Crosby and the Rocket Richard Trophy!!

I said it before and I will say it again.....this team defies logic.........On one hand I ask, How can we be pissed about this season? The Pens finished with 101 points, had the third most wins in the conference with 47, behind the Caps by a lot of wins, and the Devils by only one. They are a top four seed with home ice advantage, and their captain win a share of the Rocket Richard trophy and had Henrik Sedin shitting out some of his brothers man love from about 6:30 EST until the game was over......by mid way through the second period Crosby had five points, and getting the three he needed to steal the Art Ross from Henrik Sedin seemed very doable! More on Sid later.......but despite all of that, and different from each of the past two seasons, I look at the upcoming post season with an overriding feeling of concern as opposed to excited anticipation........I suppose the main reason is that I am a true believer in the championship team usually being the team that peaks at the right time as opposed to the best team............as it stands the Penguins are NEITHER of those. I could also be the fact that the power play is critical in playoff games, as is good defensive hockey, and in both cases, the Penguins have been horrible.....the power play did deliver in last years post season, so there is hope that is a different beast in the post season......it better be, because for two straight years now the regular season PP is near the bottom of the league..............Defensively, we have more holes than swiss cheese, and our breakout from our zone looks pathetic at times........add to that the fact the other decisive factor in the playoffs is usually goaltending, and MAF has been mediocre all season...........Yet, with all of these issues, the PENS had 101 points, and were a single point away from being the second seed in the conference...............but I can argue that this single point was so very available in so many games down the stretch, and it seemed like EVERY time you thought the Pens would switch into gear and take a game they needed, they would lose............they lost to some very questionable teams in the last two weeks, even catching non playoff teams on the second night of a back to back, and LOSING.........sometimes convincingly................championship teams do not DO THIS!!!!!! They just don't and my gut says this team is lacking that exta piece that makes a champion.......BUT, then I argue the fact that they were THAT CLOSE even with these flaws. so WHAT IF, MAF plays like the MAF in the past two post seasons, and the Malkin we have seen every year but this one comes back..............what if the D remembers how to play D again, and the PP does its post season thing like last year? Crosby has certainly been hot down the stretch, Malkin has shown signs of life, and who knows, maybe Poni is not just another Ukrainian pussy on this team.................Time will tell.............

Random thoughts to close the night:

Crosby is an AMAZING athlete.......he had two supposed issues in his all world game....he needed to improve on Faceoffs and he was not a goal scorer........bingo, one of the top faceoff guys, and ties for the league lead in goal scoring, losing the sole title with Stamkos getting an empty netter with 13 seconds left in his season........and again he was 3 pts away from the Art Ross....The Kid delivers and the haters are just stupid; 51 goals, 109 points, third youngest player to break 500 with 506 pts, Stanley Cup Champ, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, Rocket Richard Trophy, Gold Medal.......yeah, he fucking sucks;

At minus 17 and some pathetic goal total that I am too lazy to look up right now, Ruslan Fedostinko should really just be shot if he does not deliver on his "clutch playoff performer" reputation in this years post season....and yes he has disgusted me enough this season that I actually mean that;

Evelyn Malkin-I am TRYING hard to remember how much I have loved to watch this guy play until this year.......he carried the team two years ago while Sid was out, and last year he and Crosby were a devestating two headed monster as Geno ripped through the post season to win the Conn Smythe as the Pens won the Stanley Cup........then I look at this year, with a minus 6, under 30 goals, under 80 points and 100 stupid penalty minutes and want to piss on his head........today, he had four points and played well so Errey and Steigy are lined up to fellate him.....I saw a guy take dumb penalty after dumb penalty eating into his captains minutes in his effort to win the Rocket Richard and Art Ross trophies.......selfish stupid play..........Geno reminds me a bit too much of Kovalev and Jagr in his maturity and reliability....and I pray I am wrong.....Geno, now is the time to make me eat my words.....PLEASE I would love the taste of them;

The Penguins have given up the second most goals of the 8 playoff teams in the Eastern Conference......only Ottawa has given up more(1 more). The Flyers who have played like 6 different goalies have given up fewer goals.......we also have scored the second most behind the
Capitals(by far).

With the core of our team (Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury, Letang) signed long term, the Pens have tough decisions to make with a large number of UFAs this season......I can say that they have to find money for two players for sure......Jordan Leopold and Matt Cooke......Leopold makes the little defensive zone plays all the time, and after a slow start offensively, he is showing his goal scoring prowess....with Gonchar all but gone, Leopold makes great sense for this team...in fact he has as many goals (11) as Gonchar has this season...........Cooke with 15 goals, his chemstry with Staal, and his sandpaper style is a must for this team;

No way will the Pens or should the Pens re-sign Poni or Fedostinko next year, so I am hopeful that the Eric Tangradi we saw today from the middle of the second period on shows up at camp next year....at 6'4" and 220 lbs, a Philly attitude, and soft hands, he is the power forward the Pens have been lacking............I hope he is ready next year!

Okay, now I need to go work on the things that pay the bills, but I will say this despite some of my rantings this past month......Even if the Pens lay a playoff egg this year, and they might, remember how many thrills they have given us over the past several years, and dont get too pissed if it happens............they have played a lot of hockey and delivered far more often than not over the long haul..........GO PENS!