Pens Fall 4-3 In Shootout

OK so I detailed out the whole game on KDKA.com earlier today, but obviously in a recap story there's things I can't say to remain as an objective journalist.

That's what this platform is for right?

So here we go.

For one, I am not happy at all with seeing the Pens blow the lead....again.

They did it against the Capitals last Sunday, they did it against the Rangers the other night and they did it not once, not twice, but THREE times today against the Predators.

Good Lord.

This has been a problem for months and if the Pens were as explosive as they are, I'm not so sure they're one point out of the Atlantic Division lead.

Crosby got his 42nd goal of the season to open the scoring and Brooks Orpik got his first goal in 112 games to break a 2-2 tie in the third.

Fleury made some nice saves throughout the game to keep the Pens in the game, but surrendered goals against Martin Erat and Cal O'Reilly in the shootout.

Kris Letang and Crosby were denied by Dan Ellis and that was that.

I'd go into more detail, but there's really no point.

The effort wasn't there for 60 minutes and the Pens are lucky to get a point.

Their next game isn't until March 2, due to the Olympic break.

Now, going back to the other day I meant to tell this gem of a story, but figured I'd save it.

On Friday, I took my wife down to the Mellon Arena to go get autographs after the morning skate.

It was freezing out there, but she was a trooper and went along to help out and use her charm to help score some more signatures.

I will go on the record and say, I do not sell these. I am purely a collector and am not just going down there to make a buck like some other people I see there.

Anyway, we get to the arena around 11 a.m. and the players start filing out shortly before noon.

For those doing the math, that's 45 minutes roughly and did I mention it was freezing out there and we were standing in a snowbank to be up near the front of the line? No? Well there you go.

Why is any of this relevant?

Some girl from south Florida was there gushing her Pens knowledge. I'm OK with hearing other stories from fans and such, but here's where I draw the line.

There's four types of fans in this world.

1- Bandwagon - No explanation needed.

2 - Casual - The follow the team and sport, but don't know stats and wouldn't recognize any of the players on the street if they bumped into them.

3 - Die Hard - I throw myself into this. We have rituals and routines and know more about the team than we probably should and for no good reason.

It's been documented on here before that I haven't changed clothes or shaved for a period of time because the team was winning.

During the playoffs I only shaved after every playoff round because of work and work alone.

I had a daily routine that somehow kept spreading to all facets of my life, down to what songs I would listen to and from which bands and in what order during the playoffs.

If this sounds like OCD, it probably is, but when I veered away from the plan the Pens lost. Every time. When I nailed my 24 hour routine, they won, 16 times and hoisted the Stanley Cup.

4 - Obsessive and Ignorant - These are the types of people who think the world revolves around them. They think their team will always win even when the team sucks and is in last place and out of contention.

These are also the same individuals who think they know everything about the player's personal lives.

Ladies and gentlemen, this woman outside the Igloo on Friday was No. 4 and had a voice that I would prefer Fran Drescher to.

My wife is more a hybrid of options two and three and it's only because of me. As such, she was even getting pissed at this girl.

This girl and her friend were chatting (non-stop) for the entire time we were there. I don't think she took a breath.

If that wasn't bad enough, she starts talking about rumors about some of the Pens in their personal lives.

I don't claim to know anything about the player's personal lives. I don't really care to know about their personal lives either.

As long as they're good citizens and being productive members of the team, I'm happy.

Not this girl.

One shining example was the topic of Marc-Andre Fleury and his supposed girlfriend. Again, I don't know if he has one, don't care either. I'm certainly not going to waste my time looking it up either to further illustrate the glaring differences between Fans of the third and fourth varieties.

This girl turns to her friend and says "I hear she's not even that pretty either."

I wish I had a picture of this girl to post on here to make this next line even more amusing.

If that wasn't calling the kettle black, I don't know what is.

I'm not trying to be mean, but when you're overweight and your face makes little kids run in fear, don't harp on athletes wives/girlfriends.

It's a known fact that 99% of NHL players have hot significant others. Mike Fisher is engaged to Carrie Underwood for crying out loud. The other one percent either have average looking mates or none at all.

Not trying to sound sexist or anything, but even women athletes bring home good looking guys too, so it goes both ways.

Anyway, the jealously oozing out of this girl was palpable and I'm pretty sure the snow pile around her was melting at an alarming rate anytime Fleury's name came up.

As for the friend, there's a lot of bridges in and around the city of Pittsburgh, but for a couple hours the bridge-keeping troll was not at her post.

So flash forward a little bit, every player that exits the building she's yelling at as they're getting in their cars to come over to us.

On top of that, she's telling anyone in earshot who is going to stop and who isn't. As if this sort of thing is done on a scheduled basis.

She had a sign she made that looked like a 2-year-old had drawn it up and was trying to get the whole team to sign it.

Finally I had enough and moved to the other side of the entrance/exit to the parking lot as Bill Guerin rolls up.

I go over and get his autograph despite the all-knowing psychic predicting that he wouldn't stop.

Again, the main reason I went was to get my Crosby jersey signed so that I could frame it and mount it on my wall.

As Sid pulls up and gets out of his car, she starts yelling "I came all the way from Florida, please sign my sign!!!!"

As Sid was signing my jersey I wanted to be kind and warn him of what he was about to encounter, but there were some other nice people on the other side that deserved a chance to get his signature.

It was also apparent that she thought she was friends with the players because of having met a few for 30 seconds while they signed her pathetic sign.

This girl is the real reason why I hate the obsessive fans as much as bandwagoners. Bandwagoners suck because when the team isn't on top they're jumping on the one who is.

These obsessive/ignorant fans think they know everything and are too blinded by their egos and inner fears of rejection to see things clearly.

Anyway, I hope she had a safe trip back to Florida and I also hope to not run into her again.

Legwand Stellar as B's Lose Again

So where do we go from here? The Boston Bruins are now losers of four straight. Tonight is was 3-2, losing in a shootout. Granted they've taken a pair of points, one from Philadelphia last Saturday and one last night. And once again the Bruins may have been the best team on the ice, creating space, shots, opportunities, but they failed to really convert and make things happen for themselves.

As well as the Bruins played, however, there was no stopping Predator's center David Legwand. He scored both goals in regulation, and then beat Manny Fernandez in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Preds the win.

Patrice Bergeron started looking like his old-self last night, creating chances, putting shots on net, skating hard, not shying away from contact at all. He was the spark plug for the Bruins offense last night, but we're all still waiting for him to get back into the swing of things with goal scoring.

Now the Bruins return home for a couple of days before heading down south for the Hurricanes on Tuesday night. I believe that the Bruins have rediscovered their competitiveness and intensity and they were able to sustain it for a full 60 minutes last night. They dominated the Devils in shots and clearly could have beaten Nashville last night. All the B's need is a little bit of luck to swing their way and they'll be back in the win column.

Video highlights courtesy of our good friends at NHL.com

NHL Headlines 4/2/08

These playoff races are starting to come into focus a little better aren't they? Teams are slowly starting to be eliminated from contention. Once the pairings have been established, I'll be doing a breakdown of both conferences as far as the match-ups go and who should come out of each conference to battle for the Stanley Cup.

Here's the day's headlines.

Canadiens Lock Up Northeast Title

This one annoyed me last night. I left Carey Price on my bench assuming that the Senators would have actually showed up to play in this game. Now, I'm only a little annoyed as I control all the goaltending categories in my championship match-up with Gopher, but who doesn't like to pad the lead?

Anyway, congrats to the Canadiens who are now tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference at 100 points. The Penguins play Game 81 tonight against the Flyers in what should no doubt be a barnburner.

The Habs and Pens battle will have to be settled on the last day of the regular season as the both teams have two games remaining. The Penguins will clinch with a win tonight and a Habs loss in their next game on Thursday against Buffalo.

The Habs clinch if they win their final two games and Pittsburgh wins none or 1.

Should the teams remain tied in points or end up tied in points, the Penguins win due to having more total wins than the Habs.

Preds Rally Back From 3-0 Down To Win 4-3

What a blow this would have been to their playoff chances had they not stormed back to win this game. A loss in regulation would have left them one point behind the Vancouver Canucks with both teams having two games remaining. Instead, now they control their own destiny. If they win out they're in the playoffs. Sounds simple enough right?

They play the Blues again on Thursday and finish up the season against the Blackhawks.



The road for the Canucks is slightly tougher in my humble opinion as they play the Oilers and Flames to finish the season. To say these are must-win games for both squads is an understatement.

I was following along online for the Preds game last night and couldn't help but think to myself, "How can they possibly not show up when their playoff lives are on the line?"

No sooner did I that thought go through my mind did the comeback begin. Freaky right? I'm gonna start using that more often for my own benefit by hoping for a million bucks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Avs Secure Playoff Berth, Put Canucks On Life-Support

I wish I would have been home last night to watch this game. This must have been fantastic to watch. Both teams fighting to get into the playoffs. One team locks up a spot with a win, the other stays one point ahead of the 9th place squad.

This time of year is better than Christmas for me. Not in the spiritual sense, but the joy I get out of playoff atmosphere hockey is better than the gift giving. Not to mention it's a lot cheaper and there's no snow on the ground in June unless you're my parents who will have it until next August.



Peter Forsberg finally played long enough to score his first goal since returning to the NHL. I know I rip on him a lot and it's not because I don't like the guy. I do think he's an amazing player, but he's so injury prone it's not even funny and why anyone would gamble one million bucks on him knowing he's one rut in the ice from being done for the year is beyond me.

Zubov Out For Regular Season, Playoff Status Unknown

I like the Stars right now as a Stanley Cup contender even with the recent lack of winning shall we say? Getting Sergei Zubov back ASAP will dramatically improve their chances. When he's healthy, if you don't have him on your fantasy team you know you're scared out of your mind of playing against him.

There's not many defensemen who can be as lethal as a forward and he's one of them. Before the injury he had 35 points in 42 games. That's pretty impressive for a d-man. He's also a solid guy in the defensive zone who plays smart and doesn't take many penalties. He only had 12 minutes in penalties in those 42 games. I wish Sergei Gonchar stayed out of the box as much as Zubov does. I'd be swearing a lot less than I do.

I think the Stars can still make a run without Zubov who's been out since Jan. 17 battling a groin and foot problem, but his leadership and overall ability could take this team all the way if he's healthy.

Sundin Done For Rest Of Season

As a hockey fan, I hope this isn't the last we've seen of Mats Sundin in Toronto. I'm still in shock they were trying to trade him at the deadline. Of course I understand the logic behind it, but he's done everything for the organization except deliver the Stanley Cup.

Where's the loyalty in this sport anymore? The last guys I remember giving everything they had to an organization like Mats has were Mario and Ray Bourque.

Bourque eventually went to management and tearfully requested a trade to a contender, since the Bruins weren't going anywhere soon, so that he could have another run at the Stanley Cup.



That clip is probably my all-time greatest Stanley Cup ceremony aside from seeing the Pens hoist it in the early 90's. Messier and the Rangers was another classic, but I lived in New England for Ray's entire career and I knew a cousin of his personally so this one takes the cake.

How big of an impact did Bourque have on Boston? If the Bruins and Avalanche were to have met in the finals, I really think the fans would have given up their own quest to see the local boys win the Cup and would have rooted on Bourque. The guy was and is always going to be one of the legendary sports heroes of Beantown.

How great would it have been to see th Avs clinch the Cup in Boston and see and hear the crowd reaction as the teary-eyed Bourque hoisted it up? I'm getting chills even thinking about it.

What Bourque was to Boston, Mats is to Toronto and it will be a sad day in hockey when he isn't wearing the blue and white.