We're now in a new week, beyond the Penguins season and into some dumb hot weather. I guess the end of the playoffs segues into the start of a new season...Trash The Penguins Season.
My name is Tony Gallagher.
I write one-sentence paragraphs.
My view on the NHL sucks.
I like to complain about the Penguins.
My opinions mean nothing.
Seriously, read that link. Here it is again, in case you're an idiot.
For those of you not up to date on the Stanley Cup Finals...they're over. Detroit showed they were the better team and took the Cup with them. Empty Netters has an entire season recap posted. The Pensblog is about to write their own recap. Nothing that I, or any of those guys, say makes any difference in what happened in the Finals. We lost, Detroit won, let's move on to next season.
For Tony Gallagher, that isn't enough. He has the balls to question the officiating in the final minutes of Game 6:
While nobody really wanted to say so, how could you have possibly watched the calls in that series and not had the feeling that somehow, consciously or more likely unconsciously, there was a slant toward favouring the Pittsburgh Penguins?
While it seemed to be prevalent most of the series, at times to a far lesser extent, the final 20 seconds of Game 6 illustrated the problem perfectly.
With Detroit just having given up a power-play goal that allowed Pittsburgh to get to within 3-2 with under two minutes to go, the Pens had their goalie out and the Wings under siege.
But with about 18 seconds left, Pavel Datsyuk of the Wings managed to skate free with the puck, skate it out over the blue-line, but as he readied a shot toward the open net, he was hauled down with an abundantly obvious stick foul so blatant that Helen Keller would have been forced to raise her arm.
No call.
Pittsburgh then got the puck, stormed the other end and nearly tied the game in the last second.
This call wasn't missed. There is absolutely no conceivable way it could have been missed.
But the officials chose not to end the Penguins' season. In fact, for the first time in all my years of viewing hockey, I was overwhelmed by a sense that there existed a desperate need to keep this series going for the good of the game, no matter how far rule interpretations had to be stretched.
Um...wow! Not just for the completely ridiculous "argument," but for the fact that I had to copy/paste 8 paragraphs that should have been merged into one.
I find it hard to believe that an editor would allow this filth to be published. We, as bloggers, take so much heat for publishing vile, salacious crap while The National Post greenlights complete b.s. The Wings won the Cup, dumbass. And see, we aren't the only ones making Helen Keller jokes.
Let's look at the numbers. There were 6 games played in the Finals. Over the course of the series, The Penguins were called for 41 penalties. That's almost 7 a game. Detroit was called for 36 penalties. That's 6 a game, for you math-starved kids. Half of the games in the series (3) showcased more Penguins penalties than Red Wings penalties. Detroit was called for more penalties in only 2 of the games, with Game 5 evenly distributed at 6 penalties apiece. Factor in that the first two games, in which Detroit went up 2-0 in the series, the Penguins were called for 8 more penalties than the Wings (21-13). Now, a number of those penalties were a result of the scrum at the end of Game 2, but Pittsburgh was penalized to a greater extent in that fracas despite both teams pushing and shoving.
Gallagher is more concerned with the Pens not being called on a trip with hardly any time left in their season. Using this logic, should I write a freelance article for The National Post complaining how the disparity in penalties in the first two games changed the course of the series? Because last I checked, Chris Osgood still hasn't been called for his dives.
Now, let's look at penalty minutes. Cumulatively, the Penguins were assessed 94 penalty minutes. Detroit was assessed 74 penalty minutes. Again, taking the Game 2 scrum into account, there is no reason why in that game, the Penguins had 30 more penalty minutes assessed (46-16). Also, Gallagher talks about the goalie interference calls in the OT winner in Game 5. In that game, Detroit only had 4 more penalty minutes than the Penguins. (14-10). If I remember correctly, the Penguins won on a 4-minute high sticking penalty that drew blood. Prior to that, the officiating "slant" was pretty damn close (10-10).
So let's base our arguments off one missed call at the end of a fantastic Game 6 in which both teams had legit scoring chances late. Please don't look at the entire series, in which the Penguins had more penalties and penalty minutes than the Red Wings. Conspiracies obviously exist because the officials allowed the beaten team one last chance at a goal, not because we were seemingly in the box at every possible moment.
Tony Gallagher, go complain about something else. The Wings won and the series is over. Quit fabricating "stories" in your own mind.
