More Than Just Two Points

Going into last night's showdown between the Penguins and the Red Wings I had pretty easily convinced myself that it was, despite all the hype surrounding the game, 1 out of 82 games the Penguins will play this season and nothing more. I'm not one of those people who thinks beating a team in the regular season after they beat you in the playoffs the season before is any kind of revenge, so that angle was lost on me. It was 2 points just like any other game.

Somewhere in the third period last night that all changed. The Penguins came back from 5-2 and 6-4 defeceits in the third period on the road against one of the best teams in the NHL. That counts for a lot more than just two points. This will be one of those moments that this team can look back on for the rest of the season and remember that even when they are down, they are never out of a game. Even under some of the worst possible circumstances.

Here are my thoughts on the game:

• Have to start with Jordan Staal. The way he played in the last 10 minutes of the third and OT was a dominant a performance as you will ever see from any player. Jordan made himself a lot of money this offseason with this game. And it was not lost on me that #11 had the game of his life on 11/11 and set up the OT winner with 1:11 remaining.
• Red Wings fans are a joke. Nice of them to show up in time for the second period.
• Letang and Goligoski both looked really good to me. They did not have mistake free games, but they both looked really poised down the stretch.
• I know he had 2 assists, but really... did Marian Hossa even play last night?
• Mike Zigomanis may be the pick-up of the year. His dominance on face-offs can not be overhyped as it is a big boost for the Pens both in the defensive zone and on the power play. If he doesn't win that offensive zone draw at the end of the third I'm writing about a 6-5 Detroit win right now.
• Red Wings fans are a joke. This game was so big and such a statement while they were winning, but as soon as Fedo sent them packing in OT it was just another regular home game against some random non-conference team.
• Marc-Andre Fleury was much better than the numbers tell. The Hudler goal was the only one he had any chance of stopping. The bottom line is that right now if MAF can see it he is going to stop it 99% of the time.
• Red Wings fans are a joke. They love to go on and on about how good Datsyuk and Zetterberg are defensively and all the turnovers they create and then turnaround and dismiss Staal picking Datsyuk's pocket in overtime as lucky or a fluke. Just watch Zetterberg flop around on the ice during the Pens' 5-on-3 goal and then explain to me how great he is defensively.
• I have never been happier watching one of my fantasy goalies give up 7 goals.
• Hearing Hossa getting booed on his "home" ice was priceless. Penguin fans definitely had the edge at "The Joe" last night.
• Red Wings fans are a joke.
  

And this post would not be complete without a highlight package:

Marian Hossa Stuns The World

I am in complete shock right now. Marian Hossa just signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings for $7.4 million, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Why take a one-year with Detroit when the Pittsburgh Penguins were offering similar dollars over five years? Where is the logic in this? The only line of thinking I can come up with on Hossa's part is that he hopes to win a Cup this coming season, and then just get the biggest contract he possibly can next off-season. That is totally ludicrous thinking, and that is about all I could come up with.

For Detroit the move is pure genius. They add another uber-talented forward to their roster who will fit into their style of play perfectly. Then next off-season they simply walk away and put the $7.4 million they paid Hossa towards Henrik Zetterberg's new contract. They get a (hopefully for them) good year out of Hossa and then just let him move on. No big loss for them. It might even be possible that Nicklas Lidstrom retires after next season and Hossa stays in Motown. Either way it all works out for the Wings.

So where do the Pens go from here? Ray Shero undoubtedly was prepared for this and is already hard at work on Plan B. There is a short list of guys out there who Shero can look at to fill the void left by Hossa. Names like Jagr, Naslund, Demitra, and Huselius will surely all be looked at. I think this will work out better for the Penguins when all is said and done because they should be able to bring in new wingers for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin at close to the amount it would have cost to keep Hossa. It will be like the time I traded in my Mustang so that my wife and I could both get new cars. Sure neither car was as nice as the Mustang, but they both got the job done. I would expect at least two or three signings from the Penguins by the end of the day now that Hossa has made his decision.

Where does this leave Marian Hossa's legacy as a Penguin? As far as I'm concerned he does not have one. I'm not trying to downplay all he did for us in the playoffs, but the guy played roughly 40 games in Pittsburgh. That's not exactly enough to earn you a long-term residence in the hearts of fans. Add in the fact that he signed with Detroit, my personal most hated sports franchise, and Marian Hossa is essentially dead to me now. Make no mistake I enjoyed the time he spent with the Pens, but the first thing I'm doing tonight after my kids are in bed is trading Hossa away from my Penguins franchise in NHL 2008. And I sure won't be sending him to Detroit either.

2008 Playoffs: Wrapping Up Game 5 Of The Finals

Just wow. That's about all I can say. We are just minutes removed from Petr Sykora's triple overtime goal and all the pressure in this series is now squarely on the shoulders of the Detroit Red Wings. The Penguins are back in the Stanley Cup Finals in a big way and they are heading home for Game 6. For the fourth game in a row, many of these young Penguins will be playing in the biggest game of their lives. At some point they just get used to it and get on with life I'm sure.

My notes on Game 5:

• When his team needed him the most, Marc-Andre Fleury was at his best. MAF's contract demands probably just got bumped up a little bit. Again.


• Huge performance by the Penguins defense tonight. After losing Sergei Gonchar the 5 remaining Penguin blue liners circled the wagons and took care of business. Ryan Whitney in particular was outstanding as he led all skaters in ice time and left it all on the ice.
  
• People will be talking about Sykora calling his shot for years. That was the stuff of legends.
• Evgeni Malkin picked up an assist on the winner. Could that be the start of something big?
• It seems like forever ago but... Max Freaking Talbot!!


• 30 minutes ago I hated Jiri Hudler. Now he's possibly my favorite Red Wing ever. Nice stickwork there joke.
• It has been said many times but it still holds true, nothing around beats playoff overtime hockey.
  
• Game 6 can't get here soon enough. The Igloo is gonna be rocking!

The Conn Five

1. Henrik Zetterberg
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Marc-Andre Fleury
4. Johan Franzen
5. Chris Osgood
   

2008 Playoffs: Wrapping Up Game 4 Of The Finals

This sucks. I don't even feel like writing about this game, but on the off chance someone is expecting me to... This loss hurts. A lot. Games 1 and 2 didn't sting too bad because I knew there was a really good chance that the Pens could respond with a pair of wins on home ice. Now that the Pens lost the pivotal Game 4 it feels like someone walked into my house and slapped all three of my kids. I couldn't feel worse right now. I'm not giving up on my Pens, but I'm also smart enough to realize that the odds of beating this Detroit Red Wings team three games in a row, including twice at home, are pretty slim. I guess I'll just have to channel my inner Lloyd Christmas on this one because a least there's still a chance...

My observations on Game 4:

• Nothing is going right for Evgeni Malkin right now. You really have to feel for the big guy. Hopefully he comes out of this a better player somehow. In the meantime, he really needs to be taken off the point of the power play. His bad decisions at the blue line are killing the Penguins right now.
  
• Tonight's broadcast by NBC was almost VS. quality. And no, that is not a compliment in any way. The intermission with Ron Francis in particular was a joke. Here you have one of the best players in NHL history on set and the idiot host asks him if he "remembers" winning the Stanley Cup. How's that for insightful? Why not ask him if he remembered to put socks on this morning too?
• Marian Hossa was excellent tonight, but he needs to get in to support the puck faster on the power play. That said, if the Pens had won tonight his first period goal would have become a part of Penguins lore.
• Mike Babcock has a very Al Bundy quality about him if you ask me.
• The refs really let Detroit get away with a lot in this game. I wouldn't go so far as to label the Red Wings a dirty team, but they sure hit from behind a lot. It's hard to blame them though if the refs are going to continue to let them get away with it. Not to mention the whole Dan Cleary shooting a broken stick at Sid thing...
  
• That 5-on-3 gone bad will be giving people nightmares for years.

The Conn Five

1. Henrik Zetterberg
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Chris Osgood
4. Johan Franzen
5. Marc-Andre Fleury
   

2008 Playoffs: Wrapping Up Game 3 Of The Finals

Well, it took three games, but we finally have ourselves a series. The Pens stepped up as they returned to the friendly confines of The Igloo and responded with a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings. Maybe this will be enough to shut up some of the NHL media about how Detroit is the best team ever and the Pens' dynasty is over before it even got started. Pittsburgh came out tonight playing the way they should have from the drop of the first puck. Granted home ice played into their success, but they were simply better. All the little things I said they were doing wrong after Game 2, well they were doing them all right tonight, and it paid off.

Here are the rest of my thoughts on Game 3:

• Sid was simply a beast tonight. He had played well in Detroit, but he was on another level tonight. He showed why he is hands down the best hockey player on the planet.
• Darryl Sydor looked really rusty tonight, but that is pretty understandable. He got better as the game went along and as much as I love Kris Letang, he will probably be a steadying presence on the blue line for the remainder of the Finals.
• Where would Detroit be without Johan Franzen? He has been their most effective offensive player since getting back into the Red Wings lineup.
• Brooks Orpik was out of his mind tonight. He brought a level of physicality that Detroit just can't match. Especially in the third when he was hitting everything in a white jersey.


• Gary Roberts was back to being Gary Roberts.
• I could go on for hours about how much I love the way Tyler Kennedy plays hockey. If you're lucky, someday I will.
• Chris Osgood may have a pair of victories in the Finals, but tonight Marc-Andre Fleury became the first goalie in the Finals to win a game.
  

The Conn Five

1. Henrik Zetterberg
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Marc-Andre Fleury
4. Chris Osgood
5. Johan Franzen
   

2008 Playoffs: Wrapping Up Game 2 Of The Finals

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

1. Chris Osgood
2. Henrik Zetterberg
3. Marc-Andre Fleury
4. Pavel Datsyuk
5. Sidney Crosby
   

2008 Playoffs: Wrapping Up Game 1 Of The Finals

Well that sure sucked. The Pens really looked flat tonight, but full credit to Detroit. They outplayed the Pens and did a pretty good job of limiting the Penguins offensive chances, especially in the first period. Hopefully this game will be a good wakeup call for Pittsburgh, because tonight they looked a lot more like the team that got battered around by Ottawa last year than the team that cruised through the East this season.

Here are the rest of my notes and observations on Game 1:

• The Pens defense looked shaky at times, but in all honesty the Wings didn't have that many good scoring chances. The Wings did take advantage of a couple bad mistakes by the Pens' D though, and in a series this close that will be the difference.
• MAF looked a bit shaky for the first time in this post-season, but I think he did a good job of surviving the first period and then settling in.
• Granted Henrik Zetterberg scored a garbage time goal, but he and Pavel Datsyuk were not much of a factor tonight.
• Evgeni Malkin looked absolutely lost tonight. Geno can be the most dominant player in the NHL when he is on, but he also has nights like tonight when he is really off. Pittsburgh will need more from him if they are going to have a shot in this series.
• Sidney Crosby and Marian Hossa both looked good tonight. They weren't at their best, but they were probably the Penguins' two best players aside from MAF. I would even go as far to say that Sid was the best forward for either team.
• I hated Mikael Samuelsson going into this game. I still hate him. Move along.
• Niklas Kronwall is a nice hitter, but he really leads with his elbows a lot. Some ref needs to step in and call that when applicable. That said, his big hit on Jordan Staal was as clean as they come.
• That Detroit crowd is a joke. Can't someone step in and officially strip them of the Hockeytown title already?
• I couldn't be more excited about the fact that there is only one more VS. broadcast left in the season. Their broadcasts could not be worse.

One last piece of business to attend to. As I said in a previous post, I will be keeping a running list of Conn Smythe Trophy candidates for the duration of the Finals. So without further delay, here is the first edition of...

The Conn Five

1. Chris Osgood
2. Marc-Andre Fleury
3. Sidney Crosby
4. Henrik Zetterberg
5. Sergei Gonchar

2008 Playoffs: Handicapping The Conn Smythe Contenders

As we get ready for the Stanley Cup Finals to get underway on Saturday night, I thought this would be the perfect time to look at who are the front runners for the Conn Smythe Trophy on both teams. Both the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins have been led by their biggest stars in the post-season, but there have also been some unsung heroes on both teams that I feel should get some recognition for their tremendous play thus far.

I am going to list my top four Conn Smythe candidates for each team below. Once the Finals begin I will include a Conn Smythe Top 5 when I recap each game. This will be a dynamic list that will obviously reflect the ebb and flow of the series as it plays out.

Detroit Red Wings

1. Chris Osgood
2. Henrik Zetterberg
3. Pavel Datsyuk
4. Johan Franzen

Notes: I give Osgood top billing here because he really turned things around for the Wings in their first round series against Nashville. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are pretty much a coin flip at this point. The bottom line is that the Wings would be lost without them both. Franzen would be much higher on the list if it were not for his injury. It will be interesting to see if the Wings get him back for the Finals or not.

Pittsburgh Penguins

1. Sidney Crosby
2. Marc-Andre Fleury
3. Evgeni Malkin
4. Sergei Gonchar

Notes: It was a tough call for me here between Sid and MAF. I still don't think MAF has gotten his fair share of the credit for the Penguins' performance thus far. People seem all to eager to declare him the weak link in the Penguin chain, but not give him his due as he continues to outperform every other netminder in the NHL. Geno could be leading the pack here if he hadn't gone quiet in the middle of the Eastern Conference Finals. Gonchar has been unreal all post-season and does not get near the amount of credit that he deserves. He has been an anchor for the Penguins at both ends of the rink.

The NHL Announces All-Star Game Starters

The fan votes have all been counted and the NHL has announced the starters for the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta. The starters are:

Eastern Conference

• Sidney Crosby
• Vincent Lecavalier
• Daniel Alfredsson
• Andrei Markov
• Zdeno Chara
• Martin Brodeur

Western Conference

• Henrik Zetterberg
• Pavel Datsyuk
• Jarome Iginla
• Nicklas Lidstrom
• Dion Phaneuf
• Roberto Luongo

All things considered these are actually pretty solid picks by the fans as all 12 players are definitely deserving of the trip to Atlanta. I would probably stick hometown boy Ilya Kovalchuk in instead of Alfredsson, but Ilya will make the team any way so it's not that big of a deal. At first I didn't think too highly of Markov being voted in, but it's not that much of a reach when you look at the numbers. Of course if Sergei Gonchar had been on the ballot (I'll never understand why he wasn't) then maybe things would have been different.

Some Stars Don't Shine In Shootouts

Following Pittsburgh's shootout victory over the Canucks on Saturday night, a game in which Sidney Crosby was not only stopped by Roberto Luongo in the shootout, but also on an OT penalty shot, I started to reflect on Sidney's relatively poor track record in shootouts. I couldn't help but think that Michel Therrien might better serve the Pens by letting someone else take Sid's place in the shootout. This in turn led me to wonder how many other big name players are sent out in the shootouts by their coaches despite a lack of success. After going through the shootout stats since the start of the '06-'07 season, there is quite a list of big name players who have been disappointing in the shootout.

Some of the most prominent players are:

• Sidney Crosby - 6/20 (.300%)
• Alexander Ovechkin - 2/13 (.154%)
• Vincent Lecavalier - 3/14 (.214%)
• Henrik Zetterberg - 2/9 (.222%)
• Evgeni Malkin - 3/16 (.188%)
• Thomas Vanek - 2/11 (.181%)
• Patrick Elias - 2/11 (.181%)

My first reaction when researching these stats was that Crosby's numbers are actually a little better than I thought they were, yet still not as good as I would expect from him. For some reason I'm not surprised that Ovechkin hasn't fared well in shootouts. He's more of a finisher to me than a guy who can consistently take on goalies one-on-one and prevail. The numbers for Lecavalier, Zetterberg, and Elias (and Vanek to a lesser degree) really shocked me. These are craftier players who have been around for a while, and you would think they would be more successful in this setting.

The real question here is whether or not these players are helping their teams by taking part in the overtime shootouts. I recognize that there is pressure for a coach to send out a premier player like Crosby or Lecavalier, but at some point results have to start to come into play. If you look around the league, it isn't hard to find some "no name" players who have excelled at the shootout. Erik Christensen has been a revelation for Pittsburgh, going 11 for 18 in shootouts since the start of last season. Devils defensive specialist John Madden is a somewhat surprising (I think his offense is better than he gets credit for) 4 for 7 when participating in shootouts. And then there is the Wild's secret shootout weapon, defenseman Petteri Nummelin is a remarkable 8 for 9 in shootouts. Certainly these players help show that results count more than the name on the back of the jersey.

This isn't to say the stars should be given up on. For example, Anaheim center Andy McDonald was 1 for 10 in shootouts last season, but has converted both of his opportunities so far this season. I'm simply saying that coaches could probably secure a few extra points for their teams if they looked a little outside the box when putting together their shootout lineups. Would it hurt for the Penguins to try Kris Letang (2 for 2) in Crosby's usual 3 slot for a bit, or for the Canucks to make Trevor Linden (4 for 5) a regular shootout participant? It could mean a few extra points in the standings. And in today's NHL, that can be the difference between making the playoffs or golfing in April.