2007/2008 Hockey Thread

[Enter Blue Guy]

"Former" Leaf supporters should have a flag stapled to their ass and sent down the QEW.

A lot of my friend's have boarded the Penguins bandwagon for now. Which I have no problem with, but I'm still rooting for Detroit somewhat. Especially female friends. They hopped on that shit ASAP. I think they are holding out for Sid to come down to the bar and invite them to become pro rink rats for next season. Henrik Zetterberg is an attractive man too! And he can grow a manly beard that doesn't look like he consulted Prince for advice on it. And he rocked Sid's universe last night.

I have no ill will towards Penguin's fans or the city of Pittsburgh. My second favorite sporting franchise hails from there. I'm just tired off hearing how great, young, exciting, and beautiful the Pittsburgh Golden Boys are. We get it. They are young. They are hot. Sidney Crosby spends more time shilling Gatorade and RBK during commercial breaks than Peyton Manning could ever dream of. It's wonderful. If Pens fans were on the outside looking in, there is a slight chance they'd feel the same way.

Except for bandwagon hoppers. They'll fuck anything for a chance to cheer for a winner.

Edited May 25, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Evil Chase K]

Pittsburgh showed their age and experience last night. They played their worst game of the playoffs thus far, and really didn't look overly horrible.

The Pens played very well in the first period and had at least 4 chances they should have buried. But either Osgood made ridiculous saves or the Pens just missed. But even in the first they didn't look like the Penguins of the playoffs thus far.

Gary Roberts needs to be in the lineup, and they need to shift things around. The forecheck wasn't working well, so they need to put Talbot, Roberts and Laraque on separate lines. That way, Crosby or Hossa can dump the puck in and Talbot can play hard in the corners... Malkin and Sykora have Malone... Roberts can play with Dupuis and Jordan Staal... and Laraque can be your big banger on the fourth line.

Why Laraque played over Roberts in game one I'll never understand. Laraque can't skate with the Wings and Roberts has much needed experience/intensity.

Head Coach Michel Therrien is switching the lines for game two...I really like the changes.

Malone/Crosby/Hossa - Bugsy used to play with Sid and they had great chemistry. Plus Malone's a better finisher than Dupuis.

Talbot/Malkin/Sykora - Talbot's speed and tenacity and forechecking ability will hopefully open things up for Malkin who has been invisible since the Rangers series.

Dupuis/Staal/Kennedy - Wow, talk about your energy line. Kennedy may have played the best game of any Penguin yesterday. He was all over the place and time and time again he shows he doesn't know the meaning of the word quit. Add Dupuis to that line and the much underrated Jordan Staal and I think this line could really do something.

Roberts/Hall/Ruutu - Another powerful forecheckin line. Everyone of these guys can forecheck and does it well. Plus Roberts and Ruuuuuu play with enough physicality to basically render Georges Laraque's role on the team meaningless for the time being.

Finesse isn't going to win this series for Pittsburgh unless they can rattle Detroit (Osgood especially). They need to play tight, hard and heavy in the corners, and they can't do that with all their muscle riding the fourth line. If they can put a bad one in behind Osgood, he's got a tendency to unravel big time when he loses focus. Get a bad one in there, and things will really open up.

That's where I think Therrien's going. The first line will be a great defensive backchecking line, but the rest of the lines really forecheck will and will hopefully be able to provide the team with a spark.

Marc-Andre Fleury was awesome last night, and the mistakes he made could have been prevented by better communication from his defense.

Some idiot fans blamed him for the loss. Without either goalie playing as well as they did the game would've been like 8-5 in favor of the Wings. Fleury played his worst game of the playoffs and if the Penguins convert their first period chances, he still played well enough to win.

Game two should be a lot different... should... and if it isn't, then Therrien will have failed to get the message across to his team as to what they need to do, and the series will be over in five.

I really don't think this team needs to have a message drilled into their head. I think Game Two comes down to Mike Yeo's gameplanning on special teams. If he can somehow get the Pens' powerplay back on track and Therrien's line changes work they way I think they can, it should be a much different game two. The Pens need to take one of the first two and since last night was a loss, they have to play desperate, but smart hockey. It should be fun.

[Toe]

Spokane just broke the Memorial Cup.

Also, the new Gatorade commercial has Crosby scoring on Toskala, and that is not cool.

[Enter Blue Guy]

He's the model in the stores for RBK here too. He's like Sidney Crosby's Toronto affiliate.

[Guest Dr. Potato Head]

[Gabriel]

This game taught me something tonight...

Chris Osgood is far too small to be using the Lariat on guys the size of Petr Sykora. He should really get a new move so that he doesn't get knocked on his ass when he tries to use it.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Ouf. Going back to Pittsburgh and it's 2-0 Detroit with Pittsburgh having scored.... 0 goals. That's rough.

[Evil Chase K]

This game taught me something tonight...

Chris Osgood is far too small to be using the Lariat on guys the size of Petr Sykora. He should really get a new move so that he doesn't get knocked on his ass when he tries to use it.

And they call Sid a diver.

I don't know what was worse, Franzen's delayed fall to a Gary Roberts facewash, Datsyuk swinging at Roberts after the referee is holding him back (and leaving his visor on) or Osgood's dive.

The Penguins are just snakebit. Game One was about Osgood playing incredible. Tonight the Penguins couldn't do anything. They played well but they couldn't get any breaks or any bounces. All they needed was one goal and it was a totally different game/series. Hopefully things go their way Wednesday at Mellon.

[Clawson]

Heh....that Roberts play on Franzen wasn't a face wash. He skated by him and slugged him. I like Gary and all but that was a fucking slimeball move.

[Evil Chase K]

So Franzen was in the right to act like a pussy and fall over and lay on the ice like Roberts just ripped his throat out?

Upon further review Roberts did punch him, and I know Lord Gary can kill a man with just his stare, but seriously Franzen? For real?

[Clawson]

Yes God forbid a man who has been off for a month with post-concussion syndrome go down like a sack of bricks after getting blindsided with a cheapshot to the side of the face.

[Gabriel]

Yes God forbid a man who has been off for a month with post-concussion syndrome go down like a sack of bricks after getting blindsided with a cheapshot to the side of the face.

It's not that he went down that bothers him... I think what bothers him, and what I caught when it happened, is that Roberts hits Franzen, and then skates away... and Franzen clutches his face and falls to the ice after a delay. Is his reaction time actually that bad? More than likely, it was a dive. Roberts did punch him pretty good though.

I love Gary Roberts.

[Evil Chase K]

Exactly, that's the problem. If he goes down right away then there's no problem. But he skated away, held his face, and THEN went down. It was easily a dive. Probably worse than either one of Osgood's 2 dives.

Gary Roberts is easily the most popular Penguin in Pittsburgh. He's a cult hero.

[Plubby]

That's flat-out wrong. When I was leveled playing hockey three weeks ago, it took easily two minutes for the pain to set in because the adrenaline had to wear off. Sounds like sour grapes on the Penguins part to me. Maybe Roberts shouldn't be such a filthy headhunter.

[Gabriel]

Maybe Chris Osgood shouldn't be trying to hit people with the Lariat either, but this is the playoffs, and it's a rougher game than is played during the regular season.

Here's the facts:

Pittsburgh isn't playing horribly, but they're not playing as well as they need to be able to win the Stanley Cup.

The Penguins need to be more disciplined.

Detroit is playing awesome. Even if the Penguins start playing better hockey, there's no telling whether or not they'd even be able to beat the Red Wings right now.

There is no one to blame for the Penguins but themselves if they lose this series. That's a fact. They're a young team though, and if they lose this, it will help build character for their younger guys. If they lose though, look for Gary Roberts to retire. I'd also be surprised to see Darryl Sydor return to the team next year. What's that? You didn't know Sydor was on the team? Can't say I blame you.

[Enter Blue Guy]

I'm thinking Pittsburgh will take at least one at home, they have too. Detroit is going to win the Cup for sure. Watching Brad Stuart toy with Staal before assisting on the the third goal last night, I just thought "men vs. boys". So much talent on this Pens team, but Detroit is out there playing "hockey". Text book winning hockey. And they are doing it flawlessly, of course thanks in part to the Pens most talented players still having a lot of empty space to fill in their notebooks.

The obstruction is ridiculous, that I can't deny. I love Osgood, but he looks like a doofus out there. It's a shady tactic, I'd say just a small step below anything Avery has done in the playoffs. I hate it, but that's part of the game, it's strategy to piss off your opponents when they are already down, just to throw them off even more. It's not like Pittsburgh hasn't gotten away with more than their fair share of officiating gems in the post season, this series being no exception.

[SeanDMan]

So Franzen was in the right to act like a pussy and fall over and lay on the ice like Roberts just ripped his throat out?

Upon further review Roberts did punch him, and I know Lord Gary can kill a man with just his stare, but seriously Franzen? For real?

The dude is coming off of a concussion. Stop being such a damn homer.

Oh, wait, it's you.

Nevermind then.

[Enter Blue Guy]

I love that Hank, Pavel, and even Homer don't seem to be intimidated by anybody on Pittsburgh. Not Hal Gill, not Gary Roberts. Detroit is a level headed team that doesn't retaliate because fuck, they would rather go on the PP than dick around in the box, but Henrik and especially Pavel are staring at the big and physical players right in eye and just fucking challenging them to bring it.

The scene late last night with Pavel going after Roberts and THOMAS HOLMSTROM! laying body shots to the fallen Pittsburgh player shows me that Detroit has no problem dealing with the grit and physical aspect that the Pens would have liked to be a last ditch intangible for them.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Clawson]

Yeah I remember somebody ran Zetterberg after the whistle and Datsyuk came in swinging. Was fucking awesome and unexpected.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Not as awesome as during a random game of one of the Sens/Leafs series, there was a Senator hacking away and starting to push Joseph, and Kaberle was right on top of that shit, dropped his stick, grabbed the Sen by the jersey, yanked him by the collar and just started firing away with punches.