Saturday, May 31, 2008

Stanley Cup Finals Game 4: Pens v Red Wings (L 1-2)

Oh boy. We're in a must win situation for Game 5 (and all subsequent games, actually). Things are looking pretty bleak. If it wasn't clear before, tonight it was crystal - there is something very wrong with Evgeni Malkin. Is he hurt? Is he psyching himself out? Is he sick? What's clear is that he is not playing well, and that's not like Geno at all. Of course, they'll never tell us if he's hurt or sick until the series is over. Getting information like that during times like these is harder than getting Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to quit breeding. It also doesn't help that the Red Wings have 100 times more experience than the Pens. We were told tonight that 17 Pens are under the age of 30, while 14 Wings are over the age of 30. It could be really easy to give up hope right now...

What's wrong, Geno?

...but we have to just remember: it takes 4 wins to get the Cup, and that means the Pens still have a chance.


The game began with a moment of silence for Luc Bourdon.




Marc-Andre Fleury made a big save on Brian Rafalski early in the game. Rob Scuderi was hurt by a big hit by Pavel Datsyuk. The Pens got the night's first power play when Dallas Drake was busted for cross checking Ryan Whitney. The Pens' power play wasn't pretty at first. Geno missed a pass at the point and had to make a diving poke check on Henrik Zetterberg to prevent him from getting a breakaway. Flower ended up with the puck, and he did a great job of protecting it from Zetterberg until his teammates came in for support. Sid got the puck back in the offensive zone while Andreas Lilja pulled his jersey (no call). Sid got the puck to Sergei Gonchar, who put the puck on net. With Gary Roberts in his office in front of the net, Marian Hossa drew first blood with the goal. [Pens 1, Wings 0]



On his next shift, Hossa hit the effing crossbar with a shot. Sid broke his stick (the first of many times the Saint found himself without a stick tonight) while attempting to make a pass. It was like the stick blew up in his hands! It resulted in a turnover to the Wings, which lead to a cross checking penalty on Pascal Dupuis. Ryan Malone was UNREAL again on the penalty kill. We're told this is the first time in 12 years that his grandmother was in attendance at the Mellon Arena, so he was probably putting on a show just for her. :) The Wings didn't capitalize on their advantage, but literally as Dupuis was released from the box, Nicklas Lidstrom scored. [Pens 1, Wings 1]


Rafalski was called for roughing, and even though Brad Stuart lost his stick, the Pens didn't benefit from their advantage. Pierre McGuire informed us that Kris Draper and Sid have been exchanging words for nearly the entire period. McGuire then interviewed Coach Michel Therrien, who said that Scuds was good to go. Draper took a penalty for holding. Sidney broke his stick again, so he retreated to get a new one. He returned to the Wings' zone with his new stick and got possession of the puck. For reasons known only to him, Dan Cleary fired a piece of the broken stick at Sid. Cleary = 100% classless. To make matters worse, it wasn't called. All three announcers agreed that Cleary dodged a real bullet there. The Pens didn't score on their power play.


The Pens were obviously frustrating the Red Wings in the first period. Two Wings cross checked two Pens in front of MAF after a whistle. Brett Lebda was called for cross checking, but we were thrown a curve ball when the refs called Mad Max Talbot for diving. W-T-F? On the ensuing 4-on-4, Brooks Orpik and Johan Franzen got into a fight after Franzen got his arm up on Orpik. They both went to their respective boxes, and the 4-on-4 continued. Hossa and Sid went nuts, but Sid couldn't quite get to the puck in front. Geno and Dupuis went nuts, but Dupuis couldn't get the pass cleanly. Neither team scored. The period ended with a draw.


Early in the second, Mikael Samuelsson fired a shot that popped up high. It seemed like everyone but Sammy lost track of where it went. It dropped back down to Sammy, who was able to fire a quick shot that MAF stopped. Orpik upended Cleary after Cleary tried to hit Orpik. Dupuis fired a shot that Sid tried to deflect, but Chris Osgood made a stunning save. Jordan Staal was called for interference, but the Pens kept the Wings from firing even one shot on goal during their power play. Then there was a period of over 5 minutes without a whistle. Hossa made a series of amazing moves to get around the Wings' defenders, but both Hossa and Dupuis were denied by Ozzy.


Later, Bugsy almost got a wraparound, but Ozzy said "NO." Mad Max took 3 big hits in one shift - WHAT A WARRIOR! Tyler Kennedy almost had a scoring chance after he leaped around Lebda. Then Robs (? I am totally stealing that) absolutely creamed Darren McCarty, prompting the crowd at the Mellon to erupt in a "GAR-Y, GAR-Y, GAR-Y!!!" chant. Sid broke through the D, but his shot was denied. Dupuis got to the rebound, but he too was denied by Ozzy. Lilja got away with a cross check on Jarrko Ruutu. Eddie Olczyk said, "Lilja would have been called if that had been anybody else." So, refs: just because the victim was superpest Ruutu makes the non-call okay? I don't think so! Rafalski went to the box again a little bit later for holding. I don't even want to talk about this Penguins power play because it was just awful. They didn't even get one shot on goal, but how could they with all the turnovers? Question: If Geno's not playing well when they're at even strength, why put him on the point during power plays? Oh, and don't interpret this as laying blame on just Geno for the terrible power play - all the Pens on the ice made stupid mistakes during this one.


With less than a minute to go in the period, Lidstrom turned the puck over to Hossa in the Wings' zone. Hossa fired a wicked shot that Ozzy stopped. Robs and Kirk Maltby discussed a possible fight - Robs said if Maltby would remove the visor, he'd be happy to go at it - but they didn't fight. The period ended with both teams still even at 1.



The third period got underway after an AWK-ward! intermission report during which the commentators got into a squabble. Hossa was playing like a man possessed tonight. He was picking pockets all over the place. But the Pens turned the puck over in their own zone. Then the Pens had at least 2 good opportunities to clear it out, but they didn't. Jiri Hudler made them pay with a backhander that hopped up and over Flower to break the tie early. [Pens 1, Wings 2] It, as you know, ended up being the game winner.


Just after that, the Wings got an odd man rush. MAF blocked the initial shot. The rebound popped up, so Flower used his stick like a baseball bat to knock it out of the air and behind him. The problem? He hit it so hard that the puck sailed over the glass. He was nailed with a delay of game penalty. The Wings, fortunately, did not add to their lead on their power play. On the next play, Geno went down and flew into the net (missing Ozzy) and dislodged it. At one point a little later, both teams let the puck slide past the benches because both teams were making a change and neither team wanted to take a too many men penalty. Then the moment that changed the course of the game happened.


Maltby took a penalty for hooking. Just over 30 seconds later, Lilja was penalized for interfering with Sid. The Pens had more than 1:20 with a 5-on-3 advantage. Zetterberg, who has been all over Sid like white on rice for this entire series, tied Sid's stick up just before Hossa passed the puck to Sid, otherwise he would have been able to stuff it in for the tying goal. (Something to check out: David Staples of The Cult of Hockey breaks this incident down and tells us what should have happened - but didn't.) Therrien used his timeout with 25 seconds left on the 5-on-3, but it didn't help. Zetterberg took possession and kept the puck in the Pens' zone for several seconds to kill some time. He even managed to set up a shorthanded chance. Zetterberg is a beast. The phrase "that was a huge penalty kill" gets thrown around a lot, but that was a H-U-G-E kill for the Wings. You could almost actually see the momentum shift right there.


The Pens did manage to get a number of great chances and fire several shots, but the Wings blocked everything. Sid lost his stick which allowed the Wings to get an odd man rush. Datsyuk fired a shot that caromed off Cleary, but Flower answered with a pad save. As the Pens took the puck the other way, the ref tripped over Sid's stick and he wiped out. Luckily, the ref wasn't hurt. Suddenly, there were only 3 minutes left on the clock. The Wings called for their timeout. With a mere 53 seconds left in the game, MAF was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. There were a pair of close calls, but the Wings didn't get an empty netter. The Pens battled all the way to the last second. As the game came to an end, Zetterberg slashed Sid. That was the last straw. Sidney let the frustration of dealing with Zetterberg being up his arse and interfering with his game for 4 straight games come to the surface and went after Zetterberg to "politely tell him about it." Sid had to cross the path of the exiting Therrien to get to Zetterberg. It was funny because Therrien didn't even try to stop Sid - he let the ref do that.


There is no denying that the odds are against the Pens. But you can't forget where there is a will, there is a way. The Boys need to just take it one game at a time and put their collective focus on winning Monday's game - all other games be damned right now. And really, if you think about it, winning 3 games in a row isn't all that daunting of a task. If anyone can do it, it's our Cardiac Kids.


GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!

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Sid, Sid, SID!!!!

My inbox blew up with several emails containing a link to an article with 10 Things You Didn't Know About Sidney. My personal favorite is number 8 (Mad Max says Sid plays like a girl!), but number 5 gives us a bit TOO much Sid-fo:
Sid is not a health-food freak. The other day after practice, we chatted while he ate an ugly, white bread, mystery-meat, mayo-laiden sandwich.

"You sure that's good for you?" I asked.


"You must have me mixed up with Robs (Gary Roberts)," he said, laughing. "I'm not picky. When I'm hungry, I eat."

"I'm working on him," says Roberts. "He came to my house last summer for a few days to train, and one night I made him this granola, flax-oil, yogurt snack before bed. The next morning, he looked like hell. He'd been in the bathroom all night. Didn't go down so well."
UGH. Well that's not a pretty picture!!! Too bad my brain doesn't have a delete button - some things, you just can't unlearn....

Friend of The Show Cia G. sent in the link to this video. It was shown during an intermission in Game 3. Click here to watch.

Thanks to everyone (too many to name!) for the link and to Cia for the video! Less than 2 hours now...

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Friday, May 30, 2008

GO PENS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another TSCS "Pep Rally"

IT'S "PEP RALLY" TIME!!! Our Boys still need us - we're not out of the woods yet... It's definitely a great feeling knowing that we dodged the nearly-insurmountable odds of a 3-0 deficit, but we won't be able to breathe again until we even things up and make this a BRAND NEW SERIES! So to all of our Friends that are lucky enough to have scored a seat at the Mellon on Saturday: CHEER TWICE AS LOUD FOR US!!! Think of all of us at home watching on TV and give it all you have. The Pens obviously needed our support, so I expect all 17,000+ of you to give them enough love at tomorrow's game to cover Game 4 AND to carry them through for a win at Game 5!!!!!!

LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!

Now here are some more things to that will PUMP YOU UP for tomorrow. First, a quick video that you need to watch:



At the risk of sounding like a complete loon, I have decided to use the same format as the last "Pep Rally," so you'll understand at the end of the post why I wanted you to watch that... :P

Next up, Friend of The Show Lexie101 sent me a link to a fight song from Pittsburgh's B94 radio station. Click here to listen to "Bringin' Stanley Back" by Kobe.

David Staples of The Cult of Hockey gives us the lowdown on Game 3.

Friends Alison from Akron, Ohio, and Bobby T. of IFHSA™ fame sent in a few pictures for us. Akron Alison sent in a picture of the signs she keeps out on her porch - it may not seem like a big deal to some, but supporting Pittsburgh sports is VERY RISKY BUSINESS in and all around Cleveland. I worked in Mentor (a small town just outside Cleveland) for several months in 1998, so I've seen first hand how intense they can be to Steel City supporters! (← In my experience, it was all in good fun, of course!) Also note: Her brother sketched the Pens logo freehanded. :)



Bobby sent in a photoshop he made:


For anyone who couldn't grab the Mellon Arena goal horn ringtone, you can download the mp3 here: Penguins Goal Horn. Now that's a sound we want to hear more of, am I right?

Finally today, I've got TWO treats for you. The first one came about with some help from Friends Michelle B. and Clare L. It is a ringtone of Mike Lange's original "Slap Me Silly, Sidney!" goal call - snagged from the video above. (Haha, I told you I'd eventually explain that!)


And this treat is from Bobby. It's another Mike Lange "Slap Me Silly, Sidney!" goal call - but this one comes from Wednesday's Game 3 after Sid scored for the second time.


What's even better is that Bobby also provided the iPhone ringtone for us! Click here to get it.

All right - let's go over today's "Pep Rally" now:
  1. Pep talk - Check.
  2. YouTube video - Check.
  3. Silly Penguins-related song - Check.
  4. Random Penguins article link - Check.
  5. TSCS Friend photos - Check.
  6. Pens-related mp3 link - Check.
  7. New Pens ringtone - Double Check.
It's a best-of-7 series and, despite what this guy thinks, it ain't over 'TIL IT'S EFFING OVER.


Many, MANY thanks to everyone who contributed to today's post, and to ThePensblog.com staff for sharing the Wings Parade link.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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In Memory of Luc Bourdon

Promising young Vancouver Canucks defenseman Luc Bourdon died yesterday in a tragic accident when he lost control of his motorcycle and crossed the center line and head-on into a tractor trailer. He was only 21. He was a really good friend of Kris Letang (from Bleacher Report):
A talented defenseman, he brought the Gold Medal to Canada twice at the World Junior Championships; in 2006 and 2007 with one of his closest friends, Kristopher Letang. In 2006, he got 6 points in 6 games, and was named among the Tournament All-Star Team.

Stephane Leroux, a Sports writer and journalist on RDS, recalls Bourdon's moment at the World Junior. "During a practice, Bourdon pretended to be a RDS reporter and interviewed Letang. During the discussion, he would press the microphone on Letang's nose and forehead. Letang could not contain his laughs."


When contacted by the Medias, Kristopher Letang did not want to answer any question or make any comment, visibly shocked by the tragedy.

The two young men played together at the World Junior and for the Val d'Or Foreurs. During a game between Cap-Breton and Val d'Or, Bourdon had to face for the first time his former team and Letang. The Screaming Eagles lost that night, but fans could see the mark of a true friendship as Bourdon made a big hug to Letang on the ice.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Bourdon family and to all who knew him.

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Photo of The Day

Actually, I've got 3 photos from last night's game that were in the running for Photo of The Day, so I'll start with the runners up. First, check out the rear view of the Saint's and Flower's press conference uniforms T-shirts:

DO IT.

Second, I know I posted this picture in the recap, but here is an enlarged shot of Sid celebrating his second goal:


And finally, the Photo of The Day:

Siddo reacts to breaking the Pens' scoring dry spell - doesn't it look like he's going to tackle Ruutu?! I love it! (Click to enlarge for a wallpaper sized view.)

Oh, and FYI - Batman is a Pens fan. I wasn't sure which team he was there to support, but I found another picture of him at the Mellon. Check out the original caption that was below it:

Actor Michael Keaton cheers for the Pittsburgh Penguins during game three of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings at Mellon Arena on May 28, 2008 in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. The Penguins defeated the Red Wings 3-2 to set the series at 2-1 Red Wings. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)


GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Stanley Cup Finals Game 3: Pens v Red Wings (W 3-2)

I believe the word you're looking for is...


BOOYAH!!!!!

I'm seriously bursting with pride. The "LET'S GO PENS!!!" chant was so loud that we could barely hear the Gary Roberts interview just before the start of the game!!! (OMG - How about that montage of Sid footage?! WOW. I'm going to put you guys on it - we NEED the YouTube of it. And how many times did NBC put photos of Sid on The Cup?! Call me superstitious, but they need to knock that off for now!) The Pens are seriously lacking in Stanley Cup experience. They have 3 rings (Roberts, Petr Sykora, and Daryl Sydor) on their team to Detroit's 23. In an effort to capitalize on all the experience in his arsenal, Coach Michel Therrien put Sydor in the roster in place of Kris Letang. With all due respect to Letang, it seemed like this was the shot in the arm the Pens' defense needed to finally help the team get a jump start in this series.


Just over 1 minute into the game, Johan Franzen took a holding penalty. The Mellon broke out the Jaws theme for our Boys, though Chris Osgood was on fire during the Pens' power play. He made a wicked save on native son Ryan Malone. The Pens didn't score on their power play. Just after Detroit returned to full strength, Jordan Staal took a penalty for holding. Bugsy went absolutely nuts on the penalty kill, and Marc-Andre Fleury was quite solid between the pipes to prevent the Red Wings from scoring on their advantage.


The Pens were finally making Tomas Holmstrom pay for his choice to plant himself in front of MAF. First, Holmstrom knocked Rob Scuderi into Flower after the whistle blew, for which he was then knocked on his keister. Then after Sid stole the puck and passed it to Marian Hossa, the Wings stole it back and took it back down towards MAF. They fired a shot that MAF covered. Holmstrom took a few whacks at Flower (I begrudgingly admit that IS his job, after all), and lost his helmet in the confrontation that followed. The thing that bothers me about Holmstrom is that he KNOWS he's going to take punishment for being in front, but yet he cries worse than my 4 year old Goddaughter when he gets a little roughed up for his efforts. Bugsy plants himself in front of many a goalie, but I've never seen him complain about taking his licks for it.

Holy hockey pucks, Batman, it's Michael Keaton at the Mellon Arena!!!

Sergei Gonchar was called for hooking, but Detroit didn't score on their advantage. Holmstrom later practically bear hugged Hal Gill's stick, but no call was made. As a result, the two men had words after the whistle. Sid, Hossa, Sydor, and Evgeni Malkin had an outstanding shift, but it didn't result in a goal. Mad Max Talbot made a sweet twisting pass as he fell. Later, Brad Stuart turned the puck over to the Saint (MISTAKE #1). Sid mad a sneaky little drop pass to Hossa, who sent the puck back to Sid for the shot. G-O-A-L!!!!!!!!!! [Pens 1, Wings 0] Sid got so excited after the goal, it looked like he was going to tackle Jarrko Ruutu in celebration.







With less than a minute left in the period, Brian Rafalski stuck his leg out and deliberately tripped Geno. On the abbreviated power play, Mikael Samuelsson hooked Hossa (no call) and Osgood absolutely robbed the Pens of a goal with an outstanding late save. The period ended with the Pens up by a single goal.


The second period began with Rafalski still in the box for 1:21. The Pens didn't score on their advantage. Seconds later, after Niklas Kronwall kept messing with Bugsy (MISTAKE #2), it finally caught the ref's attention as he was given a hooking penalty. Geno went to the half wall and passed the puck to Gonch, taking a hit as he did so. Gonch got the puck to the net, and Bugsy tried to put it in. The rebound popped out to Hossa, who shuffled the puck to Sidney. The Saint was standing, waiting behind the net for his opportunity. YOU KNOW HE PUT THAT IN!!! [Pens 2, Wings 0]






The Pens as a whole started to go insane. Roberts and Staal had an unreal shift together. Things got so chaotic in front of Osgood that, when he was finally able to freeze the puck, he fell backwards in either relief or perhaps disbelief that he was able to survive that onslaught of pucks. It wasn't over for Ozzy, though - Geno made a spectacular diving shot that would have been "one for the ages" as Paul Steigerwald likes to say, but his shot went wide. Holmstrom was taken down by Gill (again) as Pavel Datsyuk took Bugsy down. Gill was called for crosschecking for his efforts. On the Wings' power play, Staal broke his stick! It could have been ugly, but MAF answered with a toe save. The net came off its moorings a few seconds before a Red Wing put the puck over the line, so a NO GOAL call was made. The Wings didn't score on their advantage, most likely because the Pens allowed them to make only 1 shot.


Ozzy blocked a wraparound attempt, and Gill was (again!) called for crosschecking. Holmstrom was in front of MAF again during his team's power play. He again was confronted and lost his helmet. Then Franzen went outside/inside around Scuderi to beat Flower and score. [Pens 2, Wings 1]


Kronwall was pestering Hossa in the corner. Hossa sent him down to the ice, so Kronwall responded by clamping his legs around Hossa's leg. Nothing was called, but we couldn't complain too loudly because a few seconds later, we dodged a 4 minute bullet after Staal got away with high sticking Nicklas Lidstrom, who ended up on the bench spitting out blood. The Pens kept up the intensity all the way to the end of the second. Our title man got a little nasty with Kris Draper just before the intermission. The second period ended with the Pens holding onto a one goal lead.


The third period got underway with a couple of near misses for the Pens. The 1st one came when Hossa came out from behind the net and fired a shot that struck the crossbar. (>_<) D'OH!!! The 2nd came pretty much immediately afterwards when Sid threw the puck at the net for Pascal Dupuis, who was tied up in front by a Red Wing. The puck was trickling towards the line, and at the very last possible second, Ozzy turned around and prevented it from crossing. Check out how close it was:

WOW.

The Pens continued to play well. Sid's stick broke in the Wings' zone, but play continued. In fact, there wasn't a whistle for several minutes. Roberts drilled Andreas Lilja into the boards with a HUGE HIT in the Wings' zone. This helped Adam Hall get possession of the puck. Hall stayed with the puck and kept shooting, trying to get a goal. His third time was a charm after it bounced off a Red Wing and into the net. [Pens 3, Wings 1]



It needs to be said that Flower was playing OUTSTANDING hockey tonight. Brooks Orpik then had a shift during which he made FIVE consecutive big hits! Things got even more intense after that. (My heart STILL hasn't slowed down yet!) A Red Wing fired a shot that hit the post. With 6:23 left to go in the game, Samuelsson used Orpik as a screen and scored. To be perfectly fair, Orpik was attempting to block the shot but instead, he accidentally deflected it. [Pens 3, Wings 2]

Orpik = STUNNED

Gill collided with Holmstrom. To be perfectly honest, I watched the replay but I still couldn't exactly explain how it happened (hopefully you saw it). Holmstrom seemed injured, but he chose to soldier through it - these are the Stanley Cup Finals, after all. Then Geno took a hooking penalty. Bugsy, recognizing that this was going to be the mother of all penalty kills, went bonkers again. (What a PK BEAST he is!) The Red Wings didn't score on their advantage. With less than a minute left in the game, Ozzy was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. The Pens fought the Wings off and held onto their lead for the win!!!!!! Sid deservedly earned the night's First Star. :)





Afterwards, Ryan Whitney was interviewed on the ice. He stated that the team noticed something different about Sid today - that he was quiet and focussed. Evidently he was focussed on SCORING GOALS. :) :) :) :) :) This - THIS is the Penguins team we wanted to see. This is the team we all knew they could be, and I look forward to more of the same on Saturday. Hmmmm... speaking of superstitions, who thinks we're going to need a Friday TSCS "Pep Rally"?! ;)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!

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