Read em and Weep!

Okay, the city is in a panic, and everybody is shtting bricks that we have blown a 3-1 lead in a series and now face a Game 7 at home to either win or play golf. When I look at the statistics out there, I am shocked that we are even still in this series, and smile a little to myself at how crazy it would be to advance when you look at the following numbers:


Pittsburgh is 1 only 1 for 30 in the series on the Power Play for a joke of a 3.3%!!! They are 15th of 16 playoff teams, as Boston has not scored any PP goals, but they have had half the chances. The PP was horrible all year, finishing 25th at 15.8%, but now it is at 3%. It is actually 7 for 96 in the last 29 games....as noted last night an absolute fucking abortion;

Pittsburgh's number one ranked penalty kill unit that finished the season at 86.1% is now only killing penalties at 66.7% or 13th of the 16 playoff teams;

Fleury, who I think of as a true Hart candidate has now given up 8 goals on the last 31 shots he has faced, and has a .890 save percentage, 13th in the playoffs, and a 2.77 GAA, for 11th. Given the fact that the series was supposed to tilt in our favor due to goaltending, this is not a good sign. Rolonson has a .941 save percentage by comparison and has given up 13 goals all series long;

The Penguins have 14 goals for the series and only 6 of those goals have come from the top 2 lines in 6 games! The other 8 goals have come froom 3rd and 4th liners;

TBL has six players with more points than the top Penguins scorer, who six games in remains Arron Asham with 3 goals and 4 total points ranking him 16th and 51st respectively as OUR TOP SCORER IN THE PLAYOFFS;

Asham and Adams lead the Pens in +/- at +3 while they have 8 minus players led by Kovalev and Letestu at -3, followed by Staal and Niskanen at -2, with Duper, Orpik, Neal, and Kunitz all -1;

Tampa is plus 7 on special teams;

Tampa has outscored Pittsburgh in the series 21-14 and 12-4 in the past two games!

Last night our defense corps registered the following by way of hits:
Orpik-2
Letang-2 and the other four collectively did not register a single hit........not ONE!!

Going into tomorrow night's Game 7, Marc Andre Fleury is 4-6 in his past 10 playoff games with a 2.80 GAA. He has also given up four or more goals in 3 of his past 5 starts v Tampa and in 5 of his past 8 post season starts;

As you read this, be thankful we are still alive.........truly........hey, this team has endured a lot and maybe they are suffering the effects of 4 months of shorthanded play, but some reputations are on the line tomorrow night. The last home game 7 resulted in the whole team, led by Fleury and the defense choking to Montreal. As a result, 40M dollars over the next 5 years was committed to the defense in Martin and Michalek, and blowing a 3-1 series lead partially due to poor defense and poor goaltending would make that investmet feel a little shaky. The Penguins are 8-1 all time when gaining a 3-1 lead in a playoff series, the only other time they have blown a lead like that is to the 1975 Islanders. Losing another early playoff round, in a home Game 7 would begin to make both Fleury and Bylsma look a little mediocre in the post season as well. It would be the second time in two years that they have lost a game 7 at home, once after leading a series 3-2, and another after leading 3-1. This would mean that they have lost 5 straight match point games in two years......not a good trend if it were to happen. Guys like Kunitz, Staal, and Neal, while not expected to be like Malkin and Crosby have been expected to do far more than they have, and each could stand being a factor in tomorrow night's game. Rob Rossi wrote today that Letang is not going to win the Norris.....Really?? I would settle for a solid shut down game DEFENSIVELY tomorrow night One without some stupid turnover or mental error.. Letestu has hit the Peter Pricnicple and looks like a guy who should be playing for the Calder Cup, not the Stanley Cup right now............Paul Martin has been VERY ordinary for a 5M dollar shutdown player...even Orpik has been quite ordindary.........Kovalev, well lets not waste space......the good news though in all of that BAD, is that all of the major names I mentioned, are to me quality people, with tons of courage and character, so I expect that one or more of them will support the Kennedys, Ashams, Talbots, Adams, and Rupps of the team tomorrow night annd play a big factor in pushing the Pens to the next round despite the ugly batch of stats noted above...,,,,...and we can have a big FUCK YOU party for the NHL, VS, and the Lightning..............and then the records are 0-0 again.............