Gameday Poop: Pittsburgh vs Montreal game 4 – Guerin & Staal are back!

All the talk is about Marc-André Fleury’s big shutout as well it should be. How about a big standing ovation for the Penguins defense! They held the Montreal Canadiens to 18 shots on net, the lowest amount of shots on net allowed in the playoffs by the Penguins since they allowed 17 once back in the early 70’s.

It’s that game.  Montreal’s goaltender Halak had been pulled 50% of the games this season against the Penguins before last game.  This is the game that will pull the percentage back down to 50%.  I’m predicting the Pittsburgh Penguins win tonight 5-2, with 4 of the five goals coming first period and Halak being pulled once again.

The Penguins well balanced attack was too much for the Canadiens to handle. Sure the Habs kept up for a period, maybe a period and a half, then their legs started to get heavy. Something I’ve been clueless about is why the Habs dressed eighteen players and one of them, Mathieu Darche, never stepped on the ice. Throw in the fact that Glen Metropolit only played 5 minutes and you’ve got yourself what I would call some weird coaching decisions.

The Canadiens AHL minor league team the Hamilton Bulldogs are in the midst of a playoff playoff battle against Calgary’s minor league team the Abbotsford Heat. Are the Canadiens not pulling up players because of this or is the best they have Darche who is not worth playing? By the way, the Hamilton Bulldogs are leading their series 2-1.

I also keep hearing about how the Penguins withstood the all out barrage Montreal put on in the first period, Montreal only put 7 shots on net in the first period, that’s an all out Canadien attack? I hope Greenland never tries to take over their country, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

We’re putting the band back together. Billy Guerin and Jordan Staal are back skating with the team and Jordan Staal has a new skate protector on his right skate. No official announcement has been made and I’m sure when they make it, it will sound like Staal & Guerin are “a game time decision” but judging how Staal looked yesterday in practice yesterday and the fact the Guerin was there today, I would say there is a 90% chance you will see both in the lineup tonight.

*As of 4PM they are saying Guerin (injury) and Rupp (injury) out tonight, Staal most likely in.  Guerin should be back on Saturday.

The Penguins have not listed their lineup for tonight’s game most likely because of the “game time decisions. Look for Jordan Staal to replace Letetsu and for Billy Guerin to be in for Fedotenko. Personally I think Dupuis has earned a spot on the top two lines and would like to see Ponikarovsky, who wasn’t horrible last game, moved to the fourth line.

Even though the Canadiens had less shots than the Penguins, I would say they had higher quality chances which makes Fleury shut out all the better.  Evgeni Malkin looked like his old self last game skating end to end weaving in and out.  If Malkin is flying and Jordan Staal is back killing penalties and Fleury’s clicking on all cylinders, is it possible to stop this team?

Marc-Andre Fleury has a new “History will be Made” commercial about him. That is great, but I must say I’m sick of the “History will be Made” commercials. If you ever watch the NHL network they play them over and over again, so much that at some points I change the channel (gasp!!)

Ex-Penguin Hal Gill goes glove to face or glove to the back of the head every single play. The refs never call this and to be honest I’m not sure there is even a rule that disallows this sort of play. The Penguins can’t go back at his head because of Gill’s size the refs notice it right away and call it as retaliatory. I think they should pop him one in the nuts every time he does it, if the refs won’t call it, let him get a retaliatory penalty.

Captain Crosby will take putting 0 points on the board for a win every single game in the playoffs. 

The Montreal Diving Clinic is open and all of the fans are on board by booing every time the refs don’t call a penalty against the opposing team when their players land a great dive. The first penalty against Goligoski was one of the worst dives I have ever seen and yet was called a penalty. I can’t believe that these so called NHL refs weren’t a tad bit embarrassed by the player who dove after they saw it on replay.

Kudos to the Pens coaching staff for making the adjustments needed to win the game. Some people would say it’s easy to make the adjustments because of the talent level on the Penguins compared to the Canadiens, but look at Washington and how they never adjusted. Great coaching.

The Penguins vs Redwings round three is looking like it may not happen.  Both Detroit and Philadelphia are on the verge of elimination, both are down 3 games to none in their respective series. I never thought I’d say this but judging by the more than half empty Joe in overtime the other night, I’d say Detroit fans have shown their true fair weather fan colors.

Daniel Carcillo of the Flyers is once again accusing a player of biting his finger, this time a Boston Bruin.  We here at PenguinPoop think that he might get bit less if he stops shoving his hand into players mouths during scrums, though to be honest we have never tested our theory.

I just started to notice that in a tight game were the Penguins are up a goal at the end of a game Bylsma shortens the defensive bench and Goligoski doesn’t see any playing time, on the opposite spectrum, if the Penguins need a goal Goligoski is out there just about the entire time. Hopefully Goligoski doesn’t see any playing time at the end of tonight’s game.

Additional Reading:

PenguinPoop writer STH35 questions why there are no calls on all the sticks the Canadiens are hitting the Penguins in the head with, like in the picture above.  Penguins’ American Coach Has Been Very Successful

Art Vandelay says Pittsburgh Penguins Marc-André Fleury, best goaltender left in playoffs

and Jean Pronovost claims Penguins beat Montreal at their own game.

Gametime is 7PM and can be seen in HD at Bell Centre or on Versus. *RDS & CBC will airing the game up in the great white north eh!

* The “Gameday Poop” is provided to give you enough information to sound intelligent while talking about hockey for 10 minutes. Anything after that and your on your own.

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