Game 4 Fallout: Playing the Blame Game

All photos courtesy Getty Images and AP Photo

Game 4 was the sum of all fears for the Penguins and their fans.  A team that looked bulletproof in the regular season, and, after a dominating performance in Game 1, ready to shake off the playoff flame-outs that have afflicted them the past few years, is now looking extremely vulnerable.  Pens fans are having uncomfortable flashbacks to last season's Flyers series, which we all vowed had hardened us; no more overconfidence, no more taking anything for granted, and above all, no more living and dying with each up-and-down playoff game.  We were going to be as calm and determined as our battle-tested, veteran team.

All of that has gone out the window, as the Penguins seem hell-bent on forcing us to relive the Philly series we so desperately want to forget.  Each game since the first has been a track meet, with the Pens' take-a-penny-give-a-penny approach to scoring resulting in blown leads in every game (including two last night) and a total of 14 goals against.  With a chance to take a stranglehold on the series last night, the Pens instead played like had learned nothing from the previous two games, like there were no improvements that needed to be made, like the team that we watched all year was some carefully-orchestrated mirage designed to piss off Pittsburgh residents.  Well, it worked, and today, fingers are being pointed every which-a-way.

So, ignoring the fact the the Pens are now engaged in a best-of-three against a team that they are still expected to defeat, let's talk about who is to blame for reminding us why liking sports sucks.

Pens-Isles, Game 2: Who We're Watching

While all eyes will be on the usual suspects tonight - Crosby (I think he comes back), Malkin (always threatening to do something breathtaking), Fleury (how will he fare once the Isles start getting comfortable playoff hockey?), Tavares (will he have a mental breakdown before this series is over?) - here are some people to watch in tonight's game.

Mark Eaton

Eats plays such an understated style that it is almost impossible to find photos of him in game action.  While Douglas Murray's hits and Kris Letang's offense were grabbing all the attention, Eaton put up the following line: 1 assist, plus-2, 3:44 of shorthanded TOI (second only to Martin), and 8 blocked shots in 19 minutes of ice time (third among defensemen behind Letang and Martin).  A sporadic healthy scratch since his return to Pittsburgh, Eaton showed on Wednesday night why he will be one of our most relied-upon defensemen in the payoffs.  With Orpik's injury and the lack of playoff experience among our lower-pairing D-men, Eaton's steadiness and patience are much needed, and he should be given a lot of credit for limiting the number of tough saves that Fleury is forced to make.  Eight blocked shots is nothing to sneeze at, and let's not discount the fact that Eaton has a pretty firm grasp on the Islanders' offensive tendencies, having played on the Isles the past two seasons.  Take a moment from watching Malkin's Superman act to appreciate the Penguins' Clark Kent.

Happy Hockey Christmas!

Photo: Getty Images

If you're like me, you probably woke up this morning before your alarm went off, sat up in bed, and smiled to yourself.  You went through your morning ablutions abstractedly, finally lathering up and giving yourself a clean shave, your face like a freshly zambonied sheet of ice, hopefully for the last time in a long while.  You gave meaningful looks to everyone you saw in Penguins gear on your way to work, visited the other Pens fans in your office to wish them a happy Hockey Christmas, sat down at your desk, and started looking for Crosby updates before even glancing at your work emails.

It's here.  Let it sink in.  The Pens open up the postseason against the team that most represents playoff failure and disappointment to us, the New York Islanders.  It's a poetical chance to exorcise some franchise demons, but the fact is that these teams haven't met in the playoffs in two decades, and the Isles haven't played anyone in the playoffs in six years.  The Penguins are not up against history; they only need to focus on beating this squad, and Dave Volek and Glenn Healy ain't walking through that door.

Here are three questions and three statements about this series, as well as my prediction:

Regular Season in Review: Fan Favorite Power Rankings

All photos : Getty Images

Well THAT went quickly.  The 2012-13 regular season is in the books, and let's face it, it was the most enjoyable season for Pens fans since 1992-93.  And we all know how THAT turned out.  So, while we all try to temper our expectations for the playoffs - while simultaneously telling ourselves that it is ridiculous and superstitious to think that something that happened twenty years ago (exactly) has any bearing on this season - let's look back on an extremely memorable season.

The Fan Favorite Power Rankings are meant to be a barometer for the attitude of the fan base at large for the individuals on the team.  I judged each player in six categories, giving a score from 1-5 based not just on how I felt, but (and this is important) based on public opinion in and around Pittsburgh - as perceived by me.  My criteria are:


Quality of Play: This metric is meant to be relative to the player's expected level of play; for instance, giving Brandon Sutter a rating of 4 and Evgeni Malkin a 3.5 does not mean I think Sutter outplayed Geno.  He didn't.  But he performed better than expected, while Geno didn't play at his usual MVP level.
Personality: Basically, is the guy a beloved character, a badass, or a cardboard cutout?  Most hockey players are pretty boring, so I'm giving some a boost for on-ice personality (read: fist-pumps).
Toughness: This skews the scales unfairly in favor of defensemen and grinders, but the peoples loves their smash-ems.
Intangibles: COULD BE ANYTHING!!!
Nickname: Fans will have a hard time liking you if there isn't something affectionate that they can scream at you.  The cuter the better.
Jersey-buyability: A real word that measures how cool I think a player's jersey is, based on completely biased aesthetic convictions.

Agree?  Disagree?  Tell me what you think in the comments!

Shero Beast Mode: Trade Deadline in Review

Well, shit.  I take a little break from the blog and everything else to go on vacation down Mexico way, thinking I'd get back in time to catch the trade deadline excitement, and during my week abroad EVERYTHING happens.  The Pens' winning streak reached an incredible 15 games.  Sidney Crosby and Paul Martin sustained terrible injuries.  And, of course, Ray Shero made huge trade after huge trade, culminating in his jaw-dropping pilfering of Jarome Iginla from the Calgary Flames.

I followed all of this from afar, feeling big things but unable to blog those feelings.  I'm sure every sports blogger knows the awful sensation of this creative blue-balling, having opinions to vent and no outlet for them.  And with today's 24/7/365 sportsmediascape, waiting even a day to respond to the most recent event makes you old news.  Well I say balls to that.  Balls!  My feelings remain valid, and I'm going to share them, no matter how far past their expiration date they may be.

Five thoughts on the Penguins' new additions...

Joe Vitale's First Goal of the Season Looked Mighty Familiar...

Last night, the Pens extended their winning streak to nine games with an impressive win over the Bruins.  Captain Crosby set the tone, but it was Joe Vitale, as unlikely a source as any, who potted the game-winner at the end of the first period.  Vitale carried the puck into the Bruins zone, dropped the puck to Craig Adams and set a nice little pick, giving Adams room to line up a wrister.  Tuukka Raska made the initial save, but left a juicy rebound sitting to his left.  Vitale saw the rebound and in his excitement launched himself into the air, simultaneously lifting the puck over Rask's shoulder.  It was a clutch play that must have felt very familiar to any Bruins fan watching the game:

 

Deja vu, amirightguys?

BOSC Road Trip: How Bout Those Hawks?

I love Chicago.  I lived there almost eight years and enjoyed just about every moment of it.  I graduated from college, met the love of my life and discovered sandwiches made with fried plantains instead of bread in Chicago.  So any time I have an excuse to visit Chicago, I will.  This week, my excuse is the annual conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, really just a bunch of cool dudes givin' some cool talks and just bein' cool in general.  It also didn't hurt that my man Brian, sole proprietor of the spectacularly named, regrettably fallow P.V. Glob's Bog Blog, was able to get tickets to the Blackhawks-Avalanche game.   You all can imagine my excitement that this trip was now going to be in service of my day job (as film nerd) and my moonlighty gig (as a professional Hockey Blogger).

I was rewarded for my decision with an exciting game that ended with a last-minute goal to stretch the Blackhawks' unbeaten-in-regulation streak to the halfway point of their season.  Pretty incredible.  Some notes from a Pens fan in a strange land:

• Easily the coolest part of a Blackhawks game is their tradition of cheering like crazy throughout the singing of the national anthem.  Apparently, this practice is somewhat controversial, because I guess nothing is more disrespectful than cheering.  I mean, Jesus, let's lighten up a little.  I understand that the national anthem is meant to bring about silent reflection about 'Merica and sacrifice and whatnot, but hearing twenty thousand people go crazy as Jim Cornelison belts out the anthem is exciting and inspiring and pretty damn patriotical if you think about it.  And anyway, Hawks fans can scream all they want, they're still not going to drown out this dude (clip's a fake, but still: pipes):

• The United Center's Jumbotron game is pretty tight as well: before the game, an intro video shows the Blackhawk logo being woven behind images of great players from the team's history.  And it's not just Mikita and Hull and Toews, either; there was a healthy serving of Steve Larmer, and even Eric Daze popped up at one point.  I'd like to see the Pens do more of this - we should be seeing Kehoe and Mario and Jags, but also Bryan Smolinski and Shawn McEachern and Stu Barnes.  The more obscure the better.


• On the other hand, they also showed another, less good video where current players look at the camera and say, "I stand for Chicago," "I stand for the fans at the Madhouse on Madison," and etc.  All well and good until one player announces, "I stand for the Indian head."  Come on, dude.  Native American head.  It's not hard.


• One thing that was noticeably absent from the Jumbotron was the endless pump-up videos and Loud-o-Meters that the Consol staff shoves down our throats each game.  Somehow, the fans just knew when to cheer.  They must be some kinda geniuses.


• On to the actual team: they're good.  I mean, they're really good.  I wouldn't say they looked unbeatable; they started Daniel Carcillo on Toews' wing fer chrissakes (and yes, I know Carcillo scored the game winning goal, but that doesn't change the fact that he is Daniel Carcillo).  But the Hawks, and the fans, never really seemed in doubt that the team would pull out the win, even with the Avalanche leading by a goal and Semyon Varlamov playing out of his mind.

• It's pretty impressive that the Hawks could beat an Avalanche team that was going all-out to end the streak, especially with Marian Hossa a late scratch, and Patrick Kane uncoincidentally looking invisible for most of the night.  That was the biggest disappointment of the night: missing out on watching Hossa play.  In fact, I was all ready to write this entire post on Hossa, and the joy of watching him play.  While Toews is the team's unquestioned leader, and Kane their most terrifying player, I still get the feeling that Hossa is the most important guy on the team (he also has the best goal celebrations - his fist pumps register on the Richter Scale).  He seems to score every big goal for them, he plays great on both ends of the ice, and he never takes a game off.  I admit that I spent a couple of seasons hating him for leaving Pittsburgh because he thought he had a better chance of winning with Detroit, and I took a great amount of pleasure in the poetic justice of the Penguins' vanquishing the Red Wings in the subsequent Finals showdown.  But I've grown up, readers, and now I can let go of these petty feelings and just appreciate Hossa for the player he is.  He was humbled by his loss in Detroit, redeemed himself by winning the Cup in Chicago the next year (yeah, three Cup finals in three years with three different teams is pretty good when you take a step back), and now he's a crucial piece to a team that is gunning to win it all again this year.  At this point, not only do I not resent Hossa for leaving Pittsburgh, I actually encourage him to change teams every year, until every fan base in the league has had the pleasure of cheering him on.


• I'm not sure if this is a function of Hossa being out, but I was fascinated by the Blackhawks' power play lineups: Coach Quenneville basically kept his stars separate, flanking Toews with Andrew Shaw and Brandon Saad, and playing Kane with Patrick Sharp and some other dude on the other (can't really call it the second) unit.  If this were Bylsma, there's no doubt he'd be rolling with Keith-Seabrook-Kane-Toews-Sharp (substitute Hossa for Seabrook when he's back) for 1:30 of the power play.  Toews' unit looked great and created a goal on their first PP opportunity, while the Kane unit sputtered in the other two chances.  It would be interesting to see how different the Pens' power play would be if they kept Malkin's and Crosby's lines intact for the power play and gave them both half of the penalty to do work, with some overlap to get 71 and 87 out there together.  Having watched our second power play unit at "work," I think a more even talent dispersal might be a good thing.
• Toews is an impressive guy.  When the Blackhwaks needed a goal, he gave them one, an incredible shorthanded power drive that I can only imagine had Pierre McGuire creaming his little suit pants.  That's the mark of a superstar, though: Toews rose to the occasion, and everyone in the crowd could feel it coming.  Watch the goal, and listen to how the crowd's roar builds as soon as Toews touches the puck, coming with speed down the right side boards.  It's impossible not to get excited when you watch a player kick it up a notch like Toews does here:

• This was a thrilling game and a great experience to share with a great bunch of fans, but what I noticed most was how damn fast the whole thing went.  It's not that the game was played at a frantic pace, because it wasn't.  It was, I assume, due to the fact that I'm used to watching Penguins games, where I live and die with each shift, I'm constantly aware of who is on the ice, opposing power plays seem to drag on and on, etc.  Watching a game in which I only had the most casual of rooting interests, everything seemed less weighty, and penalties expired after what seemed like a few seconds.  I hardly glanced at the game clock, and was surprised when a period would end before I was half way through my $8 Budweiser.  It was a fun way to enjoy an amazing game.
• Oh, but their post-goal song is still extremely dumb.  Dur dur dur durrr dur dur durr...