If Detroit loses this series, I thought they would go down by being outhustled by the younger Pens. While I do mostly agree with Harborwolf (cool nick), I never thought they’d give up two goals by twice having their defensemen attempt very ill-advised pinches resulting in odd-man rushes/quasi-breakaways the other way. If you do that against the dregs of the league in the regular season, it’s dumb; against a team with the Pen’s speed it’s absolutely suicidal.
While I’m rooting for Detroit, there’s about 28 other teams I would hate losing to more than the Pens. I’ve always admired Super Mario and think he’s a great guy. If he gets his third ring I won’t be crying in my (non-alcoholic) beer much.
Really fun game to watch. The tic-tac-toe goal is one of the things that makes hockey so great.
I don’t know if the Wings are tired or if the Pens finally started to hustle. Holmstrom did look slower than usual, but I’ll be damned if he wasn’t, as usual planted in front of the net again. I know he’s long in the tooth, but if I was a GM, he’s absolutely the kind of guy I’d love to have on my team.
Has Malkin scored on a breakaway or penalty shot all freakin’ year?
I have to say, I was a bit worried when the Wings took the 2-1 lead. I thought it was going to be like game 2.
What did everybody think about the penalty at the end of the game. It didn’t matter, but should it have been a goal?
I realized why the Versus telecast is so much better: no Pierre McGuire.
I think that if that goal would have mattered, the ref would have scored it as such. Since it wouldn’t affect the outcome, he made the easier call and just gave the penalty.
The Wings were definitely tired. Knew it in the first period when a Pen flipped a pick past two Wings at their blue line and skated in past them like they were both standing still. The three goals in the second? Detroit gave up odd man rushes because they pinched in hard looking for the two goal lead so they could stop skating so hard. Detroit had their moments of sustained pressure, but no rushes and they were slow getting on the backcheck and getting in the zone on a dump in.
He’s been his usual self in front of the net, but he’s been real slow getting there, getting back, and getting into the corners for the puck. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was injured. Given how few goals have come off hard, sustained screens or tips, how slow he’s been moving, and how effective other players like Cleary and Franzen have been in front, I’d have to say sit him. He’s never been fast to begin with, and against a team as quick and skilled as the Pens are, he’s a liability. At the least, they need to bump him off Hossa’s line and put Cleary, Helm, or Hudler there to do the dirty work for Hossa and Datsyuk and to help them on the back check.
But, but, but the Penguins had six men on the ice!!! Sniffle, sniffle. And it wasn’t called!!!BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA (sounds of little girl crying)
Not to harp on this too much, as it’s already been covered repeatedly in this thread, but the officials in the playoffs this year have been downright lousy. Biggest show of the year for the NHL and the refs have been inconsistent at best and damn near blind at worst. That’s for all teams by the way, and not just the Wings though they’ve had their share of blinkered calls go against them. When you’ve got a broadcast announcer yelling “TOO MANY MEN” over and over again, it makes the game look…well, dumb.
And as of right now it’s 4-0 Detroit with Datsyuk leading the way. Two assists so far for him and he looks charged up. Doesn’t help that the Pens keep going to the box.
I suppose it would seem a bit disengenuous to say what a great job I think the refs are doing tonight. I’m kidding of course. Pittsburgh has been making it easy on the refs, particularly on the last 3-4 penalties. The goalie interference call on Ozzie is debatable (looked like he stood up and put his shoulder into Ozzie, but he was tied up by Zetterberg) but the penalties on Gonchar, Malkin, and Kunitz really are the type that need to be called every time.
5-0 Wings: Night & Day. Detroit looked lethargic in Pittsburgh, seemed half a step behind half the plays, committed several bonehead moves-not tonite. Now it’s the Pens who are standing around, not getting the clear, being outfought in the corners. Makes for exciting hockey certainly but can be maddening no matter who you are rooting for.
Not to go for the post hat trick here, but Bylsma needs to get a grip on his players. 3-2 in a series isn’t the end, but you don’t want to lose like this with player after player going into the box. Detroit gets to end the period with 5-3 hockey and even if the Pens kill it off, they get the satisfaction of not being down 6-0. This is just plain garbage hockey on the part of the Pens.
