Penguins

Good point.

 

Pens need to start winning face-offs after the Sens continuously ice the puck and get those D moving on the points since the Sens are just gong to put five guys in front of Anderson to clog up the shooting lanes

 

Looked like they had that start with the boards planned and it worked to throw Fleury off his game early. Couple that with practicing off-site and you get what you saw tonight.

From my humble eyes that end of the ice's boards are a little livelier than the other end that they get to defend twice....just my own observation.

Doesn't let them off the hook for not playing well, but that first was a surprise they were not ready for.

Got sick of hearing the pundits say the pens had only scored twice in the first 2 games when the Sens had only scored twice as well.

Also, they kept yelling about the aggressive play while sticks were flying out of Penguins hands for no reason.

That BS late with the delayed penalty and the slash at the end not called was garbage league crap. The roughing call on Wilson? He finished a legal check that Ottawa got mad at and 2 guys jumped him and he gets a roughing? Malkin gets a Game misconduct? Are they only going to allow one team to hit in this series?

EDIT: saw what Malkin did...inexcusable.

He let them get under his skin.

About the Faceoffs. Looked like they were better in the second, then something changed and I saw Malkin talking to the refs quite a few times with the "WTF" face after that and they started losing faceoffs again....

 

It will be interesting to see how the Pens respond tonight. MAF should come back strong. The Pens almost always come back with a win after a playoff loss. I think they are 9-2 or 10-2. They need a win tonight to even the series at 2-2 and take back home ice advantage.
Crosby needs to kick it in gear and start playing like the best player in hockey. It's amazing how far the Pens have come this year with ALL of the injuries on the defensive side. You expect some injuries, but what the Pens are going through is simply insane. Any other team going through a portion of those injuries would be sitting at home waiting for next year.
The Pens are still in it and who knows what can happen from here on out. If they lose, we pretty much know why. If they win out with everything going against them with the injuries it will really be special.

 

Just saw that Murray will be in goal not MAF.

 

Murray is in net tonight, Rust, Hornqvist, Kuhnukle, and Schultz are out.

 

I'd say missing Horn and Kuhn are the biggest reason Ottawa is able to stymie the Pens so far.

No one else is out there that's punishing them. Also, no one is getting all up in Anderson's grill!

 

The fourth line is giving them fit's but Cullen, Wilson and Rowney can only do so much. They really need to get guys moving in the offensive zone to try and move the 5 guys the Sens put in front of the net. I mean they are willing to let them boom it on net from the points because the are blocking the shooting lanes. Get the D moving left to right maybe drop it back to a forward and blast it. And for gosh sake stop trying to pass so much, the Sens are clogging everything up, get a step on your man and blast it on Anderson.

 

Looks like they broke that line up and spread the troublemakers through the top 3....seems to be working a bit as they don't have the smaller forwards they can beat on early!

 

Good game 4, even with that late second goal, this game had that "turning point of the series" feel for me. Especially that Crosby PP goal.

 

Notice where most of the goals came in the last 2 games?

That end of the ice causes problems for the defending team.

NHL might want to look into one side of the ice being slanted that much in favor of the home team. Nothing wrong with home ice advantage, but that end of the ice is ridiculous!

 

The Pens have home ice advantage again so the Senators ice won't be a problem. Crosby snapped out of it so it should be smooth sailing from here on out. If the Pens had half of their injured defensive players healthy and playing these wouldn't even be close games. I'll stick by my original prediction of Pens in six,

 

Whoa Daddy. What a game. While Pens didn't do it on purpose, a penalty with 25 seconds to go, an empty net and up by 1 isn't bad strategy since it allowed them to whack the puck down the ice without concern for icing - shaved 10 seconds + off the remaining time. Murray held his own. Not sure MAF would have stopped those two goal shots. Back home even Steven.

 

Stay with Murray now,doesn't let easy goals get past him. MAF had his day in the sun.

 

MAF's problem in Ottawa are the boards.

He's always been like that when playing with lively boards. He doesn't like it with the puck down behind the net and having to figure out how it's coming out. He's gotten better over the years, but once he starts seeing weird bounces off the boards, he gets back in his head and gets loose. Same as when he mishandles a puck. Gotten better, but you see it sometimes gets to his head.

Got lucky to win that series with Detroit, because we all saw he had some of those goals in those 2 series and they preyed on it hard!

Ottawa obviously looked at tape and that first goal was a set play off the boards. once that happened he went goofy. The wrap around you can see he thought he had lost the puck and it was going to come back out on that side (due to the lively boards), then realized what was happening too late to seal it off after coming out a bit.

Really, plain to see how playing there influences the flow of the game when you have to defend that end twice!

 

Neither team in this series has won 2 games in a row so I guess the Pens need to take care of that tomorrow. Follow it up with a win on Tuesday and get ready for the finals. The repeat is very close to being done. Looking forward to the three-peat next year to set a record that should stand for a long, long time.

 

Looks like things are rounding into shape like they should. The Pens might as well beat them on Tuesday and get an extra day of rest. Repeat Stanley Cup Champions. Don't think either team left poses much threat to the Pens.

 

Should see a suspension for that hit on Wilson with 5 seconds left. Trash play!

Of course that would just lead to a fresher guy on the ice that might not take dumb penalties for Ottawa...

Totally uncalled for and you have to wonder what's going on in your head as you line a guy up waiting to deliver an elbow to the head knowing you've already lost the game!

Not like he was trying to start a fight and meet him heads up to spark something for the next game but a total line him up for the cheap shot!

EDIT:
I think they still need to get on that horse for Ottawa.

Also, the teams out west had to get by some serious teams to get where they are. Nashville is playing out of their minds and the Ducks know all about playing tough teams in the playoffs!

 

Well guess it took a crummy game 3 for these Pens to re-awaken to the beasts they truly are. 10-0 over two shutouts? Priceless. I still think the Preds (or Ducks) will be completely jet-lagged when the final round begins which should provide additional advantage for the soon to be Eastern Champs again.

 

well i underestimated this team, we will see if they can finish off the sens. There is best of 7 for a reason

 

LETS GO PENS!!

 

Gotta give credit to the Senators that game, they showed some blue collar attitude and moxie. Don't think it carries them through game 7 though.

 

Meh, I don't know what interference is anymore.

The Hainsey call was terrible Sens player grabbed him and bought a call that wasn't there then they let the Sens interfere on every Pens zone entry.

They still had their chances though, but Anderson stole one. Ran Murray early and all they got was a Goaltender interference call.

They killed themselves and momentum late with the too many men on the ice call.

Never saw a goal like Daley's get taken off the board, especially when it was a Sens defenceman that kicked him in into his own net!

Not upset with the Pens effort at all in this game as they carried the play for much of the game. Sens stole another one just like the OT game and the first one....

Anything can happen now!

 

Time for the Pens to take care of business by winning tonight and start the finals series on Monday.

 

KUNITZ!!!!!!!

man, what a game!!