There were chances early on tonight for the Pens to get the first goal. They hit the post or crossbar three times, with the biggest chance missed by Sid early in the second period. None of those went in and the Devils got the first goal on a fluke bounce off of the end boards.
The Zebras, who truly were clueless tonight, missed the Devils being offside by at least a foot when they scored their second goal, and missed a pretty blatant tripping call when they scored their third (which was on a nice redirect by Parise - he's surpassed all expectations).
You can't hang this one on Sabu. You'd like him to make some of those saves to keep the game closer, but I'm not sure I blame him on any of those.
The other thing at play here is the Pens have dipped pretty far into their farm system to get some replacement parts for injuries. Playing in the game tonight were:
- Lovejoy
- Minard
- Taffe
- Wallace
This game was surprisingly exciting for a game against New Jersey. Too bad there wasn't anyone in their arena to see it. Seriously - how do they keep the franchise operating out there? Their attendence always seems to be horrid.
Jersey was especially annoying tonight, for the following reasons:
- That goal horn may have taken over the top spot as the league's most annoying (from Florida).
- Bobby Holik is a um... (family blog here... ) big mean jerk. Bringing the one-hander down on Letang when he was already on the ice was especially cheap. I hope to see someone catch him cold one day soon.
- They just have that smug attitude after they score. You'd just love to see the Pens wipe those grins off of their faces.
Next up: Right back at it tomorrow night at the Igloo against the Isles.
7 comments:
Good Teams find a way to win. Crosby has got to step up and lead this team into battle, not just focus on the refs and getting calls.
Anonymous - really? Crosby needs to step up? Do you even watch the games? He plays all out every game, but for some reason people think that he should be able to win the games all by himself. The Pens are decimated by injuries and still are competing every night. Also, the Pens are a good team and are just not winning right now. What do you expect them to win every game and never have a bad streak? The expectations on this team are insane.
Will - I'm right there with you. Maybe you could talk about Sid getting into it with the refs three years ago, but today? He leads by example in my book.
Then why is the team not ready to play 60 minutes of hockey night in and night out? Even the wins are not complete games. I look at the coach and the captain.
Every team in the east has injuries...no excuse.
Anonymous - I don't argue that the Pens have issues, like holding leads, and like you said 'playing 60 min of hockey', but even with all that they are still doing very well. IMO, that's the sign of a good team. Even when you're not playing as well as you should/could be, you still find a away to win games. Crosby (who I'm sure you think is having an off year) is a monster out there. He and Malkin have scored like 40 points in the last 8 games!!!! How can you attribute most of the Pens woes to him? I mean if you criticized Satan or Dupuis for not being able to finish, then I would not argue, but to put the onus on Sid is what I don't get. And let's not forget that the Pens are way ahead of where they were last year at this point! You are right, all teams have injuries and I was not using that as an excuse, I just believe you can't expect a team to be clicking on on cylinders when 1/3 of the starting roster is on IR.
Pat - I totally agree. No one liked how much Sid yapped at the refs his first season, but he's got progressively better about that over the years. Now, at this point in his career with the accomplishments he's had, he has earned the right to speak up if he wants to.
On the Ovie All Star Votes -
The only thing I want from the Pens fans, is to stay the hell out of our building, keep crying about Malking getting run at, and understand what Semin said about Crosby is true....You can keep your votes...I hope your team gets sold.
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