"Better team didn't win Game 4"

Okay ... Captain Obvious.

Where was your "Better team didn't win Game 1" post? Tried to look for it ... but it seems you never posted one.

At least you regained come credibility with, "it provided some justice for the Ducks after the Red Wings stole Game 1 despite being outclassed at home."

Go Ducks!

I agree with this completely, and as a Dead Wings Hater (my stupid Avs better get good again soon) I think it is unfortunate that the Ducks can't muster more energy and poise than they have the last two games. Despite a rested Pronger, I think this series will be over in six; the Wings will win game five and steal game six.

Hasek wasn't his best last night. 4 goals allowed on 12 shots on goal (at one point in the game) won't win many games.

The Wings wasted their 5-on-3 by looking for the perfect shot instead of crashing the net for those ugly playoff goals.

Overall, the Wings' skaters did outplay the Ducks', but the Ducks better capitalized on their chances.

This entire series should be on NBC.

hit the nail on the head. Wings outplayed the ducks. Hasek gave up some bad goals. Wings will win Sunday , no doubt .

What game where you guys watching? I was there and the Ducks clearly outplayed the Wings in the first and third periods as the scoring indicates. The second period they were flat as pancakes but to say the wings outplayed them in the game is ludicrous. There are way too Wings fans out there that are not objective.

Where was your "Better team didn't win Game 1" post? Tried to look for it ... but it seems you never posted one.....

Totally agree with this one. Enough with the comments on who is the better team....suck it up and just play the game. It's always the scoreboard that matters in the end.

Muir... you suck as a sport writer. More one sided than anything.

Hasaek should have known we were coming to eat Wings for dinner and the wheel chairs to the old men tires were blown last night.

If the better team lost what happened to them winning. They still received approximately 14 minutes of penalties in the 2nd period last night, again. It seems the only way they can win games is having the penalties being called. They can't win the ducks playing man to man 5 on 5 game.

If they had to play a full five on five match with no penalties, the series would be 4-0 sweep by the ducks. That is it. If you count all their full strength goals to power plays it doesn't add up to much. Those full strength goals would not get them a win in this series. Face it your favorite for the series will be put out of their misery by next tuesday.

The ducks won without Pronger and I think he'll be out on the ice ready to stop anything coming his way, SUnday. Thank you for waking up the West Coast hockey GIANT. :) I feel sorry for the Red Wings. Because I think they're going to have to go out on the ice and reinflate the geritols squad wheelchairs tires after the next defeat at the Joe arena.

The only thing the wings fans have left, showing they were a hockey town, is to throw out the octopus on the ice. WELCOME TO THE NEW WEST COAST "HOCKEYTOWN"!!!!

The fans were cheering louder than any night, up off their seats. I could here it when I got back from the game on the recorded VS game. IF Detroit fans beilieved this year, it didn't show in the Pond. I could have counted the number of fans there last night. Unusual for Detroit. I am glad. There needs to be a fresh face and new organization on the "CUP"!!

See you on TUESDAY and pack your golf clubs wings because that's what you'll be doing come next Tuesday.

Momentum is a strange thing in the playoffs... You could argue the Ducks have it, bouncing back from a bad game, losing one of their top players and winning a game in which they didn't play their best hockey. The Wings outplayed the Ducks but didn't get the W. When people say Hasek let in some bad goals, there were some he had no business stopping earlier in the series. Niedermayer's tripping and cross checking penalties 2 of the weakest calls so far... what did the ghost of Mick McGeough make an appearance?

Red Wings should have taken advantage of the Ducks "slump" while they could. Now that the series is rightfully 2-2 watch out if the Duck catch fire like they did in the first rounds. Ducks in 6, but watch our for the Senators, they're going to win it all.

if the Ducks win the series is anyone going to say "the better team didn't win the series"?

I am a red wing fan that being said the better team is the one that scores more goals. Anaheim won game 4 because they played better. they scored 5 goals and Hasek played like crap and Giguire played better. The Red Wings won game 1 because Hasek played better than anyone else. When you win a playoff game you are the better team and the Ducks were this game. I hope the wings win the series but I am sick and tired of all these "Analysts" saying the better team didnt win. In sports and especially the playoffs the winner plays better period. Thats why they are the winner

BY THE WAY....

The only way a Red Wing could get a hit in was to take Rob over the bench when he wasn't looking and take a cheap shot hit. Why not be a man and drop the gloves and settle like you should. Not behind your team mates in a cheap hit. Who's the classless players now...

I think the Ducks are now under the Wings feathers so to speak. LMAO..

Muir I hope you choke on all your better team should have won crap. Give them the fair shake like you do with the Wings. Guess you are in their pay scedule as well right...

Okay first off I am a Ducks fan and feel if they get their game on, they will win the series.

Frankly I am getting a bit tired of the "anti" Duck media at the moment. It is always like Detroit is media favorite and the Ducks can do no right, or got lucky, and don't play real hockey etc. Better team didn't win, agreed with 1st post on game 1. Even the XM Hockey folks run on "AHBUT" the Ducks being dirty, lucky, but they act like Detroit are gods on ice. Granted great history in that town for that team and the NHL, get over it. Its been good hockey!

man oh man Ducks fans are a bunch of whiners, just like your team and GM...and I thought Flames fans were bad...and please don't embarrass yourselves by calling Anaheim "Hockeytown West"...Anaheim will never compare to Detroit as a hockey town...I said before game 3 that if the Wings came back from Anaheim tied 2-2 they'd be fine...Wings in 6 folks.

The only reason it looked like the wings won that game was because the referee seemed to have it out for the Ducks, especially Rob Niedermayer the whole game. Over half the penalties the Ducks took were pretty weak, such as getting a hooking when your in front of the guy you supposedly hooked, or getting a cross-checking penalty inside the faceoff circle. I was at the game and no one could really believe what was going on. Meanwhile Detroit players were laying hits on Ducks players at center ice away from the play the whole time. I hate to sound like a whiny sports fan who didn't get things his way, but come on, anyone who was at that game had to see what was going on.

Funny thing is that Detroit, a/k/a Hockeytown, hasn't even sold out most of their playoff games this year. Anaheim, on the other hand, has sold out every game.

GO DUCKS!

I think what's obvious is that the networks and NHL want an Ottawa / Detroit match up. I doubt that anyone has seen the number of phantom penalties - not to mention the game misconduct and suspension - called on any one team in a single series. Its' amazing to see it at the game and then go home and see the TIVO slo-mo replays. What's goin on here? 3 obvious bad calls against the Ducks, and one questionable in the same game? How do you expect the players to respond when they know the next hit or stick action will put them in the box? I really can't stand "whining" and "whiners", but these calls have been so persistant and frequent, I can't help but believe the network and league have conspired to produce a Cup final that gains the most television viewers. As a season ticket holder and avid NHL fan, I feel I'm being robbed and the series is "fixed".

Sounds to me like someone's rooting for the Wings. I thought that was for the fans to do, not the writers. GO DUCKS!!!

The Ducks get no respect. Not from the NHL not from the fans, the refs and everyone out there. Watching Versus, which should be called Minus, cause no one gets it, it sounds like I'm listening to the Wings channel. The Ducks won cause they had to and they know they have to win Game 5.

Ducks in 6.

GET RID OF VERSUS
Worst NHL MISTAKE IN HISTORY

It's going to be very hard for the Ducks to win the series... given that they're playing 6 vs 10 (counting the officials) on the ice (all Detroit has to do is embellish a trip or hook and have penalty called in their favor), not to mention the very strong media bias that's created an "anti" Duck sentiment. It's a conspiracy, with both the league and media in cohorts. In hopes of making the current NHL-TV contracts as profitable as possible, they rig the playoffs so that Detroit, "hockeytown", and Ottawa play in the Stanley Cup Finals. The NHL wants a bounce back after last year's extremely poor ratings in the finals, if this year's finals starred Detroit, the hockey giant, and Ottawa, bringing in the Canadian fan base, TV ratings, and profits from it, would sky rocket (in theory of course).

Now this may not be true, but after watching Game 4 last night and the repurcussions of it, it's very hard not to believe something is not right. No sports analyst gives the Ducks credit for stepping up their game in the first period after capitalizing on high-quality chances and dominating 3-1, a good bounce back after Tuesday's lopsided game. Nor does anyone mention the very one-sided play calling by Game 4's officiating crew. It was fascinating watching the many phantom penalties called against the Ducks in slow motion on Tivo. If they're calling the games that tightly, call it both ways. Detroit committed the same type of slashing that Marchant had called against him in the second (Detroit scored on the ensuing powerplay). Also, no media sports analyst had any substantial comment in favor of the Ducks about the very bad hooking call made against Rob Neidermeyer, who was actually tripped and interfered with by a Detroit player, and the fact that Detroit tied the game on the ensuing powerplay. And let's not forget the long 5 on 3 power play established at the start of the 3rd after Rob Neidermeyer did what many hockey players do thousands of times in a faceoff, out muscle his opponent. But I suppose that call worked against Detroit, the officiating crew, the NHL who pays the officiating crew, and the media who pays the NHL, because after that penalty kill, momentum swung in the Ducks direction who went on to win it.

For those who believe the Wings outplayed the Ducks, hear this. The Ducks had six fewer giveaways, two more takeaways, six more faceoffs won, and six more hits than the Red Wings. They also had four more penalty minutes (but don't be fooled by this number, the Red Wings had substantially more powerplay opportunities than what penalty minutes say). Yes, Detroit dominated on shots on goal, but with as many power play opportunities as they had, that comes as no suprise, not to mention many of their shots were low-quality shots. Their 5 on 5 game plan is to crash the net; they take a shot from the blue line and hope for a lucky bounce or rebound as they charge the net, but Giguere didn't give up those opportunities too many times. The Ducks created more quality scoring chances and capitalized.

But of course, the media working in cohorts with the league at rigging the playoffs for better ratings, hates the Ducks (not to mention the media always "had it out" for the Ducks GM Brian Burke, who has a reputation of not being media friendly). There is no talk from sports analysts of the Ducks overcoming any adversity with Chris Pronger being suspended (which is another conspiracy story on its own that needs better explanation). Nor is there talk of despite a game that was called very one-sided with multiple "controversial" calls, the Ducks still held their own. Nor is anything substantial being said by individual Ducks' players stepping up their performance in a very critical game.

A lot is being said about the Ducks lately but one thing that isn't being said is that they are a great team who earned their win in game 5. Detroit had its opportunities but didn't produce when needed. Anaheim is a team that didn't make it as far as they did by accident, they deserve and are earning their way through the championship, and the media is playing the series out is to make it not look that way, as if the Ducks are mere undisciplined brutes in the Western Conference finals by accident. And this argument isn't meant to take anything away from Detroit, which is a also a great team that is earning their way as well. These are two great teams competing in a very competitive, entertaining series. It would just be nice if all the media, sports analysts, NHL, and game officiating crew would stop coordinating with each other and play the who is favored and who is the underdog game for better ratings, and allow the teams to play their game and compete to win. The team that deserves to win should earn it in as much of an objective way as possible. This conspiring and heavy bias takes away from the spirit of the game, not to mention that it's a stab in the back to all NHL fans, especially after remaining loyal after the lock outs. If this is the case, and I hope it isn't, then I am very disappointed.

To: Cal_Golden_Bear

Amen brother ...

Go Ducks!

Uhh...Errr....didn't you mean they earned the win in game 4? And please stop whining about "a grand conspiracy" against the Ducks. There isn't a team in the finals whose fans can't point out a number of questionable calls against their team. The bottom line is that the NHL has 2 sets of rules, one for the regular season, and one for the post season.
By the way, whining won't fix it (boy is there a lot of that going on).....not watching the playoffs and not going to games will.....

Red Wings give it up .Its all over. You should won its too late!!!!