Well, it seems like we've been down this road before. Once again the Penguins rolled into Joe Louis and walked out with a bagel for their efforts. As with Game 1, I wasn't terribly impressed with Detroit in Game 2, but they still deserved to win. They took advantage of a handful of Penguin mistakes, and that was the difference in the game. Also like Game 1, the Penguins played horribly. I don't know if it is nerves or what, but they are really sucking it up right now. I'm talking about the little things like making clean passes, pulling the puck off the boards, and getting the puck in deep at the blue line.
Here are my other observations from Game 2:
- I said it before and I'll probably be saying it again Wednesday night, but Niklas Kronwall is a dirty hitter. He had two big hits tonight. One was a blatant charge, and the other was his more traditional elbow. Sooner or later one of these has to get called.
- Chris Osgood is a joke. It is comedic to see him flop around like he was shot at the slightest hint of contact. Let alone the fact that the refs let him initiate contact and then hit players on the other team with a goalie interference call (see Ryan Malone). Someone needs to take a real good run at him and show him what it is like to really get hit. That brings us to...
- Johan Franzen. What an embarrassment. I would never wish for a player to get injured, especially when we're talking about head injuries, but if that guy is going to collapse in a heap and play dead five seconds after getting nudged at the blue line then he deserves what is coming to him. Someone on the Pens really is going to go upside his head if he continues to pull that crap. At least (for once) the refs weren't buying what he was selling.
- Tyler Kennedy is everything you could want in a hockey player. If every Penguin forward had played as well as TK in the first two games we would be heading home with a split at the very least.
- I'm assuming Evgeni Malkin left his game in Pittsburgh. Which should be a good omen for the next two games right?
- Hal Gill and Pascal Dupuis were both awful tonight. There's no other way to put it. They both really need to pick up their games in a big way.
- No more VS. broadcasts!!! (Just thought I'd end on an up note.)
The Conn Five
- Chris Osgood
- Henrik Zetterberg
- Marc-Andre Fleury
- Pavel Datsyuk
- Sidney Crosby
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2 comments:
Ever gave any thought to the idea that maybe it isn't the pens playing so badly as it is the Wings playing so well? I honestly believe the pens spent their load there in the 2nd half of the 2nd period and came away with nothing. They've given their all and got nada, 2 games and the vaunted pens offense can't come up with one goal.
I'm not saying the Wings aren't executing to perfection. My main point is that the Pens are doing the little things that have nothing to do with your opponent wrong. Who you're playing doesn't make it harder to take the puck off the boards when nobody is near you. Who you're playing doesn't make it harder to make a simple dump in at the blue line. Who you're playing doesn't make it harder to clear the zone on the PK when you have the puck 10 feet inside your own blue line. Those are the kind of things the Pens are doing wrong, and the Red Wings have minimal if any impact on any of that.
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