-Not really sure what to make of this game. The Pens played better than the score suggested, but they didn’t deserve to win it by any means either. All I know is that it was painful to sit through.
-First of all, Beej should not be blamed for this game. He let in one (maybe two) soft goal(s) but, other than that, the D should get the blame. Flower gets the start on Friday, then Beej again on Saturday.
-Sid didn’t play as terrible as many will think he did. He hit a post and had two great chances on the second PP. If one of those goes in, we’re talking about a different game.
Many will say that Sid got into a fight because he was frustrated. However, I think he was sending a message to the team. That message being: “hey guys, you know you’re playing like s*** when your Captain and best player is fighting.” He beat the guys ass to boot. And guess what? The Pens played better after that. Not a lot better because the game was pretty much out of hand, but they showed some fight. You know Phoenix has it coming on Friday though. The message Sid sent was also sent to the Coyotes. I updated my signature, by the way. And another by the way: the commenters on Yahoo! are actually giving Sid props for the most part. The sky is falling. Puck Daddy, of course, amounts Sid fighting to frustration. Ok, so the sky isn’t falling.
-Geno didn’t play as bad as the -3 will tell ya either. He lost his man on the second goal, probably from not playing center in a while, but he looked ok. He, along with Sid, fought to the end and (since both are leaders) that was nice to see. I do have one complaint though. With about 5 minutes left in the 3rd, he took a 2+ minute shift when his team is behind 5-2. Come on, Geno. We’ve got two games in three days coming up, the game is already over, you’re just coming off of an injury, and you had plenty of opportunities to get off the ice. There’s no excuse for you to be on for more than even a minute at that point in the game.
-Michalek had an absolutely brutal first period. He made some good (and even a great) play after that, but his rustiness cost the team.
-I don’t even know what to make of the Letang situation. The replay didn’t show if Richards dropped the gloves first or what. I guess Letang felt like he couldn’t turtle because he was hacking as well, but that was not a smart move by a guy who’s been our best D-man so far. Also, what a brutal turnover on the Eriksson goal. Wow. Really, really bad.
-TK, Talbot, and Cooke were the best players for the Pens this game. No offense to those guys, but when that happens, we’re probably not going to win.
-The first line Dallas has is brilliant; they ate the Pens up. Man.
-I think we’ve got to give Dallas some credit. They blocked a ton of shots; especially on Sid and Geno, played good D overall, their goalie made some key stops, and their offense took advantage of the Pens mistakes. They earned the win tonight.
-The PP was an absolute killer in the first tonight. The Pens looked awful on that first one. The second PP in the second period, however, actually looked pretty good. Geno was on the half wall and Sid was in the slot; he had about 2-3 good chances. The Pens still have a lot of work to do though.
-What an odd game. I hope we don’t have another one like this the rest of the year (Capt. Obvious).
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