The Penguins started the game out last night very tentative, and by the time they got on a roll, Detroit was already in their trap system because of the two freak goals that they got.
Dan Bylsma has done a fantastic coaching job this post season, but the one thing he could have stood to do was be a little more pro active in the line-up changes between series. I felt going into the Washington series that he should have changed the lineup because Washington has a different style than Philly and even though we won the last game in Philly, that didn’t necessitate keeping the same lineup together.
Tonight he has a big advantage over the Red Wings in the fact that he has a very healthy team and can plug fresh guys into the lineup who are just as skilled as the guys they would be replacing. Dupuis, Sykora, Goligoski and the rest of the guys sitting should all be brought in, and used to pound Detroit with the fore check.
The whiny-est team in hockey? We played the Philadelphia Cryers and had to listen to the coach and fans whine the whole time, but seriously that is nothing compared to the Detroit coach and fans. “I thought Crosby went to Zetterberg in the neutral zone, got him in the crosscheck.” Babcock the whiny-est coach in the NHL said. The big question is, is the team whinier than the fans? “Motown” “Hockeytown” “Whinytown”
Original six? Pittsburgh had NHL hockey before Detroit did, how they got to be an original six team is a wonder, sort of like how they are “Hockeytown” and can’t sell out their regular season in a cup year. I guess you can never again call the Detroit fans fair weather fans, because they don’t show up whether their team is playing well or not.
Side Note: Bettman is saying the Salary Cap may drop 5% next year – that would be interesting!
Quickies:
Making up for the 3 points total he had in the finals last year. Malkin has scored more points in the playoff this year than anyone has in the last 13 years.
Marian WHOssa was held scoreless again and still only has 12 points this playoff season. That didn’t stop him from celebrating like he scored a goal.
The Detroit fans showed their usual class with their “Bull Shit” cheer.
The Wings won 39 of the 55 or over 70% of the faceoffs.
Crosby: “We made a few mistakes tonight, and so did they. They got a few bounces. That’s what it came down to. But we believe in our game. We’re confident that we can get one here and go home.”
Gametime is 8PM and can be seen in high definition at the Joe Lewis Arena or on NBC.
Someone needs to throw a penguin bird on the ice at the next game!!! Who cares about a slimy squid? Penguins eat squid as a delicacy……….GO PENS!
I think tonight is a must win, I don’t think we can fall behind again like last year, though they did come back after being down two to the Caps. I hope we play 6 D and Dupuis is in, don’t care much if Sykora is in, I think he’s a bit soft, but someone who could and would shoot would be nice.
A Q & D review of last night– our defense was about average and lost too many battles in our own end. Gonchar in particular looked a bit docile to me and needs to step it up. Coming into Detroit’s zone on the PP in slow motion won’t cut it. Fedotenko continues to be a heads up money player and Malkin should get extra helpings of his Momma’s beet soup in case he gets another breakaway. If you take away the two freak goals MAF played well enough to get the win. Osgood outplayed Fluery and deservedly got the first star. He shut the Pens down in the third period– it’s as basic as that. The face-offs were another story– winning only 29% of them is giving them the puck 11 of every 15. To go into the details of how bad it was isn’t worth the time. They had better pick it up and you could bet your mortgage that the coaching staff had to be all over them about it.
shoot66 – I agree – I probably don’t put Sykora on Crosby’s line, he might have to be put back on with malkin move talbot down and kunitz back up. I still haven’t heard that the Penguins are making a lineup change tonight. I hope Bylsma doesn’t keep changing the lines again all game, I’m fine with putting Crosby and Malkin together at the end of every period, but why mix it up the rest of the time?
Detroit didn’t win game 1, Joe Louis did they had three cheap goals, the Pen’s out worked them but couldn’t put it home. Just need to continue the same way tonight, put Dupuis and Petr in out comes Eaton and Satan. Shoot the damn puck on the powerplay.
Sykora-Crosby-Guerin
Ruslan-Malkin-Talbot
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Kunitz-Adams-Dupuis
LET’S GO PEN’S take game 2