- Welcome back Abby! Abdelkader only ended up with 1 assist last night, but he was screening Jonas Hiller and keeping the Ducks occupied on 3 of the 4 goals. He was getting to the net and doing a kick ass job. That’s a role we’ve needed filled desperately all season, and Abby has stepped up, worked his ass off all year and taken a ton of criticism, but He’s been so important, especially in the playoffs. He led the team once again in hits with 6 and had 2 shots on goal and was a +2. We needed someone to fill Holmstrom’s role, and Abby has done a great job. His net front presence makes a big difference.
Babcocok- He (Abby) makes a huge difference to us, no question about it. Just his physical presence on the last goal, just being at the net gives then a forechecker so they don’t have to do that. When you go to the net and occupy someone, they have more space and that’s what he does real well and he knows how to play without the puck, he’s a big man.
Zetterberg has been good this series, doing a lot of things the team needed, but we needed him to go into Zetterbeast mode and take over. Zetterberg is a real captain. We needed him to step up and really elevate his play and HE DID! Oh my god did he. You want to see what real leadership and captaincy is? Look no further than Henrik Zetterberg. Z doesn’t whine, bitch and act like an fucktard. Some “leaders” *cough Getzlaf* *cough Selanne* are a disgrace to their letters and I don’t even know how Perry is constantly described as “leader” for the team.. They whine, bitch, play dirty, and set a pitiful example for their team. The praise and respect he has earned from his peers says it all.
“He’s one of the most competitive guys I’ve played with,” linemate Justin Abdelkader said of Zetterberg. “He’s our captain. He’s our leader. We follow his leadership. He’s put all of us on his back. He’s done a great job all season, but especially of late. He’s a big reason why we’re here today.”
“They are unbelievable players, they’ve been carrying this team all year. I just try to learn all the little small things every day from them. What they do on the ice with small plays all the time. I can’t do what Datsyuk does on the ice, but I can learn small stuff that I can learn for my game. Zetterberg, he scored two huge goals today. He’s a great player.”
Ericsson- He steps up when it matters the most. The last game in Dallas, (determines) if we make the playoffs or not, he comes up with two goals, now in game six it’s do or die, so he steps up for us once again, that’s what he does. Even if he doesn’t score a goal, he’s a leader for us out there. He’s a hard working guy and he always works hard, maybe he doesn’t get recognized for that but we can’t ask for any more.
Kronwall- He’s been huge for us all year, he’s our leader, and he brings it every night. He’s probably, together with Pav, the best 2-way player in the league and they bring it every night and they find a way. Even though he hasn’t scored previously in the series, he’s been one of our best players and coming up with huge plays for us. Tonight he did it again and that’s why he’s the Captain.
He’s been playing so well anyway, I don’t really think anyone really thought about it. He’s been creating so many chances and he’s got a number of assists, and he’s been setting up plays instead. Weather he’s scoring or setting up other guys to score, it doesn’t really matter. He leads in every category for us.
Howard- Our Captain was our leader tonight and he played a hell of a game for us. Z is our leader, just an amazing guy, an amazing captain. When the chips are down he comes to play and it’s fun to watch.
Babcock- They’re (Zetterberg and Datsyuk) huge leaders . You talk about leadership on our team and we had Stevie and we had Nick, but those guys had way more help; don’t’ ever kid yourself. They had a way different type of crew. It’s not like everybody isn’t trying, or trying to maximize, I think our group is maximizing; but we’re different. So those guys have had an unbelievable amount of pressure and they’ve played hard, been determined and that’s how they lead. They don’t do it with a whole bunch of talking; they just lead by being determined and playing hard.
The attitude of the team going into overtime, after allowing the Ducks to come from behind was exactly what it needed to be:
Abdelkader- We’ve got a lot of young guys out here, and mistakes are made and we learn from them, but Kronwall, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, our leadership group calmed us down and got us ready for overtime, to come out and get this victory.
Kronwall- We’ve played a pretty good game, and we’ve worked too hard to let ourselves off the hook now, just get back to playing hockey. Going into OT we just found a way. Everyone in here said to each other, we’re better than this, we’ve played a pretty good game so far, let’s just go out and do what we do and we found a way tonight.
Jimmy- We knew the last few minutes we didn’t play the way we wanted to play, and Kronner did a good job of telling everyone just to forget about it, go out there and play. What’s done is done and you can’t do anything about it.
Babcock- We’ve worked way too hard, we stopped playing, let’s get playing . Quit standing around, let’s get playing and let’s win ourselves a game. .. When I talked to them before the overtime, I asked them what they talked about, they had already covered everything I was going to cover, so it was real simple. Let’s get out there and play… You can’t hope yourself to win; you have to play yourself to win, so just play the darn game.
- Ericsson had his first point of the series, but he’s been great throughout. He’s been great defensively, crushing the ducks with his size, playing tough minutes, killing penalties, and that pass… that beautiful pass to Datsyuk.
I feel like I’m getting younger, this is so much fun. I think a lot of guys are enjoying the moments out there. It’s intense but it can’t get any better than this…We’ve played several game sevens before, and against Anaheim as well, so we know it’s going to be intense. Actually, those are the most fun games and I’m looking forward to it.
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Boudreak bitching about the penalty calls being 3-0… hahahahaha A team’s identity, how they act, and their attitude starts with management and coaching. Yup, sounds about right. I don’t are how uneven the penalty calls are, if you deserve them, you get them. The goal isn’t to have calls be as even in number as possible, it’s to penalize a team when they deserve it. Grow up Anaheim.
- During Mike Babcock’s post game press conference, he said there could be a possible lineup change.
There might be a lineup change. Patrick Eaves was real good for us, so I don’t know… Our 4th line wasn’t as good tonight as it had been so maybe there’s something there.
Patrick Eaves has been a beast and I’m still a little irritated he was scratched last night. There’s something fishy about the whole situation. Yesterday Babcock said
“That’s a real good question… He (Eaves) played good, does what he’s supposed to, runs over people and a real competitive guy. But because I know more insider information that I’m not sharing with you, I have to have other guys to cover up for other people just in case they can’t survive… But it makes no sense to me”
Then Helen St. James writes an article suggesting that Cleary is the one Babcock’s concerned about, but I still don’t think it’s Cleary. That doesn’t make any sense. If Babcock were that concerned about Cleary,he could have just scratched him last night and put Eaves in. The lack of information, concern from Babcock, and the fact that he’s this concerned yet doesn’t bench the player(s) in question, tells me it’s someone we can’t afford to bench… I’m terrified it’s Datsyuk. Babcock obviously wanted Eaves in the lineup last night, didn’t/couldn’t do it, but it thinking about putting him in tomorrow. Who sits? Hopefully Samuelsson. The 4th line had been kicking ass, Eaves sits, Sammy takes his place, and the 4th line underperformed and was nearly invisible.Samuelsson didn’t play after 7:25 of the 3’d period, did have an assist, was a -1 and I barely noticed him. I think it’s pretty significant that Babcock was so open about the possible line change, even right after a win. Please, sit Sammy and bring back Eaves.Bertuzzi is better and more useful than Samuelsson, and Daniel Cleary didn’t look that bad last night, and I’m convinced he only gets benched if he’s actually dead.
- Colaiacovo played the lest time of any defenseman, but for the most part looked solid, especially for his first game since April 14th. /
“I thought I had a hell of a game. I was doing a lot of good things with the puck, keeping it simple. Third period there, had a couple turnovers that I wish I could have had back. All in all, thought I did pretty well for being out of the lineup for so long. But you never want to make that an excuse.”
Babcock- I thought Colaiacovo was solid, he had a couple shifts like everyone else that he probably wouldn’t have liked to have, but I thought he played well and gave up an upgrade there and we moved the puck better.
- Joakim Andersson didn’t let his mistakes from game 5 get to him, and I like that Babcock started the game with his line.
Babcoco- Andersson’s line really started good for us, Nyquist and Brunner were all over them and had good time in their zone and good net front presence.
- Babcock started the game with the rookie line that lost game 5 in OT. That epitomizes the growth and changes the Wings have gone through this season. Veterans have been scratched in favor of rookies, and Babcock has continued to play the kids and let them learn and grow. This has been a year like no other and I feel privileged to be able to see the transformation./
Thanks for 3rdRoundDraftPick for making this beautiful gif of the Getzlaf looking like a fool…again.
Our leadership:
Their leadership:
