Sunday, April 15, 2012

Pens implode fall to 0-3 in series

Not much good to say about the game or the series from the Pens perspective.  As disappointing as the general defensive play has been, it was just as disappointing to see the behavior on the ice.  I love Asham's toughness and gritty play, but his shot to the throat of Schenn is totally inexcusable.  As entertaining as it was to see Letang kick the shit out of Timonen, he has to use his head.   Our defense is a joke WITH him, and without him, it is below that.  Add to that the SSHHHHHH to the crowd to copy the old Talbot move was embarrassing.  James Neal stepped up and delived a big game with 2 goals and an assist, but he lost his mind at the end of the game, particularly the shot on Giroux and leaving his skates to hit Couterier.  Crosby did nothing that a captain should do to settle this team and keep them out of the scrums that kill their game.  If anything, he created most of them.  The Adams hairpulling incident, I am not as sure of.  If he purposely grabbed Hartnell's hair, that is about as gay as gay gets.  However, Hartnell has a NEST of hair.  If Adams was trying to grab jersey to get leverage and got hair too, that is a downfall that Hartnell and Letang both have to deal with.  As far as the game, the defense was bad AGAIN, the PK gave up 3 power play goals on 6 attempts, and of course the power play gave up another short handed goal, the third of the season.  The defense is bad, and since game one, Fleury has been one of the worst players on the team.  His save percentage is now .798 for the series and a 6.34 GAA.  He is 10-13 in his past 23 playoff games, and has had a save percentage below .900 in all three playoff series since the 2009 Stanley Cup run.  Finally, Evgeni Malkin has been very average in this series after an MVP series, and he was the same in his last playoff series against Montreal in 2010.  The Flyers have taken advantage of everything the Penguins have given them, so credit them for that, and as a result they stand one game away from ending what was once a very promising season in a very embarrassing fashion.  Not much more to it than that.  I have always loved this team, and will support them to the end, but this series, and particularly today were not among my finer moments of following this Penguins team.

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