BELIEVE

It’s been a while between posts due to an unfortunately timed hail storm of technical difficulties.

 Since the Gary Roberts’ Game, a brilliant 4-0 win to launch what could be a long post season run, the Penguins have won 5 consecutive playoff games en-route to dispatching the Ottawa Senators in a redemptive first round sweep and taking a 2-0 lead on the New York Rangers in the Conference semi’s.

The series returns to New York tonight, with the Rangers hoping to rally behind a rabid crowd at MSG.  The New York media and a large portion of the Rangers fan base seems intent on overshadowing outstanding play by the young Penguins with talk of diving, NHL conspiracies, and poor officiating.  No need to rehash any of that now. 

At the conclusion of game two, Sean Avery and Marc Andre Fleury exchanged love taps, in the crease as time expired, nearly resulting in a bench-clearing brawl. The animosity will be tangible tonight. 

The Penguins have done a great job of ignoring Avery, but  the classless, racial slur spouting winger will be even more fired up tonight at the Garden.

Fellow Penguin Wire-er, Rich, brought up a good point: Gary Roberts absence in the series could be due to the bad blood between him and Avery. Not to take Roberts’ name in vein, but if he winds up literally killing Sean Avery and getting suspended, and or tossed from the game, it would leave the Pens short-handed. Adam Hall has filled in admirably while Roberts recovers from a groin injury. 

Roberts is a healthy scratch for tonight’s game. I guess you go with the hot hand in Adam Hall, and maybe Rich’s theory is a factor,  but Roberts’ presence in the lineup for what will be the Penguins toughest test of the playoffs, in a hostile environment would surely benefit the team.  I don’t know who you’d scratch if it not Hall.  My sister has a theory that Hall should just take one for the team and be the sacrificial lamb who ends Sean Avery’s career. I don’t advocate that kind of thing, but if it has to happen it is good to know Roberts could take Hall’s spot if he were suspended.   Therrien did say he had a plan to take care of Avery, or something along those lines, when he was asked about Avery slashing Crosby behind the play in game 2.

Adam Hall wins faceoffs.

Ryan Whitney has been taking a lot of criticism lately, but I thought he played a great game in game 2. I suppose when a team posts a shutout no defenseman had an atrocious game, but with all the talk of scratching Whitney fro Sydor it was nice to see a solid performance from #19.  He didn’t stand out and I suppose that’s what you want from a defenseman, who has been struggling somewhat in his own end. 

If it weren’t for Henrik Lundqvist the Rangers would be dead in the water. However, the allegedly clear-cut goaltending advantage the Rangers hold was not enough to steal a win in Pittsburgh.  Fleury and the Pens defense is quietly stifling the Rangers. 

If the Rangers fall behind early and have to open it up, it could get messy. The Penguins had a ridiculous number of high quality scoring chances on Sunday, and with all their offensive talent it’s only a matter of time before they go off again as they did in game 1.

 Expect a fight early in the game,

Go Penguins.

The Injury Walrus is loose in the Igloo.

Crosby, Talbot, Hossa: out for tonight’s game vs. Buffalo.

I’ve seen conflicting reports concerning the severity of Petr Sykora’s back spasms and his status for tonight’s game.

Crosby will be back for the Flyers game.  Taking tonight off allows him to get a full week of rest before he dominates Philly.

Gary Roberts: still out.  Hopefully he makes it back for the final week of the regular season, and we can enjoy him burying people in the playoffs.

Adam Hall and Kris Beech’s injuries have been somewhat overshadowed by those previously listed.  

The Pens top line tonight?

Malone-Malkin-Dupuis/Kennedy?

The Flyers come to town on Sunday.

I hate the Flyers.

It’s possible the Flyers’ game Sunday is a big reason guys are taking a breather tonight.  I bet if Philly was in town this evening, we’d see a few of the aforementioned players dress for the game.   I could be dead wrong. 

I’m going crazy waiting to see Hossa on Crosby’s wing. 

This is the time of year when I always wish I paid more attention to NCAA basketball, so I could fill out a killer bracket and actually win some money in one of the many (2 or 3) NCAA tournament pools I will invariably enter. I have a .000 lifetime winning percentage in NCAA pools.

I’m always right there until the sweet 16 then my picks, which I base on which team has a bigger history of recruiting violations, go sour and I lose to some woman who picks based on uniform color or which mascot is cuter or more deadly.

Is there a school with a Walrus Mascot?

I have always wanted to start a hockey playoff pool. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where the NHL was so popular that people wasted record amounts of company time Xeroxing, and handing out brackets? Imagine the connotations of a land where NHL playoff brackets were discussed as early as the all-star game, and the NHL trade deadline was as big a deal, nationally, as the NFL draft. Doesn’t it sound glorious? There’d be that shady guy who runs a pool, and even though you picked all the teams correctly, he’d tell you his “Friend form High School” got the final score of the semifinal game one goal closer than you did, so he won on the third tie-breaker, and no one you know ever sees a dime. Then he’d have new sneakers the next time you saw him, and for some reason he wouldn’t be able to make eye contact.

I wouldn’t even have to fill out two brackets-one with the Pens winning the Cup, and one where I pick with my head and not my heart-since the Penguins are as good a pick as any to come out of the East this year.

Oh, well.

I think I’m close to breaking down and purchasing NHL ’08. I should be able to find a used copy for under $25.

My fantasy NHL Playoff Bracket World leads nicely into…

Fantasy hockey segment dealing with only my fantasy team

It’s playoff time. My co-manager Rich and I will lead, best named fantasy hockey team ever, “Traffic in Front” to glory from the fourth seed. TIF faces off against “Hockey Stars” in the first round. Hockey Stars’ manager hasn’t adjusted his roster in some time. This would be a great week to face a team that will not maximize its man-games. The Penguins only play two games this week, that’s only two games from Malone, Sykora, Crosby, and MA Fleury.

With Crosby coming of IR, I was able to add get Sergi Zubov off the wire and put him into the IR spot on my roster-He should get back in Dallas’ lineup sometime next week. I dropped Kris Letang, and then added Brian McCabe. TIF’s defense is a bit suspect, Wade Redden is killing me, but there’s no one better on the wire. I basically have to add/drop a defenseman every day according to who’s playing.

Byfuglien is a third-line forward for Chicago, he plays in front of the net on the top power play unit. He is also listed as a defenseman. Solid pickup.

It pained me to drop Ty Conklin, but Fleury appears to be in line for most of the ice time for the rest of the regular season. I needed to get another forward.

TIF leads the league in transactions with 100. The one seed in the league has only made 17 transactions. I think I may have micromanaged to a fault. At one point I’ve had Ribero, Doan, Frolov, Pomminville, and I had a chance to grab Vanek. All have done well this season. In their place I’m rolling with Sakic, Selanne, Patrick Kane, and Backstrom. I say it’s six and half-a-dozen, but I love second guessing myself.

I don’t have many solid faceoff guys, I basically have to give up on PIM and +/- and try to win the rest of the categories. I don’t want to add Bobby Holik just to boost those categories, but if Sakic doesn’t start contributing I think that might happen.

That is my strategy.

If the popularity of other blogs which detail their author’s fantasy teams is any indication, you are all probably on the edge of your seats in anticipation of how Traffic in front finishes the season.

I mentioned that I have Backstrom on my fantasy team. Seguee…

As great as it is to beat the Capitals, and while I feel sorry for Niklas I’d rather see him put one behind his own goalie than the Pens’, I really hope the Caps make the playoffs. Crosby is a better all around player than Alex Ovechkin, but he’s a phenomenal talent and a great goal scorer. The NHL would benefit greatly from the chance to market Ovechkin in the playoffs, it is in Pens fans best interest for the Caps to make the playoffs and win every round until they play the Penguins.

Can’t wait till Hossa gets healthy

Let’s Go Pens

You had a good feeling going into today’s game. You should’ve. Don’t sweat the caps, man. Penguins were 12-1 out of the last 13 against the Caps, MAF was 6-0, Crosby has, for the most part, outshined Alexander Ovechkin in head to head meetings, and they’re the Caps for crying out loud.

16 Years Later, Beaupre still has Lemieux themed nightmares

It’s only fitting that the outcome of this game pretty much squashed the playoff hopes of the Capitals. What I mean by that is, The Caps DON’T make the playoffs. That’s pretty rich, but they don’t make the playoffs because one of their own players, Backstrom, shot the puck in his own net with under a minute to go. Ok, that’s pretty righteous, but it gets way better. The last Penguin to touch the puck was the Ovechkin rival, the man hated most by Capitals fans, Sidney Crosby, so he received credit for the goal. You know, Sir Sid, Sid the Kid, Bing, the greatest player in the world, or that guy those classy Caps fans like to piss on at the Verizon Center.

Sid drinks the blood of bald eagles to quench his thirst

Besides Crosby vs. Ovechkin, this game also featured a more heated rivalry that is, Malkin vs. Ovechkin. According to some people, i.e. Pierre McGuire, a hockey media heavyweight, reported that Ovechkin punched Malkin’s agent in the face during a summer bar brawl in Russia.

Perhaps that can explain why Ovechkin’s been gunning after Malkin all season.

It doesn’t really matter what Ovechkin’s been trying to do to Malkin this year.

The Capitals are all but out of the playoffs.

Malkin will win the scoring title.

Those piss poor Caps fans all want to hang themselves, and judging from the title of this post, I am very happy.

Pens on the rocks!

Ain’t no big surprise

They come out flat

and that’s their demise.

Got everything to lose

We ain’t the Blues

The Devils’re on the rise.

Crosby gave it his heart

gave it his soul.

Malkin was nowhere

this team is not whole.

Fleury was gone

now all I want is a smile.

First the Panthers score

man on a weak rebound.

Suddenly the Pens are down two

In the F-L-A.

And when Malone scored

we thought we had em.

But it was all for nothing at all

Left with our tail between our legs.

We all know the song.

Pens on the rocks!

Ain’t no big surprise.

Gill is a hack

I tell you no lies.

Florida is gone,

now all I want is a smile.

The Penguins play the Panthers tonight.

MA Fleury will be in net.

Sidney Crosby will play center.

I wonder if Malone gets bumped down to that second line with Sid at some point tonight.

I have to work this evening. I will miss most of the game. I will rely on Rich and Fake Mick Jagger for in-depth analysis after the fact.

On Tuesday, I was scolded by my assistant manager for polishing wine glasses in one of the empty dining rooms, which we rent out to big pharmaceutical companies to give presentations about ED drugs and Lithium, while watching the Pens-Lightening game. Some time late in the second period someone overflowed a urinal in the men’s room.

My AM was pissed.

I was amazed at how fast Sid looked in his first game back.

So it goes.

While the Steelers plod away trying to patch together an O-line to protect their 100million-dollar QB, and the Pirates assemble the greatest all-time bobble head lineup ever and book REO SpeedWagon to sing the National Anthem, (are the Pirates the REO SpeedWagon of the NL Central?, actually I think they remind me more of KISS-No talent at all, but they make tons of money off stupid people who pay to see them because they are entertaining. Why practice guitar when you can shoot rockets and stuff out of your drum set?) Sorry for the long parenthetical, but the Penguins are in first place in the Eastern Conference. They are winning despite the of the Injury Walrus’ season long rampage, and have exceeded the expectations projected by even the most Prozac-drenched brain of the sun-shiniest optimist.

Right now on ESPN radio the guys are talking about the Steelers signing Mewelde Moore. There really is no off-season in the NFL. I don’t even watch ESPN between the Super Bowl and opening day. At least acknowledge that hockey is a sport  played in North America. That network lost me a long time ago.

ON PANTHERS

Imagery of a rat-infested ’96 Conference Finals still haunts me. Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat at 3am, with that weird “where am I feeling” and I think for a minute the Pens won that series and went on to the finals, then I’m sad all over again.

I say, Bring back the Black Panthers, and get rid of the Florida Panthers.

The Panthers are a team that never should have been. I say combine them with Tampa Bay and move them to Hartford. They could be the new Whalers, or may be the Connecticut Thunder Cats.

The Panthers Arena will be half empty tonight, South Florida residents are all probably concerned with this news out of Dolphin Land.

Florida has a hot backup goalie, something Anderson, he’s made  2,120 consecutive saves while posting back-to-back shutouts in his last two starts.He’s due to let in half a dozen or so tonight.

Hossa will be back on Sunday, and we’ll finally get a look at a healthy Penguin team, except for Gary Roberts, who will play again this season.

Let’s Go Pens!

Here at Penguinwire.com, we’ve picked up a new and exciting writer to give us a new perspective on the Penguins and the NHL at large.  I’d like to introduce to you, “Fake Mick Jagger.”

Well, all right! Yeah! Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name. It shouldn’t be hard, it’s in the introduction. This is Fake Mick here, destined to keep you happy and I hope that you’ll take a chance on the tumblin dice with me. I may have no expectations, but I hope you do as this could be the last time I’d ever get a job like this.

You know, across hockey land, there is this guy. This crazy guy who wears a tinted visor and kinda looks like Robocop, he may or may not know robot karate, but he can score goals just like he’s ringing a bell. That man is Alexander Ovechkin. He plays for the Washington Capitals, and let me tell you folks out there in Penguin-land, he’s real good.

He will be the first player to score 60 goals in a season since our hero, Mario Lemieux, did it in 1996. That is very impressive, and it’s a two way horse race between he and our own little Russian Bear, Evgeni Malkin, for the Art Ross Trophy. Here’s hoping it’s Malkin’s name on that trophy.

But this Ovechkin dude is a force. He’s a power forward, big and strong, but unlike the great pure goal scorers of the past like Phil Esposito, Mike Bossy, and others, the guy can do it all by himself like a center. The only reason he doesn’t play center is because the only “weakness” in his game is his playmaking ability. He only has 38 assists. But still, brothers and sisters, this guy is dynamic! Don’t boo his ass when he comes to the Mellon, unless all goes as planned and the Caps somehow sneak into the 8th spot in the playoffs and the Pens get the 1 seed. It’ll be like old times.

Peter Forsberg returned to the Avalanche last night, and I say, who cares? Yeah, ol Foppa was a grand player back in the day. Tough as nails with skill out your ass. Kinda like Crosby. But to Fake Mick, he’s just another has been.

I’m sorry. It should be a big deal whenever a player like Forsberg graces the ice, especially in his case where injuries cut a great career a little short. I just can’t help but hate the guy ever since he put on a Flyers jersey. Seriously, Fake Mick has a rule. If a player has worn a Flyers jersey, they automatically suck. It’s hard, you know. I loved Mark Recchi, but that Flyers logo pisses me off. R.J. Umberger is from Plum, but sorry, him too. That also goes for Rick Tocchet, who I loved as a Penguin, as well as just about every player who ever went through the Flyers organization.

I thought this would be funnier. It’s really not, but Fake Mick will be back. Until then, I’ll be riding down your moonlight mile and trying to get up enough jam to fornicate with an African American woman all night. Some girls, yeah.

pics work now, which is nice.