Why do you always assume they only had two choices? How about compromising and doing the right thing with something in the middle? Instead they went from one extreme to another and played the first 3 games of the finals quicker than ever before.
So what if Conan's first show was on the Monday? That only meant they couldn't play on Monday. It's definitely not as black and white as you're making it out to be.
They aren't going to go the extreme and wait 9 days before the final. You know this and I never understood why Ken Holland and Mike Babcock complained about this because they've been around long enough to know that if the two semi finals finish up quicker than expected that they will bump the start of the final. Find a time when we ever waited 9 days for the Cup final to start.
The one thing about that series that never should have happened was them rescinding Malkin's suspension. Regardless of the opinion on the rule itself, it was a rule on the books that the NHL decided to ignore... and then Malkin in game 3 assisted on three of the four Pittsburgh goals. Had the situation been reversed and Zetterberg went punching on Malkin's head at the end of a Wings' loss... there would be bloodcurdling screams coming out of Pittsburgh.
A lot of it has to do with the reputation of the player and the context. Malkin wasn't on the ice to purposely start a fight at the end of the game. Throw in the fact that he isn't a regular fighter (the odd time but that's it) and the league is able to overturn this. They'd have done the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot with Zetterberg.
Your personal preference for when hockey is played has no bearing on what I said. The NHL moved the schedule ahead by six days, which benefited the healthier team, Pittsburgh. When you wanted to watch hockey has no relevance to that fact.
No, but there are many other fans who think the way I do as well. The NHL knows this and they know that the deeper the series goes into June the better chance there are people outside and gone away enjoying the weather. So they aren't going to let it linger in June. This happens all of the time. Look at other series. Back in 1999 the Cup final started on June 8th. This was originally scheduled in case one of the series went 7 games, which it did. If both went 5 games the the semis are done on May 31st. Do you really think in reality they wait 8 days to start the Cup final? No, they probably bump it up to the 4th or something like that.
This is nonsense. The advantage didn't just disappear because Pittsburgh blew the first two games in spite of its advantage. Lidstrom for instance lost out on six days of recovery after his surgery, which affected him in games one, two and beyond. Pittsburgh blowing the first two games doesn't change that. Detroit missed Datsyuk in games three and four, but would have had him had the schedule not been changed. That doesn't change just because Pittsburgh blew its advantage in games one and two. Your attempts to wave away Detroit's disadvantage throughout the whole series fail because they are based on the idea that these advantage somehow just disappeared after game two.
It was an advantage for Pittsburgh...............initially. They didn't capitalize on it. So it then becomes nothing worth talking about. It is irrelevant.
Big Phil pretty much said it all. I agree 100%.
Seriously, some of you need to get over the Red Wings-colored view of hockey. The Wings were an aging team that lost a series against a younger, rising team. Guess what? It has happened many times before, and will happen again.
The fact that the Red Wings lost a series does not mean there was a conspiracy.
Please more posts about how the Red Wings lost the hockey games, and less posts about how the schedule was unfair to the poor, only-team-in-history-that-deserves-rest Red Wings.
MOD
Here is a good example of things that Detroit did to lose. Granted, Detroit is the best losing Cup finalist since................New Jersey in 2001 perhaps? So they made less errors than say some other normal team that lost. They kept it tight, but there were errors they made.
- The Red Wings were up 2-1 in the series and 2-1 in Game 4 with a power play when they let Staal score a shorthanded goal end to end. Osgood looked weak on the play, Rafalski let Staal walk around him like a rented mule and Lidstrom while on the other side, was also on the ice. Tie game. Then the floodgates opened up.
- They couldn't solve Fleury in Game 6 or 7 or capitalize on a late game breakaway in Game 6 or a juicy rebound in Game 7.
- They were the first team since the 1971 Hawks to lose Game 7 of the Cup final at home. The team before that was the 1945 Red Wings. Since then the 2011 Canucks have done it. All 4 teams were in a perfect position to close it out.
- They had power plays in the third period in Game 6 and 7 and couldn't capitalize on them
- Datsyuk had two assists in Game 5 but was pointless in the final two games. Sure he wasn't 100% but he didn't miss a shift either.
Keep in mind one other thing, they were the beneficiaries of a lopsided amount of power plays in Game 5. People forget this. No, it wouldn't have mattered I don't think as the Pens just simply played a lazy and sloppy game, but if there was any favouritism for the Pens you sure didn't see it that game.
