Crosby Gets #40, 41, Pens Lose 3-2 In OT

Sidney Crosby didn't disappoint in Friday's game against the Rangers, just hours after signing my jersey outside the Mellon Arena.

I was still pretty jacked up after that while watching the game and I'm fairly certain that Sid needs to sign some more of my items if he's going to get production like that.

Anyway, the Pens looked very good in the first period and I honestly think that had they gotten more pucks behind Henrik Lundqvist in the opening frame that the result would have differed greatly.

In the first period, Lundqvist looked shakier than a teenage boy getting intimate with a girl for the first time.

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Despite all that, he somehow only allowed one goal on a rocket through the wickets from Crosby.

Everything looked to be going well for the Pens after the first. The energy was there, the commitment level was there and the Rangers looked lost.

Then, as has happened countless times this season, the Pens came out in the second and it was like watching a train wreck.

Pucks weren't getting to the net. Brent Johnson was digging pucks out his own net and then tweaked something forcing Marc-Andre Fleury to come in for the rest of the game.

After two periods, the Pens trailed 2-1.

In the third, it took a little coaxing but the Pens finally started to get back to their game.

On the power plan, a loose puck squirted back to Sergei Gonchar at the point. Gonch surveyed the situation and fired a slap-pass right onto Crosby's blade.

Sid did the rest as he redirected the puck past Lundqvist to tie the game at 2-2.

Neither team was able to light the lamp for the rest of regulation and so we head to overtime.

About a minute in, Olli Jokinen carries the puck over the Pens' line and launched a wrister over Fleury's shoulder to win the game.

I'm going to send an e-mail to PETA about Jokinen because he's an absolute Penguin killer and he needs to be stopped.

I knew my anger in reading the news that the Rangers had traded for him was justified from going back to his Florida Panther days. The Pens always struggled against the Panthers and it was mainly because of him.

As soon as he leaves, the Pens start getting wins over them. The worst part is that he's in the division now.

Great. Awesome. Splendid.

Anyway, at least the Pens got a point for their roughly 28 minute effort against the Rags last night.

Up next are the Nashville Predators at 1 p.m. Sunday. Look for the preview story on KDKA.com by me tomorrow morning.

New Proposal For NHL Playoffs

Since the NHL went to this six division format with the guaranteed 1-3 seed for the division winners, I have felt like there was a thorn in my side. Especially from last season's final results.

Before I get into this proposal of ideas, I would like to send out a heart felt thought to Florida Panthers winger, Richard Zednik. As I am sure you are all aware, Zednik's carotid artery was severed when Olli Jokinen's skate came up after being hit. If you haven't seen this gruesome event click this link to a YouTube clip. I am warning you now, if you have a weak stomach do not watch this.

Anyway, Richard get well soon and I hope to see you back on the ice in the near future.

As you can all probably tell from previous posts, I am a Penguins fan. Last season they finished tied with Ottawa with 105 points. Due to tiebreakers the Pens ended up as the 5-seed while Ottawa got the 4-seed. That's fine and dandy, but if you look at who got the 3-seed you can see why this is a little irritating.

The Atlanta Thrashers won the division with a whopping 97 points, which was good enough for what should have been the 6-seed. Now I'm not sore over the Pens being kicked around in a five game series with the eventual Eastern Conference champs because I finally didn't have to worry about people making wise cracks at me in my Pens apparel walking down the street.

What annoyed me was that the Thrashers were handed the 3-seed. The New York Rangers earned the 6-seed and basically a first round bye by playing Atlanta. If you'll recall, the Rangers swept the Thrashers in what was probably the worst series of the entire playoffs.

I have a proposal and will show examples of this as I go along.

Part 1

I am comfortable with the division leaders being given a playoff spot. I am not comfortable however with them being given a 1-3 seed just for winning the division when there are other teams with more points. Here's how the standings looked at the end of last season.

1. Buffalo - 113 Points
2. New Jersey - 107
3. Atlanta - 97
4. Ottawa - 105
5. Pittsburgh 105
6. New York Rangers - 94
7. Tampa Bay - 93
8. New York Islanders - 92

I propose that the teams with higher point totals move up in the standings over division leaders if it is possible. To illustrate this point, here's how the final standings would have looked if my method was in place. The changes are in bold.

1. Buffalo - 113 Points
2. New Jersey - 107
3. Ottawa - 105
4. Pittsburgh 105
5. Atlanta - 97
6. New York Rangers - 94
7. Tampa Bay - 93
8. New York Islanders - 92

This would have resulted in the Penguins having home ice against Atlanta in a series they most likely would have won, while Ottawa would have had a tough time with the Rangers but probably would have still won in 6 games.

This isn't much of a tweak and does not have any major issues unless you have a situation we are fast approaching in the Eastern Conference this season once again involving the Southeast Division.

Part 2

As I am writing this after all the games have concluded on Feb. 12, 2008, the Carolina Hurricanes are the 3-seed with 60 points. The Boston Bruins are the 9-seed with 61 points.

Now I know what you're thinking, "you just said you were fine with division winners getting into the playoffs so what now smarty pants?"

I'm glad you asked because I thought about this at length and discussed this with Gopher.

I propose a play in game in this situation. A winner take all qualifying game where the winner gets the right to play the 1-seed.

If the season ended today, here's how I would picture this going down.

On the day after the end of the regular season, Boston would travel to Carolina and play one game. Winner gets into the playoffs. Simple as that. The reason Carolina gets home ice in this game is as a reward for winning the Southeast Division.

In the event that the nine and 10 seeds have higher records than a division leader, normal tie breaker procedures would apply to determine the 9-seed who would travel to the 3-seed's barn for the play-in game.

Part 3

I propose a 3-2-1 point system for the regular season. I, for one, am tired of seeing teams like New Jersey play for overtime just to avoid losing in regulation and as a result getting zero points in the standings.

What I would do is award three points for a regulation win. This gives teams more of an incentive to go for it in regulation. This would also make the playoff race more exciting to watch.

I would then award two points for wins in overtime or a shootout. I am a big fan of the shootout. Knowing that two points will be awarded at the end of every game is a great thing as a fan, especially if you know you have a good goalie and a couple of guys who can dazzle on breakaways.

Lastly, I would still award one point to teams that lose in overtime or a shootout. I feel that if you get to overtime you deserve at least one point, but teams should be rewarded for winning games in regulation.

I know none of these ideas will ever actually be put into action, but if a league official sees any of this and gets it voted on and it passes...I want the credit. This site has a time stamp for a reason and I could always use the publicity.

Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for more soon.

Oilers' Second Time Against the Wall

Figured I should move over some old stuff to this better site. So enjoy!

From 6/17/06

Well as with the last game it's a do or die mentality. Advantage for Edmonton tonight is that they are back on home ice. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love Oiler fans and I want to go to Rexall Place to watch a game and just breathe in the atmosphere.

So apparently Laviolette lied because Cole is back in the lineup for the first time since our boy Brooks Orpik put him down for the count. That addition should give the Canes an emotional pickup.

It's official, the Oilers have the best entrance onto the ice ever. The double sliding doors to the locker room plus the fire and everything, it's just awesome.

8:19- National anthems. I get chills every time the fans take over, again it's just amazing.

8:23- Edmonton wins the opening draw! 5-0 so far, could we see 6-0?

8:24- Penalty on Edmonton, not a good start.

8:26- Shorthanded 3-on-1 for Edmonton leads to nothing thanks to too much passing, but the PK looks good right now as the penalty expires.

8:30- Pens get publicity during the Finals! They just showed Brooks' hit on Cole, I don't know what all the fuss is about. Looked clean to me.

8:31- Penalty on Carolina, could we perhaps see another powerplay goal from the lowly Oiler powerplay unit??

8:57- Ok I know I just missed a bunch of stuff, but I was watching. The reason for a lack of updates is because Erin and I adopted a kitten today and the little guy is exploring and we're trying to get him used to us. For the majority of the period the cat was on my lap intently watching the game along with me, so I think we have a winner here. 0-0 after the first.

9:15- Second period is underway and the Canes are on a carryover powerplay.

9:17- Too many men on the ice penalty on the Oilers.

9:19- Pass into the slot to Pisani.... SCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

9:21- Greg: "My man again. Mr. Conn Smythe"

9:22- Penalty on Carolina, perhaps another powerplay goal??

9:28- Matching minors for a hook and a dive. Of course now the refs call a dive, but of course its on Edmonton because Carolina would never do such a thing. (Obviously Tarnstrom hauled Recchi down in Game 5, I mean come on Recchi should have gotten an Oscar for that performance.)

9:31- The cat (Max) has been asleep on Diana's lap for about 30 minutes now. Apparently he tuckered himself out with all the exploring. Diana came running over as soon as she found out we adopted it as she wants one herself. I guess she's getting her cat fix from poor little Max.

9:35- Staios blasts one from the point and SCOOORRRRRRRREEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
2-0 on the deflection by Torres!

9:38- Powerplay Edmonton, come on boys send this back to Carolina for Game 7 right here.

9:41- Edmonton is by far the better team in the game right now. They are just absolutely controlling the play and making Carolina play out of their style.

9:43- Timeout Carolina...Laviolette is getting nervous if you ask me.

9:53- Penalty on Tarnstrom, Carolina going on the powerplay again. Big kill coming up here.

9:55- The Oilers are taking a page out of Carolina's penalty kill. They're blocking everything thrown at Markkanen.

9:57- Breakaway for Hemsky is nullfied by a penalty on Jason Smith. Not quite sure for what seeing as how he was on his ass in his own crease. Don't even tell me the Edmonton screw job is coming, cause I'll hunt these refs down.

10:00- End of period two, 2-0 Edmonton! Time to fetch the cat from behind the bookcase.

10:19- Third period underway and we're 20 minutes from Game 7! Yeah I know I just cursed the whole thing, but that's the reality of the situation.

10:21- They better be going upstairs to review this goal by Edmonton. If it isn't it would be one hell of a save by Cam Ward on a 3-on-1.

10:22- No goal thanks to nothing conclusive on the replays, but common sense would tell you the puck was in the net. Oh well, on we play 2-0 Oilers.

10:24- Penalty on Carolina! Time to put it away and send this back to Raleigh for a do or die Game 7.

10:25- SMYTH SCOOOOORRRRREEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!! WHAT A SHOT ON THE BACKHANDER!!! POWERPLAY GOAL 3-0!!!! Who needs that last goal that was disallowed? They got it anyway!

10:27- Another too many men on the ice penalty against Carolina! Blood is in the water boys! Open up those floodgates!

10:34- Penalty on Edmonton with 10:30 to go in the game. If Carolina has a snowball's chance in hell of coming back it's gotta come right here.

10:38- Penalty on Carolina on what would have been a breakaway for Pisani, but he was hooked from behind by Whitney.

10:43- SCOOOORRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! HORCOFF GETS THE GOAL ON THE POWERPLAY, 4-0!!!!!! WE'RE GOING TO A GAME 7 BABY!!! WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

10:46- The Edmonton fans have been cheering "We want the Cup!" for a solid 2-3 minutes without fading at all. Now the game is starting to get a little nasty, Game 7 is going to be a barnburner. Oh and the Oilers are going back on the powerplay, time to add insult to injury.

10:49- Too many men on the ice against Edmonton, oh well 4-0 lead is fine with me.

10:52- Two minutes until Game 7! Time for the happy dance in the middle of the living room. If Edmonton wins on Monday I'm changing this cat's name to lucky. Second "We want the Cup!" chant roars from the seats. No one is sitting down right now.

10:54-One minute!......30 seconds!

10:55- 20!.....10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.0!!!!!!! IT'S OVER!!!! SHUTOUT MARKKANEN!!!!! SERIES TIED 3-3!!! WHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY MADE HISTORY AS NO TEAM DOWN 3-1 WINNING GAME 5 IN OT WENT ON TO WIN GAME 6!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

HOLY @#$$!!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAH!!!!!

10:57- Yes again the theory was upheld, 6-0 in the Finals. Anyone wanna bet the winner of Game 7 wins the opening draw??

I already know I will not be able to post a blog in real time on Monday as I have to work until 11pm. Yes I know, I'm pretty much pissed off too right about now, but I will be taping the game and potentially keeping a blog then depending on how tired I am from working at 7am-11pm. Don't ask, it sucks, but what can you do?