Detroit vs Ottawa, New York, Philly....well, duh....

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

So the incessant whining by Pens fans has just bothered me more than pretty much anything has in a long while.

When we lost those series to Anaheim or Edmonton, etc...we did our share of bitching. But we bitched about Lilja's turnovers. We bitched about the 80 shots on goal from 50 feet out and nobody screening. We bitched about our lackluster powerplay. We acknowledged the injuries we had to key defenseman. In short, we didn't whine and cry about the referees or traps or any of the other myriad bulls*** excuses the Pens fans are making. We bitched about our own deficiencies. Well, some of us did ***** about the weak hooking call on Dats.

Instead of living on the past 3 series and how well the Pens played against, and let's face it, lesser competition, maybe a little education might help Pens fans come to some understanding that when you play the Red Wings, the best team in hockey, it might not go as well for you compared to the schlubs you played in rounds 1, 2 and 3.

Let's take a peek at some numbers

Offense

Ottawa 1st

Detroit 3rd

Philly 6th

NYR 25th

Defense

Detroit 1st

NYR 4th

Philly 18th

Ottawa 24th

So Ottawa and Philly could score but not keep it out of their own net. The Rags were solid defensively but couldn't buy goals. Oh, but there's Detroit in the top 3 in both categories.

PP%

Philly 2nd

Detroit 3rd

Ottawa 12th

NYR 22nd

PK%

NYR 6th

Detroit 8th

Philly 10th

Ottawa 22nd

Pretty much corresponds to the overall offensive and defensive stats for all teams.

Face Offs

Detroit 1st

NYR 4th

Ottawa 7th

Philly 20th

PITTSBURGH-30th...DEAD LAST!

How about these thoughts:

-Nick Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the world. Plays for Detroit, not Ottawa, NYR or Philly.

-There are 3 selke finalists every year. Oops, 2 play for Detroit, none play for the other 3 teams.

-Kris Draper is past selke winner and still one of the best defensive forwards in the game.

Ottawa was banged up and abysmal.

NYR's offense was lackluster all season and couldn't compete with the high powered Pens. Oh yeah and when your #1 defenseman is Michal Roszival (he ain't no Nick Lidstrom) then you got issues. Not every team can be the Carolina Hurricanes of a few seasons ago and win a cup with a bunch of nobody's on the blueline.

Philly had the best chance of beating Pitt and they're a team that I think would give Detroit a hard time as well. But they lost Kimmo Timmonen. And whereas he isn't Nick Lidstrom, imagine how we'd be doing without Rafalski. And they lost Braydon Coburn for a time. So make that Rafalski and Stuart.

So Pitt plays 3 teams that nobody would argue are close to the Detroit Red Wings talent wise, and they play them when those teams aren't having stellar seasons and are facing injuries in the playoffs.

And they are shocked when the President's Trophy winning Wings, with their soon to be 6 time Norris man and multiple Selke candidates/winners end up owning them???

Some of us, including the ALMIGHTY GS&T picked the Wings in 5, 6 at the most. And here we are. Coincidence? Nope, just a sign of smart hockey fans that know what they got in the Detroit Red Wings.

So when it comes to Pittsburgh and their defense that includes Scuderi and Gill (hey, I own a pair of skates, maybe I can lace 'em up for the Pens too) me thinks this is a clear cut case of the Pitt fanbase drinking a little too much of their own kool-aid.

The Pens were good this year, no doubt. But anyone remember us in 1995? Anybody remember the difficulties some of our best young players had their first times getting deep into the playoffs? When you get to the cup, you don't know what it takes to win it. And when the core of your team, including your captain who can't buy beer and your goalie who can barely buy beer are all players under 25 years of age. You've never been there, you don't know what it takes to win it. Evgeni Malkin is going through that right now. So yeah, the Pens were good this year, but they were hardly complete. You can't finish dead last in faceoffs. You can't have top players who can't spend any time killing penalties. You can't compete with a team whose #3 defenseman would be your #1 defenseman. The Pens are hardly ready to win it all. They are close but not there yet. IMO, they won't even make it this far next season without an influx of veteran help. Imagine what a John Madden or a Kimmo Timmonen would do for the Pens.

In the end the best team was always Detroit. And there's still 1 more win to go but is it really in doubt?

To all Pens fans, man up already. Stop complaining about the officiating and stop likening the Wings to the 1990's Devils. The Pens will lose this series b/c they aren't ready to win it and they aren't good enough to win it. At least not against the best team in hockey...The Detroit Red Wings!

Rant over. GO WINGS!

Edited June 2, 2008 by GordieSid&Ted

[ben_usmc 253]

The only thing I don't like is everyone acts like we already have won.

Edited June 2, 2008 by ben_usmc

[toby91_ca 620]

You have got to be absolutely s***ting me. I have to admit, I didn't read your entire rant, I just read the part about Wings fans not bitching about the refs when we lost in prior years.

This is so far from the truth it isn't funny. I tend to stay away from here when the Wings lose....the complaints about the refs get that bad.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

You have got to be absolutely s***ting me. I have to admit, I didn't read your entire rant, I just read the part about Wings fans not bitching about the refs when we lost in prior years.

This is so far from the truth it isn't funny. I tend to stay away from here when the Wings lose....the complaints about the refs get that bad.

Toby, you're forgetting, I said "smart Red Wings fans"

[betterREDthandead 58]

The only thing I don't like is everyone acts like we already have won.

It might not happen tonight. Might even take 7 games.

But the Penguins are not winning three in a row.