Good Game, Now Leave

Hell yeah. That's all I can really say. When the Ducks scored the tying goal, I (and I'm sure most of Detroit) had that sinking feeling that this was going OT. I have to give the Ducks credit - they rallied in the 2nd period to score twice and played perhaps the most inspired hockey of their playoffs. They attacked the Red Wings consistently, though they did receive the benefit of questionable whistles.

Pronger, involved in two of the more bizarre referreeing decisions, pushed Hudler into his own goalie. Hudler was promptly penalized for goalie interference. A few minutes earlier, Pronger literally body-slammed Marian Hossa (who did not have the puck) and received no penalty. The Hudler penalty occurred mere moments after the Red Wings took a 3-1 lead. The Ducks wasted little time on capitalizing to inch closer to 3-2. That was a key turning point in the game, and the ref played a major role.

Then, in the 3rd, the Red Wings failed to clear the puck out of the zone, thanks to a well-positioned broken stick. The puck ricocheted off the stick, the Ducks took possession, the Wings' D scrambled, and the puck ended in the back of the neck. The Ducks did a fine job capitalizing, and the Joe fell silent. The rest of the game was back-and-forth, with the dreaded "playoff-type goal" the series decider. The Wings had possession deep in Duck zone. After a few unsuccessful attempts at threading a pass, Zetterberg mishandled the puck and decided to simply flip the puck toward the goal. It bounced under Hiller, and Cleary, positioned perfectly in front of the net, slid his stick under Hiller and pushed the puck (and Hiller's leg) into the goal. The puck slid in, and the crowd roared.

The Wings gobbled up the final three minutes without allowing the Ducks much room to make a final push. While Osgood ultimately gave up three goals, he had no chance on any of them. Throughout the game, he came up huge, stopping the Ducks on numerous point-blank shots. It was an absolutely stellar game from Osgood. In the traditional end-of-series handshake, Osgood and Giguerre spent a few extra minutes chatting. If Giguerre weren't so darn expensive, it'd be nice to have him in Detroit as Ozzie's eventual replacement.

As the other players shook hands, I couldn't help but think, "Good series, Ducks, now get the hell out of here."

Los Tigres
Verlander was simply dominant. 13 strikeouts. The Twins batters could not get a handle on the guy and spent much of the game trudging back to the dugout, cursing. Verlander honestly made most of the players look stupid.

Then came the 7th inning. Verlander had thrown 120+ pitches and let two dudes get on base. In came Bobby Seay. The Tigers 5-0 lead quickly became a 6-5 deficit, thanks to none other than Joe Crede with the game-winning hit. Yuck.

Make no mistake, the Tigers' bullpen will be their undoing.