Sunday, October 30, 2005

Hurricanes 5, Penguins 3

Well, that was a game the Pens had in the bag, until the later part of the third period. It was the ever-deadly two goal lead that did them in. They seemingly tried to shut it down and play "kill the clock" hockey, and it back-fired on them big time.

Now, I was at a Halloween party, and couldn't hear the game, but it was on the TV. The puck just seemed to stick to the Hurricanes in the third, where it had been much more even in the first two periods. They seemed to have tons of room to skate, and when the Pens did have the puck, they seemed to be slow and tenative.

That was a painful one to lose, for sure.

One curiousity, they went upstairs to review a shot by the Pens where Gerber had the puck pinned under his leg and near the right post. Anyone looking at the replay should have immediately been able to tell that there was no way to get any kind of meaningful information (or the ever popular "indisputable visual evidence") from the replay. Why the delay?

Anyway, it was a bad loss to a good team. The Pens will move on. Unless you listen to Dave Molinari of the Post-Gazette, who makes it sound like the end of the world... Bring back Dejan!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was the second game stolen by a bum penalty call. The penalty against Crosby was an absolute joke, just like the one to Mario a few games ago. Absurd.

The reffing has gone too far. They've opened up the game and that's great, but it's to the point that incidental contact is falling under "zero tolerance."

As for the game, the Pens played great until the last ten minutes. They had numerous chances to take that 4th goal but it just didn't happen. What can you do?

It's a disappointment but, at the very least, the Pens looked like a real team. I can't blame the game on anyone but the ref and some unlucky bounces in the third.

Anonymous said...

You guys are more forgiving than I am on this one. I thought the Pens were unprofessional in the third period -- they should have been desperate for the two points and instead they stood around and hoped Carolina would mail it in.

I agree that the officiating is out of hand (mainly because it's so inconsistent), but the Pens shouldn't have been in a position to allow a bad call to hurt them.

Particularly with the Canes having played the night before, there's just no excuse for this one. Not on home ice, and not with the cruddy start to the season. Recchi in particular had a bad game, I thought. He had chances to clear the puck right before two of Carolina's first three goals, among other mistakes.

Lastly, and not that it has anything to do with the on-ice woes, but what's with Edzo constantly looking as if he's about to be led to the electric chair? Maybe he has an ulcer (and no, I don't mean T-BO).