Dear Pittsburgh Penguins,

[eleven24]

I still laugh at the memory of Al Conroy, all 5 feet of him, waving at Mario's head in the corner and Mario flopping backwards like he was shot, then laying on the ice feigning injury.  Or Crosby, the strongest player I've ever seen on skates yet somehow goes down at a slight lean if there is no scoring chance.  Or how Pens fans rail on Flyers fans all the time, yet not a word when it was Philadelphia who gave him a standing ovation the night he returned from Hodgkins.

 

Yeah, I know.  We've had a love/hate relationship.  Or hate/hate sometimes.  Despite that, I think I respect you guys a bit more now after having a dose of the Washington Capitals.  It's their Friday night truck and tractor pull Verizon Center announcer.  Or the "Rock the Red" mentality of it's fanbase who have no idea who guys like Dale Hunter or Mike Gartner are.  Maybe it's their eye twitching complain to the ref at every whistle coach, or the front office always sending clips of misjustice to the DOPS. 

 

Whatever it is, I'm asking you a favor.  Beat the Washington Capitals.  Don't let them past the second round of the playoffs, again.  Do it for hockey's sake.  

 

You see, I know this kind of thing can get me kicked out of Flyerdom, but the Capitals don't deserve it.  Nor do their fans.  They're full of themselves right now thinking they dominated a series against the 8th seed Flyers, yet fail to understand that despite our lack of offense we were ONE bounce away from a game 7.  And we have ZERO offense.  They're ripe for the picking.  

 

In the words of Herb Brooks, I'm sick and tired of hearing what a good team they are.  Screw them.  This is your time.  Now go out there and take it.

 

Sincerely,

 

A Flyers fan

 

 

PS.  Of course, next year you will all still suck.  But until then....

[King Knut]

On 4/26/2016 at 10:10 AM, eleven24 said:

I still laugh at the memory of Al Conroy, all 5 feet of him, waving at Mario's head in the corner and Mario flopping backwards like he was shot, then laying on the ice feigning injury.  Or Crosby, the strongest player I've ever seen on skates yet somehow goes down at a slight lean if there is no scoring chance.  Or how Pens fans rail on Flyers fans all the time, yet not a word when it was Philadelphia who gave him a standing ovation the night he returned from Hodgkins.

 

Yeah, I know.  We've had a love/hate relationship.  Or hate/hate sometimes.  Despite that, I think I respect you guys a bit more now after having a dose of the Washington Capitals.  It's their Friday night truck and tractor pull Verizon Center announcer.  Or the "Rock the Red" mentality of it's fanbase who have no idea who guys like Dale Hunter or Mike Gartner are.  Maybe it's their eye twitching complain to the ref at every whistle coach, or the front office always sending clips of misjustice to the DOPS. 

 

Whatever it is, I'm asking you a favor.  Beat the Washington Capitals.  Don't let them past the second round of the playoffs, again.  Do it for hockey's sake.  

 

You see, I know this kind of thing can get me kicked out of Flyerdom, but the Capitals don't deserve it.  Nor do their fans.  They're full of themselves right now thinking they dominated a series against the 8th seed Flyers, yet fail to understand that despite our lack of offense we were ONE bounce away from a game 7.  And we have ZERO offense.  They're ripe for the picking.  

 

In the words of Herb Brooks, I'm sick and tired of hearing what a good team they are.  Screw them.  This is your time.  Now go out there and take it.

 

Sincerely,

 

A Flyers fan

 

 

PS.  Of course, next year you will all still suck.  But until then....

                          /\

That Flyers Fan  |   doesn't speak for us all.

 

I was behind the Pens in their first two cups with Mario.  He was a poof and went down like a heap of bricks, but he was a class A talent and the rest of the team filled in nicely around him and I always liked guys like Stevens, Murphy and Borrasso.

 

The Penguins since 2007 however are a tiger of a different stripe.  Since before they were assembled when the league didn't bat an eye lash at giving them 5 top 5 picks in a row and awarded them #1 overall in spite of the fact that there had not been a season for them to stink in previous to that draft, they have perfected a perverted version of the game I love and they developed a skill set built completely around manipulating officials to create an unfair advantage.  

 

Since Crosby's concussions and Bylsma's departure, I have been able to stomach this team much more.  They seem to be playing more responsibly.  More like Hockey players, less like some weird combination of actors and lawyers.

 

That said, they're going to destroy this Capitals team,

 

The Capitals managed to beat the flyers through a combination of exploiting the Flyers utterly non existent power play and collapsing like a turtle shell around their own net.  

 

Neither technique will work against the Penguins.  

 

Honestly, I'd rather the capitals win.  I'll never be able to root for the penguins as long as the likes of Crosby and Malkin are on the team and the Capitals (despite the presence of Orpik) have players I like (Williams, Richards, Oshie).   Ovie is I think literally an absolute mad man.  I don't mean that in a positive way.  I literally think he might be off his rocker.  I don't like him.  He plays on an edge that's just plain dangerous most of the time.  I don't like it.   Still, I'd rather that than Crosby.

 

The Caps won't be able to hit like they did against the Flyers.  THey'll get called for twice as many borderline penalties (and they got called for a lot against us) and the Penguins WILL make them pay.

Their turtle shell approach won't work either because the Penguins have players who can thread passes and move around to get open (something you wont' think is that tough, but the Flyers stood statues in the O zone all series and were then shocked they couldn't get a pass or a shot through... it's amazing every game wasn't 6 to 1.  How the hell did they manage to keep it even remotely close for 4 of those games?)

 

Essentially the Caps will have to completely change their game and the Penguins won't.

I really would love to see Williams and Richards win another cup.  Even more so if they could do it against the Blues in the Finals to give Hitch the big finger (Let Oshie join in).   But that ain't gonna happen.  The Caps season ends in this round.  How far the penguins make it after that depends entirely on the Lightning who aren't nearly as strong as last year, but who could turn on that playoffs switch and make things tricky for the Penguins.  

 

 

 

 

 

[TedZep]

31 minutes ago, King Knut said:

                          /\

That Flyers Fan  |   doesn't speak for us all.

...

The Caps won't be able to hit like they did against the Flyers.  They'll get called for twice as many borderline penalties (and they got called for a lot against us) and the Penguins WILL make them pay.

 

Caps fans are in for a real surprise when they see how well their team plays when biased officiating is not heavily on their side.

 

Trip Giroux, the refs swallowed that whistle and made up for it by calling Gudas.  Bump Crosby?  You're in the box.

 

I can't root for either team.  I tried to like the Capitals, but their hypocritical whining (Schenn dirtier than Chimera?!  No way!) has turned me off.  Just debilitate each other so the Lightning can move on easily.

 

 

[King Knut]

Just now, TedZep said:

Just debilitate each other so the Lightning can move on easily.

 

 

 

I can get behind that!

 

I don't know what to say about the Caps and the "whining".  

On one hand, yeah, whining is not something I appreciate.

 

On the other hand, standing up for your players and your team mates if you think they've been harmed?  

If Giroux was getting tripped and Chimera was hitting illegally, maybe Hakstol should have been more vocal about it to the refs.  Maybe they'd have paid attention more.

 

Did the Flyers not submit as many videos for review as the Caps did?  If players were taking head shots why not?  

 

If the league reviewed all the hits and were pressured by both teams to review the dirty stuff equally, and Chimera still wasn't suspended, that's bias because his hit was dirty.

 

But outside of that, I kinda felt like the chippy stuff and the dirty stuff was fairly equal on both sides and I personally didn't feel that the refs were particularly terribly biased against the Flyers... and if you know me on here, you know I'm usually among the first to complain when the refs were biased.

 

Some of the penalties against the Flyers in game one definitely and later here and there seemed like equalizer calls... but in the end, what did it matter?  The Flyers PP was god awful and their PK was completely absent for 2 games.  

 

THe Caps game plan won.  They got under the Flyers skin and it cost the Flyers dearly in games 2 and 3 and despite locking that crap down in 4,5 & 6, they couldn't recover because they were A) Banged up and B) outskilled.

 

Laughton and Couturier were easily the two most costly losses to the Flyers and neither was due to a dirty hit.  

 

It could be argued that Cousins was due to a dirty hit and that Jake was playing through being hurt due to a dirty hit, I'll grant you.

 

But I don't know.  This time, I just don't see the dirtiness being uneven.  The problem was the Flyers just couldn't compete.  If the Flyers had the PP they ended last year with, they'd have won this series and all the caps fans would be complaining about all the penalties against the caps.  I just don't buy it.

 

Of course if they had the 5 on 5 and the PK of last year, they'd be well out of the playoffs, so there's that.  

 

Again, Trotz is a whiner?  The Bench is a whiner?  I think there's a difference between whining (aka Johnny Torts, Dan Bylsma) and being a vocal advocate of your players (Lavvy e.g.).  I think Trotz is somewhere in between on the spectrum.  Closer to Quennville IMHO than Johnny Torts... who really is the worst at complaining.  

 

I think Hak was green this year too.  I'd like to see him advocate for his guys more next year.  I liked the way Lavvy would do it.  He let his guys know he had their backs, and I think he conveyed to the refs that his players were always his priority, not just complaining.

 

I dunno.  That's just me.  Moot points all.  GO LIGHTNING!

[nossagog]

Guys, if you think that the Caps are going to get called for penalties just because Crosby is there, well don't count on it.  I posted some fun facts in the "Sid's a Diver" thread that came about late in the year.  Crosby ranks 134th in drawing penalties this year.    Yet many people still have this view that all you have to do is touch him and he gets a call. That just doesn't happen.  He's been getting abused for several years, especially in the playoffs, and the officials just ignore it(playoff hockey and all.

 

My one gripe about the Caps is that for several years, its seems that they get away with questionable hits without worry from the league.   As great a player as Ovechkin is, how many players has he knocked out of games and put on the IR with the flying shoulder and meaningless checks to unsuspecting players.   They take the finishing of checks beyond what I feel is necessary.  But that's hockey, and if that's the way the game is being called then that's the way that it is, deal with it. 

 

Now as for Caps Fans, my personal feeling is that a doorknob has about as much hockey IQ as most of them do(And before the doorknob contingent sends me email, I apologize for disparaging them by equating Caps fans to them, but I'm already in trouble with the Rock contingent).  Sorry, but I don't think I'd ever root for the Caps due to my past interaction with their fans.   

 

 

[King Knut]

7 minutes ago, nossagog said:

Guys, if you think that the Caps are going to get called for penalties just because Crosby is there, well don't count on it.  I posted some fun facts in the "Sid's a Diver" thread that came about late in the year.  Crosby ranks 134th in drawing penalties this year.    Yet many people still have this view that all you have to do is touch him and he gets a call. That just doesn't happen.  He's been getting abused for several years, especially in the playoffs, and the officials just ignore it(playoff hockey and all.

 

My one gripe about the Caps is that for several years, its seems that they get away with questionable hits without worry from the league.   As great a player as Ovechkin is, how many players has he knocked out of games and put on the IR with the flying shoulder and meaningless checks to unsuspecting players.   They take the finishing of checks beyond what I feel is necessary.  But that's hockey, and if that's the way the game is being called then that's the way that it is, deal with it. 

 

Now as for Caps Fans, my personal feeling is that a doorknob has about as much hockey IQ as most of them do(And before the doorknob contingent sends me email, I apologize for disparaging them by equating Caps fans to them, but I'm already in trouble with the Rock contingent).  Sorry, but I don't think I'd ever root for the Caps due to my past interaction with their fans.   

 

 

 

This is part of the reason I've been more able to stomach the Penguins for the last few years.  Crosby's been forced to play like a hockey player.

The other half is that the caps got called for A LOT of penalties against the Flyers.  The Flyers were just unable to do anything with those opportunities.  Sure, the caps got away with a ton of chippy stuff, but it's not like the whistles were in the pockets as far as they were concerned.  THey sat a lot.  It just didn't matter.

 

I agree about the questionable hits.  This is why I OV pisses me off/scares me.  He's dangerous.  he has no comprehension of how dangerous he's being because he's utterly out of control half the time.  In a sense, that's enviable because he does play right on that edge.  Sometimes I think he's going to give himself a stroke or accidentally murder a bystander during his celebrations.    But he's over the line fairly consistently, and they've rarely made him come back to the right side.  

 

Throw in players like Orpik who have always had questionable hitting ethics on the ice (See boarding Simon Gagne immediately upon his return from a long concussion related absense) and the Caps just have a free for all mentality.

 

But the WILL sit.  and not because Crosby or anyone draws the penalties.  They'll sit because they sat plenty in round one.  

[murraycraven]

On 4/26/2016 at 10:10 AM, eleven24 said:

They're full of themselves right now thinking they dominated a series against the 8th seed Flyers, yet fail to understand that despite our lack of offense we were ONE bounce away from a game 7.

 

 

while I agree with most of your post I think if you listen to the Caps after the series they were in no way underestimating the Flyers.  I think they really respected the Flyers and were complimentary of the fact.

 

 

[Polaris922]

I thinkthe officiating has done what it always does in the playoffs.  They've put their whistles away for stretches and then called stupid petty garbage for stretches.  Your series, our series, was all the same.  And by the way @nossagog ...  I loved that post.  Most Flyers fans refused to read it I'm sure, but the rest have tried to forget the stats you showed as quickly as possible.   LOL 

[DaGreatGazoo]

Honestly don't know why many people think they Caps will get smoked, based on how they played versus the Flyers.  I think it's going to be a brutal series for both teams.  

 

Pens are playing as good as anyone...I still don't trust their goal tending---yet.  Fluery needs to get healthy in a hurry. (Can't believe I said that...LOL)

Caps are big, roll 4 lines and have the best goaltender in the NHL this year. They only play 4 D though, and that could cost them.  We all laugh at the President's Trophy, and rightfully so, but Trotz is a great coach with a talented team.  IMO--this is a different team than the Caps that blew all those series leads in the past.  

 

[ruxpin]

40 minutes ago, Polaris922 said:

I thinkthe officiating has done what it always does in the playoffs.  They've put their whistles away for stretches and then called stupid petty garbage for stretches.  Your series, our series, was all the same

 

This pretty much accurately covers it.

 

40 minutes ago, Polaris922 said:

Most Flyers fans refused to read it I'm sure, but the rest have tried to forget the stats you showed as quickly as possible

 

What stats?

[Polaris922]

1 minute ago, ruxpin said:

 

This pretty much accurately covers it.

 

 

What stats?

 

I could show you... But then I'd have to kill you... 

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, nossagog said:

Now as for Caps Fans, my personal feeling is that a doorknob has about as much hockey IQ as most of them do(And before the doorknob contingent sends me email, I apologize for disparaging them by equating Caps fans to them, but I'm already in trouble with the Rock contingent).  Sorry, but I don't think I'd ever root for the Caps due to my past interaction with their fans.

 

You copied and pasted this right out of my Bible.

[ruxpin]

Just now, Polaris922 said:

 

I could show you... But then I'd have to kill you... 

 

LOL  No, I made the mistake of reading that thread.  The "fun facts" were, well, fun.

[AbelMorpheus]

I'm with Ted, can't root for either team. I'm cheering for the roof to collapse

[mojo1917]

3 minutes ago, AbelMorpheus said:

I'm with Ted, can't root for either team. I'm cheering for the roof to collapse

since God wasn't listening to me when there was there perfect opportunity in the Pens- Rangers series...don't get your hopes up. 

[B21]

4 hours ago, nossagog said:

Guys, if you think that the Caps are going to get called for penalties just because Crosby is there, well don't count on it.  I posted some fun facts in the "Sid's a Diver" thread that came about late in the year.  Crosby ranks 134th in drawing penalties this year.    Yet many people still have this view that all you have to do is touch him and he gets a call. That just doesn't happen.  He's been getting abused for several years, especially in the playoffs, and the officials just ignore it(playoff hockey and all.

 

My one gripe about the Caps is that for several years, its seems that they get away with questionable hits without worry from the league.   As great a player as Ovechkin is, how many players has he knocked out of games and put on the IR with the flying shoulder and meaningless checks to unsuspecting players.   They take the finishing of checks beyond what I feel is necessary.  But that's hockey, and if that's the way the game is being called then that's the way that it is, deal with it. 

 

Now as for Caps Fans, my personal feeling is that a doorknob has about as much hockey IQ as most of them do(And before the doorknob contingent sends me email, I apologize for disparaging them by equating Caps fans to them, but I'm already in trouble with the Rock contingent).  Sorry, but I don't think I'd ever root for the Caps due to my past interaction with their fans.   

 

 

 

One can't escape the irony that Crosby's concussion problems started with an unpenalized cheap shot by a.....(drum roll)....Washington Capital.  SMH 

 

 

[B21]

2 hours ago, DaGreatGazoo said:

Honestly don't know why many people think they Caps will get smoked, based on how they played versus the Flyers.  I think it's going to be a brutal series for both teams.  

 

Pens are playing as good as anyone...I still don't trust their goal tending---yet.  Fluery needs to get healthy in a hurry. (Can't believe I said that...LOL)

Caps are big, roll 4 lines and have the best goaltender in the NHL this year. They only play 4 D though, and that could cost them.  We all laugh at the President's Trophy, and rightfully so, but Trotz is a great coach with a talented team.  IMO--this is a different team than the Caps that blew all those series leads in the past.  

 

 

This. Times ten.  Rosters and coaches change so much from year to year that comparing this team to prior Caps teams is pointless.  Fun for fans and media...but pointless.  This is a very good, complete Caps team that was one miracle performance from Neuvirth away from "handily" dispatching the Flyers in 5.  I can't look at that series and start second guessing the Caps because it "went" 6.

[AJgoal]

28 minutes ago, AbelMorpheus said:

I'm with Ted, can't root for either team. I'm cheering for the roof to collapse

 

What about a meteor? The Caps actually play within the confines of DC, right?

[King Knut]

25 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

since God wasn't listening to me when there was there perfect opportunity in the Pens- Rangers series...don't get your hopes up. 

 

God knew the Pens would cruise past the Rangers and this way he could get two birds with one stone.  

[King Knut]

3 hours ago, murraycraven said:

 

 

while I agree with most of your post I think if you listen to the Caps after the series they were in no way underestimating the Flyers.  I think they really respected the Flyers and were complimentary of the fact.

 

 

 

I think it was the media and the general community that were dismissing the Flyers, not the Caps.

 

Still wonder what Game 2 would have looked like in the 2nd and 3rd periods if Mason doesn't let in that stinker.  Do they hold out like in Game 1, 4 and 5?  Maybe.  Then it truly is an interesting series.  

[mojo1917]

@King Knut

yeah, but i was hoping for the collapse during the Rangers - Pens because you know hate and all  ....I can't seem to find it in me to work up any kind of hatred for the Caps, I dunno, must be a middle age thing.  
The caps are almost like "not there" for me, hard to hate something I don't ever have to think about, plus, my second favorite hockey team is the Hershey Bears the Caps farm team. 

Also in game 2  40 billion shots to 20 and we still lost, our guys did fine. that series result was what it was supposed to be. 

[King Knut]

27 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

@King Knut

yeah, but i was hoping for the collapse during the Rangers - Pens because you know hate and all  ....I can't seem to find it in me to work up any kind of hatred for the Caps, I dunno, must be a middle age thing.  
The caps are almost like "not there" for me, hard to hate something I don't ever have to think about, plus, my second favorite hockey team is the Hershey Bears the Caps farm team. 

Also in game 2  40 billion shots to 20 and we still lost, our guys did fine. that series result was what it was supposed to be. 

 

I was just kidding.  I agree, especially on the Hershey Bears.  I am also still a fan of Williams and Richards.  

My problem is that I hate the Rangers... EXCEPT for that I can't completely hate them because I grew up near Mike Richter and I did that he was so awesome for them 20+ years ago.  

 

 

[nossagog]

4 hours ago, King Knut said:

 

I agree about the questionable hits.  This is why I OV pisses me off/scares me.  He's dangerous.  he has no comprehension of how dangerous he's being because he's utterly out of control half the time.  In a sense, that's enviable because he does play right on that edge.  Sometimes I think he's going to give himself a stroke or accidentally murder a bystander during his celebrations.    But he's over the line fairly consistently, and they've rarely made him come back to the right side.  

 

 

Murdering team mates too regardless of the puck, like in their game 7 debacle in '09.  Funny how he ignored that little rubber puck that went right by him and went for the big hit. Maybe that's why the score was 5-0 at the time. 

 

[RJ8812]

**** the Penguins

**** the Caps

 

Hope the arena implodes during their game 

[Puck_Pun]

Now there, don't hide your feelings, let them out, you don't need to hide them behind courtesies.