OUCH
This hurts.
The Pens got whomped on last night 5-0 in Detroit. So much for any momentum Pittsburgh created with the previous two games.
Pittsburgh actually started the game strong, and had a few very good chances to score in the first 5 minutes. If Fedotenko would have scored on this play, it would have been a very different game.
I'm not going to recap this game for 2 reasons:
- a little piece of me died last night due to the ugly loss, and realizing the the Red Wings could win the Cup on Pittsburgh ice for a second consecutive year.
- Pretty much anytime I think of last nights game, I want to fucking puke.
A couple casual observations:
I don't know why, but for some reason, when we play in Detroit, the puck always seems to trickle away from our sticks, so we can't make a decent pass - which leads to a turnover - or we can't get it out of our zone, or a shot doesn't go in against stupid Osgood. On the other hand, the Wings can't seem to do any wrong - the passes are crisp, the shots are hard and accurate, and they seem to get ALL the freaking bounces.
This makes Detroit extremely difficult to play against at the Joe - they create their own good fortune on home ice and all the power to them, and this just the product of a good system.
Kudos, jerks.
BUT
For some reason, the refs allow the Wings to play their "subtle interference" game to perfection. They allow the game to be played like it was 1999, and there is clutching, grabbing, and total interference. What the Wings call shadowing.
It's like the referees tell the Wings before the game "OK - we're going to let you guys get away with shadowing - but we're not going to let the other team know - It's our little secret".
I'm not saying that's what actually happens - it sure seems like it though...
Because of this the Pens players are watching Wings players skate by them, while Pens players are being held and clutched. This frustrates teams, and games like last night happen.
What they are letting Zetterberg get away with is unbelievable.
When you add the two things up, the Wings become totally unbeatable at home....
Can we still win this series?
Don't be silly - of course we can.
This is what is will take.....
A victory at home in game 6. Duh, that's a no-brainier.
Before game seven in Detroit, coach Bylsma should say something in his presser to the extent that he really hopes the refs call the rules circa 2009, and not 1999 like they have been so far in Detroit in this series. He will get fined for this, but because he has bit his lip about this crap so far, his words will have some bearing.
The Pens will have to come out hard - like they did in game 5 in Detroit - and their best players will have to get on the board (we're lookin at you Sid & Geno) to gain momentum. If the Wings score first at home, they taste blood, and due to the reasons I listed above, they are extremely difficult to beat.
Oh yea - Fleury has to have the game of his life - no better time to have it - game 7 of the Stanly Cup. Hopefully our defense actually gives him a chance this time.
Does anyone else feel like getting drunk and pissing on a giant inflatable octopus?
GO PENS
The thing I don't quite get, and I've seen this a few times with the Pens, is how they can come out like they did in the first five minutes of Game 5 looking like the Harlem Globetrotters, and then play the last 55 minutes looking like the Washington Generals. One of the commentators last night mentioned that their first period power play was the turning point, and I have to agree. They generated nothing on that opportunity, and looked lost the rest of the game.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the Detroit home ice advantage. I don't buy Datsyuk making the difference. I don't buy the lucky bounces. Even the officiating as lousy as it's been (and someone please explain to me why Bylsma still hasn't commented on it), I still think that this series is Pittsburgh's to lose. Nothing I've seen so far indicates to me that the Pens have come up against a better team. What they do seem to have come up against is a team that knows how to get it done. I think it looks like Crosby and the boys haven't yet figured it out.
I wonder if maybe they got overconfident last night, as young teams with a lot of skill tend to do sometimes. The Oilers used to play their best playoff games when they played scared, and their worst games when they started believing how good they were. If Games 3 and 4 point to Pittsburg being similar in that regard, then they'll win this series in 7, and they'll do so handily.