Random thoughts on Penguins/Ottawa Series

I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but you might have a hard time convincing me the Eastern Coference isn’t shaping up exactly like the NHL would like with Pittsburgh and Washington not meeting until the Conference Finals and the Pens getting a second round match up with Boston just as Marc Savard is returning from the concussion that Cooke delivered to him. There’s no doubt that the NHL doesn’t want NJ going any farther in the playoffs as their boring brand of hockey is not good for TV ratings.

Over in the West, I could easily see Phoenix doing the NHL a favor and making sure that Detroit doesn’t end up in the finals again, and oh, isn’t Phoenix owned by the NHL? Anyone watching the LA/Vancouver series can easily tell the fix is in in that series. Vancouver doesn’t help US tV ratings, and how great would it be for the city of LA to start getting behind the Kings? Don’t think the NHL cares one way or the other about the Colorado/San Jose series, but you can be sure that Chicago will be knocking off Nashville. Doesn’t do the NHL any good to have the Preds knock out the third largest TV viewing market.

Is it just me or do the Pens really need to work on their penalty killing of 5 on 3 siutations?

Haven’t these fans in other cities figured out yet that the louder you boo Sidney Crosby or the more vulgar the chant, the more points he puts up against your team? If I’m a player on the opposing team, I’d pretty much just tell my own fans to shut the hell up when Sid is in the ice. It’s tough enough defending him without you guys firing him up.

A friend of mine at the NHL Network texted me asking if the Pens could take out the Sens in 5. He said even they’re getting tired of them.

How about Pascal Leclaire coming into a game trailing 4 – 0 and ending up getting the loss? Leclaire probably thought he might even get a chance to start in Game 5 when Elliott gave up 4 quick goals but then giving up 3 himself pretty much nixed that.

I love the way that Bylsma made sure to keep all of the top players off the ice for about the last 7 minutes of the game. Gives the third and fourth lines some valuable ice time and assures that some idiot like Chris Neill can’t take a cheap shot at Sid, Geno or Sarge.

The Pens are 7 – 3 in their last 10 playoff games away from Mellon Arena losing only in Detroit in that span.