Okay, maybe not, but it was pretty darn close. Definitely one of the team’s best performances of the playoffs and you can’t chalk it up to the Ducks choking, because they had a fairly solid game themselves, I thought. The Wings just outclassed them in just about every phase of the game. Except goonery.

The tag team hit on Holmstrom by Rob Niedermeyer and Chris Pronger was pure bushleague and the fact that Niedermeyer was the only one penalized on the play is a joke. Pronger was the prime mover on that hit and got away scot free. I think they both should be suspended at least a game, but given Pronger’s superstar status, they’ll likely leave him alone. As for Niedermeyer, he already had to sit out much of the game, so that’s practically like a suspension, right? Um, no.

I thought just about every player in the Winged Wheel played great. Players who stood out as playing especially well: Tomas Holmstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Todd Bertuzzi, Valtteri Filppula, and Mikael Samuelsson just to name a few. Dominik Hasek was stellar once again as well. He’s playing with an edge now, almost relishing contact and finding a confidence that allows him to make many of his best saves from the top of the crease rather than on the goalline. I love it.

Oh, and Mike Babcock’s decision to suddenly change up their lines: genius. It worked great. The Versus commentators couldn’t understand how it was possible the new lines could play so well together without any practice. It was comical. I especially liked the Swede Line, with Henrik Zetterberg centering Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen. They cycled the puck well and generated a lot of problems for the Ducks.

Anyway, I’ve got more I want to say, but I have to head off to work in a minute. I’ll post again when I get home tonight.