Predators win!

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Nashville is driving the #1 seeded Red Wings batty. They win again tonight 3-0. Tomas Vokoun stopped all 40 shots by Detroit. The series resumes Thursday in Detroit.

I guess those little 8-seeded Preds weren't just "happy to be here" after all. We're actually going to take the fight to you, Hockeytown!

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Here's the story from ESPN. I thought one part (in bold) was particularly funny:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Detroit Red Wings are taking most of the shots. The Nashville Predators are making theirs count.

Tomas Vokoun continued his suffocating play by stopping 41 shots and shutting out the Red Wings 3-0 Tuesday night as the Predators evened their first-round series 2-2.

Steve Sullivan, Vladimir Orszagh and Greg Johnson each scored and Dan Hamhuis had two assists. The six-year franchise ensured a return visit to Music City for Game 6 on Saturday against the 10-time Stanley Cup winners.

Game 5 will be in Detroit on Thursday night.

Nobody scored more goals in the regular season than the Red Wings in winning the Presidents' Trophy, but they haven't been able to crack Vokoun since the series shifted to Nashville.

The 27-year-old goalie stopped 41 shots in a 3-1 victory Sunday. Vokoun was better Tuesday night in his 13th career shutout and first in the playoffs -- even with the Red Wings outshooting Nashville 41-20.

He stopped Brett Hull early with a pad save among 16 stops in the first period. In the final minutes, Detroit turned up the pressure, and Vokoun answered. His last save came as he gloved a long shot from the other end of the ice by Mathieu Dandenault in the final seconds.

Not even having the man advantage helped the Red Wings. They went 0-for-5 and now are 1-for-20 in the series.

Even when it looked like Robert Lang scored at 3:41 of the third period, it was waved off for goaltender interference on Tomas Holmstrom.

The Predators fed off the energy from their ecstatic fans once again. Detroit had a few more supporters in the stands this time, but when they tried to start up the "Let's go Red Wings" chant, it was quickly drowned out by "Chelios is a sissy."

Sullivan gave Vokoun all the margin he would need, ending his own personal playoff drought at 10:44 of the first period.

He missed on a penalty shot in the opening minutes of Game 1 and had gone nine shots without finding the net in the series. But with the teams skating four-on-four, Scott Walker fed Sullivan for a breakaway, and Sullivan flipped a backhander high over a sprawling Manny Legace.

Orszagh made it 2-0 in the second period when he redirected a shot from Hamhuis, and the Predators chased Legace after he gave up a goal off his glove to Johnson at 2:04 of the third period.

Legace had seven saves on 10 shots.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=240413027

[Argo 8]

Good job Nashville!! My good friend is a HUGE Redwings fan, and he still won't give the Predators any respect. He said the Redwings lost these two games so they can make more money off of game 5.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

That's funny. I guess they aimed all 41 of their shots in places they knew Vokoun would stop it. :roll:

Bottom line is, they are starting to get frustrated and a little doubt is creeping in. They got bounced in the first round last year by an "inferior" team too. I don't know that we'll go on to win the whole thing, but we do seem to match up well with them. We played the Red Wings six times this season and won three of them. Were those "gimmes" too?

[No Shame 0]

hockey...who gives a rats?

[CarolinaTiger 0]

hockey...who gives a rats?

penguin...is that you?

:roll:

[MDM4AU 332]

I love it when someone ventures into the Random Ramblings forum and feels the need to show thier distaste about a topic!

[No Shame 0]

i guess i never really understood hockey, thus my disdain for it. Perhaps someone could enlighten me on a few things.

What is offsides?

What is icing?

What constitutes high stick?

What is the deal with the blue line?

What is the crease?

When is it ok for the refs to jump in and break up a fight?

Why don't they make a bigger net?

Why not wear full face shields and save some teeth?

Why 3 periods?

[Ranger12 46]

My wife's family is from Michigan and she is a big Red Wings fan, so it was fun rubbing that in last night. I am a big Avs fan and so with the big rivalry between the Avalance and Red Wings, playoffs time is a real "fun" time around our house.

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Offsides: Each team has a "zone" marked by a blue line on the ice where the goal they are defending is located. The attacking team cannot have one of their players in that zone before the puck goes in. If they do and they touch the puck before the defense does, it's offsides.

Icing: This is when the defending team knocks the puck out of it's own zone, all the way down the ice behind the opposing goal untouched. It requires defending teams to do more than just swat the puck out to defend against an offensive attack. They have to pass to a team mate or at least have a teammate get to the puck before it goes all the way down ice. This is not called however when the defending team is has a player in the penalty box and is not at even strength with the opposing side.

High stick: I think this generally is called when a player either uses his stick to swat a puck out of the air and swings it above shoulder level to do so. It's a safety precaution to keep players from getting a stick in the face.

Blue line: That is the line that marks the beginning of each team's zone and where the puck has to get across first to avoid offsides calls.

Crease: This is the small blue tinted area right in front of the goal that is the goalie's domain. If a goal is scored and the opposing team has so much as a skate in the crease, it is waved off for goalie interference.

Refs are generally instructed to break fights up as soon as they can get in without getting themselves hurt. Sometimes that's before it gets too wild and other times they have to wait for the fists to stop flying all over and the players are in more of a "wrestling" hold position to wedge in there and break it up.

The net size is how it's been forever pretty much. Altering it would alter the record book making it hard to compare eras because it would obviously be easier for players to score. So changing something like that would not be done lightly. They are looking at putting some size limits on the pads and blockers goalies wear to even things out a little though because back in the day, goalies couldn't wear the size pads they do now because the lightweight materials they use now just weren't available. They wouldn't have been able to move.

The players don't want the full face shields for the most part. They feel like it would decrease their visibility, especially down low. And since most of the action is happening at their feet, that would be a problem.

Have no idea why their are three periods.

[No Shame 0]

such a strange game when you think about it....skating around on a block of ice, smacking an oblong flat piece of rubber around with a big ol' crooked stick, but those rules you have enlightened me on do show hockey in a new light.

Still not a hockey fan, but I do have a better understanding for the game...maybe I can follow it now.

Thanks TT

[Ranger12 46]

i guess i never really understood hockey, thus my disdain for it.  Perhaps someone could enlighten me on a few things.

What is offsides?

What is icing?

What constitutes high stick?

What is the deal with the blue line?

What is the crease?

When is it ok for the refs to jump in and break up a fight?

Why don't they make a bigger net?

Why not wear full face shields and save some teeth?

Why 3 periods?

To undertand something, you must watch and learn from it. When you first started watching or playing a sport, did you know everything about it then or did you not have to learn? I played football, baseball, and basketball in high school and continued baseball into the collegiate level. I have played golf since high school also(graduated hs in '91). However, I did not get interested in hockey until the late '90s and I did not understand a dang thing about it, but I grew to love the sport. These are truly the toughest guys in sport IMO and I love and coach football! There are still things about it I do not understand and I just recently got a good grasp of what an "offsides" is in hockey after a few years of watching it. Give it a chance, but be patient about learning it. All you need to know at first is that the hits are hard and the little puck needs to go into the net. Your education of hockey will grow from there. Playoff hockey is awesome and it is 100 times funner to watch then the NBA playoffs.

[tiger88 934]

I love it when someone ventures into the Random Ramblings forum and feels the need to show thier distaste about a topic!

For real man! I mean thats almost as bad as someone going to the baseball forum to poop on the baseball threads where everyone is enjoying discussing a sport they really care about.

[No Shame 0]

I love it when someone ventures into the Random Ramblings forum and feels the need to show thier distaste about a topic!

For real man! I mean thats almost as bad as someone going to the baseball forum to poop on the baseball threads where everyone is enjoying discussing a sport they really care about.

maybe you kids should get a room.

[tiger88 934]

I love it when someone ventures into the Random Ramblings forum and feels the need to show thier distaste about a topic!

For real man! I mean thats almost as bad as someone going to the baseball forum to poop on the baseball threads where everyone is enjoying discussing a sport they really care about.

maybe you kids should get a room.

No shame,

I agree with you 100% on the hockey thing. It is a worthless sport to me. Bash away afa I'm concerned.

My comment was a HEAVILY sarcastic jab, not directed at you at all.

Anyways, just wanted you to know I wasn't ganging up on you.

WDE!

[MDM4AU 332]

Give it a rest 88. It had nothing to do with Titan and everything (in jest) to do with someone jumping in to a thread about something they couldn't care less about just to voice opposition.

What goes on between you and Titan is between you two. I spoke up for him on another thread, I'll admit, because I felt you were attacking his character, and there was a bit of kidding in that, too. No one was too serious, I thought.

What you feel Titan and I being brothers had to do with what I said is beyond me.

No Shame, I meant no ill will with my remark. It just struck me as funny to see your response. If you were offended, I'll just try to do better next time.

[tiger88 934]

Sorry if I unfairly tied you in to something. I thought I saw a pattern developing there ,although now I gotta admit, two times doesn't make a pattern.

This wasn't tied to any ill feelings from the other thread, I took your smilies and joking at face value there.

I have no ill feelings toward you or Titan. This has nothing to do with the current thread we have going on. It does have ties to him pooping all over several very good baseball threads. I almost pooped on this thread and said, no I won't do it. Then I saw you needle no shame a little for doing what Titan had done and overreacted.

No hard feelings, I hope.

[MDM4AU 332]

No hard feelings!

[TitanTiger 20,482]

I knew I had done the same thing on the baseball thread before, which is why I didn't bust No Shame's chops about doing it to me. "What's good for the goose", and all.

But then he came back and said he really didn't like hockey partially because he doesn't understand it and asked some questions which I was glad to oblige.

My issues with baseball are not ones of not understanding the game. I just don't find it as interesting anymore and wish they would institute a salary cap like the NFL has so that the competition becomes more about coaching and evaluating talent (especially through your farm system) and less about a handful of teams who can outbid everyone else for the best players.

But anyhoo...I'm excited for the Predators. If they can steal Game 5 tonight in Detroit, they come home for Game 6 with a chance to win their first ever playoff series and knock off the #1 seed in the process.

[No Shame 0]

hey...how about them Braves?...6-1 last night over the Mets.

Hugs?

[Argo 8]

I knew I had done the same thing on the baseball thread before, which is why I didn't bust No Shame's chops about doing it to me. "What's good for the goose", and all.

But then he came back and said he really didn't like hockey partially because he doesn't understand it and asked some questions which I was glad to oblige.

My issues with baseball are not ones of not understanding the game. I just don't find it as interesting anymore and wish they would institute a salary cap like the NFL has so that the competition becomes more about coaching and evaluating talent (especially through your farm system) and less about a handful of teams who can outbid everyone else for the best players.

But anyhoo...I'm excited for the Predators. If they can steal Game 5 tonight in Detroit, they come home for Game 6 with a chance to win their first ever playoff series and knock off the #1 seed in the process.

I thought the first round was a five game series??

[TitanTiger 20,482]

They changed that either last year or the year before. All the series are now seven games.

[Argo 8]

They changed that either last year or the year before. All the series are now seven games.

shows how much attention to detail I have. Thanks.

[tiger88 934]

hey...how about them Braves?...6-1 last night over the Mets.

Hugs?

that is pretty funny dude.

Even though Hockey is far from my favorite sport, I like the idea of the boys from the south beating up on the yankee bastages.