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pretty happy with game one...fluery played real well, don't see him keeping that up

waiting for the idiots to come out of the woodwork about nash not scoring. think itll take two more games max

It didn't seem as close as a one goal game.

The Pens really have done a good job in going from a potent offensive team to playing Crosby and Malkin with a bunch of scrubs.

I'll be the contrarian. I do not feel great after this game. After the first period Pittsburgh carried the play and frankly, I think we were saved by the effectiveness of our first two defensive pairings and the Pens general offensive ineptness. Dan Boyle sucks horrendously. I haven't felt that awful about having a defenseman on the ice since Bruce Driver crossed the Hudson and stole money from the Rangers for a couple of years. Maxime LaP treated him like a prison yard bitch. I am also worried about Girardi--he has worn down as the playoffs have gone on for each of the past three years and getting dinged early is not good. We really need Kevin Klein back so Boyle can start wearing a suit to the games.

I expect a much better effort in Game 2. If we can jump all over them and win a decisive game I am guessing they never recover and the series ends in Pittsburgh.

Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:Dan Boyle sucks horrendously.

This is not a contrarian opinion. Stralman to Boyle was quite a downgrade.

I think Boyle will sit over Hunwick when Klein comes back.

Which will hopefully be much sooner rather than later

commavegarage {l Wrote}:I think Boyle will sit over Hunwick when Klein comes back.

Which will hopefully be much sooner rather than later

Vingeault is hard to read. For instance, why trade for Shepard and continue to play Tanner Glass? Why even sign Glass for that matter?

i thought pitt played significantly better from period 1 to period 2/3...but i also think fleury played a hell of a lot better than he will for the remainder of the series

nice bounceback last night.

i guess they're not going to call goalie interference any more? rangers d has to do a better job of getting hornqvist, kunitz & malkin out of there, enough's enough.

great line last night re BC hockey though:

NBC asked Kreider how many players from the national championship team at BC made the NHL?
He responded: which one?

claver2010 {l Wrote}:nice bounceback last night.

i guess they're not going to call goalie interference any more? rangers d has to do a better job of getting hornqvist, kunitz & malkin out of there, enough's enough.

great line last night re BC hockey though:

NBC asked Kreider how many players from the national championship team at BC made the NHL?
He responded: which one?

They also highlighted the 4 BC guys playing at one point. Malkin looks like a shell of his former self.

8 of last 9 playoff wins by 1 goal

claver2010 {l Wrote}:nice bounceback last night.

i guess they're not going to call goalie interference any more? rangers d has to do a better job of getting hornqvist, kunitz & malkin out of there, enough's enough.

great line last night re BC hockey though:

NBC asked Kreider how many players from the national championship team at BC made the NHL?
He responded: which one?

Definitely 50 minutes of good hockey. The last 10, when Pitt just alternated the Crosby-Malkin lines, were a little tight. But that's why you have Hank. Also, there were a couple of juuuust missed opportunities to make it a 3 goal game, which would have made the last bit of the 3rd less dramatic.

b0mberMan {l Wrote}:

claver2010 {l Wrote}:nice bounceback last night.

i guess they're not going to call goalie interference any more? rangers d has to do a better job of getting hornqvist, kunitz & malkin out of there, enough's enough.

great line last night re BC hockey though:

NBC asked Kreider how many players from the national championship team at BC made the NHL?
He responded: which one?

Definitely 50 minutes of good hockey. The last 10, when Pitt just alternated the Crosby-Malkin lines, were a little tight. But that's why you have Hank. Also, there were a couple of juuuust missed opportunities to make it a 3 goal game, which would have made the last bit of the 3rd less dramatic.

Derek Steppan would have a hard time putting the puck in the ocean taking slap shots off the beach. He blew two bunnies that would have ended the game in the last 10 minutes.

Still waiting for the Rangers to put together a 60 minute effort. They need to close this thing out in five. I don't want to watch them grind through unnecessary seven game series and then wear out at the end like they did against the Kings.

Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:

b0mberMan {l Wrote}:

claver2010 {l Wrote}:nice bounceback last night.

i guess they're not going to call goalie interference any more? rangers d has to do a better job of getting hornqvist, kunitz & malkin out of there, enough's enough.

great line last night re BC hockey though:

NBC asked Kreider how many players from the national championship team at BC made the NHL?
He responded: which one?

Definitely 50 minutes of good hockey. The last 10, when Pitt just alternated the Crosby-Malkin lines, were a little tight. But that's why you have Hank. Also, there were a couple of juuuust missed opportunities to make it a 3 goal game, which would have made the last bit of the 3rd less dramatic.

Derek Steppan would have a hard time putting the puck in the ocean taking slap shots off the beach. He blew two bunnies that would have ended the game in the last 10 minutes.

Still waiting for the Rangers to put together a 60 minute effort. They need to close this thing out in five. I don't want to watch them grind through unnecessary seven game series and then wear out at the end like they did against the Kings.

winning in 5 really shouldnt be an issue. Malkin is clearly banged up, no letang, fleury is due for a stinker. i want to see them flex their muscle tonight.

Exactly. They beat up the Pens tonight, I doubt the Pens even bother to get off the bus for Game 5.

only thing better would've been if hayes shot it of lapierre's head and in



*welcome to the internet, one of you can fix that

Kreider and Hayes with back to back GWGs, although Kreider did not look good last night. Hopefully they take the Pens aprt on Friday night and give Girardi some time to rest and Klein more time to get healthy enough to play.

Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:Kreider and Hayes with back to back GWGs, although Kreider did not look good last night. Hopefully they take the Pens aprt on Friday night and give Girardi some time to rest and Klein more time to get healthy enough to play.

Half of the roster didn't look good last night. Am glad they had a chance to still come out with the win, but they can't half ass or sleep walk through any of the next potential series and not go 7.

st louis should spend his shifts in the first period doing nothing but shooting.

he hasnt shot a puck since he won the art ross

huge that we didn't have to go back to pitt - closing these series in 5-6 vs 7 could very well be the difference down the road.

lets hope isles - caps go 7.

surprised so many of my rangers friends want // don't mind the islanders. id much rather face the caps.

also, lets hope klein is back to replace boyle for game 1. something tells me he's going to be replacing hunwick though

it would be interesting to see if a caps win brings back dominoj

That was a shitty way to start the series.

nice punch to the junk, they stopped playing when the puck went into the corner

think they played alright, nice to see this series will be a little more open. caps went nearly 10 minutes of game time without a shot attempt (5 min left in 2nd through first 5 of first)

thought klein looked really good, which was encouraging (staal has been pretty quiet but i guess that could be good w him being a dman just haven't noticed him last couple of games much at all). the powerplay (mainly the 2nd unit) looked pretty good as well.

sorry for the double post but also on that last play, why is boyle out there?

thought he played well last night but under a minute to go in a tied game he's the last RH dman i'd want out there

I'll take it. Different caps team than in past years. As much as I hated the term on orpik's contract, he's been a rock this year

Saturday was a much better outcome, though holy hell that Ovi goal was impressive.

Also nice to see the Habs having their meltdown against another team this year.

frustrating to say the least

don't think they're playing poorly just like i don't think holtby's .983 save % these last couple of games is sustainable.

surprised the broadcast didn't get into mcdonagh's soft play leading to the second goal yeah Girardi was in deep but if McDonagh makes a harder play it's no problem

Yeah, Holtby looks like a world beater, the Caps also look a little like the Torts era Rangers in that they clog the middle and get in front of every shot.

I think that not having Zucc makes the team weaker as a whole, and most of the defense is gassed (Girardi), bad (Boyle) and not playing at the level they did last year (McD)

I am loving that Montreal is coming apart and having a break down again. So at least there's that. Tampa Bay may be the best looking team right now in the playoffs, though its hard to say who the favorites should be. It'd be Chicago if they weren't having some question marks with Crawford.

The Ducks and Lightning are the two favorites IMO. That said, the Ducks have probably played the two of the worst teams in the playoffs this year so who knows with them. Chicago has too many questions on the back end and in goal. I don't love the Caps since they seem to be overly relying on Holtby being unconscious for the rest of the playoffs. Not the worst strategy but it is Braden Holtby and he's not a Roy, Brodeur or even a Giguere-level goalie.

flyingelvii {l Wrote}:The Ducks and Lightning are the two favorites IMO. That said, the Ducks have probably played the two of the worst teams in the playoffs this year so who knows with them. Chicago has too many questions on the back end and in goal. I don't love the Caps since they seem to be overly relying on Holtby being unconscious for the rest of the playoffs. Not the worst strategy but it is Braden Holtby and he's not a Roy, Brodeur or even a Giguere-level goalie.

He's only been in the league full time for 3 years...and had a spectacular year. Who's to say he's not at the level of those goalies? -- i'm not saying he is but he's still young enough that he could turn out to be elite -- at least Giguere-level.

I would agree that the Rangers have been the slightly better team, but the Caps have been opportunistic and done a great job of generally keeping most of the Rangers chances to the outside. If Lundquist isn't also playing as well as he is, the Caps actually could have won these games 3-0 and 4-1...so it goes both ways. Anyway you look at it, the Rangers D has been pretty crappy this series, think Klein has actually looked the best.

flyingelvii {l Wrote}:The Ducks and Lightning are the two favorites IMO. That said, the Ducks have probably played the two of the worst teams in the playoffs this year so who knows with them.

Thing about the Ducks is you feel like they should have goalie uncertainty, but as of now they don't. I guess you could say that they haven't had to rely on goaltending to save a game yet, which is fine if you can do that every series, though you're right in that they haven't really been challenged, fun as the last flames game was.