lordstanley

Essentially a 5-team play-in tournament for 2 spots, with each team getting 6 or 7 games. The Wings and: - Philadelphia, defeated by Detroit in ‘97 Cup final - Washington, defeated by Detroit in ‘98 Cup final - NYI, coached by Patrick Roy who was yanked from Game 7 blowout as Wings advanced to ‘02 Cup final - Pittsburgh, defeated by Detroit in ‘08 Cup final (before robbing Wings in ‘09)

There wasn't a controversy. If it's the YouTube video I'm thinking of, it was made by a younger fan who wasn't even born back then who saw an old press clipping and ran with it. The Orioles used to play Country Boy and since they had won the division in 1983 it sounds like a few people thought that the Tigers shouldn't play that song. If there was a controversy, it lasted a day. Much more attention was paid that summer to stuff like the Bless You Boys song, the Wave and its various variations, and even Martha and the Vandellas' Dancing In The Streets. Europeans always refer to the wave as the Mexican Wave because it was popular at soccer games in Mexico going back to the '70s, and some American college football crowds tried it in the early 80s. But it was really the Tigers' 1984 start that put the Wave on the map - for good or for bad - in the States.

Full Vampire Weekend album, Only God Was Above Us, is out today and I’ve been listening to it since last night. Strong from top to bottom, a great listen.

Midway through the 3rd period in both of tonight's key games, the Isles are up on CBJ 3-2 and Pittsburgh is up on Washington 3-1. IF those results we'd have: - NYI and Philly with 83 points, both with 6 games to play - Washington and Detroit with 82 points, both with 7 games to play - Pittsburgh with 81 points, 6 games to play.

Dan’s call of the final out. Miller Closes Out Mets.m4a

An Angel Hernandez Special costs the Tigers a run. Hope is proves to be irrelevant.

Your wish is Gio’s command.

100% of his hits this season so far have been homers.

Tie game!

Devils lose. 76 points with 6 games to go, maximum of 88 possible. They're done. They don't even need to be tracked anymore.

Yes and yes.

Breather tonight. No super meaningful games on tap. I guess we should still hope for NJ to lose to the Rangers, but with the Devils 6 pts back of the Wings and having only 7 games left to play, they're not much of a factor. The Devils would have to win out just to hit 90 points, and I don't think that will cut it.

One of my favourite ever broadcast moments was at the 2:29:05 mark here Ernie: "It's 11 o'clock in Detroit, and do you know where the Tigers are? They're 3 outs away from an American League pennant'

Getting a bit bunched up. Washington loses, NYI wins, Pittsburgh wins, NJ loses. 5 teams for 2 spots - Washington, Philly, Detroit, NYI, Pittsburgh.

Yeah, they now lead NJ 5-3 and if the beat Washington on Thursday they’d be within 1 pt of the Wings. NJ winning tonight would have been better, because they’re a point behind Pittsburgh and play the tough Rangers next.

Decent news so far ... Washington trails Buffalo 3-2 starting the 3rd Chicago leads NYI 1-0 after 2 NJ leads Pitt 3-1 in the 2nd (mostly indifferent who wins that, just prefer it not to go into OT - both teams are on last gasp though)

Here are the maximum points each bubble team can achieve if they were to win out: Washington - 82 pts + 9 games = 100 pts Detroit - 82 pts + 7 games = 96 pts Philly - 83 pts + 6 games = 95 pts NYI - 79 pts + 8 games = 95 pts Pitt - 77 pts + 8 games = 93 pts NJ - 76 pts + 8 games = 92 pts Buff - 75 pts + 7 games = 89 pts

Before the Wings play again on Friday, the Capitals will have used up their 2 games in hand: - Tuesday at Buffalo - Thursday vs Pittsburgh The Caps will be favored in both, but if they lose at least one of those then the Wings could tie Washington with a regulation win over them when they play. Like the Wings, the Flyers are off until Friday. The Islanders, currently 3 pts behind but with 1 game in hand on the Wings and 3 games in hand on the Flyers, could be ahead of both by Friday because NYI plays two weak opponents: - Tuesday vs Chicago - Thursday at Columbus The Islanders are the one team with whom the Wings are in good shape with respect to the tiebreaker, as the Wings currently lead NYI in regulation wins 26-23.

1 win down (last night over Tampa), 7 games to go. How many wins/points will it take? I think 4-2-1 could be enough.

I think Lalonde’s job should be in jeopardy if the Wings miss the playoffs. 3-10-2 is amazing, especially with many of those games not even being competitive. He will definitely keep his job though into next season. Yzerman likes him, Yzerman chose him, and when all is said and done the Wings likely will show around 10 points improvement over last season’s 80 pts. Firing him would be admitting that the expectation for this season was playoffs. I think that should have been the expectation, but Yzerman denies it.

Wings control their destiny. One point behind Philly with a game in hand. Three points up on NYI, with the Wings having played one more game. So Wings win their final 7 (ha) and they’re in.

Given strength of opponents, I was hoping for a modest 5 out of 10 points on this road trip. 4 points isn’t a killer, considering how it started and given Philly’s slump

Wings lead! Tigers lead!

No way, Philly ties it with 9 seconds to go.