NHL 09-10 Season

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I agree, Yoda. I'm more concerned about the lack of effort. Contrary to a few of my friends who've been tough on Fleury, I've been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. He can "turn it on" when he wants, but he looks frustrated right now. Osgood, of the Red Wings, went through a similar period last year, then got hot in the playoffs, so we'll see.

Malkin should be back any day now, so that might possibly be a motivator. I'm convinced that Dan will have some sort of plan for the team come playoff time. I do have confidence in him; afterall, he did save our season last year.

By the way, individual playoff tickets are already sold out according to the Pens website. Ticketmaster doesn't seem to have anything, either. Frustrating.



Yeah, I was, actually. My girlfriend has been wanting to see Pittsburgh and it would be a good opportunity to do so. She's also never seen a hockey game, so that's two birds with one stone.

I missed the deadline for last years Stanley Cup; they sold too fast. Not planning on letting that happen again.



Yeah, this is what I was hoping for; we look significantly better than we did late in the season. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't already looking ahead to Washington...man, what a series that figures to be. Can't say I love our chances there, but I think it's a lot closer than most people think.



They've definitely looked sharper. Aside from some clumsy passes and giveaways, (where the Caps looked sloppy as well) the Pens looked strong. Malkin, Crosby, and Poni all looked like they had woken up; especially after a few of those fights (Orpik). This happened last year in the playoffs with Talbot, let's hope we can go the same route.



Guess we're meeting them again. Whatever. We're showing a lot of firepower and the Caps still have significant goalie issues. Again, I probably wouldn't bet on us, but I wouldn't be comfortable betting against us, either. I think our chances are better than they seem on paper.



Wow, what a turnaround. Montreal becomes just the second team to come back from being down 3-1 and stuns the Capitals.

This is huge. The Pens look great, and with Washington out of the picture it'll be plenty surprising if they don't represent the Eastern Conference for a third consecutive year. I was torn on whether or not I wanted to play them; obviously a victory over the Capitals would've been pretty satisfying, and it would've been quite fun to watch, but there's no doubt our road to repeating just got a whole lot easier. Oh well; not like we had any say in it.

Stanley Cup odds had Washington as the favorite for pretty much the entire second half of the season, I believe, but the Pens and (who else?) Detroit are currently both 5/2. Man, wouldn't that be something?

Still a long way to go, and anything can happen, but a perfectly sober assessment would have to judge the Pens as the unmitigated favorites now.



Yeah, that was crazy. The East is incredibly weak this year without the Capitals and Devils involved.

What are everyone's (which may only be Yoda and I) predictions for this round? I'll put mine in later.



San Jose vs Chicago will be a good series, hoping Chicago wins in 6.
Montreal vs Boston or Philadelphia, hate Philly hope they lose, then Montreal over Boston in 7 to set up original six final.
Montreal vs Chicago Hawks in 6 to win the cup.



Ugh. What a way to go. And with the Caps gone, the path to the Finals (and a repeat, even) was fairly clear. Even the Eastern Conference Finals would've been a big deal, since we'd have been there for the third year in a row.

Obviously, it's a huge upset, and the Pens could've easily taken this one, but the Canadiens definitely played well and took advantage of the mistakes that were made. Big let down, though, for such a talented team to go down to such a significant underdog. And to be honest, I'm not too happy that the Montreal fans feel rewarded after the way they acted in some of their home games. They were calling for penalties anytime anyone so much as touched one of their players and booed every little thing that didn't go their way. It was pretty excessive. Given the fact that dozens of people were arrested in rioting after the win, I think it's safe to say the people of Montreal take their hockey way too seriously.

I'm sure Justin'll be here to weigh in once he sobers up in a few weeks.



Hockey is religion in Montreal the same way baseball is in New York with the Yankee's, pissed off at the team when they're losing and insane when they're winning. But no matter what they can't win the cup same as the Oilers in 06 playing great but not enough talent to carry it to the end.

I'm just happy Detroit is out.

The Pens lost that hunger they had and let this slip away.

Hopefully the Coyotes will move back to Winnipeg, hockey doesn't belong in the desert.

Definition of someone who refuses to admit he's wrong



Needless to say I was not in a very cheery mood last night.

Oh well.

Penguins looked exhausted and disorganized. It was truly a disappointing game for them and I didn't expect them to come out so poorly. Did Gonchar even know what was going on? Did Malkin? What was it, 14 giveaways to 0? Was there a reason Poni was even in the game? Ridiculous.

Overall, the Canadiens just played their game better, regardless of how much I despise this "turtle until they screw up" tactic, aka the trap. I won't blame Fleury, since the offense couldn't score on Halak anyway, but he let in a few soft goals, which doesn't help.

They'll be back next year with hopefully a stronger team. But right now, I'm thinking Sharks/Canadiens.

On a separate note, does anyone else find it pathetic how often Montreal riots? If someone can't find their remote, you can expect a few cars to be set ablaze. They even had one last night following the game; they were actually burning pictures of Crosby. Right.

I'm not sure I expect Poni, Guerin and Gonchar to be back. I'm thinking Shero will be getting rid of them and acquiring new (younger) people -- which will definitely help. But there is a lot of hope in our AHL affiliate: Letestu looked great and Tangradi is a distinct possibility in joining the line-up at some point, I think.



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
Bob Probert dead at 45.

Here is my favorite fight of his versus my favorite enforcer, Marty McSorley.