Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

We've Been Waiting On The Thunder for 7 Years

04/13/2016 at 5:30pm EDT

Enough. Enough of the mediocrity, the moral victories. Enough with the satisfaction of "almost beating Chicago", of taking Cup finalists to 7.

Enough of the hopes that the Wings can steal one, or two.

I miss the swagger. I miss the cockiness that only 19 of you can fully understand.

Waiting for the smelly shoe to drop is for Blues fans. They anticipate the pain, rightfully so. They've earned that pain through forty years of failure.

We have not. All we've earned is more success. All we deserve are more Cups. It is our right as Wing fans and so it shall come to pass again.

It's quirky that this year, of all years, could feature a return to the Finals. I believe that. Yes, I do.

We've drawn the best possible first round opponent: hurt, short-handed, familiar, and one the Wings have a bit of unpleasant history with.

Tampa is beatable. Tampa is ripe to be beaten, by this team.

The Wings don't even have to play their best to do it. But, things must happen.

Our defense must not suck. They don't have to be lights out, but they must NOT suck. Danny DeKeyser must establish himself. Right now. Kronwall must levy punishment. Green must do what he was allegedly brought here to do. Ericsson's name must not be called. At all. He must be so steady that there is no reason to think about him. Marchenko may be the key.

Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou must fly. They need to be young idiots and disregard the pressure smarter men know exists. They must absolutely fly. Every shift.

Luke Glendening must be Luke Glendening. We all know what his injury meant last year. I guarantee you Tampa has been talking about him, for good reason.

Henrik Zetterberg must score big goals. Not a lot of goals, but big goals.

Pavel Datsyuk is going to retire and before he does he needs to be dangerous.

Christ. Jimmy. James Tiberius Howard needs to be very good. Not great. Not felonious. Just very good.

Are you telling me any of those things are not possible? No, you're not.

What you're thinking is that we haven't seen any of them happen, all at once, all year. Possible? Yes. Probable? No. Honestly, it's not.

But there is a possibility that all could come together. Every bit of it.

It could happen, and you know it could.

Maybe it will. Maybe the Wings knock off Tampa, because they can. Maybe Florida is next and maybe the confidence established in Round 1 starts to embolden this team. Maybe they beat Florida, because they can.

And then when Pittsburgh awaits in the ECF? That's a whole different story. That's a train unto itself.

For now? One series against a beatable team. One.

Take care of yourselves this evening. You know how.

It's a Live Blog, you miserable bitches.

16 to 12.

LGRW.

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments