other team and more about using music, video and atmosphere to create an environment in which customers feel inclined to participate, and not just when there's a simulated pair of clapping hands on the large screen. 

During the playoffs, Damien Cox is answering your questions on a regular basis. Click here to submit a question.
**Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Damien. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

Champs in Trouble

In terms of artistic excellence, this was no Pittsburgh-Washington, with Game 2 of that playoff series still reverberating as one of the more remarkable post-season matches in recent NHL history.

No, the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks did not produce a thriller on Tuesday night, not with the Ducks playing rope-a-dope for the final two periods and hanging on by their fingernails and Jonas Hiller's 45-save goaltending to grab a 2-1, Game 3 win and a two games to one series lead. To anyone who remembers the stultifying style of hockey Anaheim used to win the '07 Stanley Cup, this was like watching a bad movie again.

There was, however, some controversy, with the Wings able to make a reasonable case afterwards that they were absolutely robbed by referee Brad Watson of what should have been the tying goal in the dying moments in the third.

On the play, Scott Niedermayer made a horrible misplay under pressure behind the Anaheim net, and the puck skittered in front into Hiller's crease. The Anaheim goalie sprawled awkwardly but never came close to covering the puck, which rolled into the blue paint inches from the goal line.

Marian Hossa tapped it in from there, but not before Watson, inexplicably, had blown his whistle on what could charitably have been called a quick whistle even if Hiller had successfully covered the puck.

That will leave a sour taste in the mouths of the defending champs, who are now in some degree of danger in the second round of the post-season against a tough, rough-and-ready Anaheim team that is getting just enough offence out of its top players while squeezing the top Detroit attackers.

Hossa has been nearly absent, while MVP finalist Pavel Datsyuk has yet to score in the series against Hiller, who has 104 saves in the last two games, both Ducks victories.

Anaheim never trailed in the game, jumping ahead in the first on a pretty Teemu Selanne breakaway goal. The Ducks penalty killing was very sharp, and the Wings will have to upgrade their readiness for hand-to-hand combat along the boards in Game 4 to send the series bad to Motown tied.

Missing Pieces

Hard not to watch the Red Wings battle the Ducks tonight and not notice the absence of veteran Detroit blueliner Brian Rafalski, who is missing his third straight game.

Rafalski's veteran cool and braininess on the Wings blueline is one of the understated factors behind the club's success. With him out, players like Brett Lebda and aged wonder Chris Chelios (playoff game No. 263!!) are seeing the ice more, and while, they're not bad players, they're not Rafalski.

Chelios helplessly watched Teemu Selanne blow past him on Anaheim's first goal, and while the Detroit power play did finally click late in the second to cut a 2-0 Ducks lead in half, the Wings have clearly struggled with the man advantage against a Ducks team that becomes emboldened and more aggressive when its clear opposing clubs can't do damage on the power play.

Rafalski is finishing the second year of a five-year, $30 million contract, and the bang he's giving the Wings for their bucks was part of the reason GM Ken Holland felt comfortable giving long term contracts to Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.

Here was Holland's reasoning. Rafalski is now 35, and could easily play another five years. If the Wings had signed him to a 12-year deal when he was 28, he would now be seven years in with no danger of looking like he's past his prime.

The Wings hope the same will be the case with Zetterberg and Franzen. That said, they need Rafalski to reappear in the short term as the Ducks appear to be gaining an upper hand in the series.

Performing on the Big Stage

Surprised about Alex Ovechkin? Nope.

Surprised about Sidney Crosby? Nope.

GENE J. PUSKAR/AP

We're still looking for Evgeni Malkin during this series.

Anyone who has watched either of these players over the years would know by now they are big-time players in big games. They’ve just got the stones, and in one of the most entertaining playoff games in years last night in Washington, they both proved it.

Then there’s Evgeny Malkin. Surely we can expect more from an NHL scoring champ. In Games 1 and 2 against the Capitals, you could say that Malkin has been doing a Joe Thornton, except Thornton was never quite this uninvolved or ineffective.

We got all the cards and letters before the series from people complaining about why all the coverage was about Ovechkin and Crosby, and not about Malkin. Well, this is why, along with about a million other reasons. First the no-show in the Cup final against Detroit, and now this.

Nobody’s saying Malkin isn’t a great talent. He’s got it all, and there have been times during the past two regular seasons when he has carried Crosby, not the other way around.

Even in the first few games of this post-season Malkin looked good to go. But not in the last four, and certainly not last night.

Now on to some questions from our playoff mail bag:

Q: First off, I would like to say this years playoffs have been some of the most entertaining hockey that I've had the privilege to watch.

My question is about what has happened to J.S. Giguere. I have been more than impressed with Hillers play this spring, but what would be the future of J.S. with the Ducks. Is he possibly on the move this summer?

My other question is which series in the first round was most surprising to you and why? as well as what second round series do you think will be the biggest surprise? I'm leaning towards the Ducks beating Detroit.

Thank you.

Liam Murphy, Barrie, Ont.

A: Well, it’s pretty simple with Giguere. He got beat out, and good for Randy Carlyle to be able to go to a youngster in goal instead of a veteran with such a big rep. It was Jonas Hiller who fueled the Ducks charge into the playoffs, and he’s just been better than Giguere for a few months. Giguere is owed $13 million over the next two years, a ticket not many teams would want to acquire. Maybe the Leafs? Only if Vesa Toskala went the other way, but it's worth wondering whether Brian Burke, who loves Giguere’s competitive fire, might be interested.

Re surprises, well, I sure didn’t see San Jose losing to Anaheim. I don’t think anybody did. This round? The biggest surprise would be if Carolina could upend Boston, and these next two games in Raleigh will be fascinating with the Bruins facing pressure for the first time in the 2009 playoffs.

Q: I've really enjoyed watching the Sedins play in the playoffs so far. They really do seem to know where each other are. With respect to their upcoming free agency, is it a guarantee that they will end up playing together, whether in Vancouver or otherwise? It would seem to me that with the salary cap, it would make it that much harder for teams to bring them both. Have you heard anything on whether money or staying together is more important to them? Thanks!

Mike C., Mississauga

A: They want to stay together, they’ve always been together and I doubt there’s a team out there that would be interested to see what Daniel would be like without Henrik, or the other way around. That said, they may have to take slightly less each to stay together. But I sure wouldn’t expect a split.

Q: What is it going to take for Gary Bettman to realize that having a profitable hockey team in Phoenix isn't going to work? This is (to my knowledge) the second time the NHL had to loan money to them just to pay rent! Do you believe if this keeps happening, Bettman will agree to moving NHL teams in really bad markets back to Canada (or somewhere where they can make money in the US)?

Also, what will it take for Bettman to be kicked out as commish? One, two, three teams to fold? I really don't like this guy!

Joel C., Toronto

A: Phoenix has been a disaster. And I can tell you, my good friend Gord Stellick was way ahead of the curve on the notion that one day the NHL would be looking to move teams back to Canada. That said, the Bettman administration has a pretty darn good record of turning struggling franchises – Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Buffalo, Edmonton, Washington – into successful ones.

The trouble spots are already highlighted, and while it’s easy to say move Phoenix, where would you move them to that they would be a guaranteed success? The question you need answered is whether Arizona fans would respond favourably to a winning team like fans have, say, with the Capitals. Sadly, the Coyote people have never been able to ask that question effectively.

During the playoffs, Damien Cox is answering your questions on a regular basis. Click here to submit a question.
**Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Damien. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

Why Not Wood?

So I'm watching the Caps and Pens tonight, and I see Pittsburgh score the first goal of the game on a power play, an effort aided by the fact Washington penalty killer Brooks Laich had his stick broken by a shot just before the goal was scored by Sidney Crosby. Nothing looks more awkward than a fellow trying to kill a penalty with no stick.

Big deal, right? A zillion sticks get busted a game, sometimes wrecking golden scoring opportunities.

But, I says to myself, a penalty killer doesn't necessarily need the benefits these fancy new carbon fibre/plutonium/kryptonite weapons give your everyday player when he's trying to score or shoot.

He just needs to kill the penalty.

So why not wood? Why wouldn't guys on the PK use wooden sticks, far less likely to be broken, and then switch back to the uranium models they usually use for 5-on-5 play or power play duty?

Surely, your garden variety penalty killer can ice the puck just as well with a wooden stick, and if a shorthanded scoring opportunity does come up, well, they used to score with wood, didn't they?

And you'd never have to worry about getting stuck out there with a busted stick. Well, almost never.

Just an idea. No charge.

Winning Just Doesn't Attract

Maybe people just miss Paul Godfrey that much.

Nah, that can't be it.

You do have to wonder, however, that with only one winning major league sports team in this city - okay, two if you want to include Toronto FC, which I don't - the Toronto Blue Jays are suffering from a significant attendance hit these days.

Yes, there are complicating factors. The season has barely started, the dome is much nicer open than when closed and baseball attendance in general is down (about 7 per cent), although not as badly as some feared it would be when projections suggested tough economic times might knock down attendance across-the-board by 17-20 per cent.

Still, you'd think a winning team in this city at this time would attract some people.

Instead, the Jays appealed to only 18,331 customers on Saturday for a game against Baltimore, and then a tidy little crowd of 20,418 yesterday as the club completed a sweep of the Orioles.

In all, average attendance so far is about 20,200, the worst in a decade and well down from last year's average of 29,626.

Again, yes, there are reasons. For instance, neither the Yankees nor the Bosox have come to town, although that's almost become an artificial way for the Jays to pump up their attendance numbers since those two clubs bring a travelling band of fans with them. And there was that no-beer game that one supposes would have discouraged some from attending.

That said, it should be noted that not only are the 18-9 Jays playing well these days, they have almost no competition, with both the Raptors and Maple Leafs having started their summer vacations long ago.

This is a baseball team that has the market to itself. Yet the numbers aren't there.

Nobody's expecting things to be like they were back in the salad days when the Jays attendance peaked at a 50,098 average back in 1993. But since a low of 20,209 in 2002, the fans had been slowly but gradually coming back, and last season the club's average attendance was sixth best in the American League.

Now back to this. Lots of reasons for it, but at the end of the day, it's peculiar that a city that should be starved for a winner doesn't seem interested in a once-beloved baseball team that's off to a start that equals the best in its history.

Of Comebacks and Carl Crawford

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A Wobbly Beginning

If this was supposed to be the playoff series where Roberto Luongo would finally prove to one and all he is a big-time netminder, it hasn't started well.

In two games, the Chicago Blackhawks have pounded eight goals past the Vancouver netminder, who has been unable to protect one three-goal lead and one two-goal lead in the series so far.

Luongo has stopped 54 of 62 Chicago shots so far for a dreadful save percentage of .871, hardly the kind of statistical impression most were expecting Luongo to make in this series. He has faced 31 shots in each game, a fairly manageable number, yet he's proven vulnerable to rebounds and getting stuck deep in his crease.

Although he has been in the league since 1999, Luongo has played in only 19 playoff games, including last night's 6-3 loss to the Hawks. Many have argued that Luongo hasn't been on good teams throughout his career as the reason why he lacks significant career accomplishment, but that can't be said right now of a Vancouver team that looked terrific in the first round against St. Louis but has now already given up home-ice advantage.

If Luongo is going to be Canada's goalie for next year's Olympics, he's got to deliver in this spring's playoffs. Now, he and the Canucks head to Chicago for Games 3 and 4 where 22,000 fans will make it tough on any goalie.

Time for Luongo to deliver.

A Bloody Start

Didn't take the Anaheim Ducks long to send the message that they intend to be just as rough and nasty against the Detroit Red Wings this spring as they were in 2007, which is why this should be a terrific, if potentially ugly, series.

Mike Brown's vicious blindside hit on Jiri Hudler left Hudler in a pool of blood and should, if there's any consistency in Colin Campbell's world, land Brown a five-game suspension just as it did Washington's Donald Brashear for his hit on Blair Betts of the Rangers last week.

Back in 2007, you may remember, Chris Pronger's hit-from-behind on Detroit forward Tomas Holmstrom saw Holmstrom cut for 13 stitches and Pronger suspended for a game. Anaheim won that series by wearing out an already banged up Detroit team, and with Kris Draper and Brian Rafalski already missing from the Red Wing lineup, you can see that will be the Anaheim approach again.

Sadly, the chorus on Hockey Night in Canada - on this night P.J. Stock, Ron MacLean and Kelly Hrudey - all agreed that the Brown hit was clean, declining to address the obvious reality that it was late and a hit to the head. Hrudey's usually the sensible guy over at HNIC, but that's the CBC hockey approach, get everybody agreeing with MacLean - the only guy in the world who believes taking hooking out of the game was a bad thing - and Don Cherry and do everything possible to remove dissenting opinion from the program.

When they went back to the game - surprise, surprise - analyst Garry Galley said he agreed with the boys back in the studio. Galley didn't even think it was a penalty. All on the same page, like always.

Over at TSN, at least there was common sense and a difference of opinion. Darren Pang thought it was a head shot and probably suspendable. Tom Renney went further, suggesting there was premeditation for an earlier elbowing penalty taken by Hudler on Francois Beauchemin. Bob McKenze said he doubted there would be a suspension, and said the league still hasn't made it clear whether a blindside shoulder hit to the head is legal or illegal.

Now, putting my conflict of interest on the table, I work sometimes for TSN. Preferences for style and personality aside, wouldn't you rather at least hear a discussion of different points of view?

Again, Hrudey has made himself the top HNIC analyst by being willing to think a little differently, so hopefully he'll get back to that soon. And Stock? Well, he's the worst in the business, with his delivery wretched and opinions generally idiotic.

All this said, its the contrast between the styles of these two teams that makes this series interesting. Anaheim plays that physical, intimidating style, and the Wings won't back down and will continue to move the puck, make plays and score goals. I'm no fight guy, but watching Jonathan Ericsson (a Swede) ragdoll chronic backstabber Corey Perry was darn fun to watch.

It's a battle of will already dipped in blood.