GMRwings1983

Especially since the shooter was an old goon.

Would you guys forgive Franzen if he pulled a Marty McSorley on Zdeno Chara's head?

I'll be rooting for the Pens against Boston. There's less players I hate on that team than this one.

These players don't play hard for Mike Babcock anymore. Not consistently. There's no excuse not to compete.

Game over. Can't fault Howard for the rebound (against Thornton of all people), but will blame the late man for not picking Caron up.

Then we need to go back to lines that have played together. How about Nyquist, Franzen and Legwand?

A series like this is why you need some toughness on your team. I know Holland won't address that, but it'd be great to have an enforcer challenge one of these Boston hitters and spark his team in the process. Our 4th liners can't do that. They play hard, but don't hit anything and don't fight. Waste of roster space and the crowd is dead partly because it knows we can't defend ourselves against Boston. And don't tell me that Miller is great on the PK, because this PK is a joke right now. Toughness is not our main problem to address, but it'd be nice if we had a guy who could do that in the lineup for this series. Instead, we get milksops like Miller and Kindl.

Remember the Nashville series a few years ago?

We need a motivational speech right now.

We're hopelessly outmatched by this team. Something needs to happen here quickly.

When you're the worst team in the playoffs and you're playing without your best player, you can't be giving the other team easy powerplays. That said, my grandmother could have stopped that shot. Jimmy needs to step up.

Abdelkader - Datsyuk - Alfredsson Franzen - Legwand - Nyquist Jurco - Sheahan - Tatar Cleary - Helm - McIntyre

Hey, Franzen leads the team in assists in this series. In all seriousness, the vets you refer to are for the most part too old to contribute. Bertuzzi, Sammy and Cleary are not playing, and shouldn't be. Alfredsson is like 41 years old and has gotten worse as the season has gone on. Someone mentioned earlier today that he looks like he's hurt. If so, that explains it. Franzen's goal scoring has tailed off over the last month plus. I'm not surprised he's struggling this season. He wasn't going to get any better at 34, or play any harder than in the past. He's not a leader because he's too lazy. Kronwall is the one I'm most disappointed with. He needs to play with a chip on his shoulder after his abysmal offensive output in last year's playoffs. He had a great chance early in the game, but ended up blowing it. He's a much better player than the guys I mentioned above, and I expect him to step up at home. The other vets are Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Datsyuk has looked good, but is neutered with bad linemates (thanks Kenny). Zetterberg is a big question mark. I hope he can play in this series, because I don't see us winning without him.

If Lashoff uses Chara's head for a baseball, I'll forgive him completely and anoint him my favorite player.

Just for you.

We need Zetterberg to return to win this series. Franzen and Alfie look done, no matter what line they're on. Babcock does need to mix the lines, though, because it's not working right now.

Well, our GM likes to overripe players. That means more Lashoff and Kindl, and less of guys who are better than them.

I'm just saying, Rask will win the Vezina and we haven't had that when we were finishing first every year. Even Hasek didn't win in that year (not saying Rask is better than Hasek).

I know, but then why aren't they playing? And please don't tell me they're not ready, because Lashoff sure as hell isn't.

Good point. But I don't think we're better even strength than a team that won the President's trophy. They're good for a reason. The Pens are the team that feeds off powerplays.

The scary thing about Boston. They've got arguably the best goalie in the league. Back when we were always finishing first, we never had a goalie win the Vezina or be a big factor for our success. Lots of times, our goalie was the big question mark going into the playoffs. Boston has no definitive weaknesses.

So has Holland by not improving this defense over the years. We've got one defenseman hurt, so that results in a scrub like Lashoff having to be inserted into the lineup. What does that say about our depth?

Babcock waits forever before making line changes. Don't know what he sees in these line combos that's so good.

That's an exaggeration. They've outplayed us overall in this game. Powerplays and even strength.

What I said earlier. I'd reunite Legwand with Nyquist and Franzen. Have no idea why he's playing with Miller and Glendenning. Seems like he's being wasted.