Crashing the Net
ESPN experts say Detroit is 12-0 in Game 6 meetings since 1996. [EDIT : apparently not entirely accurate]
[EDIT 2 : When the Wings have had a 3-2 lead going into the 6th game, they’ve closed it out every time since 1996 - thanks to user ahtrap]
But the experts also said Pittsburgh was 19-0 at home since February up until they lost Game 4.
Is Detroit's record vulnerable now when you consider how Pitt's didn't hold up?

PENGUINS
"There is one factor that I believe to be true, the momentum is now squarely on the Penguins’ side of the ice."
Tony Ferrante - Confluence of the Three Rivers
"That was easily the highlight of our hockey-watching lives. We watched the four overtime game against the Capitals in 1996 and the five overtime game against the Flyers in 2000 on television. Those were memorable experiences, but they both pale in being able to witness Game 5 of a Stanley Cup final in person."
"Detroit's big red machine no longer looks quite so invincible."
Ron Cook - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“I was just praying for blood. I skated up the ice going, ‘God, I hope I’m bleeding.’ ”
Rob Scuderi - Yahoo
“It’s the longest game I’ve played. And the most tired one. But also the most satisfying one.”
Marc-Andre Fleury - Yahoo
“We heard all the plans, the parade, the celebrations, how they were flying their families in here. It rubs you the wrong way.”
Brooks Orpik
“I had one slice of pizza. I think it was pepperoni.”
“Little Caesars,” Ruutu smiled, knowing that’s Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch’s chain.
Jarkko Ruutu - Yahoo
"Fleury was, simply put, the best player on the ice last night."
Greg Whyshynski - PuckDaddy
“Obviously, the game was still on. I want to help the guys. Start feeling better at the end of the second overtime. … I knew we were going to come back. We had the power play, and we scored.”
Sergei Gonchar
MISC.
"If you ask (Wayne) Gretzky, I gave it to Gretzky pretty good because he was flopping around. I gave it to Mario (Lemieux), and I tried to tell Crosby what's going on. Mario was diving all over the place, and he embarrassed the referees, and after a while they wouldn't call anything against him. That's all I tried to do with Crosby. I tried to teach him that, and not to yap at the referee, and he's doesn't do it anymore. But it's too late."
Don Cherry - forgetting he coached the Bruins to two Stanley Cup Finals eliminations
"I don't think anyone really watches hockey anymore."
Tiger Woods - forgetting hockey players play HIS "sport" in the offseason
0 recs |
14
comments
Read Related
Comments
Odd
About the Don Cherry comment… I heard Crosby mention that he’s never met him…
Ruutu’s comment is classic! Love the Scuderi as well.
Go 'Stros!
by Stros Bro on Jun 3, 2008 7:04 PM EDT 0 recs
Cherry forwarded that speech about how he’d never met him (apparently he doesn’t meet the players often). He basically meant, in context, that he was trying to “teach” him that through his broadcasts, which Crosby obviously wasn’t watching because he was playing hockey, so I’m not sure Don Cherry wasn’t actually just trying to boost his ratings.
To be fair though, Cherry has backed off Crosby a lot, and usually has good things to say about him now, like admitting last night that he isn’t a diver, but the damage is already done.
by Dayna on
Jun 3, 2008 7:57 PM EDT
up
0 recs
Yeah. I remember Sid’s rookie year when Cherry really tore into him. But like you said, it’s a bit ridiculous/pathetic that he’d think he could teach Sid anything while he’s broadcasting the game and Sid is playing. Whatever though; I don’t have high expectations of Cherry’s sensibility.
FrankD from Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on
Jun 3, 2008 8:44 PM EDT
up
0 recs
hmmmm….I thought Detroit was eliminated by Anaheim in Game 6 of the WCF last year….maybe I’m blocking out bad memories.
by ahtrap on Jun 3, 2008 7:16 PM EDT 0 recs
now that I think about it, we definitely lost in game 6, because I keep telling that story about how future hall of famer Nick Lidstrom put his stick on the ice and deflected the Duck shot over future hall of famer Hasek, who would have been square to the shot, and that was a Game 5 punch to the gut.
And the year before, we were taken out in Game 6 to Edmonton….those experts must be smoking something
by ahtrap on
Jun 3, 2008 7:20 PM EDT
up
0 recs
It was pretty much verbatim from ESPN. Then again – it was verbatim from ESPN ;-)
FrankD from Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on
Jun 3, 2008 7:28 PM EDT
up
0 recs
Now that I’m thinking about it, did Detroit lose on the road last year or at home? Maybe the stat was specific to that. Maybe the Wings are 12-0 since 96 when winning Game 6s on the road (which personally just makes it kind of a ridiculous stat).
FrankD from Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on
Jun 3, 2008 7:54 PM EDT
up
0 recs
This implies that most stats aren’t ridiculous. I don’t know how I feel about that.
by Dayna on
Jun 3, 2008 7:58 PM EDT
up
0 recs
Haha well it all depends. I mean, you have your solidified stats; like Lemieux scored a goal in five different ways in one game. Then you have your hypothetical facts, like this, that are supposed to somehow predict the outcome. But when they dig deep down to some ridiculous thing like, “Since 1994, the Penguins are 14-0 when playing the Rangers between 5 and 10 pm on a Saturday” it’s like they’re just hunting for something that sounds interesting because they have nothing else to say.
FrankD from Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on
Jun 3, 2008 8:47 PM EDT
up
0 recs
Stats like that can be so easily crushed in one game, it makes me both love and hate them. I love them because they are ridiculous and useless, and pretty much everywhere in sports (I don’t know why that makes me love them, I just have no better reason). I hate them though, because people use them to make a defense that it entirely irrational.
It makes me feel like making up my own stats (Pittsburgh has never lost a playoff game when I’ve been watching them with my grandfather, who knew?).
Solid stats are good though, I like to see the numbers. Is Crosby still leading in points for the playoffs? or has Zetterberg passed him?
by Dayna on
Jun 3, 2008 11:25 PM EDT
up
0 recs
Crosby is up on Zett by one point; 26-25. But something tells me he’d be the first to agree that the points are meaningless if it doesn’t come with a cup. :)
FrankD from Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on
Jun 4, 2008 12:59 AM EDT
up
0 recs
if it were a 12-0 in closeout/survival games on the road, that would be impressive, but it can’t be true….Detroit’s been the higher seed in the vast majority of series over that time frame, so that game 6 loss to Edmonton in 06 had to be on the road. Probably true of the Ducks series last year, too, can’t recall….
At least that’s not something that can jinx the Wings, I guess….
by ahtrap on Jun 3, 2008 10:55 PM EDT 0 recs
Figured out the framing
When the Wings have had a 3-2 lead going into the 6th game, they’ve closed it out every time since 1996, 11 of those times on the road, as they were the higher seed for all but the 1997 WCF against the Avalanche….
Since I can only recall a couple of Game 7s in that stretch, it seems like the Wings have been closed out in Game 6s more often than not, too.
by ahtrap on Jun 5, 2008 12:31 PM EDT 0 recs
Yeah I caught that during the broadcast. But ESPN totally butchered it the other day. I actually was just typing a post up when I heard it mentioned, so there’s no way I missed what they were saying (which wound up being wrong anyways).
FrankD from Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on
Jun 5, 2008 1:37 PM EDT
up
0 recs





