Fleury, Rest Of Pens, Have Rough Playoff Debut

wow. that was a tough game to watch. the pens got dominated in every aspect of the game, and fell to ottawa 6-3. that score doesnt even do the senators any justice. ottawa did lead 6-1, before gonchar and crosby added "confidence-booster" goals in the waning moments. therrien and the team had been quick to brush off the teams youth and inexperience, but had to face the music after this one was over. therrien accepted that his team was tight, and crosby felt the team was watching rather than setting the early tone. both were understatements. the senators clearly came out with more passion, and were able to leave their mark on the game from the drop of the puck. andrej meszaros scored 1:37 into the game, and chris kelly added a goal only 5 minutes later.

despite giving up 6 goals, i cant place the blame solely on maf. mark eaton tipped a shot that was easily picked up by ottawa for an easy goal. laraque's intended drop pass to ruutu lead to a senators breakaway that resulted in an easy goal. the defense couldnt get the puck out of their own zone. the ottawa forwards were more physical than the pittsburgh defense. the pens couldnt handle simple passes and stick-handling maneuvers. daniel alfredsson was allowed to take hack after hack at the net, and the score would have been 10-3 if the ottawa captain quit missing the cage. ryan whitney struggled to a -2 rating. in case you dont get the point, i can keep going on about why the pens lost. maf looked nervous at the beginning, settled down for a bit, then imploded upon himself. as frustrated as i was, though, there were plenty more reasons for this loss rather than just the poor play of maf.

"apparent kicking motion." remember those words. any chance of the penguins swinging game momentum last night was crushed by the "war room" in toronto, who disallowed sidney crosby's goal in the opening moments of the 2nd period, which would have closed the ottawa lead to 4-2, after dany heatley scored only 15 seconds prior. colby armstrong crashed the net, and sid put the rebound past emery, thus revitalizing the pittsburgh bench. after talking to the "war room," the refs disallowed the goal, because crosby's sliding foot touched the puck before it scooted past emery. crosby took a legitimate shot with his stick, and was falling to his knees like he has done in the past. however, last night, crosby was right in front of emery, and wasnt trying to break his body in half as he crashed the net. he went from his knee to his butt, and the puck tipped the heel of his stick, hit his sliding foot, and went in. the thing that gets me, is we dont know if the "war room" has any bias against the kid. sid is legendary in the league for his lower body strength, and has been known to use his skates like 2 additional sticks. ive never seen a player protect a puck like crosby can, by passing the puck between his skates and his stick with such ease. if anyone in the "war room" (i cant stand that they call it that) has watched any of crosby in his first 2 seasons, they would know the kid's abilities. i seriously hope that the geniuses in toronto didnt hold this against crosby while making their decision to disallow the goal. i understand "apparent kicking motion," but sid actually took the shot with his stick, and as he was falling into the cage, his eyes were still focused on where the shot from his stick was supposed to go. "apparent kicking motion" is supposed to deter players from kicking pucks into the goal, not for overanalyzing a guy falling down while trying to make a legitimate shot. the pens beat the sens back in march after falling down 4-1, and crosby's goal could have sparked the turnaround in this 4-1 game. instead, any momentum was gone once the ref waved the goal off (to steigy and errey's surprise), and maf allowed 2 more goals before being benched for t-bo.

this is, in no way, critical of ottawa. they clearly won the game. they exerted their influence, and flat-out beat sid and company. hopefully the team can build off of the failures in game 1, and come out with more purpose on saturday.

Pens Lose, No April Fools Joke Here

i was going to make a comment about the pens winning, then immediately following that up with "april fools!" however, i thought about how much that pisses me off when people (over the age of 14) say something stupid on the 1st of april, then twist your mind around by proclaiming "april fools." so instead, i give you cold, hard "april facts." the pens lost, but it was an acceptable loss. by forcing overtime, the pens gained a point that didnt seem likely at the midpoint in the game, when t-bo was being pulled in favor of maf. t-bo had let 4 goals in, and maf was called in to stop the bleeding. he did just that, playing solid defense and allowing his team to make a remarkable comeback. ryan whitney scored with 4 seconds left in the 3rd, tying the game, and giving pittsburh a critical point in their race against nj for tops in the atlantic division. by way of the overtime loss, the pens move from 5th to 2nd in the division again, with nj having a game in hand and one more win. unfortunately, kaberle scored with a minute five ledt in ot, and the pens left toronto with 1 out of a possible 2 points.

i tip my hat (im not wearing one right now, so i guess i'll tip my scalp...gross) to the pens, because toronto is always filled to the brim, even when the leafs are terrible. however, the leafs are currently on the outside of the playoff bubble, and the crowd knew it. towards the end of the game, and especially overtime, the toronto crowd was electric, hoping to push their team to a much needed win. you can call it whatever you want, playoff intensity, end of the season adrenaline, whatever, the pens were in hostile territory. getting a point out of this game was remarkable.

watching the crowd, my primary thought was, "playoff atmosphere is gonna rule." pittsburgh hasnt seen playoff hockey in quite some time, and toronto's crowd got me pumped up for the start of the playoffs. can you imagine the igloo once the playoffs start?

so far, no one had tried to pull any april fools pranks or shenanigans on me, and heaven help them if they try to.

more later...

(more=mpotd)

Best Way to Forget Pitt...

if you are still mourning pitts departure from the dance, get over yourself. most of us saw the loss coming, and losing in the sweet 16 is nothing new, nor is it something to be ashamed of. however, the best way to cure the pitt blues, is by watching the pens. the pens snapped a 2 game regulation winless streak, and beat the atlanta thrashers 2-1 last night. t-bo (who wouldve thought t-bo would be getting tons of attention lately) was the games number 1 star, stopping 25 of 26 shots. it was his eigth appearance in the pens' last 18 games, and t-bo has only allowed 3 total goals in his past 3 games. well played, jocelyn. as a result of the pens playing earlier than the devils last night, pittsburgh tied atlantic-leading new jersey for the division lead. however, those devils prevailed in a shootout, giving them the upper hand again.

the pens play in about 30 minutes against boston, a team that they have had some trouble against in the recent past. a win today would be critical. the pens can tie nj, and possibly move past them on tuesday, the next time both teams play. i am not looking too far past the bruins, who have been sliding like billy joel into a tree as of late. however, winning today could be the start of the pens jumping from number 5 in the east to the coveted number 2 spot.

in other news, did you happen to see peyton manning on snl last night. it was shamelss exploitation, aside from a few funny spots. the whole time, i was thinking, "man, i bet peyton's agent engineered a contract that made sure peyton was in every skit." a lot of non-actors who host snl wont be in more than say, 60% of the skits (my own estimation). it almost seemed like the only way peyton would do the show was if he was in at least 99% of the show. and, peyton made sure to host on his birthday, so that everyone can celebrate him some more. eli came out with the other brother (the one who is slow, or sick, or just skinny or something) to give peyton a big birthday cake, while the whole audience and cast sang to mr manning. ive never been a manning fan. i sure as hell didnt want peyton to beat grossman in the super bowl. now that he has the ring, peyton will never go away. he can take over any entertainment medium and get away with it. all while shaming eli and that one other brother in the process.

more later...

Defeated Jersey (Shirt and State)

i got a couple things to get of my chest. (got that stress off my chest like a breast reduction). my inner rage was sweet. and it worked. because that (note picture above) is the face of the man who outdueled one martin brodeur and held the devils scoreless, to post his first shutout of the season and first in three years! t-bo doesnt get enough love on the internet, mainly because hes backing up a former number one overall draft pick, and certainly a young goalie who most teams would want to face off against the mighty brodeur, in marc-andre fleury. im a big supporter of the flower. but ill give credit where credit is due and thank t-bo for calming my rage against the brodeur jersey girl.

"ooh, ill wear a brodeur jersey to a pittsburgh-area college on the same night that the devils host the penguins."

thats a joke. pens won. brodeur jersey girl looked foolish. like a fool. quit being a fake nhl fan. pens are now within 4 points of the devils, and in 4th place in the east. that means a home series at least in the first round of the playoffs. imagine the igloo on those nights! ruutu scored, christensen scored, and staal, who matched his goal total from juniors last year (28), scored to put the game away.

holding the devils scoreless in the 1st period was key to t-bo havin a grrrrreat nite. (sorry, had to do that).

i know gomez hit the post, and it was lucky that he did, but ill take a little bit of luck when playing a good team like the devils. (see, i can give the brodeur bunch credit even though they have been a bitch to win against for quite some time).

beating the top 2 teams in the conference in successive night is not only impressive, but should at least be worthy of mention on espn.com's front page.

wrong.

embrace the nhl, espn. just because you dont carry the games doesnt mean that the only mention of the nhl during the week is when john buccigross listens to some hootie and the blowfish (or tonic or dishwalla or r.e.m. or some other 90s alt/rock/indie group) and decides to write their lyrics alongside a picture of teppo numminen with buccigross's kids or something. dont get me wrong, buccigross isnt bad, but i think the nhl should give a little more love rather than bucci and barry melrose and linda cohn, who promises a gluttony of glove saves in her weekly column!

ok im dun right now. ill be back later