Okay, so now that we know that IFHSA™ is going to be okay, let's get our focus back where it should be - on OUR Boys of Winter! I have the perfect way for us to do just that.
Good Friend of The Show Pensgirl sent me this video from PensTV. It shows the guys at today's optional practice. Expect to see a few of them playing a game of soccer with the Saint in some DANGEROUSLY tight pants (seriously, I'm worried about the circulation to his bright-yellow Croc clad feet), the team getting dressed to one of the best U2 songs ever, and BGL talking about his HUGE goal last night. Enjoy!!! :)
New York Rangers forward Sean Avery was rushed to a Manhattan hospital on Wednesday morning in cardiac arrest just hours after his team's playoff loss, the New York Daily News reported, citing unnamed sources.
Avery was unconscious and not breathing, the newspaper reported.
A source at St. Vincent's Medical Center said Avery, 28, arrived at about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. Hours earlier, the Rangers lost 5-3 in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden.
A source close to the team confirmed Avery had been rushed to the hospital, but declined to offer any specifics, the Daily News reported.
The most common cause of injury are car accidents. The spleen can either be injured directly by the impact or by a fractured rib on the left side. Less commonly, in contact sports such as ice hockey, during a body check or slamming into the boards, the spleen can also be injured. The impact of the injury can actually cause the spleen to rupture, resulting in massive amounts of bleeding into the abdominal area. [← snoop: Which explains the cardiac arrest...] This situation is potentially life threatening and is considered a medical emergency. The only treatment is to remove the spleen and repair any other damage surgically.
So, yes people can live without a spleen. However, they are more prone to certain infections, and will need to receive vaccinations or even preventative antibiotics.
LATE EDIT 3:An update from ESPN.com suggests that reports of Avery being unconscious may be inaccurate:
The team also denied a published report in the New York Daily News -- which first reported Avery's hospitalization -- that the forward had been taken to a Manhattan hospital while unconscious and in cardiac arrest.
The Rangers said Avery was admitted to St. Vincent's Medical Center following a CT scan and is expected to make a full recovery. Avery walked into the medical facility with team doctor Andrew Feldman, and the two took a car to the hospital, not an emergency vehicle, the team said.
Michael Fagan, spokesman for St. Vincent's Medical Center, said Avery is in "stable" condition.
Whether Avery was taken by ambulance or walked in to the hospital under his own power, a lacerated spleen is a life threatening injury.
Avery, whose spleen was not removed and isn’t expected to need surgery, likely will be hospitalized for a few days, team spokesman John Rosasco said.
Rosasco said it’s unclear when Avery was injured, but the forward complained during the game of pain that got worse. Following the game, Avery went in a car from Madison Square Garden to the hospital with team physician Dr. Andrew Feldman.
“He walked into the hospital,” Rosasco said. “He was never in a life-threatening situation.”
Avery’s mother, Marlene, told the Toronto Sun that Avery’s spleen had not ruptured, but he had suffered internal bleeding.
For the record, I dislike the man, but I really do hope he's okay.
Thanks to Good Friend of The Show Cassie C. for the initial heads up on this with the ESPN link.
(Thanks also go to Clare for leaving the link to the video in the comments section.)
I got an email from Friend of The Show Allison Y. last night at 9:20pm:
So, in the third period, around the 14:00 mark...with Flower's legs in the net, the possible fight and scary looking possible goal on the Rangers power play...a ref told Dubinsky to go f*ck himself. I'm totally not lying...we rewound that sucker five times to make sure and then laugh hysterically. It was awesome...there was no way Versus could censor that.
I thought you might like to know.
Since I was watching it on FSN Pittsburgh, I totally missed that. But this is why ThePensblog.com is a daily read:
(Thanks go to Allison for the heads up about the incident.)
And finally, Friend of The Show Bobby T. (← the infamous creator of IFHSA™) went to the game last night. He got some great photos. Here they are with some brief intros in Bobby's own words:
Let's just say it was unreal. My first "away from Pittsburgh playoff hockey experience." ...There were about 10,000 Ranger fans to every 1 Pens fan. I counted about 5 jerseys. It seemed like everyone had a "Crosby Dives" shirt or something to that affect. The Blue bastards even printed out signs that said "Crosby's Dive 8.7". The worst was a guy who had a "Sidney Diver" outfit on:
[snoop: WOW.]
Nonetheless their were a few Pittsburgh diehards that dealt with the onslaught. I'd say I say about 20 fans total (half wearing Crosby, a quarter wearing Lemieux and Malkin, and the rest random including a Ron Francis, a Fleury, old Jagrs, and of all things an Ulf Samuelsson).
The National Anthem
Inside the arena was basically the same. Older guys were yelling at children and girls (most of which had Crosby jerseys). [These] two 20-something Pens fans sat 2 rows below me (I was in the 3rd level of 4):
They were taunting the Ranger fans at every chance. Let's just say that got what they deserved, which included nachos, pretzels, beers, and debris all being thrown at them, along with a slap in the face and a few punches. You can't go into another playoff arena and talk shit. [snoop: Especially in NYC!!]
The Opening Faceoff
On a side note, I should have known we would win. When the man came to sing the national anthem, apparently it wasn't the guy who always does it. Rangers fans knew this and seriously were booing during the anthem. Very classless.
The Final Score
Here were the other shirts of stupid Ranger fans I saw (by the way the Avery jersey is massively popular and I don't understand why):
Nothing too original. One other thing - The Ranger fans booed their own players. If they didn't like what was going on they booed. I guess I just didn't understand it, maybe they are frustrated, but I (and think most Pens fans) would never do this to our own playoff hockey team.
If you thought last night's game was nuts, tomorrow's game is going to be an absolute asylum! The Rangers will very literally be fighting for their playoff lives. If Jaromir Jagr can figure out the Flower, we're going to be in trouble. He played like classic Jagr last night, and I expect nothing less tomorrow. This is what the Pens have played for all year. This is why we are fans of this sport. This is what we say to the Rangers:
WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!! WHAT A GAME!!! Before the game even started, FSN Pittsburgh addressed the questionable yet unpunished behavior of IFHSA™ throughout this series. They showed a replay of the face scrap, the slashes, and the fight with Giant Hal Gill in front of MAF at the end of Game 2. Upon seeing it again, IFHSA™ actually took a swing at Gill with his stick as Gill was dropping his gloves. This guy needs to be dealt with. That's another difference between Jarrko Ruutu and IFHSA™ - Ruutu wants to irritate people; IFHSA™ wants to hurt them.
Right away, the boo-birds returned the captain-booing favor to Sid. (Surprisingly, there were no audible chants of "DIV-er!!!" I thought for sure they'd jump all over that.) But remember what I said after Game 2? Sidney doesn't get mad, he gets even - in points. He stole the puck to create an amazing play. He passed the puck to Pascal Dupuis, who then centered a pass for Sid. Henrik Lundqvist was able to shut the door on the Saint, but Marian Hossa was there to shoot the rebound into the net to give the Pens the lead 1:02 into the game. [Pens 1, Rangers 0]
Immediately following, Marc-Andre Fleury made a big save on Jaromir Jagr. The teams came out swinging with a lot of big hits early. Then, somehow, someway Martin Straka missed a wide open empty net after Jagr faked and MAF bit. MAF was out - WAY out - and I think my Grandma could have put the puck in that net, but Straka missed. It was good for us, though! Captain Crybaby went down after getting checked. The fans demanded a penalty, but it was a clean hit so no dice. Seconds later, Double J (or Double C, haha) hauled Hossa down to prevent Hossa from getting a breakaway. But the refs believed that Hossa embellished the fall a bit too much (whatev) and so both the Crybaby and Hossa went to their respective boxes. Evgeni Malkin and Ryan Malone dominated the 4-on-4. Marc Staal destroyed his little brother Jordan with a huge hit. Neither team would score on the 4-on-4.
MAF made an unreal glove save on Crybaby with such confidence that he almost had a swagger - if that's possible on skates, haha! Straka missed yet another wide open net a bit later. The curse of the open net would strike the Pens after Geno and Petr Sykora had a 2-on-1 rush, and Geno had a rare miss on an open net. MAF froze the puck on a later play, but Nigel Dawes kept chopping away at the puck because the whistle hadn't blown. He paid for it, though, when he was shoved head first into the goal post for his efforts.
The Pens had a few chances before Ryan Whitney came in and completely fanned on a shot. This left him trapped down low while the Rangers developed a 3-on-1. MAF made the initial save, but the rebound bounced strangely and went to Straka. He fired it right back on goal. There was a mess in the net with Jagr getting sandwiched then pushed on top of Flower. The puck appeared to cross the goal line, but the net was coming up off the moorings. The ref doesn't make a call, the light doesn't go on, and fights break out EVERYWHERE. The play went under review while roughing penalties were handed out to Whit, Bugsy, Kris Letang, Crybaby, Brandon Dubinsky, and Paul Mara. After we're shown a replay that shows that the puck actually crossed BEFORE the net came up, bounced out off MAF's pad, then back in as the net came up, so IT'S A GOAL. [Pens 1, Rangers 1]
Ryan Callahan and the Saint got a little pushy with each other. Just afterwards, Big Georges Laraque was sent out on the Steel City line in place of the penalized Bugsy. In a reversal of roles, Syko found himself behind the net while BGL was in front. Syko sent a pass out front that got redirected slightly by a Ranger's skate. BGL coolly pulled the puck in and set himself up for a shot that hit the crossbar and went in behind Lundqvist. [Pens 2, Rangers 1]
About 30 seconds later, Callahan got his stick WAAAAY up and caught 6'7" Gill. Callahan was given a double minor because there was some blood. Following a great pass from Sergei Gonchar, Geno fired a wicked one-timer that Lundqvist probably didn't even see until the red light was already on. [Pens 3, Rangers 1] Incidentally, this was Geno's first goal at Madison Square Garden!
Congratulations to Geno for his nomination for this year's Hart Trophy!!!!!!!!
The Pens still had an advantage with Callahan's second penalty but were unable to score on it. The 1st period ended with the Pens ahead by two. During the intermission, FSN reporter Dan Potash interviewed BGL about his big goal. An obviously ecstatic BGL then gave Potash a kiss on the cheek before returning to the locker room!!! (← If anyone can get a screen shot of that, I'd really appreciate it!)
The 2nd period began with a big save by Flower. Then the Penguins had a series of concurrent penalties. Okay. Stay with me here: Syko got the first penalty for holding. With 42 seconds left in his penalty, Dupuis took a penalty for hooking. On the 5-on-3, Crybaby was somehow left unchallenged on the left wing. He fired a wicked shot, but MAF absolutely stoned him. Syko came back to the ice. With 33 seconds left on the Dupuis penalty, Brooks Orpik took a roughing penalty after Callahan's exaggerated embellishment fooled the refs. On this 5-on-3, Rob Scuderi, who's silently dominating the team with a +7, went absolutely nuts. He blocked shots with his body. He got hurt, but stayed out. Finally, he got an opportunity to clear the puck. UNREAL. What a warrior! Dupuis rejoined his team on the ice while Orpik had about 33 seconds left on his penalty. Mad Max Talbot pulled a monkey-see-monkey-do by blocking shots with his body. SOMEHOW, the Pens held the Rangers scoreless throughout this mess.
Geno later gave the puck away in his own zone which would have led to a goal if the man to take the final shot was anyone but Straka, who tripped this time and couldn't take a shot at all. We were told that Gary Roberts is well enough to play again, but that Coach Therrien is reluctant to change the line up since the current lineup is so damn hot. Sid stole the puck and set up Dupuis, but Lundqvist blocked the one-timer. Then the Rangers got the puck and took it the other way. Scott Gomez was behind the net and centered a pass for Callahan. He put it in behind MAF with a quick shot. [Pens 3, Rangers 2]
Only 1:04 later, Crybaby was left unchallenged AGAIN. He took the puck behind the cage, came around the corner, and fired a shot. It went high and over MAF's shoulder. [Pens 3, Rangers 3] Bob Errey described the shot and mentioned that Crybaby used the "illegal curve" of his stick to make the shot curve the way it did.
At this point, it became a new game. The Rangers began dominating possession. They opened up a can on the Pens and were probably about to make something happen when Ryan Hollweg, who is always one to take stupid penalties at the worst times for his team, did it again when he hit Syko from behind. He was given 2 for boarding. On the ensuing Penguins power play, Sid faked a shot then passed it to Geno for another one-timer. The puck flew into the back of the net with 3 seconds left on Hollweg's penalty. [Pens 4, Rangers 3] The Pens would take their one-goal lead to the third.
The 3rd period began with Orpik getting slashed by Gomez, who got away with it. About 2½ minutes into the period, the MSG announcer actually had to get on the loudspeaker to try unsuccessfully prompt a "Let's Go Rangers!" chant. In fact, it backfired. The teams were ready for the faceoff. Gomez was thrown out of the faceoff circle, so Callahan came in against Geno. Geno used his big body to cheat on the faceoff for the win to Syko. He passed it to Letang, who fired a shot on goal that Bugsy was able to tip into the net for the insurance marker. [Pens 5, Rangers 3]
Even though there was nearly a full period left to play, not a whole lot happened. The Pens took and killed a few penalties; Gronk was a complete beast (← his importance to this team is unreal); Lundqvist was pulled at 1:35; IFHSA™ tried to start something at the end of the game again. At the end of the game, though, the Pens emerged victorious for their 7th straight playoff game!!!!!!!!!!!
These two teams are set to meet at least one more time on Thursday at 7:00pm.
Those are the words of our fearless leader, Coach Michel Therrien, regarding IFHSA's™ slash on Sid on Sunday. From Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:
Nobody asked Crosby about the incident, either, which means a lot of people probably didn't see it. ...I asked Crosby if he thought Avery was trying to injure him.
"He wasn't going for the puck," Crosby said. "He was going for my wrist." ...How's the wrist? "I felt it," Crosby said, smiling. "It's just sore, nothing major."
Penguins coach Michel Therrien said he was well aware of the incident and added, somewhat cryptically, "I'm working on that right now." Asked if that meant he was going to send a tape to league headquarters, Therrien said no. I asked NHL spokesman Frank Brown if the league was reviewing Avery's actions.
"We review everything; every play of every game," Brown said. [snoop: Hey, Brownie, did you happen to notice the face wipe Sid got from IFHSA's™ stick in game 1?]
But is the league reviewing that particular play for the purpose of possibly suspending Avery? "If there is any action that is needed that would cause this person not to play (tonight), it will be announced before the game is played," Brown said.
So why is IFHSA™ such an incredibly immature attention whore? Giant Hal Gill thinks he knows the answer to that:
NBC analyst Pierre McGuire, stationed between the benches, said, "Hal Gill just said to Avery, 'You just weren't hugged enough as a child. That's why you've got issues.'"
Exactly. But truthfully, who could blame his parents? They probably don't even like the guy. Thanks go to both Ali & XDancexxforxxmeX for posting the link in the comments. :)
Now on to happier things: our good Friend of The Show Mike H. (aka Mike @ Japan) was stateside this past week. He was lucky enough to score a ticket to Friday's Game 1 against the Rangers. He was so lucky that he got an AMAZING seat in section A21, row C! Mike is actually visible in this Getty Images shot of the Pens celebrating Marian Hossa's tying goal in the 5-4 comeback:
Mike is in the left half of the crowd. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
By now, you all have figured out how much I love your shots of the games. (← Hint, hint!) Mike got some ABSOLUTELY STUNNING shots of the game which he has graciously shared with us. All photos in today's post are Mike's photos, unless otherwise noted (like the photo above). We'll start out with some great closeup shots of Sidney:
Heeeeeerre's GENO!
Now for my favorites: He got a picture of the Saint with his arms raised like Rocky Balboa at the top of those stairs after Sid fired the shot that banked off Geno's leg for the win. First, a refresher of what Sid looked like from the front:
(Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
...and this is the photo Mike captured at what appears to be the exact same time as the shot above:
The rest of the guys bum rush Sid to celebrate, again starting with the professional shot:
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
...and here are two shots from Mike's view:
Go raibh mile maith agat, Mike!!! (For all the non-Gaels, that means "A thousand thank yous!!!")
It is that time of year again. No, I'm not talking about the playoffs, so hold off on the "Captain Obvious" jokes for a second... Time Magazine has an online poll asking who their readers think are the 100 most influential people. Last year, Sidney came in at an impressive number 5! Not bad considering hockey allegedly isn't important in this country! He was the highest placing sports star, behind only Korean pop star Rain (#1), Stephen Colbert (#2), American Idol castoff Sanjaya Malakar (#3 ← I hope that was a big joke), and comedian Dane Cook (#4). Click on the picture of Sidney below to cast your vote. Heads Up: Don't just hit the submit button! Use the slider right next to the submit button to rank Sid at 100 (most influential) then click the submit button. :)
And now I've got the Photo of The Day. It comes from Friend of The Show Ron D.:
Cry me a river.
Friend of The Show Mike H. found this site, www.playoffbeard.com. It has caricatures of hockey players representing their teams. They have a clean shaven picture for Sid on their April 3rd entry, but I'll let Mike describe the site's drawing of the Saint for the playoffs:
...the entry for April 16 shows him with a beard that, frankly, I doubt he'd ever be able to grow himself.
Maybe in 20 years, Mike... though I doubt it would even be that thick when he's 40!! HAHA!
Finally today, Friend of The Show Stephanie S. sent this to me a while ago. George Johnson of ESPN Online built the perfect hockey player using attributes from players today. Sidney is the only player to appear on the list twice. :) And there's a surprise: IFHSA™ makes an unwelcome appearance on the list. Johnson loves to hate him for his, well, his Averyness. UGH.
IFHSA's™ taunting extends to the fans in Philadelphia. What a class act.
Big thanks go out to Friends Ron, Mike, and Stephanie for their contributions to today's post. :)
Game 3 happens tomorrow at MSG at 7:00pm Eastern. Brace yourself for the "DIV-er!!!" chants. Let's beat these clowns and move on, already!!!!
Before I recap the game, I'm going to address those "Sidney's a diver" allegations. Calling Sid a diver is the singular thing that gets him rattled. Of course other teams see this and pounce on it. The Rangers are no different. But I have to say it's kind of sad that they think it's the only tool they've got against the best player on the planet. That doesn't say much about their level of confidence in themselves to get the job done. It's even sadder because they've definitely got some elite talent in Jaromir Jagr, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, and Henrik Lundqvist, but evidently they believe that's not enough to beat our boys in black and gold. Oh well, we've only got to win two more games and we're done with these tools. WOOOOOO!!!!!! :)
The game began with a close up of Jagr's face. That playoff beard-patch thing is creepy. Every time I see it, all I can think of is that skeevy paparazzi guy Britney Spears was dating. Check it out:
In addition to booing Jagr, the fans at the Mellon today were booing Straka, no doubt in response to the fit he threw at Friday's game after getting penalized for interfering with Sid then calling Sid a diver. Speaking of that, Sean Leahy of Going Five Hole has taken the video of the incident and broken it down frame by frame to give CONCLUSIVE PROOF not only that Straka did in fact interfere with Sidney, but that Sid didn't even see him coming to plan for an embellishment. Remember that Sid just fell down briefly and popped back up to his feet. He had planned on continuing the play. (Credit goes to Empty Netters for the find.)
The day's first penalty went to Ryan Whitney. Evidently the refs saw Wolverine trip Gomez, but I think Gomez was embellishing. ;) On the ensuing Rangers power play, Jordan Staal nearly stunned the arena with a shorthanded chance right off the faceoff, but Lundqvist shut the door on him. Fans began a taunting chant aimed at Jagr. Then just as Brooks Orpik lined Gomez up for a big hit, Gomez put on the brakes to avoid it. Gomez wrapped his free arm around Orpik in the process and, as a result, was called for holding. Neither team scored on the 4-on-4, and despite some unbelievable chances by Marian Hossa, the Saint, and Evgeni Malkin, the Pens didn't score on their power play.
Jarrko Ruutu took a penalty later for hooking, but the Rangers didn't capitalize on their advantage. Just as Ruutu came out of the box, Mad Max Talbot sent the puck to him for a one timer that went just wide of the goal. Kris Letang took a shot after the whistle blew a little while later. A scrum exploded between the teams. After the dust settled, Letang and Paul Mara went to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing, respectively. About 20 seconds into the 4-on-4, Sid was flying down the ice when Fedor Tyutin grabbed Sid's jersey and shoved him down to the ice. He was immediately assessed a penalty for holding, to which the Rangers bench erupted in cries of "SID EMBELLISHED IT!!!" Embellished? Nay nay, nixxydoodle! We got the proof that the call was a good call because NBC felt the need to replay the incident no less than 5 times in a row. It was a clear cut hold. Jagr and Ryan Malone had words from their respective benches as the crowd began another taunting "JA-gr! JA-gr! JA-gr!!" chant. The Pens didn't score on the 4-on-3, nor did they score on the 5-on-4 after Letang and Mara emerged.
Near the end of the period, Ruutu was called for high sticking. Giant Hal Gill, who's long been a thorn in Jagr's side, ran over Jaromir during the Rangers' power play. I don't know, to me Jagr's fall looked a bit embellished. ;) The Rangers didn't score on their power play, and the period ended. Then we were shown in a slow motion replay that Sean Avery (who will henceforth be known simply as IFHSA because I can't even stand typing his name) slashed Sid across his hand right after the last faceoff. Of course, he got away with that one, too.
A Getty photo catches IFHSA, um, "taking in the scenery" at the Mellon before the game.
Before the second period started, we see Ruutu getting in Jagr's face and having what I'm assuming was a friendly discussion of what each was doing for dinner tonight. Well, okay. I suppose it could have been about something else, haha! Rangers coach Tom Renney, who is leading the "Sid's a diver" charge these days, threw a fit when no penalty was given to Gronk for playing Jagr while still clutching his broken stick. No word if Renney threw a fit and demanded that IFHSA get penalized for the aforementioned slash.
Then Ruutu, Gronk, Letang, Tyler Kennedy, and Rob Scuderi had an absolutely AMAZING shift. They dominated the Rangers for several minutes and fired shot after shot after shot on Lundqvist, but the goalie stood his ground. After the Rangers finally went on the offensive again, Jagr fired a quick shot on goal. Marc-Andre Fleury made the blocker save and then had the presence of mind to leap out and cover the puck to shut the door on any attempts on the rebound. WOW.
Big Georges Laraque did the entire world a favor and drilled IFHSA into the boards. Drury was called for hooking. On the ensuing Penguins power play, Bugsy missed two glorious chances. Sid missed a great chance. Finally, nearly 35 minutes into the game and a minute and a half into this power play, Geno got the puck to Gronk, who was at the front of the net. Gronk went from his backhand to his forehand and popped Lundqvist's waterbottle up. [Pens 1, Rangers 0] It was a beautiful goal by the hardest working, most important, most underrated, lowest scoring guy in hockey right now. It's good to see him get rewarded for all that he does for this team. His face was priceless!!
Following the goal, both teams turned it up. The Pens were running off the momentum of the goal, while the Rangers were desperate to get the tying marker. In the frenzy, Hossa ended up taking a penalty for holding. This was an insane Rangers power play. There was ANARCHY in front of MAF - so much so that the refs had to blow the whistle because there were bodies piled up in the blue paint, and the puck was MIA. Scuderi had lost his helmet in the mess. But was the puck really missing? NO! Flower somehow found that puck in the madness and covered it up. It really was incredible that he was able to keep up with the location of the puck through all of that action in front of him. The Rangers were unable to score on their advantage. The period came to a close with Gronk's goal giving the Pens the lead.
The third period began with Dan Girardi taking a delay of game penalty for hitting the puck up and over the glass. Hossa got a fantastic chance right off the faceoff on the Pens' power play, but the Pens didn't score on their advantage. A scary moment happened during the power play: Petr Sykora plowed feet first into the boards ala Sidney Crosby circa 01-18-08. My husband and I both gasped. But, while Syko did seem stunned, he recovered after returning to the bench and returned for his next shift.
Both players were asked by reporters about this confrontation. Both players had little to say about it. When asked what Jagr was said, Sid replied, "Just ask him. I wasn't the one talking." Jagr claimed that he simply said, "Just play hockey." Somehow, I think it was a little more than that. It doesn't matter what Double J said. Sid got the last laugh with the win - again. WOOOOO!!!!!!
Kennedy played like the Energizer Bunny. (Then again, he always does.) He drew a penalty when he got a great scoring chance but was slashed by Blair Betts. Oh, but the Rangers dominated this Penguins power play. If not for Flower, we'd be talking about a shorthanded Rangers goal right here. The Pens (nor the Rangers) did not score on the Betts penalty. The Rangers continued to dominate puck possession for several minutes after Betts came out of the box.
Later, Gomez held Hossa for several seconds, but no call was made. A delayed offsides call didn't sit well with Geno, who slammed his stick on the ice in frustration. After returning from a commercial break, NBC showed Ruutu on the ice having a, um, "conversation" with (I think) Drury as he was on the bench. Ruutu was smirking and having a good time getting under (I think) Drury's skin.
Then this happened: You want to talk about embellishment, you need to talk about Girardi's head snap following a supposed high stick from Syko. Admittedly we only got to see this happen from one angle, but even if Syko's stick connected with Girardi's helmet, he snapped his head back like he'd been shot. I'm not saying it didn't hurt, and I'm not even saying whether it's right or wrong - he got the power play for his team - but what I am saying is that if you're going to whine and bitch and moan about the other team doing something, DON'T BE A HYPOCRITE AND DO IT YOURSELF THEN. Karma has a way of dealing with things like this, and it did this time, too. The ref behind MAF lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle. Look at where the puck was as the whistle blew:
It continued sliding over the goal line, and the Rangers thought they'd had the tying goal. The refs, however, felt differently about it. NO GOAL. The Rangers didn't score on their advantage. With only 2:20 left in a one-goal game, Gill was called for cross checking. With 1:12 left in the game, Lundqvist was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. The Rangers couldn't squeak one past MAF on the 6-on-4. Just as Gill came emerged from the box, Adam Hall was in the process of clearing the puck. He sent it high off the glass up and over Michal Rozsival's head. Gill was chasing after the puck to take it to the empty net, but it soon became clear that the angle of the shot was enough for the puck to make it to the net without further intervention. It rolled over the line giving the Pens the insurance marker with just 16.7 left in the game!!! [Pens 2, Rangers 0]
The Rangers were unable to break Flower's groove. He got his second shutout of the post-season!!! :) But it wasn't all celebrations at the end. IFHSA was whacking MAF's legs with his stick during the last ditch effort from the Rangers. MAF finally had enough and took a page from Marty Brodeur's book and used his goalie stick to tap IFHSA to get him to knock it off. IFHSA then made what could have been his last decision on this earth and charged MAF. The Pens' two towering heavyweights were right there to defend their goaltender. Gill dropped his gloves (he was closest) and took IFHSA to the corner. BGL wasn't far behind. If the refs hadn't shown up as fast as they had, we'd be talking about the plans for IFHSA's upcoming funeral. The only reason he did it was to get attention and get his name in the papers. That guy is an embarrassment to the NHL.
The teams take a break tomorrow. They meet again on Tuesday at 7:00pm Eastern at Madison Square Garden. No doubt Sid will be greeted by the crowd with chants of "DIV-er! DIV-er! DIV-er!!!" But that might actually work out in our favor... We all know what happens when Sid gets mad. He gets even - in points. :) :) :)
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