And then they do it again later on. That was a beautiful goal. Everybody will talk about the shot, which is fair enough because it was very nice, but that shot would have gone into the defender’s shinpads if Datsyuk hadn’t crossed up the defenceman at the blueline with a perfect move.
Redwings in OT!
Tie the series 2-2!
No, don’t believe so. In fact, I think he has only ever been officially fined once, for $2500, on this beauty of a slew foot to Kunitz. And if you recall, he also got reversed-fined on this slew foot to Neal - which is to say, Neal not only got a high sticking minor on that play, Neal also got fined $2500 for it, somehow, and Subban got nothing.
That was a sweet move by Nystrom. He was so afraid of getting a cheap penalty, he broke the laws of physics to take a left turn and miss Hiller. Which lead to a great goalie bowl over by the Duck. Leaving goalie and puck lying flat in the crease.
I watched the Blues game last night. Won’t happen again.
This Isles/Pit game is a raging dumpster fire, and it’s entertaining as hell. You know, I could be mad at Pit’s lack of discipline, stupid turnovers, their ENDLESS east/west cross ice passes that they get burned for every.single.time. and FLEURY!!! - but now, it’s a goddamn comedy of errors, and I just can’t care anymore. I’ve been one of Fleury’s biggest defenders, but he’s been atrocious the past few games, always out of position, letting in the stupidest goals at the worst times. That last goal, by the Islanders, was just… man, did he slip on a banana?
And the refing? Jeeeeesus! I think this was one of the worst called playoff games I’ve seen so far this year, but I don’t even think any side benefited - it was just random and capricious. Like, Orpik gets cross checked, skates over to chirp after the whistle - Orpik goes in the box. Two periods later, Orpik bear hugs Tavares in the offensive corner, nothing. And Cooke was the go-to guy for some reason, he got called for a phantom interference, but on the delayed penalty Iggy blaaaatantly trips, I think, Okoposo - nothing. Not to mention that gorgeous dive by Nabokov, after Cooke touches him with his butt.
There’s also some plays that they never replayed, that I’m interested to see again. Towards the end, Morrow was on top of some Islander and he seemed to be banging the Isles head into the ice, but the play moved up ice and they never returned to that shot - the announcer said something like “Oh, Morrow was being held.” What?! Morrow was banging his head into the ice, that’s not cool!
Also, how the hell are those chuckleheads the best announcers NBC can find? They’re absolute idiots, you could probably find a moose in Saskatoon that would be better than them. The moose would probably get the players name right atleast.
Man, I love hockey, even when the Pens suck at it.
Brilliant post, Zebra. And so true.
Frankly, “Random And Capricious” should be the official motto of NHL officiating. Maybe translate it to Latin for a little class; “Fortuitae et Levis.”
Anyway, pesky Sens! What a comeback.
I will never understand why teams become so timid entering the third period with the lead. Ottawa couldn’t get anything going because of Montreal’s forecheck. So of course they back right off in the third period and give Ottawa easy breakouts for almost the entire period.
I recently heard a coach (in a completely different context) talk about the difference a team coming out to play versus a team coming out to win. Classic example right there, and it astounds me to see it happen in the highest level of the sport (the coach I mentioned was talking about 15-year-olds!)
Sharks win!
I must say, I think the post-series handshake is just about the coolest thing in all of professional sports.
I agree. On the CBC broadcast Gary Galley kept mentioning that Montreal was crazy to try to sit on the 2 goal or later the 1 goal lead.
The Sens should not have even been in that game, it was their worst of the series (and possible one of the worst of the season) but the Habs let them hang in long enough to win it.
And Subban’s premature celebration at the end of the 2nd made him look like a jackass. Don’t give another team anything to rally against!
WTF was up with the Pens/Isles game? Although I kinda enjoyed the back and forth shootout, I’ve seen better games in junior hockey.
For the perfect explanation of the Pens/Isles game, re-read post #66.
ZebraShaSha – he got a penalty for Being Matt Cooke. Same as always.
Fleury’s biggest problem, I think, is confidence. He gets flustered, and he starts letting in goals. He needs that extra boost to get him going. I’m a huge fan of the Flower, but if he doesn’t step it up, we’re going down and it won’t be pretty. It looks like Vokoun’s gonna start tomorrow night.
If only #66 could still play. 
Started watching the Kings game that night (because I heard the other games on XM on the road), I will continue to watch them as they go on to advance. That game was the deciding game in the entire series. Had the Blues held on, that would have been the Blues series to win…but when they let Penner and Kopitar break their respective scoring droughts to rally and tie the game in the third period, they have unleashed a couple of sleeping giants. Carter and William’s goals continue to feed the 4-line beast that is the LA Kings.
And on that note…my brother called me last night and asked me if I wanted to go to the Duck game tonight, and shit…I couldn’t pass that up, so I guess I will miss the Kings game tonight except on the radio…so Morbo, you just might have a faint glimmer of hope IF you stay away from you TV…
I remember last night that the radio PBP announcer and color analyst put the question out as to which Penguins team you pick as the best Power Play unit…and I believe it was unanimous…Mario, Jagr, Murphy, Coffey/Mullen, and the other foward that I don’t remember; over Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz.
Oh, I will. We shall see whose jinx-fu is the more powerful!
As long as I’ve followed sports I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a team to win more than the players themselves. There’s lots of handwavey excuses for this - like that with the current roster and trade acquisitions, anything less than a cup is a failure, so Pens have nothing to win, but Islander have nothing to lose - but none of it quite explains how almost all of our top players are individually playing the worst games of their careers, at the same damn time. Maybe it’s a confidence issue, starting with Fleury, that’s turned the entire freaking team into mopey Charlie Brown’s, skating in small circles of self-pity, with the Islanders always there to Lucy the puck away at the last moment.
Like, Letang - had an amazing, Norris nominated season - he’s turned the puck over 30+ times in this series, 10 in the last game alone.
Then there’s the brilliant tactical strategy of playing as if the Islanders aren’t actually on the ice - what you don’t see can’t hurt you, right? By that I mean they all are trying to pass the puck through the Islanders and they seem stunned when it never goes through. Dupuis did this yesterday, where he looked right and there was a clear lane open, looked left and - if he managed to curve the space-time continuum over two Islander’s heads, there was a forward somewhere up ice - and he stood there a moment, I guess deciding how long it had been since he practiced being a particle accelerator. “Left, right, left, right - yea, fuck it, LET’S GO LEFT!!”
Malkin did this on the GWG, he had the puck below the blue line and Iggy was up ice, through a wide open lane, but it’s so boring to follow the game plan! So he just stood there and waited, I guess for a shaft of light to pierce through the heavens, and for a glitter eye-shadowed angel to descend, and for the angel to lift him and the puck up, whisk them across the rink, and to safely deposit the puck in the net on the other side. Best highlight reel goal ever man! Meanwhile, a game was being played, so a Islander came up, took the puck, and farted it towards Fleury. And Fleury, I guess, is trying to become the first ever santeria netminder, so he waved his arms at the puck and yelled “HOCUS POCUS!” but it did not turn into a chicken as expected.
Crosby was not immune from the stupidity, either. Towards the end of the game, he was driving hard up the right boards, and slowed near the point, and all I could yell was “don’t even think about it you stupid alabaster cunt lasher!” but he didn’t hear me, and passed right into the middle ice, where there were three Islanders having a tea party.
It’s weird, everyone is saying Vokoun is a “terrible” playoff goalie - but his career playoff save % is .911, while Fleury has only ever had a % over .900 twice, 2008 and 2009, when they made the finals twice. I mean, Vokoun was in the playoffs for the Preds - there were far more issues than netminding. Fleury’s been under .900 for 5/7 playoff trips, and yet the Pens have managed to win quite a few series anyway. All they ask is for the goalie to not suck completely - like, to not be the Islanders leading scorer - because Pens ALMOST won with his .750% yesterday anyway, that’s how stacked they are on offense. Even if Vokoun is mediocre, Pens could still win this series.
Oh, and Disco Dan is 0-6 in elimination playoff games on home ice. So Pens need to win the next 2 to win at all.
Argh. The Wings might be the most frustrating team to root for in the entire NHL*. Nobody else can dominate the opponent in puck possession, get a 5 minute power play, fail to score, and give up a goal as time expires. Oh how I wish they’d picked up Semin in the offseason…
*The Isles might be a close second, but only because of Nabokov’s complete inability to ever bail out his team (and I say that as a Nabby fan from his Sharks days).
I watched it. Goddamn motherfucker.
ZebraShaSha should be hired by Sports Illustrated, right now. That’s the most entertaining sports writing I’ve seen in years.