SBNation.com User Blog: mjsst61

Game 3 recap; The first goal matters?

mjsst61 — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:03:28 -0000

The Pittsburgh Penguins have officially put the Carolina Hurricanes on the brink of elimination with a remarkable 6-2 win tonight in Carolina. Every announcer and analyst in the hockey world talks about how important the first goal of a game is but the Penguins are making a counterargument this postseason.

Let's take a look at the games the Pens have won. Two out of the four games that the Pens beat Philadelphia, the Flyers scored the first goal. Two out of the four games that the Pens beat Washington, the Caps scored the first goal. And tonight the Carolina Hurricanes scored the first goal.

The Canes came out of the gate strong tonight which was expected with them being at home. They actually outshot the Pens tonight for once and Matt Cullen put them on the board first just four minutes into the game. The turning point was at the end of the first period. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored back to back goals, 31 seconds apart, with less than a minute left in the first. That took the energy out of the high octane RBC and they never really recaptured that energy.

Fatigue has to be believed to be the big factor. Even after Sergei Samsonov brough the Canes within one goal in the third period, the Pens just had more in their legs. Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, Dennis Seidenberg, and Eric Staal all played 22+ minutes again tonight while the Pens only had three guys over 20 minutes and Crosby was the only one to even get to 21.

The big guns are tired for Carolina and it's being shown by the scored. Matt Cullen is the leading scorer for the Canes with three points this series. Evgeni Malkin is the leading scorer for the Pens with triple the points at nine. Yes, that's Malkin being spectacular. It's also the Canes being lackluster.

Food for thought. Does anyone remember how much Evgeni Malkin got scrutinized last year for being non-existant in the Conference Finals. He was considered to be someone that choked in the playoffs. I think we can throw that theory out the window.

Round 3, Game 3: Canes get their chance at home

mjsst61 — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:14:14 -0000

(Promoted from fanposts - FrankD)

Tomorrow night the Eastern Conference Finals heads to Carolina where the Hurricanes will be looking to get back into the series with the Pittsburgh Penguins in what many would consider to be a must-win situation for the Canes. The question is, do the Canes have any hope of getting back into this series?

Everyone seems to come back to the thought that Cam Ward is the key for Carolina getting back in this series and that is partly true. Ward has been below average at best so far with an .875 save percentage and a goals against average roughly around 4.5. That doesn't mean the series is over. Ward has tremendous career numbers against Pittsburgh in the regular season (9-3-1, 2.43, .916). If he gets back into that form, it's possible that Carolina wins at least one game at home but not if some other things happen.

The big names for the Canes this series have been nonexistent. Eric Staal has no goals, one assist and is a -3 rating. Erik Cole has no goals, one assist, and an even rating. Ray Whitney has no goals, two assists, and a -2 rating. Scott Walker has no goals, one assist, and a -3 rating. The list continues. The leading scorers for the Canes are Chad LaRose and Rod Brind'Amour with two points a piece. That's not good when on the other side you have Matt Cooke with as many points as those two combined and leading scorer for the Pens, Evgeni Malkin with triple the points of those two respectively.

Yes, Cam Ward has never lost a playoff series. Yes, Carolina gets the next two games at home. Yes, the Canes have last change the next two games so Paul Maurice can get Eric Staal away from Jordan Staal. No, the Canes have not come back from two games down this playoff season. No, the Canes do not have the depth to overcome their injuries. And no, the Canes have no answer for Evgeni Malkin.

It is most likely a stretch to say that the Pens will sweep the Canes. That just doesn't happen that often in Conference Finals. However, at this point, it is also a stretch to say that Cam Ward will still be undefeated in playoff series after the end of next week.

(Promoted from fanposts - FrankD)

Poll

How will this series end?

Pens sweep

86 votes

Pens in 5

169 votes

Pens in 6

40 votes

Pens in 7

4 votes

Canes in 6

2 votes

Canes in 7

11 votes

312 votes | Poll has closed

Pens vs. Capitals preview

mjsst61 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:18:57 -0000

Promoted from Fanposts (FrankD)

Well, well, well, after tonight's events, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to go from eliminating the team that they hate the most to being matched up with the player that they hate the most. Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will be the Penguins second round opponent in this postseason.

For 58 minutes it was looking like the Pens would be matched up with the Bruins until the Carolina Hurricanes scored two goals in less than a minute to eliminate the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of their series.

The Capitals won the season series against the Penguins three games to one but that can be deceiving. Two of the Caps' wins came while Sergei Gonchar was out of the lineup and guys like Paul Bissonette, Chris Minard, Dustin Jeffrey, and Tim Wallace were playing on a regular basis. Also, the one win the Penguins got was with their current roster which includes Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin.

The biggest question mark coming into this series for the Capitals is their goaltender, Simeon Varlamov. He was outstanding after replacing Jose Theodore in net in the series with the New York Rangers but this is the first significant action he has ever seen at the NHL level. The deeper he gets in the playoffs, logic would suggest that he would begin the rattle.

The Pens' biggest concern coming into this series has to be Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. Not only because of their point scoring capabilities but moreso because of their ability to get under the skin of the Penguins, especially Ovechkin. If he can succeed in getting the Penguins to play undisciplined hockey, which he's been known to do in the past, it could be a long series.

The key to the series for both teams, as always, will be special teams. The Capitals bring the second best power play in the NHL into this series against the Penguins' eighth best penalty kill. On the other hand, the Penguins will be bringing their 20th ranked power play against the Capitals' 17th ranked penalty kill. In other words, on paper, the special teams are somewhat evenly matched.

It's going to be a matter of who stays disciplined and doesn't take dumb penalties. Going in, the Caps have that edge since they were in the bottom ten in the league in penalty minutes. But that also means that they aren't likely to play the same physical style that gave the Pens some problems against the Flyers.

Even though the Capitals may have the edge on paper, how can you go against the Pens right now under Bylsma? No team in the East has them downright outmatched. Let's watch Bylsma go out there as the new official head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins and work his magic.

Promoted from Fanposts (FrankD)

Poll

Who will win the Pens/Caps series?

Pens in 4

15 votes

Pens in 5

93 votes

Pens in 6

377 votes

Pens in 7

88 votes

Caps in 4

29 votes

Caps in 5

42 votes

Caps in 6

101 votes

Caps in 7

44 votes

789 votes | Poll has closed

Fan intelligence

mjsst61 — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:13:02 -0000

I don't often talk in the first person in my blogs very much or go outside the game to point something out but today I am because I ran into ignorance at one of it's highest levels today.

I work at Giant Eagle. For those of you that do not live in the tri-state area, Giant Eagle is a grocery store chain. I work many jobs within the store but today I was at the service desk. We are allowed to wear Penguins gear to work this weekend so I had my jersey on and this guy who is originally from Boston walks to the desk and decides to engage me in a sports debate based solely on opinion with no evidence to back him up.

His claim: Milan Lucic is a better hockey player than Sidney Crosby. What? Yes. It's true. That's what he said to me. I don't have to tell any intelligent hockey fan that Sidney Crosby was third in the league in scoring with 103 points. Meanwhile, Lucic barely cracked the top ten of his own team with 42 points. His argument was that Lucic does all the little things better than Crosby. Great. That's his job. If you're going by that logic then Jordan Staal is the best player in the NHL.

I would have even accepted if he tried to tell me that Savard was better than Crosby. At least that could potentially be backed up with some numbers and you could make a halfway intelligent argument but saying that about Lucic is asinine.

I am aware that there are fans like that in every city. Even Pittsburgh has just as many dumb fans as anyone else in the league. I suppose in a perfect world anyone who wanted to argue about sports would have intelligence about the game and the numbers. However, it's usually the casual fan that argues the most.

Flyers stay alive, force game 6

mjsst61 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:06:23 -0000

Desperation. That is the one and only word that can describe the win the Philadelphia Flyers achieved over the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight at the Mellon Arena. Anyone who thought the Flyers would roll over and die after going down three games to one is a fool. That qualifies every player in a Penguin uniform tonight as a fool.

Dan Bylsma has been brilliant in his stint as the Penguins head coach this season but some of his lineup decisions tonight made no sense. Tonight he benched Petr Sykora and Kris Letang in favor of Miroslav Satan and Phillippe Boucher, respectively. These moves would have made sense in the last game but in a game when you can eliminate your biggest rival, why would you try to make changes?

There is no argument that Letang and Sykora have been subpar at best in this series but chemistry is a big factor in playoff hockey. When one group wins three out of four games it makes no sense to switch that up. Satan didn't even play ten minutes tonight which makes him playing in place of Sykora virtually useless. And Boucher had a -2 rating along with Sidney Crosby, Mark Eaton, Chris Kunitz, and Rob Scuderi. When three out of your six defensemen have a -2 rating you don't even need to look at the scoreboard to know you lost.

After dominating the Penguins the way they did tonight, the Flyers have built enough momentum to make things interesting going into game six at the Wachovia Center Saturday afternoon. It seems as if all the emotion of the Penguins got sucked out of them when Evgeni Malkin's tying goal in the second period was taken away when it way deemed that he kicked the puck into the net.

The Flyers' grinders played just the way they did in game three as well. Aaron Asham and Claude Giroux who aren't known as goal scorers each had a goal a piece. The story of this series have been the third and fourth lines of each team. Whichever teams bottom lines performs better wins the game.

Bylsma's lineup going into game six is up in the air as to what it will be. One thing is certain though and that is the Staal, Kennedy, Cooke line needs to be better than the Flyers' third line. If that happens, winning game six will be no problem and it needs to be no problem. The Penguins know better than anyone that it is very possible to come back from being down 3-1.

Winning game six will be important for the Penguins if for no other reason then for fatigue. The Pens should be rooting for the Rangers to finish off the Caps because that would give the Pens a matchup againt the winner of the Hurricanes and Devils who have taken everything out of each other....assuming the Penguins can hold on and win the series.

Bucs need pitching now more than ever

mjsst61 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:19:48 -0000

The Pittsburgh Pirates' hot start to the 2009 season can largely be credited to the amazing work from a pitching staff that was worst in the league in ERA last season. They lead the league in shutouts with four which is just two less than the rest of the teams in the National League combined.

The pitching staff may have to be even better than they've already been in order to maintain the level of success they have gotten used to this season. The reason for this is because Ryan Doumit will be out for at least two months with a fractured wrist. Doumit is arguably the best all around hitter in the Pirates' lineup and by far the best clutch hitter they have. He will be replaced largely by Jason Jaramillo who provides little more than good defense.

Doumit hit .410 last season with runners in scoring position. He is also a switch hitter which provided the Pirates with their only power threat from the right side of the plate. The only right hander left with threatening power is Craig Monroe who doesn't play every day.

The Pirates will be relying on Adam LaRoche to fill the offense that Doumit will be leaving behing. His unusually hot start this season helps his cause but he will have to prove to be a threat against lefties. Manager John Russell plans on using LaRoche in the cleanup role against lefties which can be a hit or miss scenario. The only other option would be to play Monroe against every lefty and have him bat cleanup.

Run production could be an issue for the next two months but if it will be you would never know by the Pirates sweep of the Florida Marlins over the past three days. The Marlins came into the series with the best record in baseball and left being swept by a team that hasn't had a winning season in 16 years.

The pitching staff can be largely thanked for the sweep as well as the rest of the wins. Paul Maholm has been brilliant. Every Pirate fan had to feel good today when Nyjer Morgan singled in the go ahead run to give Maholm the win when he had a bad day by his standards by giving up four runs on eight hits in six innings. Ian Snell has been solid ever since his shaky first start but consistency is always a question mark with him. Consistency also hasn't been a friend of Zach Duke who struggled in his last start after being brilliant in his first two including the home opener. Lastly, Ross Ohlendorf and Jeff Karstens are making Neil Huntington look brilliant. Both of them have had solid starts while Damaso Marte has an ERA in the 20's and Xavier Nady is out for the season for the Yankees.

The bullpen has been overshadowed by the starters but they have also performed quite well. Outside of one bad performance by Sean Burnett and another by Craig Hansen the bullpen has been near unhittable including Jesse Chavez who has been a pleasant surprise and seems to have turned into a favorite of Russell's coming out of the bullpen.

Every loyal Pirate fan knows that they are infamous for getting our hopes up in April and then going down the tubes after that. Losing Doumit for two months puts the Buccos in a good position to go on a big losing streak but with continuous consistent starting pitching, the Pirates could make a run at the ever elusive .500 record.

Poll

How many games will Paul Maholm win this season?

Less than 10

0 votes

10-13

18 votes

14-17

30 votes

18-20

7 votes

55 votes | Poll has closed

Games that champions win

mjsst61 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:47:17 -0000

On Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded from an embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday by beating them 3-1. The game was not dominated by the Penguins, however. The Flyers made the Penguins play their game for a large portion of the game. The Penguins won because their grinders that did not get the job done in game three got it done in game four. Secondly, Marc-Andre Fleury played out of his mind.

Marc-Andre Fleury was by far the player of the game. He faced a much tougher test througout the game than his counterpart Martin Biron did. Fleury faced 46 shots in the game while Biron only faced 25. The Flyers weren't just putting the puck on net from the blue line either. They had several scoring chances that Fleury just shut down. Maybe the most impressive save was a shot from the blue line from Kimmo Timonen that Fleury did not see. It bounced off the boards in front of the net. Fleury heard the puck hit and contorted himself backwards to shut down Simon Gagne from point-blank range.

This game was important for Fleury after a poor performance in game three. Game three saw Fleury give up two goals on the first two shots of the game. In game four he didn't give up the first and only goal the Flyers scored until shot number 42. In playoff hockey, most often your goaltender has to be your best player. Fleury has been that in the three games he has won in this series. It would be a struggle to find a goaltender in the east that could hang with him.

The grinders of the Penguins also rebounded nicely in this game. The third and fourth lines of the Flyers dominated the Penguins in game three. The tide reversed back in the Penguins direction. Tyler Kennedy scored the goal which turned out to be the game winner. Max Talbot iced the game with an empty net goal. Matt Cooke had two assists and Hal Gill as well as Craig Adams chipped in with a helper a piece. The only production the Flyers got from their grinders was a goal from Daniel Carcillo when Fleury was knocked into his own net by Joffrey Lupul which left him on his knees, unable to make the save.

Gill, Cooke, Rob Scuderi, and Jordan Staal were all a plus two in this game. Scuderi and Staal also logged over 20 minutes of ice time each which were most on the team behind Sergei Gonchar. Those guys proved that they didn't need someone like Eric Godard to be dressed in order to stand up to the Flyers. They played physical hockey and for the most part prevented the Flyers from performing their behind the play shenanigans.

These are the games that champions need to win. The games were they don't play their best hockey but they still get the job done. This win puts the Penguins in a great position to end the series on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

Poll

What game will the Pens eliminate the Flyers?

Game 5

28 votes

Game 6

7 votes

Game 7

0 votes

Flyers win series

5 votes

40 votes | Poll has closed