NHL Blogging: Flight Delayed

Grumble mumble...

Stupid Stars.

It's like they weren't content to roll over and play dead while the Wings coasted into the Finals. It's like they actually wanted to win.

Right, the Wings lost and the world isn't ending so it's time to stop whining as if it is. I mean, I halfway expected it since everyone had already written Dallas off and the Wings had been on a great streak only leaving them ripe for it ending. At home, in front of their fans, they weren't going to get swept away easily. And Turco picked a good time to regain his form and put on a goaltending duel with Osgood.

But you have to think that game would have turned out differently if that goal hadn't been called back because of Demolition Butt Syndrome. Seriously, I half expected Hasek to come leaping over the boards and grab the nearest official and scream at them - in heavily accented Eastern European English, of course - that if that wasn't a goal then what the hell was Brett "The Arse" Hull doing when the Stars stole the Cup from Buffalo? And then to rampage up into the boxes and get into an old-fashioned brawl complete with security trying to breka it up with Hull (Who's the Stars co-GM).

But, as I've said before, it was a bad break but it didn't mean the game was over. The Wings might have had a much better chance to win if they'd grabbed that early lead instead of Dallas getting it first (Not just first in the game, mind, but pretty much their first lead in the entire series) but we'll never know. They could have played through it and they certainly had enough chances to win it even after what was, admittedly, a blown call. And they didn't. You can't blame that loss on the refs. You can't even blame it on a make-up call from earlier in the series and the Dallas whining afterwards because, let's face it, Holmstrom plays with fire all the time in front of that crease and he's gotten lucky more than once.

But, all is not lost. The Wings are still up 3-1. And veyr, very few teams have come back from that hole. They still have 3 games in which to close it out. And two of them at the JLA where Turco turns from a brick wall into a thatched roof for some odd reason. The Wings are still the better team with the better player and have the better chance to close this series out.

I'll panic if they loose the next game, though.