Pens 4, Preds 3

Again, I am horribly late with this post. I'm on vacation from work this week, so hopefully that will help me stay caught up. Pens recap:

1. I honestly thought that Bylsma was going to continue starting Johnson until he lost. I was surprised to see Fleury in net.

2. Fleury looked shaky, but he hasn't played for a while, so I guess that's to be expected. Allowing a goal 53 seconds into the game was definitely not a good way to start. Kunitz was also to blame for that...he just seemed to wander away from who he was supposed to be covering.

3. I never realized how tall Pekka Rinne is. Apparently Nashville has an obsession with tall goalies, since their backup Lindbach is 6'6".

4. The penalty kill didn't look too bad, and the power play continues to thrive. The power play is just aggravating to watch...they'll seem like they're getting into a groove for a couple of games, and then just fall apart. Hopefully that doesn't happen this time around.

5. Tangradi continues to look good, and what else can be said about Test Tube? Yet another point this game. Dude is amazing!

6. Is it me, or does Sid seem like he's playing a little more aggressively this season? At the end of last season, it looked like he was beginning to, but it's becoming a little more evident this season. It's good to see.

7. Now that the Pens have Engelland, does Godard have a job? I think we'll see Godard traded at some point this year. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Godard, it's just that now we have an enforcer who is a more complete player in my opinion.

8. One thing I noticed about Fleury in this game was that he did seem a little more comfortable playing the puck. The pass he made to Sid was great!

9. How huge did Geno come up in this game? He was just on top of everything.

10. I was stuck listening to the FSN Tennessee broadcast for this game. Say what you will about Steigy and Errey, but they're way better than these guys. One good thing about watching the Tenn broadcast was this:



Jack in the Box has the best commercials. Too bad there aren't any anywhere near where I live. Or any in the state of Ohio at all for that matter.

11. Dupuis saved the day when he made that great play to clear the puck out of the crease on the one play.

Sorry for how sucky that recap was, but I was starting to fall asleep watching it. Now for the Avs:

Avs 2, Sharks 4

I was more excited to watch this game than the Pens. It ended up being a hell of a lot more entertaining.

1. Welcome back Brandon Yip!

2. Lots of back and forth action in this game. Neither team seemed to have the upper hand for too long, and both teams played very well.

3. Anderson is a beast. He looked confident for the most part in net, but then again, when doesn't he?

4. Good thing Sacco decided to dress 7 defensemen. Adam Foote left the game with a concussion. As far as I know, it is unknown when he will return to the lineup.

5. Kyle Cumiskey's skating ability never ceases to amaze me. He's a quick, strong skater. I'd even go so far as to say he skates like Pavel Bure.

6. All in all, the Avs still need a little bit of help when it comes to special teams. Taking so many penalties in the second period didn't help things.

7. The Sharks pretty much went into a defensive shell once they were up 3-1 going into the third period.

8. Congrats John-Michael Liles! He's the first Avs player to score in 7 straight games to start the season. He's also the first Avs defenseman to have a 7 game scoring streak. He played very well in the playoffs last year, and it's good to see that it carried over to this season.

9. The Avs can be irritating to watch sometimes. One minute, someone is making a beautiful, unreal pass, the next minute, a terrible turnover.

10. I call bullshit on the 4th Sharks goal. The puck clearly hit a Sharks player on the bench, and then ricocheted (that's not a fun word to spell) off of the linesman, resulting in a nasty bounce which resulted in a Sharks goal. It was a non-reviewable play. I think everything should be reviewable.

So there it is. Two games to recap again tonight. Have fun kids!

Conference Finals, Game(s) 3

Philly 1, Habs 5

About frickin time! The Habs had the crowd behind them, and finally woke up to play some hockey. They did everything right and had a strong performance by Halak. Key points of the game:

1. Nice first goal of the game by Cammallari. Give an assist to the ghosts of the Forum for the strange bounce off of the boards.

2. The Habs finally decided to get physical with Philly. They need to keep it up.

3. Chris Pronger totally sucked.

4. This game had some really bad quotes from the commentators. My personal fave was "The constipated Montreal offense got flowing a little", or something to that effect. What would possess someone to say that? Another good one was, "You know you're trailing in a game when your goalie is in the middle of the bench like a grocery stick." The only thing I can even guess a grocery stick is is the divider that you put on the belt to separate your purchases from someone else's.

5. How amazing was the crowd? At the end of the game, you would have thought the Habs just won the cup.


Sharks 2, Hawks 3
The only thing I really have to comment on in this game is the fact that Versus didn't show the Chicago anthem. They have amazing anthems, and it just pissed me off not being able to see it. Auntie N is still a beast.


On another note, the only Philly player I like (I know, I know), may be back in action tomorrow. Ian Laperriere has some balls. How are you going to block a shot with your face...twice in one season? One of my favorite videos of all time:



You can't help but like Lappy (or as his teammates called him after he lost his teeth, "Mumbles"). The man has guts.

Conference Finals, Game(s) 2

Habs 0, Philly 3

Yet another ugly game. The "unstoppable" Halak had another horrible game, as did the rest of the team. I wouldn't be surprised to see Carey Price in net for game 3. Montreal needs to play a more disciplined game. Philly has been capitalizing on the power play, and pointless penalties are just making things worse. Cammalleri had more shots on goal than he did in the first game, yet still hasn't scored a goal in this series. The Habs need more production from him as well as Gomez and Gionta. Philly lucked out that Leighton was cleared to play just a week before Boucher was injured during the last series. He has been playing wonderfully, and doesn't look rusty at all. As for game 3, the Habs need to get the crowd into the game and keep them there. If they give a goal up early, the crowd element will be null and void, and the Habs really don't need that. That's one thing that I've always loved about hockey; the fact that the crowd can have a huge impact on the players. Go Habs!

Hawks 4, Sharks 2

I'm pretty much giving up on analyzing this series. It's just too much fun to watch, and I don't want to have to wreck it by picking it apart. I will say this though: Niemi (or Auntie N, as I've started calling him) is a fuckin beast.

Sorry for the extremely late post. I'll try a little harder next time. Thanks for reading!

Conference Finals, Game(s) 1

So the Sharks-Hawks game was very entertaining and fast-paced. Niemi continues to impress me with his play, and after the first period I thought the Sharks were going to dominate this game. Thankfully I was wrong. As for the Habs-Philly game...well, we all know what happened there. They looked a lot like the Pens did in game 7. They couldn't make good plays for shit, and the unstoppable Halak wasn't quite so unstoppable after all. Watching the Habs in that game makes you think, "Man, THAT is the team that knocked us out of the playoffs?". I think they need to step up the physicality of their game if they expect to come out of this series alive. Their small size isn't helping...they look like a bunch of midgets compared to Philly. I'm still sticking with my predictions...we'll see if I'm right.

On another note, I've been having problems posting comments on people's blogs. I can post on my own, just not anyone else's, so if anyone out there has any suggestions, please let me know. Also, can anyone tell me what the roman numerals mean in UFA IV? I can't find any info on this anywhere. Thanks!

Why did it have to be Philly?

Honestly, WHY!? I guess now all of us Pens fans are now stuck rooting for the Habs. Honestly, as horrible as this sounds, the only team in the running now that I wouldn't mind seeing win the Cup is Chicago, and I don't really want to see them win either because of Hossa. Anyway, here are your predictions for round 3.

Chicago over San Jose in 6 games. I think I might be using my heart a little more than my head in this one.

Habs over Philly in 6. Ditto.

We'll see how this plays out, and if Philly makes it to the finals, I'll probably puke.

Habs 1, Pens 2

The Pens looked much better this game. Flower was nothing short of amazing, and it was a strong effort by everyone on the team. Here are your key points to the game:

1. Great move by Disco for scratching Fedotenko and Poni, since they have both been pretty worthless. Having Rupp back in the lineup will provide a big body in front of the net to screen Halak. Welcome back Billy G!

2. Letang's accuracy has gotten a million times better, and he couldn't have picked a better time. He probably feels he needs to justify his new paycheck.

3. Expect to see a lot more of Letestu next season. With the way he has been playing, I don't see how he couldn't have a spot in the starting lineup.

4. I seriously almost had a heart attack at the very end of this game.

5. I forgot to note the other day that part of the reason I had a shitty day at work was because some asshole called me a fat pig. I'm the same size as Gionta (5'7", 175lbs.), just flabbier. :-)


Sharks-Wings

The Sharks have officially advanced to the next round. What amazes me is that Colorado seemed to give them a harder time than the Wings did. I think that is mostly due to the amazing play of Craig Anderson. He was a beast in that series, even if he is a little bit of a creeper.



I'm pumped up for tomorrow since it's the first game I will get to see live in a while. We can do it! Let's go Pens!

Pens 2, Habs 0

After looking like ass for the first half of the game, the Pens managed to step it up and defeat the Habs. Here are my key points to the game:

1. I was surprised to see Guerin out with an injury. I hope he comes back soon...the power play needs him.

2. Congrats to Flower on the shutout. He once again proved his ability to bounce back from a bad game. Amazing how people still question his talent. On paper his stats don't look spectacular, but he makes key saves in key games. Too bad there isn't a stat for that.

3. How quickly Canada has forgotten about the Olympics. Just as was seen in Ottawa, Habs fans booed Sid every time he touched the puck. I guess a gold medal doesn't mean shit.

4. Letestu played a pretty decent game. Someone remind me why Fedotenko still has a spot on the roster.

5. This game started to get a little snarly, but I think it was mostly out of frustration. I don't really expect it to continue.

6. Maybe the Pens read the stats on Halak's amazing record when facing 40 or more shots and decided to hold back for the first half of the game and pepper him with shots the second half. Just a theory.

7. Welcome back to the playoffs Geno!


Sharks 4, Wings 3

To be quite honest, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to this series. I don't like either one of these teams (the Sharks because they eliminated the Avs, and the Wings because, well, they're the Wings). I found it amusing that Holmstrom's goal had to be reviewed though. I wonder how many times that's happened in his career.


Other:
Sorry for the lack of Avs news. The Pens will always be my number one focus though. There will be some Avs info eventually, I promise.

LETS GO PENS!