Can Confidence Prevent a Potential Sweep?

Well, Paul from Five for Smiting thinks so.  And he's not afraid to boast in another letter to Pensburgh.  I sent the first attack this time, and so SLC has returned in suit with this hearty diatribe.

Dear Pen Heads,

Hate to break it to you, but you haven't won jack yet.  Sure, Friday was a painful loss, which may or may not have elicited a completely irrational response from a certain Senators blogger.  But before you let your giddiness run away with your common sense, it was one loss in a best-of-seven series.  It's simple really.  You won your two at home, now it's our turn.

As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say that Friday's result may be the worst thing that could have happened to you.  How, you're asking yourselves?  Consider...

We finally scored.  Then pumped two more past MAF.  Whatever balloon of self-importance he had inflated around himself is gone.  And I don't think I'm spilling any secrets when I say he's not the most stoic youngster ever to play the position, is he?  How nervous is he going to be in Game 3, before a crowd that certainly won't be prostrating themselves in the adoration he seems to enjoy so much.

You blew a three goal lead.  If not for the overwrought scenery chewing by one of the league's best divers, you may well have lost this game in OT and this conversation would take on an entirely different tone.  And I don't care what anybody says, if Jarkko doesn't convulse as if tasered and flop to the ice like a wounded bass, that call never gets made.  I didn't realize stick blades on the shoulder hurt so much.

We've had two days to figure out what we did right.  Trust me, as someone who has seen almost every game this year, what you saw in the 2nd and 3rd periods was much closer to the real Senators team that owned the Eastern Conference for most of the season.  They worked harder than they have in months, and the "who wants it more" factor is the only thing separating these two teams.

And finally, we're remembering what it takes to get to the Finals, something your boys can't relate to.  Just imagine how the Penguins are going to be feeling as they head home for Game 5, the series tied, after leading 2-0?  Why, I do believe you will actually be able to hear the squeak as they walk, their sphincters will be so puckered.

So if I can offer but one piece of advice to those of you unused to the rarefied air in which you find yourselves...this thing is far from over.

Big Man Hugs,
Senators Lost Cojones
Five for Smiting