lomekian

The most frustrating thing is I only think the pens played really well in two games...thy just got tactically smarter and we made bad mistakes and looked very very tired. In games 3 and 4 the refs were determined to even thngs up. basically as we feared, staal's Pk goal was probably the most important moment of the series. Fleury came up big in games 6 & 7 and we were disjointed. No wholesale changes needed, just some tweaking. Helm and Ericsson will be better for a full year in the NHL. 2 of sammy, hossa and huds will be gone, and I suspect maltby will be 13th forward. If lils comes back, lebda will be 7th d-man... If we were less banged up we'd have won this (or if franzen had nailed sid in game 1!). MAF, Malkin, Staal, Talbot, Scuderi (to a lesser degree orpik, letang, kennedy) were brilliant for the pens. Crosby, Gonchar, Guerin, Satan did absolutely f*** all. Unfortunately we had slightly more no shows......will be intersting to see the injury list...

f*** crossbar...how many times have we hit the pipes this series......

orpik getting away with murder again...s***

hoo-*******-ray...christ we needed that!

individual decision making has been appalling....the pens haven't even had to play well this game...its mental....

s*** from ralf all pp there....very out of character...

homer getting the s*** kicked out of him there, and no call....all ******* playoffs....do the refs all hate him?

The problem is not a lack of effort (though some of the team look dead on their feet). The problem is that the non calling of interference really suits the otherwise static pens defensive pair, the wings have a number of players whose games have just collapsed in the last 3 weeks, not to mention the walking wounded, but most of all Bylsma is clearly a 100 times smarter that that prick therrien, and deserves a huge amount of credit, both in terms of man management, and tactics. The Wings are normally good enough to just play their game, but the pens tactics have improved immeasurably even during this series, exposing the weaknesses in our team. The pens 3rd line has been very effective against us all series, and we've had no answer to staal, kennedy and talbot all series, and the strength of that forecheck has exposed the puck handling of stuart and the 3rd line. Huds has been exposed as we all expected as great in an open game or on PP but his size is counting against him badly. Our rookies in the last 4 games have been shown up, and malts is showing that he is basically past it. We can still turn it around if we get an early goal and go back to our game which has collectively deserted us over the last 2 games. But unless Hossa is shown to have an injury his contract looks unlikely.... 20 minutes to go....need to be flat out for all 20.....and a little bit of luck would be nice, cos that has been absent tonight too...

My god...an intelligent comment....ten points to that man....

more non calls from the stripes....we're shooting ourselves in the foot, but the the refs have given us f*** all this series....

******* s***...not call again, and the pens on a breakaway again....stuart having a bad game......bad defending, but the officials are still letting the pens defense get away with murder.....

bout ******* time...should have had 2 pps in this period already.....

great and now they are showing that the pens goal was illegal...well woo pi ******* doo.

so many pens goals in this series have been very bad defensively...

f***!

As has been the case throughout this series, the 2nd period will be pivotal....if we can get out of it ahead, I'll be very confident....

Very cagey 1st period..probably as expected...wings with the two best chances, but nothing really clear for either team....gonna get nervous...!

Gosh, this particular pens fan knows how to ingratiate himself to his new surroundings! Its fairly simple...its game 7, non-one can really predict the outcome with any confidence. The balance of probability slightly favours the wings because they are home, they have more depth and have scored more this series. Malkin, Staal and the forecheck are likely to be the big weapons for the pens who need a big performance from the well marshalled Crosby. The wings could really do with Hossa driving the net more and using his strength and speed. Its unlikely the refs will favour the pens as much at the joe. Bassically if the wings play as well as they can, they will win, but if they don't the pens have more than enough ability to take advantage. My personal prediction is 3-2 wings, hossa picks up at least a point, but one of the role players gets the GWG. I think it will be close either way as the two best teams with great leadership and offensive talent are colliding. But we can never be sure...the spanking patty wah in 02 in similar circumstances in WCF illustrates that anything is possible. I just hope the wings score first so my blood pressure settles down!

Pens got really lucky in the 3rd there....

damn should have scored...we've actually had the clearest chances tonight.....and hossa it has to be said, even though i like him, has done sweet FA

Pierre is such a as***bag!

wow...we're finally getting some calls....in the 3rd period....i'm astounded!

bastard scuderi...i thought that was goal..

surely a penalty on cleary there......still great finish by drapes.....

very weak goal to let in. same old s***...stick it behind the net, forecheck wait for the wings to cough if up under pressure....got lucky there the pens because the wings have been on top this period...and still no wings pp