Sharks came back tonight to beat Calgary & tie the series. Thornton got the game winner with 9.4 seconds left.

Yeah, that was good. A much better performance, going by the numbers (I never saw the game). Only 10 shots against...........damn. 

With 8 seconds left, I think I'm pretty safe in saying that Pittsburgh has swept Ottawa. Who woulda think it around Christmas time, that Ottawa would not only drop from first to seventh, but also be eliminated in the first round, and be swept at that?

Any ideas on changes for Ottawa? I would think Emery traded to LA for maybe Cammalleri or someone.......he just seems to fit there in my mind.........I don't know why.

Congratulations to Pittsburgh........hopefully Ovechkin and the Caps can get through......imagine that matchup!

Bye bye Ottawa, you won't be missed. I don't think they will ever recover with the team and coaching staff they have. Big changes are obviously needed.

Newcomer to the site/forums (on a friend's recommendation), or I'd have been in this thread from the start.

I too, hail from Minnesota (aka Canada South) so I've been driven insane by the Wild/Avs series so far. How the Wild can look so completely schizo (and the Avs too, by the same token) is beyond me. I forgot last night's game was on on back-to-back days until about 15 minutes after it started, and when I turned it on, they were down 2-0 and looked absolutely content to go home 2-2 in the series. Kind of killed the hope I had that they'd smell blood if they got the first one on Colorado's ice and go for the jugular to try and close it out in 5. Tomorrow's game will be very telling to see if they can show some life in the first 40 minutes of a game. The X will be going nuts.

Also, Koivu = good. Skoula = godawful, and I'm terrified he'll have to be on the ice long enough to make the awful play that kills the Wild in this series. Why did Foster and Schultz have to be hurt, yet Martin F'ing Skoula remains unscathed? WHY?!?!?!

The Senators downfall after ther 15-2 start to the season has been suprising. Here's a good SI article about em -

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/michael_farber/04/16/senators.demise/index.html?eref=si_hockey

What's with all the hatin on the Sens? I'm glad the Penguins won (like to see what Malkin & Crosby do) but I was rooting for the Sens during the Stanley Cup finals last year. Granted i hate the Anaheim Ducks, Mighty or not. When they play bad, i hate them. When they play good, i hate them more. When they come to our arena we scream at the top of our lungs, "DUCKS SUCK" followed by a duo of Duck Calls. Adding Pronger to their lineup not only creates hate but fury in me. I want to watch them suffer the loss of a playoff birth. Above all, i just can't stand those Anaheim Ducks. I will never step into the city of Anaheim for my hatred of the Ducks, no not even for Disneyland.

Welcome Frodaddyg!
Although I'm a Canucks fan, I'm cheering for you guys during this series, cuz I hate the Avalanche more. It seems that the casualties on defense may be your guys's downfall. Not only are young guys thrust into the spotlight, but the veteran blueliners play that many more minutes, and they will make mistakes because of that. Every team has a bad game, and I think that the last one was it. Hopefully being at home will ignite them for game 5.

And Spire, I'm rooting against Ottawa, because I would prefer that no Canadian team wins the cup before my Canucks (however, I don't mind if Montreal wins, but the other 4 certainly not). I also hate Ottawa, because they've been so good for so long........it's about time they had a large setback. And having the Penguins get their revenge makes it so much sweeter. I was cheering for the Ducks last year, because of the above, but also because I have a soft spot for Brian Burke, Randy Carlyle and Scott Niedermeyer. However, them being in your division, I can understand your hatred. Hope you guys win at home.

After just reading the second page there seems to be some Avalanche hate going on here. Colorado is my team btw. You two Minnesota fans should be a tad worried that the Avalanche didn't have to play Forsberg in game 4 to keep him fresh later in the series. I don't know why Colorado can take a quick lead in the game and then not show up for the third period, kind of frustrating. If they can keep their head in game 5 and come back to Colorado up 3-2 the Wild are done. The Avalanche will smell blood in the water, they have good experience with Forsberg, Sakic, and Foote and they won't let the series get to a game 7.

Honestly, after the first 4 games, nothing would really surprise me at this point. The first 3 games were incredibly intense, and then the Wild just flat out did not even show up to the Pepsi Center (or whatever it's called now) in game 4. Game 5 will be a giant step for the Wild, because they need to put a full 60 minutes together. This "spot the other team 2 goals" shit won't cut it anymore. I'm sure Lemaire did nothing but chew ass for the last 2 days since that pathetic showing, and hopefully lit a fire in the team's collective belly.

I'm hoping Brent Burns steps up and takes over one of the games coming up. I think the Wild know they need to get more physical, and Burns can fit that bill on both ends of the ice. Kid's one of the better young, unsung defensemen coming up in the league. If they aren't finishing checks and putting some guys on their ass, (In particular, I'm thinking of the handful of guys cutting through the crease in games 1-3 running into Backstrom without it being called.) then they're going to be in trouble. I think the Xcel crowd will get them fired up out of the gate though, this time.

By the way, it's nuts to me that I have to come to the SPORTS discussion area of all places to get a halfway civilized discussion. What kind of Bizarro world have I stepped into?

I'm a Canucks fan...............you should expect some hate towards you by now :)