Losses: Marian Hossa (Detroit) Ryan Malone (Tampa) Jarko Ruutu (Ottawa) Ty Conklin (Detroit) Georges Laraque (Montreal) Gary Roberts (Tampa)
Additions: Mirolav Satan (NY Islanders) Ruslan Fedotenko (NY Islanders) Matt Cooke (Vancouver/Washington)
Retentions: Marc-Andre Fleury Evgeni Malkin Brooks Orpik Pascal Depuis
The biggest two losses are, of course, Hossa and Malone. Both were key contributors to the Pens Cup run, and although Hossa was strictly a rent-a-player move at the start, there was a lot of hope that he'd sign a long-term deal with the Pens. Curiously, he rejected the Pens multi-year offer to sign a one-year contract with Detroit for essentially similar money. His statement was that Detroit gave him the best opportunity to win a Cup. That may or may not be true - obviously Detroit is going to field another strong title contender, but the West is a highly competitive market, and Dallas made some moves that may make them seem like the Cup favorite coming into the 2008-2009 season. So yes, losing Hossa hurt, especially when he could have anchored the right wing for years to come with Sid Crosby, but Hossa made the decision that best suited his needs. Who knows - maybe Hossa wanted another stellar year in the playoffs to try and parlay that into a far higher contract? One thing's for sure - he'd best not get injured.
The loss of Ryan Malone also hurts, but in terms of production it's not a killer loss. It hurts because Malone's a local kid, and a character-type player. He's big and strong, and there's some thought that he could evolve into a big-time power forward. Assuming that he's mated with LeCavalier and St. Louis, the Lightning will roll out a very powerful first line, and will have an equally dangerous power play unit. But the Pens had forecast him as a $30 million dollar player, and were not willing to overpay him. Given the amount of GMs overpaying for players this free agency season, perhaps Ray Shero's move not to resign him is more shrewd than people realize.
The losses of Roberts, Ruutu and Laraque don't hurt nearly as much. As a group, they were the grit players who brought an edge and physical play into the game. They were all replaceable, and so far the Pens have signed players to replace them, and did so without too much fuss or notice. Roberts especially is nearing the end of his career, and resigning him was probably not much of a priority for Shero.
The retention signings are probably the biggest. Cementing the skills of Malkin, Fleury and Orpik for years, while all 3 players are in their prime, essentially makes the Pens perennial Stanley Cup contenders. That core group is going to be among the NHL's best, and the "big three" are still so young that they have years before exiting their prime. In all professional sports the talk is of the championship window - the Pens have opened the window wide for probably 5-7 years in total. And that's not something that any other team in the NHL can claim. Orpik's brutal physicality brings an edge to the defense corps that the Pens desperately need. They have solid, puck-moving defenseman already in Gonchar, Whitney and Letang, and still have Daryl Sydor to bring needed defense-first to the game. The Pens defense is now set for a few years, and those guys playing in front of the brilliant Fleury again make the Pens look even better.
The additions are all nice, and fill various gaps. The additions of Satan and Fedotenko bring some scoring talent back even out the first and second lines. Figure both players are already penciled in with Malkin and Crosby, to go along with Sykora and Depuis. The Pens offense will be again very high-powered, and they will again feature two absolutely lethal power play units. Keeping Therrien also means the Pens will play that same offensive/defensive blend that served them well this year.
All things considered, GM Ray Shero has performed admirably. The losses hurt, but then they always do. The additions are nice, but are never quite as good (at least before the season begins) as the losses. The retentions were critical in this case, and Shero's magnificence there cannot be overstated. Most NHL teams have a rather short window of opportunity to win the Cup. Detroit, for example, has another dominant team, but the entire team will age yet another year. Can they do it again, even with their own version of the "big three" all being in their prime? Dallas made several stellar moves, and the addition of Sean Avery I'm sure was done just to annoy the hell out of Detroit. Regardless, no other team in the NHL except perhaps Detroit has iced up their key performers for such a long time, and in such a way that the team has salary cap room for years to come. Imagine, two of the uber-stars of the NHL both signing less than max contracts, and somehow that's exactly what Shero convinced both Crosby and Malkin to do. Fleury at $5 mil a year ensures the Pens will long have money available to keep top-level defenseman. Crosby and Malkin at $8.7 a year ensure the Pens can continue to add better than average to top forwards for years to come.
Maybe Ray Shero lost the Marian Hossa sweepstakes. But I'm sure that Shero is now looking at his team, looking at all those long-term contracts, and seeing all the money still on the table for future players, signings, trades and free agents, and positively drooling. The Pens management, including Mario himself, have got to be slapping Shero's back hard enough to leave red marks, congratulating him on a job exceptionally well done. Should the Pens win the Stanley Cup anytime in the next 5 years, you can thank one person's foresight.
As far as I'm concerned, the front office of the Pittsburgh Penguins gets an "A" for their work.
First, kudos to Detroit. They were the better team, and deserved to win the Cup. Had Pittsburgh figured out a way to win it, it would have been a theft worthy of 5 to 10 in the county pen. They demonstrated how to play the game of hockey at its highest level. So that accolade out of the way...
The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the 2007-2008 season with high hopes, but precious little experience. Their only playoff experience came at the hands of the bruising Ottawa Senators, who exacted a measure of physical dominance that few teams can withstand. When they faltered early out of the gate, the questions arose. Where were the big scores, the big players, the big games? it seemed like they were a team lost - lost in the expectations weighing on a young team, lost on the ice, just...lost. Then, their cornerstone goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was injured with a high ankle sprain and a guy who's only previous claim to fame was a total flub in the Stanley Cup Finals with Edmonton came in. And saved the season. Soon after Ty Conklin's heroics began, star center and captain, and the team leader and heart and soul, Sidney Crosby, went down to a high ankle sprain. Of Pittsburgh's big three, only one was left. With Conklin still playing out of his mind, Evegni Malkin picked up the pace, and the Penguins began their streak which ended with a #2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The route to the Finals was rather smooth, as playoff routes go. Dispatching Ottawa in four was easy, and New York was a surprisingly easy five-game series win. The Flyers were proven to be outmatched by a Penguins team that was equally adept playing offense and defense, and smothered Philly in their five games.
The Pens valiant efforts in the Stanley Cup Finals were all for naught, but truly the series was lost in the first two games in Detroit. The Pens were simply outclasses. Call it nerves, call it pressure, call it inexperience, but whatever it was the Pens were hammered. Detroit looked utterly perfect, and even I began to wonder not whether or not the Wings would sweep, but whether or not Pittsburgh would even get a goal! That didn't transpire, but what did were four special, tight, enjoyable hockey games, full of drama and passion, and hard hits and breathless skill. No, the Pens weren't the best team. They played Detroit to an even draw over the last four games, but since they dug their own 0-2 hole...they had only themselves to blame. Now a team that had exactly three players with four total Stanley Cup rings between them had no claim to playing so well against a veteran-heavy, Stanley Cup-experience laden team like Detroit, and yet the Pens never quit. They never gave up. Last night's furious ending was an example, and watching the end of the game you saw at first only relief - as in "whew...another escape" before the reality that they'd finally won settled upon them.
Having tasted the Finals, and gotten that close to the pinnacle of the sport, you can bet that the likes of Crosby, Malkin and Fleury will be back, and ready to go next year. This is the kind of team that can repeat, and although only time will tell, I think they'll be odds-on favorites to win the East again right out of the gate. While I can only offer my hope here, I have hopes that the Pens will resign many key elements to their run from this year, Marian Hossa included. I hope that players like Hossa will weigh their options they get in the open market, and perhaps - just perhaps - a player like Hossa will take less to play with Crosby and Pittsburgh in the hopes of returning to the Cup Finals rather than taking more money for a lesser team. But again, only time will tell, and Hossa of course has to make the best decision for himself and his family. No one will begrudge him that. His heartfelt thanks by all Pens fans have been showered upon him, and players like him, Pascal DePuis and Gary Roberts all have tough decisions. They were swiftly beloved in Pittsburgh and while more money is always nice, playing in front of an appreciative crowd is always a blessing, too.
Where will this team go in the next few years? Like all hockey fans, we are now in a holding pattern. We can only conjecture and hope. But while we'll all do that, let's all Pittsburgh Penguins fans show our appreciation for this young, tough and resilient team. Let's all thank these guys for putting on a show of hockey we've not seen in years. Thank you, Pittsburgh, and good luck.
Just remember that. Jiri Hudler was a hero in game 4 for Detroit against Pittsburgh. In game 5, his careless stick led to the Pens power play, and their game-winning goal by Petr Sykora. Now everyone forgets how good Hudler was in game 4, and all they remember was that his stick drawing blood led to the power play, and to the game winning goal.
Sports are funny that way, and sports fans are notorious for their fleeting memories. Only some cities carry grudges, and those cities that do never let them go. But that's another entry for another day. Most sports fans look only at who to blame when their team loses. The perennial number one candidate is the referee. He, regardless of title or sport, is always under attack by the fans. Too many calls, not enough calls, blowing the calls that were made. Refs are always goats; they'll never be heroes.
But players are something else. Fans get behind a player for some reason - a great game, a great season, a transcendant moment. Then, when that same player blows it, the viciousness of fandom is aimed full blast at that player. Look at Geno Malkin - for the regular season he was the Pens' dandy. The hero, the savoir, the go-to guy among go-to guys. What's he done in the playoffs? Nothing. Not lately at any rate. What are fans doing? Getting on his case. And why? Well, they want production. They've seen production. Now they're not getting it. Yesterday's hero, today's goat. Like Hudler, who's game to game turnaround is remarkable. A stalwart, a key component to a machine-like Wings team, and today he's looking to hide under the bus, after someone throws him under it. Hell, being under the bus is probably safer for him!
So don't forget, fans of sports, that celebrating a player for his greatness, his skill, his talent is offset by the fact that WHEN he screws up...you'll let him know that, too!
It is challenging to write anything without going crazy with the adjectives - amazing, great, wonderful, nail-biting. But no sport quite has the intensity of sudden death overtime quite like hockey, and last night (and into this morning) Pittsburgh and Detroit put on a display of quality hockey.
Detroit came out flat. Or tight. Or both. But they were clearly out of their zone, and Pittsburgh got two early markers. That woke them up, as they roared back with three unanswered goals. Thirty-second seconds from hoisting the cup over their heads. The fans were ready - they were celebrating. After all, how often does the team with the goaltender pulled actually get a goal? The entire city was ready to go. Then Max Talbot had something to say about that, and we go to overtime.
The first overtime period was all Detroit until about 5 minutes to go. Then, the Pens woke up and got some offensive pressure, but a 13-2 shot advantage tells you all that you need to know about that period. And here's the other thing you need to know: it was tied after that period.
The second OT was even - the Pens I think ended up out-shooting Detroit 8-7 in that period (or they were tied 7-7). The Pens and Wings both had excellent scoring chances - a post there, a crossbar here. They would get sustained pressure, absorb some and repeat.
In the third OT, I began to wonder if there was any way for the Pens to win. Both Brooks Orpik and Hal Gill looked so tired on the ice that making a thirty-foot pass sometimes seemed to escape them. The giveaways, especially in their own zone, were atrocious. And yet, Pittsburgh's excellent goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the rest of the team recovered, and Detroit's vicious pressure to start the 3rd OT netting nothing. Then, after a must-call 4-minute minor penalty, the Pens power play unit hit the ice.
Earlier in the game, Sergei Gonchar went head-first into the boards after screaming down the ice to back check. It was a hard, hard hit, and face first. Gonchar looked woozy at best. He left the ice, and did not figure to return for the entire game - thus the immense pressure on Pittsburgh's remaining 5 defenseman.
But on the 4-minute minor, Sergei Gonchar took the ice in his familiar position at the point. The power play unit that had been so lethal during the regular season also took the ice - the old lineup of Malkin, Whitney, Gonchar, Malone and Sykora went to work. Gonchar's impact was immediate - he was able to patrol the blue line, and Detroit had to respect him. A quick shot towards the net was deflected, came to Skyora who shot and missed the net by a wide margin, but the puck took a good bounce off of a ref and to Geno Malkin, who zipped a pass to Skyora. The one-timer was a thing of beauty, a pure sniper's shot, and went over Osgood's shoulder into the back of the net. Game over.
Many things come to mind about this game. First, that both teams are going to be at a disadvantage come Wednesday night. Neither team will get adequate rest to recover from that game 5 whopper. So fresh legs, and younger players will have to get more minutes. That means more third and fourth liners come Wednesday night. Some might say the Pens have a distinct advantage here because their entire team save for a couple of key veterans are young, some very young. The Wings have 8 players over 34 years old. I'm sure their conditioning is prime, and that they will be ready to go, but over the course of what will likely be another long, tough game, that age difference could become an issue. That is perhaps most true of Osgood. While he didn't get the same volume of work that Marc-Andre did, he was tested throughout the game. He'll have to return to top form. The Pens, playing at home, will get an emotional boost from their crowd. That home crowd will be amped, and hopefully can instill more energy into the team.
Here's the bottom line. Detroit has proven that they are the better team. They are more defensively sound. They are better at patrolling the neutral zone, and terrific in their own end. But their forwards are not quite as good as Pittsburgh's, and the hopes that Skyora and Malkin are finally awakening are rising. If both players start clicking and buzzing and working well together, and Pittsburgh then actually rolls two high-quality scoring lines at Detroit, then Detroit's advantages are again minimized. And with the game in Pittsburgh, and with everything on the line, you've got to figure that Pittsburgh looks good going into game 6.
Here's basically why. Over a 7-game series the best team usually wins out. But if the lesser team can force a game 7, then all bets are off. Game sevens are unique animals. The pressure, the fact that a marathon season of 82 regular season games, double-digit pre-season games, and then at least 15 victories in the post-season for both teams means that over 100 games boils down to one. And everyone knows that in one game, all kinds of things can happen. Where chance was not as much of a factor early on, chance becomes a tremendous factor in game 7. Things that are beyond player's control - funny bounces off the boards, tricky ice conditions and sheer good luck - become magnified. Sure, the skill has a lot to say about it, but those funny bounces can make or break a team.
I think the last area where Pittsburgh has tremendous momentum is in goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury was a big question mark when the entire post-season started, and that question mark wasn't entirely erased by the start of this Finals. Why? Fleury, while being excellent, had not really been tested and found worthy in the previous three series. This series, and last night's game in particular, have I think permanently erased that question mark. Fleury is obviously capable of purely stealing a game now, and last night was a major theft. He stonewalled Detroit in the 3 OT periods, and made the routine saves look entirely routine, and made the great saves look spectactular. His left-toe save in the first OT was the save of the game.
I won't say Pittsburgh has the momentum. They have a lot to be pleased about, and they have a lot of confidence, especially now that they've won one in Joe Louis Arena. They are down 3-2 but coming home. They are down 3-2 but riding the tails of a hot goalie. They are down 3-2 and have signs that their second dominant scoring line is awakening. They are down 3-2 but coming home. Force a game 7 and roll the dice. That's where Pittsburgh is heading.
Learned something after game 3. Don't write blog entries immediately after a game - especially one as exciting and enjoyable as game 3 was. Just don't - you're liable to write off the wall stuff and look like a schmuck. So...I say that because that's exactly what I did. And exactly how I looked. Oops.
Anyway, tonight is a pivotal game 4 in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh's 9-0 home playoff winning streak is on the line against a Detroit team that absolutely cannot allow Pittsburgh to climb back into this series. Winning a 7 game series is one thing; winning a 3-game series is something else entirely. Short series turn on critical moments - a bouncing puck here, a controversial call there. You can't build the momentum, can't afford mistakes, can't relax, not for a second. Of course, Pittsburgh *wants* a 3-game series - and if they win tonight they get what they want. Why does Pittsburgh want it? I think it's obvious - Detroit is slightly better. Not all the time, not critically better, but slightly better enough from top to bottom that Pittsburgh's really only chance of winning is to get into that 3-game series and roll the dice. No one knows what's going to happen, and so therefore tonight's game is a total must-win for Pittsburgh.
What can Detroit expect from the Pens tonight? Energy, pure and simple. Pittsburgh found space and time in game 3, and were able to generate some offense finally against Detroit's vaunted D. Pittsburgh's incredible home crowd spurred the team on and the game 3 showed a marked difference. The Pens finally figured out what Detroit was doing to them, and was able to start countering. The Wings were still able to dominate stretches of the game, but unlike games 1 and 2, Pittsburgh was able to counter. So the teams now have a lot more healthy respect for one another, and that's why tonight's game is such a critical one. There's no telling what's going to happen.
The Wings have got to get their stars getting some goals - and along with that get their PP working. Zetterberg had a late game 1 meaningless goal (on the PP no less) and Datsyuk have none. Not what was expected - nor needed - for Detroit to win.
Pittsburgh needs to first score any goals - game 3 was the first time they filled the net at all this series - and it has to be more than Crosby and the fourth line. The Pens fourth line has been great all playoffs long, and so far in this series they've lived up to their expectations. But where's Malkin? Sykora? Malone? Staal? They are con####uously absent from the scoring tally, and if Pittsburgh expects to win another game let alone the series, these guys have got to step up big.
I think that the Pens will win tonight and force at least a 6-game series. I just get the feeling that they are ready for a break-out type game. It will still be a long, difficult series because both teams (despite what I said earlier about Detroit's slight advantage) are very, very good. There won't be any more 3-0 wipeouts for either team. They will all be the 4-3 variety I think. Good hockey. Fun to watch, and yet painful because of how intense it is. Any way you cut it, tonight at 8PM I'm glued to the television set.
Ten days ago, when the Pens and Wings were slated for the Stanley Cup Finals, most people expected a fast, superior skating, skillful and even affair. Except that in games 1 and 2, Detroit hammered Pittsburgh, winning by a combined total of 7-0. People were fearing the sweep, that Detroit was simply too good, too tough, too defensively sound, too whatever.
Tonight, for 5 minutes in the third period, fans of hockey were treated to the extreme, up and down, fast skating hard hitting action they've been hoping to see since the Finals were set. Maybe the NHL had to get onto NBC to get better ratings (ha ha). Seriously, there is no sport like hockey, not when 5 minutes of action are both the fastest and slowest thing you can watch. Posts, hits, misses, near misses, huge shots - everything..except stoppages in the action. It was a showcase of hockey. I was pacing back and forth. My wife threw me out of the den and banished me to the basement (however that's not as bad as it seems...). The curses came fast and furious. How can you miss that, I yelled at one point! Then, during commerical breaks, I'm pacing back and forth like a caged animal.
Detroit deserved to win games 1 and 2. There's no question that they were the better team. However, tonight, Pittsburgh showed that they are competitors. They are game, and are equal to the task. Both teams had the better of the play at times tonight. Both teams had such fantastic chances, missing by less than a hair (how did that NOT GO IN!!!! And that was echoed by Wings and Pens fans alike at different times). I recall the legendary story in OT in the Cup and the player hit the post - it would won the game late: "HE HIT THE POST! HE HIT THE #### POST!" Can Pittsburgh pull off a two-in-a-row job at the Igloo? Tune in Friday night. You can bet your butt I'll be tuned in.
Depressing. No other word for it. Detroit's utter and complete dominance over the Pens has left me in a rather dejected state of mind. I can't imagine what the actual hockey players are feeling - but from the looks of it they're too stunned to come up with coherent thought. Maybe coming home playing in front of the home fans will provide a boost. It had better. For a series that coming in looked so even, matching fine talent against talent...so far has been a total flop. This hurts to say, but...Detroit's kicking our ####. There's no other word for it. No other description. Just a total, complete, behind the woodshed ####-whuppin, and unless the Pens can somehow pull themselves together and FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY JUST SCORE ONE DAMN GOAL maybe they can move beyond that first step and actually win a game. Course, could Pittsburgh be the first team to get swept in a Stanley Cup Finals without scoring one goal?
Not John Madden - Pittsburgh's ESPN radio shock jock Mark Madden. Word came down that ESPN fired him today. Five days ago, upon hearing the news that Senator Edward Kennedy had brain cancer and survived his recent scare, Madden's comment was that "he was glad that [Senator Ted] Kennedy survived so that he could be assassinated." I have never liked Mark Madden, and have long avoided his show from top to bottom. Frankly, that comment was only one of many that the #### Madden made, and he earned exactly what he got. Comments like that - whether you agree with Senator Kennedy's politics or not - are the kind of things you might say to your buddies in a private conversation. It is not the kind of thing that a radio personality should say on the air. Ever. Madden deserved exactly what he got. Couldn't have happened to a better guy. I wonder how the self-proclaimed "cerebral assassin" feels now?
In a little more than 24 hours from this moment, the puck drops on the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. The accolades that people have been tossing about this week in the run-up to the start of the series have been off the charts. NHL people are crowing about growing TV shares on Versus and NBC. Sports writers have been talking ad nauseum about Sidney Crosby, Henrik Zetterberg and even dragging old Mario into the mix time and again. Even casual fans - have they clicked on or read any newspaper articles - have been told time and again how tight this series will be, how evenly matched the teams are, how they are by far the two best teams in the NHL right now, and how this will be the greatest Finals since...well, forever. Or at least 1994, when the Rangers (oh, by the way, in the largest media market in the country) won the Cup.
My question is this: have these Finals been over-hyped? While the hype has not reached the crescendo that one sees for the World Series or Super Bowl, it's getting more than its fair share of national attention. More, probably, than any NHL Finals in a long time. There are so many good coincidences coming into play here - an Original Six team versus an Original Expansion team. Two well-known hockey teams with strong to rabid local followings, and strong national followings. Two teams featuring a plethora of offensive talent and stars (either bona fide or in the making). Two teams on or near the East Coast, so the bigger markets know at least where Detroit and Pittsburgh are. Two American teams. So many things, and people are extremely excited - especially at the NHL executive level - to see these teams clash.
What if it's a dud? What if Detroit really is that damn good and hammers the Pens into submission in a five-game series? What if one of the key stars gets hurt in the first minutes of game 1, and the whole series turns because of that injury? Will there be a tremendous let down?
Most people are thinking this will be a long series. And that, if it comes true, can do nothing but good things for the NHL. Seven games to watch the likes of Crosby and Datsuk, seven games to talk great, tight, exciting and intense hockey games. This won't be a ####-'em-up series - it will be intense and physical, but not a pounding one. Both teams use the body well, but their forte is speed and skill. Most people are thinking that before too long, the body shots will go somewhat by the wayside, and the only thing that will be seen is that same speed and skill.
Personally, I hope that the hype comes true - I hope both teams live up to it. I know that watching a seven-game series will be grueling from a fan perspective - that I will be tremendously thrilled or painfully abject after a win or loss, and Detroit fans will feel the same way. The constant momentum shifts even within a game will be difficult to watch. The scoring, how in this series I believe that no lead is safe until the third period is showing all zeros...or that last, final shot hits the net in OT. I hope that all comes true. But I know that it's possible that it won't. That one team or the other could leap out to a quick lead, and put a stranglehold on this series. That Detroit is an excellent team, and no matter what Pittsburgh fans say, the Pens have not faced this complete a team in this playoffs yet. And one could argue that Detroit has faced and soundly beaten a team that is at least as sound as Pittsburgh. Are the young Pens overmatched? Or are they young enough, and "dumb" enough not to worry - and play fast and loose and with joy? And take it to Detroit?
I have no clue. I really don't. I figured that Pittsburgh would easily beat Ottawa, thought they had enough to outlast the Rangers, were fairly certain that they could take the Flyers. I knew Detroit had too much for Nashville, and Colorado's injuries were certain to doom them. I thought Dallas was better than what they showed, but in watching game 6 I began to wonder how exactly Pittsburgh could mount any offensive attack - Detroit's defense was smothering. I know that Detroit hasn't faced an offensive lineup like Pittsburgh's yet - that Pittsburgh's offense is equal to or far better than any offense Detroit has yet faced. Pittsburgh doesn't quit, even when they're down by two or even three goals. They play hard, with relentlessness, and they come at you in waves. Can Detroit's defense withstand that constant attack? In this hyped finals, we will slowly but surely get the answers. If the answers to all of these questions - and more - are that these truly are the two best teams, and so closely matched that a seven-game finals is inevitable, then no amount of pre-series hype would have been enough. But it doesn't take much in sports to turn a series, or a game, and any number of things can easily happen to kill that hype, and to make the sport look pitiful again. Regardless of how it turns out, I am rooting (of course) for my Pens to win it in game 7 in JLA, after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to win a most celebrated Stanley Cup Finals. In that, the Pens/Wings would create hype that might benefit the NHL for years to come...not to mention bring another championship to one of my favorite teams. But I'm aware that the NHL needs this series to be lengthy and tight and all the wonderful things that hockey can be. And I hope for the NHL's sake that it works out - that the hype wasn't even close to the play on the ice. That's what the NHL needs, and I hope both teams bring it!
The Pens are in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Steelers are 2 years removed from winning their fifth Super Bowl title. The Pirates? Well, they last won a title in 1979. But a lot of cities are proud of their sports franchises, and few cities can boast of the same success as Pittsburgh in the past twenty-five years (except, ahem, New York and their damned Yankees!)
The Pirates were born in the 1800s, and played their first World Series in 1903, losing to the Red Sox. They won their first title in 1909, defeating Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers. They won again in 1925, 1960, 1971 and 1979. The 1960 is probably the most famous of all, considering that it was Bill Mazeroski's ninth inning homer off of Ralph Terry to win an improbable title. The Yankees were simply astounding that year, and yet the Pirates managed somehow to win that title. We all know what the Yanks did in 1961. Of recent note, the Pirates had three years in a row from 1990 through 1992 where they were in the NLCS, but lost each, and each one in more heartbreaking fashion than the last. The 1992 series was the worst, losing in game 7 of the NLCS when slow-footed Sid Bream came around and beat Barry Bonds throw to the plate.
The Steelers became a franchise in 1933, and were nothing short of a laughingstock franchise for much of their first forty years. Then the Steelers hired Chuck Noll, and his drafts founded a dynasty that is considered one of the best, if not the best, dynasty in all of football. The names are legendary - Mean Joe Green, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Lambert and Jack Ham. The four titles in six years may never be equaled again, not unless today's news of the owners opting out of the CBA royally screw things up. The Steelers were in the Super Bowl in 1995, led by Neil O'Donnell and coach Bill Cowher, and O'Donnell's two perfect passes to Dallas sealed that loss. The won a rather controversial title in Super Bowl XL (marred by officiating questions) to get their fabled "One for the Thumb." Twenty years late...but there.
The Pens were, like the Steelers, bad for years before drafting Mario and reaching hockey glory in the 1990-91, and 91-92 seasons, winning two Cups in those two years. Mario is considered by many to be at least on a par with Gretzky when it comes to pure hockey talent. Hockey people have argued for years over who was better, and while I won't rehash any of that argument, both sides have points that earn merit. The Pens were a top-flight team in the 90s before running into huge money trouble in the early 2000s, and nearly folded in bankruptcy. Now that the Pens are once again in the Cup Finals, the city is energized behind them.
Pittsburgh's Five Worst Sports Moments
5. Billy Volek's OT game 7 crusher. Barrasso was out of the net, and I will forever blame him for allowing a soft goal in that game. The Pens lost that series when they earned their only President's Trophy. A horrible moment and one that perhaps set the stage for the future problems of the franchise.
4. 1994 AFC Championship Game. The one that started it all - the first loss at home under Bill Cowher - the one that got people wondering whether Cowher and his teams could win the big ones, when it mattered most. The Chargers weren't supposed to win, not in Three Rivers, not in the cold, not in January, and yet they did. A tremendous upset, and the beginning of a rather dubious legacy for Cowher's Steelers.
3. 1995 Super Bowl XXX. The Steelers were huge underdogs to the talented Cowboys. Yet they were right in the game - a game no one expected them to be in. Rod Woodson came from from his game 1 ACL injury to cover Michael Irvin. And yet, it didn't matter in the end, as QB O'Donnell excelled at passing to Cowboy Larry Brown, and those two picks sealed the loss for the Steelers.
2. 2001 AFC Championship Game - at home, in Heinz Field, in front of a tremendous home crowd, the Steelers gave up two heart-wrenching special teams TDs to the New England Patriots. This was the game in which some guy named Tom Brady was knocked out of the game, and replaced by New England's previous starting QB - Drew Bledsoe (who had been out since the 2nd week suffering a collapsed lung injury) and the Pats went on to win 24-17. It was probably the worst home AFCCG loss ever, especially since the Steelers usually solid special teams totally blew the game, allowing a punt return for a TD and a blocked FG for a TD.
1. 1992 NLCS, game 7. The Pirates and Braves were in game seven, and playing against one another for the 2nd time in two years. The Braves had squandered a 3-1 series lead, and came into the ninth inning at home, down 2-0. Doug Drabek had been stellar all game, not allowing a single run to cross the plate. For Pirates fans everywhere, it was the normally reliable Jose (Chico) Lind's error of a routine David Justice ground ball that set the stage. Instead of one out, and a man on second, the Braves had a rally going with men on the corners. Stan Belinda came in to save the game. Ron Gant soared a fly ball to get a sacrifie, and the score was 2-1. Belinda got Brian Hunter to pop out to short, and set the stage. Two outs, two men on, the Braves down by one run. The tomahawks were going and the war chant echoed through the stadium. Francisco Cabrera lined a shot to left field, right to some guy named Barry Bonds. The slow footed Sid Bream (ex-Pirate Sid Bream) rounded third and headed to the plate. Where he beat the throw, was called safe, and the Braves won the pennant. The last image of this series is the sight of Andy Van Slyke sitting in center field, his head between his legs, as the disbelief of a series that had been on the cusp of taking, was suddenly snatched from defeat. After that year, the Pirates money troubles hit the front page, and Bonds left town. The Pirates haven't had a winning series since.
Pittsburgh's Five Best Sports Moments
5. Super Bowl XIII - one of the all-time best Super Bowls, this one had it all. Drama. Big plays. Incredible mistakes. A barn-burner game between the NFL's two best, elite franchises - meeting for the second time in four years in the title game. The one that probably sealed a whole host of Hall of Famers including Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. A great, great, great Super Bowl game.
4. Game 6 8-0 drubbing of the Minnesota North Stars. The Pens and Mario Lemiuex hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup for the first time, having secured the franchise's first Stanley Cup Title. The North Stars were game, but in the end the Pens vast offensive talents iced the series, and Lemieux's legendary status was cemented.
3. Super Bowl IX - the Steelers won a dirty, nasty game over the Minnesota Vikings for their first Super Bowl title. The Vikings got nothing on the ground as the Steel Curtain Defense put the clamps on them, and kept them that way all game long. For a franchise mired in losing for forty-some years, it was a coronation of a team, city and coach that was a long time in coming.
2. Game 1, 1992 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After being down earlier in the game, the Pens roared back to tie the game against the Chicago Blackhawks, knotting the score at 4-4. The 'Hawks had come into the game setting an NHL record winning 11 straight playoff games. The Pens were on an equal roll, coming into the series winning 6 in a row. With 17 seconds left, the scene was set as the Pens had a faceoff in the Hawks zone. Ron Francis won the draw cleanly back to Larry Murphy, who skated forward a bit and unleashed a laser wrist shot. Goalie Ed Belfour kicked it away, but didn't realize that Mario had drifted off to the left, right where the rebound went. Mario easily corralled it and zipped it past Belfour, sealing the game 1 win. It set the tone for the series, as the Pens went on to sweep the Blackhawks for their second straight Stanley Cup Title.
1. Game 7, 1960 World Series. The Yankees, when winning their 3 games, did so in totally lopsided fashion. The Pirates, when winning their three games, did so in squeaker, nail-biting fashion. The Pirates carried a lead into the late innings, when the Yankees tied it up. Which led to game 7, in Forbes Field, where Ralph Terry served one up and Bill Mazeroski drilled it over the left field wall to win the World Series title with the first-ever walk off home run. No team in Pirates history is more celebrated, and Bill Mazeroski to this day remains one of the all-time favorite Pirates.
Pittsburgh's Five Most Celebrated Sports Stars
5. Jack Lambert. All you had to see was his menacing sneer, the lost teeth, and his ability to deliver the huge hit. No city falls in love with mean linebackers quite like Pittsburgh, and Lambert is still celebrated in the city as one of the best. Ever.
4. Terry Bradshaw - the Blond Bomber is adored here, and well he should be. As the leader and QB for four Super Bowl winning teams, Bradshaw still enjoys tremendous popularity.
3. Chuck Noll - as a coach, he was the legend. Dubbed the Emperor Chaz by late (great) sports announcer Myron Cope, Noll was the mastermind behind the drafts and teams that ripped off football's greatest dynasty.
2. Roberto Clemente - as a player, he redefined how to play right field. No one ran on him - no one. Shots of his laser beam arm from deep right throwing a man out trying to stretch a double into a triple are legendary. His World Series heroics are legendary. But most of all, he achieved one of baseball's fabled numbers, getting his 3,000th hit in the last game of the 1972 season. And that year, on New Year's Day, on a relief effort trip to South America, his plane crashed, killing all aboard including him. No player is as fondly remembered in Pittsburgh, and many believe that he should be recognized as one of the first leading Hispanic players in the Majors.
1. Mario Lemiuex. Only one of the greatest hockey players to ever skate on ice, Lemiuex's feats are legend. Until he returned after his first retirement, he was the only player to average more than two points a game. Two Hart Trophies as Stanley Cup MVP. Scoring titles, NHL MVP awards. Beating cancer and dealing with his wonky back. And saving the Pens franchise three separate times. Kind of hard to beat that, don't you think?
On April 8, 2008, the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs opened. 16 teams were vying for the Cup. And maybe they never do it, but in some little part of their heart, the NHL executives had to be hoping for a marquee kind of finals, the kind of finals that could energize the casual fan, bring a broad-based interest to the sport. The NHL executives were hoping that teams using boring offensive and defensive styles - the dump and chase and trap respectively - were not in the finals. That teams without strong hockey pedigrees were not in the finals. They wanted major players in the finals - the kind of players that the NHL can hang their hat on, and celebrate their star power in the sport and hope that it translates to star power without. It would not surprise me one bit if the NHL wanted to see a series between Pittsburgh and Detroit. And they got it.
Why? Neither team plays the stifling, boring trap system on defense exclusively. Now, either team gets a lead? Both teams are well-known for getting a lead and going into to lockdown mode - and that usually revolves around the trap. Neither team dumps the puck in the zone and chases it down as their sole mode of offense - done so that their forwards have time to support the defense when necessary. No, their players tend to carry the puck in, angling gentle shots into the corner so they can more easily retrieve it, and then use a vicious cycling game to get the defense tired. Both teams have star power - Zetterberg & Crosby, Datsuk & Malkin, Osgood & Fleury. Both teams have a solid historical pedigree, and a tremendous following in their home cities. And, both teams have a high enough profile that the casual fan is aware of them, even in traditionally non-hockey cities. Plus, for whatever reason, all of Canada seems to have adopted Pittsburgh as it's "seventh" Canadian team. I don't know why, but the Pens enjoy a tremendous popularity in Canada. Their PKs are top notch, they play forwards on the PK so there are shorthanded chances, and both teams feature dangerous power plays.
What the NHL is truly hoping for is seven games. All of them within one or two goals - no boring blowouts like last night's Detroit win, or Sunday's Pittsburgh win. The NHL needs these games to be close and competitive - the casual fan will watch an entertaining 4-3 game for a lot longer than a boring 4-1 version. The NHL needs the teams' big stars to step up huge - which they've already done throughout this playoffs - so that they can crow about the skills of Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg and Datsuk. They need scoring, and a lot of it - the NHL wants games to be of the 6-4 variety. More scoring, more excitement, more back and forth/ebb and flow, more momentum shifts, and more more more. That's what the NHL wants - actually it's what it may need. The NHL is decidedly the fourth professional sport in America. So to get a great, competitive, and balanced final series is exactly what the NHL needs to get itself resited on the map of American sports.
The analysis will come later. Trolls will come out of the woodwork. People will say dumb things, in that they will say how great their team is and claim the other is mud. That's fine - that's part of what fans do to get them wound up for the game. But from a professional sporting league point of view, this is *the* marquee matchup that they were hoping for. The NHL's regular season best versus the NHL's preferred young guns. A team with many Cup banners in the JLA versus the team with two...and some guy named Mario who saved the team three separate times. Two teams that believe entirely in their team, and have been by far the best teams in the playoffs this year. Two evenly matched teams, sure to generate an incredible Stanley Cup Finals. Exactly what the NHL wanted. And got.
For the Pens, July 1st is going to simply suck. The Pens have an astronomical number of players either unrestricted or restricted free agents, and I can see a goodish number of players leaving for greener pastures and more green. The restricteds are going to be the biggest problem - even if the Pens don't win the Cup, their team has a lot of talent, and I'm sure that other teams are going to be looking hard at the Pens makeup and cherry picking for some talent...
UFAs Marian Hossa tops this list. Now, some observers are wondering aloud if Hossa's best role on a team is as a compliment - not the key playmaker, but playing with one who can set him up. Hossa's proving to be a hell of a finisher in these playoffs, and in the right system (and when properly stimulated) a solid defensive player. My guess - Hossa will be offered in the vicinity of $5 mil from the Pens. I'm further assuming - especially if he plays lights-out in the Cup Finals - that some team will offer him somewhere in the area of $7 million. It'll be hard for him to accept $2 mil less just to continue playing with Crosby et al, but it would be a tough decision for him. Take more money on an iffy team, and maybe not get all the way again? Or take less money, and play on a team that certainly seems poised to make deep, annual runs towards the Finals. Hard choice.
Kris Beech - picked up on waivers. Injured. No one cares. Bye.
Mark Eaton (D) - he is an interesting choice. Before his season-ending knee injury, Eaton was the Pens best defensive defenseman - now Brooks Orpik has claimed that title. Still, Eaton is the kind of tough, gritty player that will make other teams look hard at him, and his 1.6M salary isn't all that difficult to stomach. He probably won't be able to get more than that, given his injury status this year, and in past years, but he would add a lot of depth and grit to any team needing to add that.
Ty Conklin - boy this is an interesting one. Conklin really picked up the Pens when Fleury went down, and his career stretch in Jan/Feb probably will earn him a hell of a lot more than the 500K salary he's currently earning. The Pens Sabourin is under contract as their #2 goalie, but it might be worthwhile to keep Conklin if they can...
Gary Roberts - at 41 years old, Roberts does not figure to be able to earn the 2.5M he's getting this year. Age and injuries are working against him - his tenacity and veteran leadership are working for him. He's going to be a semi-hot commodity this off-season - teams that lack grit or need veteran leadership are going to look hard at him. He seems to enjoy his role as a third- or fourth-line grit player, and has a knack for adding a lot of chemistry to teams. Ottawa probably wants him just so they don't have to face him any longer.
Ryan Malone - probably the biggest name home-grown player on the Pens UFA list. Malone's earning himself a hefty raise over the 1.45M he's getting now. A player of his stature is likely to earn between 3-4 on the open market, and I think the Pens will target him right off the bat. He's been a key element of their team, and being a home grown Pittsburgher probably won't look all that hard for greener pastures unless the Pens low-ball him, or there are things in the locker room we aren't privy too. But Malone's probably the #1 major UFA that the Pens will look to lock up - even before Hossa.
Jarkku Ruutu - at 1.15 M he's a steal for the grinding, irritating style of hockey he plays. I doubt he'd get more than 1.5 on the open market - maybe 2 if someone was desperate. He gives minutes, depth and toughness. It's possible the Pens will look to keep him.
Pascal Depuis - at 880K, he's a steal. And a bit of a traveling roadshow. But maybe the chemistry he's found in Pittsburgh will get him a nice contract offer by the Pens. Otherwise, some other team will probably look in the 1.5-2M range to sign him, and they would get a nice, complimentary player.
Jeff Taffe - young, cheap and a role player. If he gets an offer, it'll probably be 1M or so, by a team looking to add depth and toughness. It wouldn't kill the Pens to lose him, but he's a nice player.
Georges Laraque - Big Georges would be another "nice" signing if the Pens can swing it. At 1.3 he's not overpaid, and has proven in this year's playoffs that he's dependable for some quality minutes.
Adam Hall - another nice, young role player type.
On the restricted free agent list - and this is a moving target - the one big name is Marc-Andre Fleury. He'll be commanding premier-type money. If he wins the title, then he earns an even bigger payday. Figure the Pens to jump on both him and Malkin well before July 1 - they don't want to risk Fleury even thinking about getting onto the market. Malkin will have to be sealed up tightly, too, especially since he's part of the Pens core that are treating them so well right now.
On the whole, the Pens are facing some major decisions, and their 2008-2009 squad will be a very different one. It's impossible to keep all of those players - from both cap perspectives and future signing needs. The extra $2 that Hossa might earn on the open market will probably price him out of Pittsburgh - but if he accepts $5...maybe the Pens can keep him. Fleury will get probably 6-7M, and Malkin will get 8-9M minimum - maybe even getting the max contract if it's available. Either way, the Pens are running out of cap room when you consider how much they have to pay their biggest stars...and it's not like the Mellon Arena can hold 18K plus and ensure a bigger, longer revenue stream for the team. Still, an average of 17.1K per game is awfully nice, and maybe this deep playoff run puts more $ in the coffers, but in the long run the Pens still have to be somewhat fiscally conservative. it's not like they can drawn upon a 5M fan base, thereby guaranteeing home sellouts every night for ever and ever.
The tremendous sign hanging from the Wachovia Center spelled out this season in bold letters: "Vengeance Now." I have to think that Philly's post-season run goes a long way to satisfying that statement, as the Flyers run to the Eastern Conference Finals was really remarkable. At the end of the regular season, people were openly predicting that the Flyers didn't have enough in the tank to hold on, that the charging Capitals would overtake them. As it turned out, the charging Capitals overtook Carolina, and Philly had a nice late-season charge to get them into the second season.
Philly is the classic overachieving team. They relied on toughness and a killer power play all season long to generate their wins. In the regular season, few teams were willing to match Philly's physical intensity on a night-in and night-out basis, and the Flyers were able to move right along, building momentum and belief in this team. It really solidified in the first round of the playoffs. Many people saw the Caps/Flyers series going deep and it did. The Flyers were an up-and-down team in both the first and second round of the playoffs, winning one game in dominating fashion, losing another in very submissive fashion. They stole some games where they were outplayed but Marty Biron saved them. And the Flyers came into the ECF feeling very high, very ready and very confident.
It just so happened that Philly ran into a buzzsaw that they couldn't stop. The Pens were too tough, too talented, too motivated, and from top to bottom, too good to stop. The Flyers had no margin for error in this series, and then to have the injury bug strike at such a critical juncture is simply unfair.
Still, the Flyers have a really nice nucleus of players - Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and others - that should be able to take this experience and use it. The Pens did, after all. They used their 2006-2007 playoff experience as a building block, learning how to improve, learning how playoff hockey has to be played, and figuring out what other parts were necessary. There's little reason to think that the Flyers won't do the same thing.
Most Flyer fans are pleased with their team's season, and by all rights, should be. No one expected this - I think that a run the ECF was beyond most fans' reasonable expectations. I think the Flyers showed their fans, and the NHL, that they are on the right path. Now it's going to be tough in the East for a long time - the Pens, Caps and Habs are all showing signs of going from very good teams to truly elite, dominant teams. The Flyers are going to have to try and jump on that same bandwagon, too, otherwise they'll be left behind as the others progress. But for now - and for looking at next year - I'd say Philly answered some big questions, has a few left to address, but on the whole will be a force in the NHL in the 2008-2009 season.
Now, for the Pens...
What a playoffs this team has had. Their two superstars are trading back and forth between having great nights, and how blessed is this team to be able to rely on a one-two punch like that? Fleury is showing why the Pens traded up to get the overall number one to draft him, and Jordan Staal is making their scouting department look great. Their additions by free agency and trade have done wonderfully, and I think that any playoff ghosts that were hanging around Marian Hossa are gone. He's been perhaps the Pens most consistent player this entire post-season. He's scored, he's played great defense, he's been responsible everywhere, and he's been a spark-plug type player for this team. I cannot imagine the Pens getting this far without his talents. It's just a sign of how good this team is that Petr Sykora's production is well below the Mendoza line right now...and nobody really cares. No one's worried.
Right now, I'm just enjoying their win, and looking forward to the Stanley Cup Finals!
Winning the fourth game of a seven-game series when you lead the series 3-0 is not a foregone conclusion, but awfully close to one. Sure, the Pens have yet to earn the final, most difficult victory in any series - the last one. But if their 4-1 smothering of Philly in game 3 is any example, the Flyers are in deep, deep trouble.
What do we - as fans - expect from the Pens on most nights? The Crosby-Malkin-Hossa-Sykora-Malone-Depuis show. That is, high flying offense, tape-to-tape passes from left-right-left leading to a spectacularly easy virtual empty net goal for the lucky guy on the end of the second pass. The Pens figuring that physical play isn't necessary, nor is strict adherence to a tight defensive checking system because it's possible to generally outscore the other team most nights. So defense be damned. Let the creativity flow, and put on a show for the home folks. Sure, the Pens are capable of doing it. Better than most teams, too.
So the Stanley Cup playoffs start, and no one really expects the Pens to actually play defense. They expect the same high-wire act that we got from 1990 through 1992 - the two seasons that ended in 91 and 92 with the franchises two Cup wins. We expect either Crosby or Malkin (or hell, maybe both) to split the D, nearly fall to the ice while zipping a truly amazing goal past a goalie who's only reaction is to hang his head. But play defense? Bah. Boring. Stifling. Uncreative.
Oops.
Michel Therrien deserves an unbelievable amount of credit right now - far more than he's getting. He has this young group of offensive wizards actually playing great team defense. Nothing is overlooked. The system is the law, and the Pens players are enforcing it. First, attempting to get a group of younger players to adhere so tightly to a tough defensive system is a challenge enough. But asking superstars like Crosby and Malkin to do the same? To take that same responsibility into their own end? Well, some how, same way, he's gotten the team to buy into what he's selling. Totally and completely, without reserveration - and the results are simply stunning to watch. Philly cannot generate any offense whatsoever, and they've defeated two superior opponents to get to the ECF. Yet they look like boys among men right now. In two periods last night, the Flyers generated 8 shots. That's right - eight. They got 18 total, and in desperation flung everything at the net in the third. Of course, forty-five foot shots from the right boards aren't exactly high-percentage shots...but they do count as shots, and in the Cup playoffs, any shot is a good shot. Or so the adage goes, right? The Flyers are getting beaten at their own game. That might be the most impossible statement of all.
Last night, the Pens played classic road game hockey. They weren't the aggressors; they remaining cautious and tight defensively, allowing Philly to come towards them but ensuring they slowed Philly down as best as possible. They forced the Flyers to dump and puck, and then beat them in the corners to it. They kept the Flyer forwards out of the slot, and funneled players and the puck to the boards and corners, where they can do little damage. They sagged their defense back, but at all times remained on the lookout for the counter-attack chance. And when they got them, they attacked using all of their formidable offensive skills. Malone's third-period goal was a direct result of a boneheaded play by a Flyer rookie, who's flat, slow pass was easily picked off by Malkin, resulting in a ####-#### play going the other way. The Pens counterattacking style last night was "out Deviling" the Devils - playing the neutral zone trap style to absolute perfection, and just like the Devils, making those sudden counterattacks count. Philly couldn't absorb the change fast enough to get their offense untracked, and when they finally did...it was too little, too late.
I would expect the same Pens defense tomorrow night. The only difference is that Philly has to salvage something from this series. Getting swept, at home, by their most-hated in-state rivals is simply unacceptable. Unheard of. Disgusting. Puke-worthy. I think half the Flyers fans would drink themselves into oblivion and then puke, while the other half simply would puke. So the Flyers cannot allow the Pens to win this game. It would be a surly sight I think, so the Flyers are going to come out all guns blazing and then some. But whether or not they can pierce Pittsburgh's suddenly excellent defense is another question entirely. Because the Pens have personal reasons to complete the utter humiliation of the Flyers. Malkin and Crosby both would simply love nothing more than to destroy the Flyers, sweep them, and do it in front of fans both players seem to despise. So of course the Pens are going to keep to their system. It's got them this far, and they see no reason why it can't take them further.
The vaunted Commonwealth Finals have not materialized, and for many reasons. Key Philly injuries are the most common blame. And it's simply impossible to play "what if" in this case. Everyone figured this was going to be a long series - at least six, likely seven. And it's still possible. But the odds are long. And it could just be that the Pens are by far the better team. With or without Timonen. And that is simply because - as it stands, right now - the Pens young guns have listened to the coach, nodded and then executed. And for Pens fans, you just can't ask for anything else.
Man, it is so hard to listen to the game when you're so used to watching it! Damn it I hate travel, and whereever I'm at in Indiana does not have VERSUS! GRRR.
What has been interesting has been listening to Mike Lange's call. Listening to him and Bourque, it sounds like the Pens are close to dominating all play top to bottom. 'Course, the only thing I can figure is to listen to it and since I'm listening to the home team, of course they're going to say things are going well.
8 minutes left in the 3rd. Philly's playing better all of a sudden after giving up the 3rd goal to Malone. Philly's defense and Biron have let them down again. Injuries suck. But then saying 'what if' is such a worthless thing to do...and yet so important. What if Timonen and Coburn weren't downed with injuries? What if Gagne hadn't had the bad concussion? Who knows?
The Pens have been excellent in two key areas this series (not the obvious). First, their positional defense. The Flyers have not had good opportunities to generate scrums in front of the net - their favorite way to generate scoring. They've been forced to the boards, forced to shoot from bad angles and long distances, and then hope for rebounds. But Fleury's rebound control has been excellent. And here we sit, with the Flyers down 2 goals late, and are facing an 0-3 series in the face. Anyway, secondly, the Pens have been sensation in controlling the puck in the Flyers zone. The Flyers are forced to work so hard just to get the puck, and then they have nothing left, so they have to dump and change lines. The Flyers cannot get much sustained offensive pressure going because they're always chasing the Pens. It's impossible to get a lot going when you're too tired to do much except get the puck into the neutral zone and then change your lines, only to have it happen to you again.
This is so different from past Pgh/Phl series. I remember the 2000 series - the Flyers were relentless with the puck, controlling the play in the corners, and making the Pens do the same thing - chase and chase, control, clear and change lines...only to do it all over again. So the Flyers are getting a taste of their own medicine (historically speaking of course).
Under 6 left. Making some big assumptions here...but if IF the Pens hold on here, having both conference finals sitting at 3-0 series leads? Good grief.
Flyers hit the post. Ouch. Gotta hate that.
Anyway, both Detroit and Pittsburgh with 3-0 series leads? I know how good Detroit is. Pittsburgh seems to have doubters everywhere. And I know, that if both teams win their series, that Detroit will be heavy, heavy favorites. And with good reason - outside of Nashville, the Wings have been simply unstoppable, overwhelming forces. They control the puck as well as the Pens, and employ a similar style. Here's where Detroit will get the nod - defense. Their defense (especially offensive defensemen) will get the nod.
Pens are back on their heels as the Flyers press the issue. The Flyers are not done yet. They refuse to quit - a quality that is most impressive.
The Pens announcers are saying that the Flyers ability to create havoc in front of the net has been severely limited this evening. Not good.
Crosby put on his butt. Flyers fans rejoice. I heard the cheers on the radio side. :)
Under 4 - Pens in defense-first mode. Flyers get a good chance to press hard. I hate the defensive shell that all teams seem to go into when protecting leads late. At least its not like the "prevent" defense in the NFL...which in my opinion only prevents wins. The defensive shell allows for good offensive teams to pounce on mistakes, and turn those mistakes into odd-man rushes.
Under 3 - Fleury still playing extremely well. Big saves tonight. Same for Biron - at least according to Lange. He was making his usual comments: "He should get six to ten for that one!"
Pens announcers asking when Biron gets pulled. So my earlier thoughts (unpublished) that the Pens would lose tonight look like they are going to be wrong. Again. I hate actually saying the Pens will win. I figure that if I figure they'll lose, I won't feel so bad if they do. But hell, the Pens have a 2-0 lead, and how often is it that you see conference finals, at 2-0, go to 3-0? I wonder...
Biron's pulled on the ice. Hossa up the ice. Philly takes it, presses the advantage. Minute left.
MARIAN HOSSA SHOOTS AND SCORES AN EMPTY NETTER. Mike Lange says "The Kitchen is Closed." What the hell does that mean? I like the older version better: " And Elvis...has left. The. Building." Bourque - "bingo ####o bongo?" WTF?
The Pens are a streaking team right now. No matter what gets dredged up in the next two days, only 2 teams in all of NHL history have come back from 3-0 deficits to win the series. And in those cases, you've got to figure the losing team had no right winning the first three. So I would expect the Pens to close out the Flyers in short order. There's no coming back now. The Pens are playing hockey at an extremely high level. And that. Is. That. Pens 4-1.
From 1974 through 1988, the Pens did not win a single game in Philadelphia's Spectrum. The Flyers amassed a home record of 40-0-3 in those years, and it wasn't until Mario Lemiuex came along that the Pens finally bested the Flyers in Philly.
Current GM Ray Shero is the son of ex-Flyers coach Fred Shero. Fred Shero is the only coach to win the Cup with the Flyers. Son Ray Shero is looking for his first title as a GM.
The Flyers have had 7 different years in which they didn't lose to the Pens; the Pens had two such seasons. The Flyers went a combined 29-0-5 in those 7 years; the Pens went 11-0-2-2 in their two years.
The Pens and Flyers have faced three times in the playoffs, all three won by Philly. In 2000, the longest NHL playoff game took place in Pittsburgh, won in the 92nd minute of OT by Keith Primeau who beat Ron Tugnett.
The Pittsburgh/Philadelphia rivalry is among the best in the NHL. These two teams - quite frankly - hate one another. There's no other word for it than hate. The two meeting in the Conference Finals for the first time adds a new edge to this long-standing rivalry. The bad blood is years old, and this year's regular season was just more of the same. After sweeping the series last year, the Flyers came out and won four in a row to start the regular season. Then the Pens won three in a row, including a 7-1 demolition of the Flyers in March. The season finale for both teams had the Flyers winning a 1-0 game. In that game, the Pens rested Crosby, went 0-8 on the power play and lost. Afterwards, many people - including those in Philly - accused the Pens of tanking the game so that they would take on Ottawa rather than Philly in the opening round of the playoffs. It generated some talk, but further emphasized how much these two teams simply dislike one another. Now that the Pens and Flyers are facing off in the Eastern Conference Finals, it's hard to imagine how ugly things will get. Nothing will be forgotten. There's no need for bulletin board material. There's no need to battle in the press. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia sports fans simply realize the truth - this will be a long, dirty, nasty, ugly, and bitter interstate hockey series. One team has to win, and one has to lose. Come Friday night, we'll begin seeing who is the better team.
