nossagog

@B21 I understand what you're saying, but there are so many things that he does that don't make sense. These are the things that make me scratch my head. Have at these and explain them for the St. Louis game. 1) If you are playing what you think is a good playoff game and the score is tied in the third period, why do you split up your first line onto three different lines to mix things up. If this is how you WANT to play, then keep playing it because its working. Instead he put Crosby, Kunitz and Stempniak on different lines for a period of time in the third. What was the point? Kunitz and Stemp aren't going to make another line better tossing them there. It effectively watered down the offensive potential of the Pens for about 5 minutes at a critical juncture of the game. 2) He states that due to the physical nature of what was expected in the game, you are going dress 7 defensemen so that you can have Deryk Engellend in the game for additional size. You then also dress your smallest player in Gibbons at 5'8" 170 lbs and scratch Pyatt at 6'4" and 230 lbs. Other than one sprint up ice to negate an icing, Gibbons was like a boy amoungst men. If you were worried about the physical nature of the game, why Gibbons? 3) He starts the third period on a 5v3 and you take out your only right handed shot on the first unit so that you have 5 left handed shots. Jokinen didn't even LOOK like he was going to shoot the puck from the left point. 4) The goose egg on the PP was mostly due to playing on the perimeter of the offense zone, it was almost entirely passing to get the puck for a Malkin one timer from the right dot. They covered that, so all we did is try to get point shots off. How many of those did the Blues block. He's just killing me. The Blues did their homework and knew what to expect, Coach Dan could not adjust.

Yep, that was my face palm moment of the week.

@EDI-Flyer He's completely clueless with in game changes. When he makes them it just makes you shutter. The above mention line moves aside, here's another one. The Pens are going to start the third period with a 5 v 3 power play. So DFB decides, hey let's go with 5 forwards for the PP unit. Not a bad decision on face value. But what he does is takes off Matt Niskanen a right hand shot playing the left point and inserts in Jussi Jokinen in his place, a left handed shot. This puts 5 left handed shots on the ice for the Power Play, basically eliminating any chance at a one time shot from the left side of the ice. Everything on that power play was forced to the right side of the ice for shots basically eliminating the need for the Blues to defend the left side. He made it easier for the Blues to defend, DFBrillaint.

As Popeye would say, "I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more". Today was a perfect example of "What the hell is he thinking!" example. A 0-0 game at the early in the third period in a well played defensive game by both teams. Both teams blocking shots and doing whatever they can in a team effort. So okay, its 0-0, you got to squeeze a goal out somewhere to get the win. So you'd think, heck, after a TV break or an icing call, lets stack up Crosby and Malkin with Neal and put you offensive eggs in one basket for a shift. That's what I was waiting for. Instead, DanfrigginBylsma decides, "Heck, let me break up my first line, you know, the one that probably is in the tops of the league in scoring,and play a few shifts with Adams-Crosby-Glass, Stempniak-Glass-Gibbons, and Kunitz-Sutter-Engellend." Really? Your big DanfrigginBylsma moment is to take the leading scorer in the league and stick him with the fourth line? This was not a double shift, this was a purposeful mix of lines that threw off the flow of those lines for about 4 minutes of play. UnDFBelievable. Is that the reason they lost the game, no. But WTF. You wait to put your two best players on the same line with a little over one minute left in the game. Sigh . . . .

Basically, yes. In this case, it wasn't just the punch, but he then drove his head down into the ice in a move that cannot be questioned at all as an attempt to injure a player. Moore, who I think was in his rookie season, never was able to play hockey again. Burtuzzi can say he didn't "mean" to injure him like that, but regardless he took Moore ability to make a living playing hockey away from him at an early age. That is the difference

My biggest problem was the lack of urgency during the 5 min major. It just didn't seem like they wanted it, and that's got to change coming down the stretch.

Sorry, been driving all day. My take on this? I wish they would have suspended him instead of fining him pocket change for a professional athlete. He needs to learn a lesson, and this will teach him nothing. He's been suspended in the past, they need to increase his suspensions until he get the message. I like him and his skills, I do NOT like what he does with these over the edge plays. I don't care if you consider him a star or not, stupid is as stupid does, and this kind of thing does not belong in hockey.

Sarcasm on Look, lets all be honest here, we all know that this was nothing but Karma for Matt Cooke doing something totally unrelated years ago in a Pens uniform. Sarcasm off In reality, this is just a dirty play that was unnecessary and selfish. And really, he doesn't need us to tell us that he did something wrong, I'm sure that Babcock filled him up after the game, because HE is a class coach that respects the game.

People didn't realize that his true nickname was really Floppa. Regardless, as the age old adage(modified) goes, there are two kinds of liars about players going down easy. Those that say they never did it and those who say they did it only once. So yes, I can say for sure, as a Pens fan, that Crosby has embellished penalties in his career. Okay, now its everyone elses turn to comment on their favorite player.

The penalty was aweful, but the loss is all on the Pens. The sat back on a 5 minute power play that would have won them the game.

Good on ya Yave, later

Wow, three goals in the pens net off of Pens players. Good win for the wings.

Looks like he missed a few minutes at the beginning of the PP, but is okay. Big for the WIngs to get it to OT to get a point. Pens look like there just waiting for something to happen instead of pressureing.

Bad defensive play there behind the net. Didn't need to double team Sutter.

Hard work is paying off by the wings.

Nice goal, weird call on Neal

Sutter goes in streaks through. He's playing well at the moment, but part of that is jut that we're starting to get healthy, and he's starting to feel more comfortable with a more limiter role.

I'm not counting on Letang playing again this year. If he does, great, but that's a scary thing to happen, and they need to be careful.

Judging from the sounds, it seems like there are a lot of Pens fans in attendance.

Yave, sometime its weird, the Pens will just score them in clusters. Just saw the last 40 minutes of the period.

Problem is that the Pens purposefully told him solely focus on his defensive game. That normally is not a problem to tell someone to focus on their defensive game, but they basically told him they didn't want him shooting or rushing up ice. So they took an offensive minded defenseman, turned him into something completely different, and punish him when he does something during this transition. What do they expect?

One word, danfrigginbylsma. Coach Dan(said in my best Forrest Gump accent) has not been very good at developing young talent. They go in the dog house quickly and are slow to be release, or regulated down a level. The exception to this rule has been Olli Matta. Just look at Simon Despres as an example, he's good enough to be playing in the NHL, and has great offensive skills, but every time he makes a defensive mistake, he's penalized with ice time or demoted.

I think Giroux is a great candidate for the Hart Trophy(Hold on one second, I think I just threw up in my mouth). His leadership on this ice putting the Flyers in playoff position has been great. The whole "if not for the slow start" thing can be tossed out the window based on Ovechkin last season where he basically was MIA for most of the first half of the season, went on a tear in the second half and took home the Hart. I think the voters look at how a team made it to where they are at the end of the season, and not necessarily at the whole season from start to finish. Based on that, you can make an easy argument for Giroux whose Flyers are climbing in the standings as he played better starting in December. Will he win? I don't think so. For whatever reason, he has never been seen in the same category as Crosby, Ovechkin, Getzlaf or Teows. Is it right, no, but there it is. Its almost like the hesiman where you have to already have been considered for it at the beginning of the season to be able to win at the end. If you'll excuse me, I need to go take a shower.

It was refreshing to see the lineup coming back together again. Sid's line played fantastic, you can tell the difference when Kunitz is in the lineup. He's not flashy, but he's a workhorse and knows where to go on the ice for Sid. Stempniak is really starting to play nicely on that line, he's only going to get better. I like what Goc is bringing to the team, he has especially solidified what was already a pretty good penalty kill unit. He's brought a new level to the fourth line also. Let's get Geno's line going now and I'll be real happy.

Kunitz and Neal practiced with the first PP unit today. Looking to be cleared to play, maybe as early as tonight.