Gameday - Penguins at Sabres
Nov 28, 2008 NHL
Crosby was head over heels for Thomas Vanek
Gamenight tonight at HSBC Arena, as the Pittsburgh Penguins cruise in to face the Buffalo Sabres at 7:30pm. News from practice today was not good, however, as Thomas Vanek sat out most of it after taking a wicked hit against the Bruins. He came back in the third to finish that game and gave a non-answer about tonight (”I came back and finished the game, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t play tomorrow”). Thanks to John Vogl at the Buffalo News for that. Mike Harrington reports that Paille is feeling better, Patches is still one scratch but the other is not known (although he alludes to the fact that Max did extra on-ice work at practice as a hint that he may sit again).
The Penguins got down 3-0 but Crosby and Malkin helped them storm back to win 5-3 in the last game (against the Isles). Dany Sabourin got pulled (he was starting in place of the injured Marc-Andre Fleury), and some guy named John Curry stoned the Islanders the rest of the way. Curry has the start tonight, against Miller unless I hear different later. A game against the likes of Geno and Bing (as the Pensblog would put it) will be a good (if scary) way to tell if the Sabres defensive play/Miller’s goaltending prowess is back or if the past 2 games were an aberration. Go Sabres!
Tags: buffalo, crosby, Dany Sabourin, fleury, Hockey, John Curry, malkin, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, paetsch, paille, penguins, pittsburgh, Ryan Miller, sabres, sidney crosby, Thomas Vanek
Congratulations Red Wings
Jun 5, 2008 NHL
Contgratulations to the Detroit Red Wings, your Stanley Cup Champs. Pittsburgh gave up the early lead to Detroit, which seemed like the death of them in this series. Zetterberg is your Conn Smythe winner. It was contested down to the final tenth of a second as a desperate rebound shot fluttered past Osgood (but not into the net). Malkin finally looked decent, but it was too late. Go go Sabres offseason!
Tags: detroit, Hockey, malkin, NHL, osgood, penguins, pittsburgh, red wings, stanley cup, zetterberg
SCF: Penguins VS Wings
May 22, 2008 NHL
The 2008 Stanley Cup Finals begin this Saturday, pitting the Original Six Detroit Red Wings against the risen from the ashes Pittsburgh Penguins. The young Penguins, led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, will look to run roughshod over the older, ‘more experienced’ Wings. Still, you have to respect Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Holmstrom (Zetterberg in particular saved my fantasy team on more than one occasion). In goal, both Chris Osgood and Marc-Andre Fleury have been doing excellent work, Osgood especially as he had to step in after Hasek tried to give their opening round series away.
My excitement for Game 1 (8:00pm start time) has waxed and waned, thanks in no small part to the NHL having the teams sit on their hands for days and days so they can start the series on a weekend. I know they are trying to take care of their core market (namely, the millions of people who watch on HNIC) but it’s really hard to stay interested for that long when the Sabre-guys aren’t involved! I’m picking the Penguins in 6, and I hope America tunes in to watch this clash of two US teams whose cities actually know what hockey is when their teams aren’t in the finals.
Tags: crosby, datsyuk, detroit, fleury, hasek, hnic, Hockey, hockey night in canada, malkin, NHL, osgood, penguins, pittsburgh, red wings, zetterberg
