...

[Captain Obvious]

[resister]

BLARG, hockey...

[Captain Obvious]

Pens / Predators - game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday

[jimmyz]

If only helmets were forbidden and we could see more blood.

[Ethereal]

Judging by how badly the Predators beat the Blackhawks, the Penguins are going to have a tough time of it. Granted, the Hawks played badly, but the Predators took every advantage of it and humiliated one of the best dynasties in hockey history.

[Captain Obvious]

Pens 1-0

@Ethereal - you probably didn't watch the game, based on the first game the Predators don't really look as tough as the Senators did. The Pens seemed to match better with them, the Senators were really tough. So far, first game. 3-0 after the first period, it looked like a blowout but the Predators inched back in and tied it with like 6 minutes left in the third. Pens didn't get a shot on goal in the entire second period.

Wound up being 5-3.

Two things I noticed, the Pens were hitting. They're not a hitting team, they're a skate and puck handling team. They were knocking the $#@! out of the Predators. Maybe as an offset, their puck handling was really sloppy. Two of the Predators goals came on really bad puck handling.

Going to be a fun series.

[Hal Jordan]

Eh... Go Pens.

[Captain Obvious]

Eh... Go Pens.

I might have told this story before, when we lived in Pittsburgh we went to Toronto a lot, spent a lot of time there. Honeymooned there too.

So we were driving up there with my two older boys when they were... maybe 5 and 6, went to see the Phantom at the Pantageus. Canada is a lot of nothing with a couple of big cities, we got turned around somewhere between Buffalo and Toronto. DUI stop in a middle of a cornfield. When the stopped and flashlighted me they realized I was just a dad with family in tow and I asked them for directions to Toronto. Told me to U-turn and head the other way and I did. The cop noticed my PA plates and as I drove away he yells out "Go Pens".

[Hal Jordan]

I might have told this story before, when we lived in Pittsburgh we went to Toronto a lot, spent a lot of time there. Honeymooned there too.

So we were driving up there with my two older boys when they were... maybe 5 and 6, went to see the Phantom at the Pantageus. Canada is a lot of nothing with a couple of big cities, we got turned around somewhere between Buffalo and Toronto. DUI stop in a middle of a cornfield. When the stopped and flashlighted me they realized I was just a dad with family in tow and I asked them for directions to Toronto. Told me to U-turn and head the other way and I did. The cop noticed my PA plates and as I drove away he yells out "Go Pens".

If you had, I hadn't heard it before.

While I only really get hyped for football, hockey is far more fun for me than baseball or basketball (especially what basketball has become. Todays teams couldn't hang with the teams from the 90s playing 90s rules, imo.). As such, when I do watch, I'll root for a couple of teams that I know fans of. The Pens and the Wings are the main two I root for.

[Captain Obvious]

So @Ethereal - not sure if you're watching the series.

Pens up 2-0, won both home games. The first game the talking heads said the Pens got lucky, I didn't see it that way and I'm not being a homer, I think the first game was pretty evenly matched even though we won 5-3 with one late empty net goal. The Preds scored late in the third period to tie it up at 3-3 but we got a really late goal and an empty net. Pens were up 3-0 at the end of the first (they didn't get a shot on goal during the entire second period, for 37 minutes) and it looked like a blowout but.. as said.

During the first game the Predators had the first goal of the game called back, that was a big momentum killer and probably the reason why the talking heads went there.

Second game, blowout. 4-1 and it was closer than that but still a blowout. Officiating was awful, it was bad in the first game, pathetic in the second game. Not one sided, the Pens benefited from a bad call or two but overall, the penalties on Malkin and Crosby were just awful. Awful, and it got nasty toward the end.

So I brought this topic up with the whipmistress, if the Pens win the cup for the second year in a row, who gets the rookie of the year award? Matt Murray who is technically a rookie this year and if they win he'll have two Stanley Cup rings, or Jake Geuntzel who just tied the rookie playoff scoring total with 12 and will likely break it in the next two games.

I say Murray, he was "elected" the best player on the ice so far from the talking heads.

Fun series.

Are they still playing basketball?