No suspensions, just fines

No suspensions in the Ribeiro-Osgood incident. Just fines. Ott got fined as well. Story from TSN is here.

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Stars news conferences

Q Hear anything on Ribeiro?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: Haven’t heard anything from the league yet, no.

Q How do you prepare if you don’t hear anything until tomorrow?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: We’ll hear something today. I don’t suspect anything. I suspect he’ll be a player. Looking at the situation, I can’t see how it would be a suspension, myself, but that’s for them to figure out. And from our side, I’m going to prepare like Ribeiro’s a player and move forward.

Q What about Lehtinen?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: Lehtinen is day-to-day, so we’ll see where he is tomorrow. (more)

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Stars stuff from Sunday

There was a team meeting today and some guys skated.

Injury update: Barnes is out for Monday. Lehtinen is questionable. Had some soreness today. Tippett said the injury was not a result of the collision with Morrow, but it happened later in the game.

Nothing on the Ribeiro situation. Tippett said he expected a decision on any possible suspension today. Said he didn't think Ribeiro would get suspended.

"I can't see how that would be a suspension myself, but that's for them to figure out," Tippett said.

Ribiero talked to the media, and told his side of the story. He said he hadn't talked to the league as of early Sunday afternoon. Here are a few quotes.

"I think if you guys see the replay he actually tries to do it," Ribeiro said about Osgood catching him with the butt-end of his goalie stick. "It's not like he accidentally hit me. He was kind of bent down, raised up and then clipped me in the face. If he doesn't do that I don't think I would have reacted to do what I did. A little bit of frustration and emotion in the game. I think it was more dangerous what he tried to than what I did."

Ribeiro didn't think he would get suspended and he said he if got one game he thought Osgood said get two. Ribeiro was also asked if he thought he hurt Osgood with the slash.

"No, he gets shots harder than my slash," Ribeiro responded. "On the moment it looks worse than it really is. If you look at the replay, I don't think even a player can get hurt with that."

Other the hockey side there was a feeling that the team took a step forward with its play Saturday night and they hope to build on that moving forward. The faceoff issue was a hot topic and the Stars are addressing that issue. Obviously there was talk of finishing chances as well.

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Game 2 thoughts

There is a lot to sort through tonight because of all the late game stuff, so let me start with that. Bob McKenzie of TSN didn't think the Ribeiro slash was worthy of a suspension, and I think he's usually got a pretty good read on these things. ESPN's Barry Melrose didn't think it was worthy of a suspension either. My gut thought is Ribeiro and Osgood both might get fines. My worry with Ribeiro is that it was still a pretty good slash after the game was over. That could be a key factor in all this. That could hurt him. We'll see.

There was some talk on CBC and by Razor after the game that the league could look at the Ott incident with Draper with five seconds to go. I went back and looked at the replay, and I don't see anything coming out of that one.

As for the game, I thought they played better despite the 34-18 shot advantage for the Red Wings. Shot totals don't always tell the whole story. They had good chances, a lot of which didn't materialize into shots on goal. That's what hurt on this night. They hung around the game and were in a position to steal one, but they finish their chances and didn't get the win. So, now they are in a position where Monday is basically a must win game. As I said in a previous post, being down 0-2 doesn't doom them but they have to hold home ice over the next two games I think, and it all starts with Monday's game.

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Stars-Red Wings Period 3

Tough loss. That's a game of missed chances. That's the bottom line. There could be other issues. Mike Ribeiro got a match penalty at the end for the slash on Chris Osgood. That one will get reviewed by the league, but I doubt anything will come of it. Osgood plaed a role in instigating it and that may be a mitigating factor. We'll have to see if anything comes out of that Ott incident involving Draper too, but I am not sure anything will come out of that either. Of course, who knows how bad the Lehtinen injury is. More later.

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Stars-Red Wings Period 2

Entertaining period, but again it was another bunch of missed opportunities. This time on the power play. There were some other chances too. Still, despite missing on the opportunities, they are in a position to win this game. They are just a bounce or a big break away from pulling even.

No Jere Lehtinen for almost all of the second after that first period collision with Brenden Morrow. The word is it's a leg injury.

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Stars-Red Wings Period 1

That was a much better period than anything they threw out there Thursday, but talk about your missed opportunities. I counted four: Eriksson, Petersen, Ott on the four-on-one and then Hagman busting on in on Osgood late in the period. Big goal by Robidas to counter the Helm tally earlier in the period. The Red Wings power play is still a concern. It's now 4-8 in the series.

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Franzen out for Red Wings

Johan Franzen, who is experience concussion-like symptoms, is out for the Red Wings tonight and it looks like he won't travel with the team to Dallas for Game 3. Here's the news from the Red Wings.

The Red Wings will be without the services of Johan Franzen for tonight's Game 2 of their best-of-seven Western Conference finals series with Dallas at Joe Louis Arena.

Franzen, who leads all playoff scorers with 12 goals and three assist, was experiencing concussion-like symptoms prior to the Wings taking the ice for pre-game warm-ups. He has been experiencing recurring headaches since early in the Western Conference semifinal against Colorado.

The Red Wings' medical staff recommended that as a precaution, Franzen -- who has scored an NHL-high 27 times since March 2, a 27-game roll that includes a league-high and franchise-record 12 goals in the postseason -- not play until further testing and evaluation is complete.

On Sunday, the team is scheduled to leave for Dallas, the site of Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday. Franzen will remain in Detroit to undergo testing on Monday.

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Game 2 update

No Stu Barnes tonight for the Stars. Barnes, who will miss his fifth straight game, remains in the day-to-day mode. The possible change at defense with Matt Niskanen going in is a game-time decision. I'd expect him to be in there. The Red Wings look as if they will be going with the same lineup as Thursday, which means Kirk Maltby will be in over Darren McCarty.

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Don Cherry on ESPN

Don Cherry was on ESPN last night and will be so throughout the playoffs. No introduction needed. Here's the video. He talks about the Pens-Flyers and the attendance woes in Detroit.

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