Laughing time is ovah: Carolina 3, Pittsburgh 2 (OT)
by JustinM on Mar 20, 2010 3:48 PM EDT
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So what do you do when you're playing the bottom feeders in the division known for being populated mostly with bottom feeders? A team with nothing left to play for other than their own contracts? Clearly, the answer is to go out there and lose.
Carolina's Zach Boychuk started off the festivities early in the first period with a pass from Joni Pitkanen that went off his leg and into the net. It was one of those goals that's technically lucky, but you get those kinds of goals now and then when you drive to the net, and that's exactly what happened on the play. The Penguins simply rolled over and died offensively for the entire period.
The second period began with watching the Hurricanes play a Jersey-style trap that only briefly faltered long enough for Tyler Kennedy to annoy the Canes with a shot after the whistle. Things had the potential for change when Kennedy shoved Pitkanen in a scrum around the net and then fell on to Manny Legace's left leg. He picked up a goaltender interference penalty on the play, and while Legace tried to continue, after the next whistle, Legace pulled himself from play and the Pens got to see Justin Peters again.
However, it seems that the determining factor of why the Penguins weren't scoring wasn't the opposing goaltender, it was the Carolina trap, as usual. Luckily for the Penguins, Brian Pothier took a dumb penalty toward the end of the period, and the Penguins decided to capitalize on it for a change with a goal off the stick of Jordan Staal. Almost immediately thereafter, the period was over.
The third period began with an offensive zone penalty by Mike Rupp followed by a trip by Jordan Staal to give the Hurricanes 20 seconds of a 5-on-3 PP. The Penguins killed that and the ensuing 5-on-4. Later in the period, the referees made a VERY questionable holding call on Erik Cole, but Alex Goligoski had to ruin it by preventing a Canes player from getting to the bench to grab a new stick, earning him an interference call.
The Penguins weren't going to let this game go to overtime without a fight, though, when Evgeni Malkin silenced some critics and buried a beautiful wrister through traffic to make the score 2-1. As if to say, "Not so fast," Joni Pitkanen tied it on a slapshot where Marc-Andre Fleury was off his angle a bit.
And then...overtime.
Early in the extra frame, Malkin slumped over by the boards and went to the bench in obvious pain. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it looked to me like he fell on his own. Hopefully this doesn't mean another reset of the injury counter.
A turnover and a defensive breakdown caused by two broken sticks allowed the Canes to control the last 20 seconds of the extra frame, and after a flurry of shots that included two goal posts, Jamie McBain shot the puck through a screen and into the net with 1.7 seconds remaining for the first goal of his career.
- The Penguins managed to block 8 shots in the first period, which is good, because they had 9 shots the Penguins didn't block. Three of them, including the goal, were from right in front of the net.
- I'll be so happy when it's not Lent anymore so that I don't have to hear that McDonald's commercial for the Filet-O-Fish.
- Fleury made a nice stop on a Chad LaRose breakaway in the second period. LaRose has never attempted a shot in the shootout.
- The Pens' defense in the second period was much improved over that of the first. Carolina had only 4 shots on goal, and even then only one was from a good scoring spot. Granted, it was a shot by Eric Staal, but the team was successful in limiting scoring chances.
- The referees are still vision-impaired, apparently. In the third period, the puck hit the safety netting 10 feet up and there was no whistle. I'd think that if there was one thing the officials should have their eyes on at all times, it's the puck.
- The Pitkanen goal in the third period was the only weak spot in Fleury's game today.
The game decided to get interesting at the end, for sure, but hopefully this style of play isn't indicative of the direction the Penguins are heading. "At least they got a point"...I guess.
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rest my case , another lost pt to a team fighting for pride & nothing more, with no chance @ playoffs, & we come up SMALL AGAIN…. guess this is payback for us sweeping them last yr in conference finals…..
They’re still in it….It’s a long shot (and they know that) butwith the way the Canes played today and against the Caps, they are definitely still in it.
871
I don’t think it works out mathematically in Carolina’s favor to make the playoffs. I think they are done and done at this point.
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CAROLINA can still make the playoffs!
They are only 5 points behind ATL with an equal # of games left to play—2 against the Thrashers (I’m assuming Boston is toast).
Of the junk gurgling around the 8th-12th spots, they are clearly the best team and would be a tough out for division rival Washington in the 1st round. Go Canes!
11 games remaining. 68 points in the standings. If 89 points gets them in they have to go 10-0-1. Even if 88 points can get them in they have to pick up 10 wins out of 11 games. And depending on who they may go to a shootout/overtime with, that one point awarded to the other team can eliminate Carolina’s chances entirely.
One regulation loss ends it. Do you REALLY think they can pull this off?
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
11 games remaining
I don’t think 89 points will be required for the 8 hole. The Bruins or the Thrashers getting 15 or 16 points in 11 games? Doubtful. The Rangers getting 18 points in 15 games? Even less likely. Here’s the standings….
8 Boston Bruins 74
9 Atlanta Thrashers 73
10 New York Rangers 71
11 Carolina Hurricanes 68
Boston is fading fast. That’s why I said to focus on Atlanta. With two H2H games remaining (ie, “4 pt games”) b/w Atlanta and Carolina, yes, I think they can do it. Apparently, so do they.
And I hope they do. Washington would STEAMROLL the Bruins or the Thrashers. Carolina would make it a series—at least—and could take Wash down.
The last time a team finished with less than 90 pts and still made the playoffs was 2002-03 (Islanders, 83). IThe schedule has changed significantly since then, with teams playing other divisions and conference opponents more. Plus, intra-division play can more or less be perceived as a four-point game this late in the season because it’s two points a team gets and two crucial points the other team doesn’t get. I’ll admit the standings are pretty week once you get past the top four, and I’ll also admit the Hurricanes are one of the better teams stuck outside the playoff bubble, but all of their remaining games are against eastern conference teams. So even one tough loss to the right team (or in Carolina’s case, “wrong team”) could really put a damper on those plans. Buffalo, Washington, Montreal (x2) and New Jersey are all going to pose as those tough East teams for Carolina to beat. I still don’t see how it’s possible for them to make the playoffs, but for your sake I hope i’m wrong.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
Also important to take into account is the fact that the three other teams Carolina is jostling with for the eighth and final playoff seed would pretty much all have to go through catastrophic meltdowns in order for the Hurricanes to even have a chance of making the playoffs, and while I can see that happening to maybe one of those teams (*cough*Rangers*cough*) I seriously doubt the likelihood of Boston, New York and Atlanta taking serious nose dives all at the same time, especially when they’re fighting for their playoff lives and have a much more viable shot of making it than the Hurricanes.
I’m with Frank. I even have a bet on it over at Japers’. CAR may be within striking distance points-wise, but they need to jump too many teams. Not only do they need to get/stay white hot, they need a bunch of other teams to falter. Not happening.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
I agree w/ Fehr and Balanced...partly at least
Its not LIKELY. I would not take a bet of “Carolina vs. the Field” for the 8 spot.
all i’m saying is that it is possible.
Even though Boston won today, it was a battle of “Teams That Can’t Score.” There was actually a reasonably high probability that BOTH teams would lose today. Unusual, I know, but that’s what happens when the Rags face the ‘Ruins. That’s a “4-point win” for Boston…still, I think the Bs fold down the stretch. No O, and then losing Savard…is too much.
If I were a betting man, and I’m not, these would be the odds I’d place on who gets the 8 seed in the East:
8 Boston Bruins 25%
9 Atlanta Thrashers 35%
10 New York Rangers 10%
11 Carolina Hurricanes 30%
ATL and CAR play twice. If Boston folds, all ATL has to do is split, BUT…IF Carolina wins both those games…things are looking up. If you don’t like Boston, the argument for Carolina is much stronger. If you think Boston can win more than it loses, then there is virtually no way Carolina can get in (per FrankD’s math).
I admit that I’d love to see the Caps upset in the 1st round. The less I have to see of Coach Boo-Hoo-Dreau, the better. But I also just want to see GOOD HOCKEY. Caps vs. any of the other 3 has sweep written all over it.
I admit that CAR scares me more than any other potential 8 seed. No matter what the records say the ‘Canes always play us well. But I also think there’s no way we lose in the first round if we play anything close to our potential.
CAR not only has to jump 3 teams to make the playoffs, they have another 2 teams tied in the standings with them, and one more a point behind. I wouldn’t really be afraid of TBL/NYI/FLA if I were CAR, but it’s still more teams that are right there with them. They need a lot of help, and I think that’s a tough spot to be in for the final 10-11 games. Every single team CAR plays for the rest of the year is either tied with or ahead of them in the standings. There will be no easy games. It can happen, but I sure as hell hope it doesn’t. Ideally, CAR finishes 9th in the East and gets a mediocre draft pick and no playoffs.
I share your concern for good hockey, but let’s be honest about it. The only chance we have of seeing really great hockey from the EC is PIT/WAS. Every other series will probably be underwhelming, IMO. I hope you’re ready for some late games because the WC is going to be an absolute battle this year, and TONS of fun to watch.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
Ah, so we TOTALLY agree!
That’s the answer then — the team you FEAR the most IS the best team (of that field).
I agree that The West is The Best and there will likely be better series out there, esp. early, but the East could surprise too. As noted, WAS-CAR could be very good. I’d also like to see BUF-PHI and NJ-OTT.
The way the Penguins are playing, I’m not looking forward to whoever they play (Montreal?) Hopefully that will change over the next couple weeks…If they draw PHI or OTT and are still sleepwalking it will be tough.
I don’t think either PIT or WAS has a real concern in the first round, but you never know. Just because I fear CAR the most doesn’t make them the best, or mean they’ll be the team to get in. They just match up against the Caps well and always get up to play them, for whatever reason. I feel like every team has another team like that.
PHI and their lack of goaltending doesn’t sound like a great first playoff round; ditto OTT (although OTT/PHI could be fun in that “every game is 7-5 with mediocre goaltending” kind of way). Neither does anything involving the Trap, so NJD is out. MON could be interesting for someone because they have a great PP and decent PK, but they are so bad at ES that they’d still probably get rolled unless Halak is hot as balls.
Out west, anyone else think SJS is terrified of facing DET in the 1/8?
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
I think everybody’s afraid of facing DET in the first round.
by SlayerGhaleon on Mar 21, 2010 6:33 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Agreed. SJS, after all their post-season woes, have to be looking at the standings like “Seriously? Again? WTF?” Maybe they wouldn’t mind PHX catching them for tops in the Pacific.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
I’m already looking forward to Doug Wilson’s apology to Sharks fans this year.
“Come on guys, they’re the freaking Red Wings!”
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I tell you what, the Wings look like the Pens of last year (they’re just figuring it out a little later). The question is can they go that deep in the playoffs, with their older team, for the third straight year?
I've told [a 9 months pregnant] Nathalie that she can't have the baby on a game night. I'm not missing a playoff game. -Mario Lemiuex in 1993
LTIR is one way to rest up, I guess…
Cидни Kросби: Александр Oвечкин, он твой папа теперь
Capitals Coming: for Capitals fans no more intelligent than myself
by red army line on Mar 22, 2010 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions
But I also think there’s no way we lose in the first round if we play anything close to our potential.
That’s my only misgiving about the Capitals this playoff season myself. They tend to be hit and miss in playoff games. Last year everyone expected them to spike the Rangers, and it ended up going seven. In the next round, they showed little energy in the all important game 7.
Although given the sting the loss in question generated, I’m not banking on such a thing happening again.
by SlayerGhaleon on Mar 21, 2010 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions
The last sentence is the key. The team is much more experienced now and knows how to approach the playoffs better; both physically and mentally. I also think this year’s Caps team is much better than last year’s team. Much better. Obviously, they still have to play the games but I’d be surprised if the Caps came out flat in the first round. I also don’t really think it’s fair to say they’ve been “hit or miss” in playoff games, but the results are the results.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
Zach Boychuk; first round pick in 08 (14th overall). Standout for Team Canada in World Juniors a year a go. His older cousin is a new highly-touted D-man for the Bruins. Great kid – incredible skills and hustle. Played mostly in Albany this year.
Also might want to learn the name Jamie McBain. Hobey Baker finalist at Wisconsin a year ago. He’s had quite a week with his first 3 NHL games vs Boston, the Caps and now the Pens. 4 points (1 goal, 3 a’s) in those games. Baptism by fire. 2nd leading scorer, as a Dman, for Albany this season.
The Hurricanes are pretty excited about their future with these guys around 20- 22 yrs old.
Olympian Tim Gleason in Vancouver: "I don’t care what anybody says, to watch an exciting hockey game, there’s nothing like it."
by Carolyn Christians on Mar 20, 2010 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions
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Thanks for the re-cap. I’ve missed an unprecedented amount of Pens action this week (i.e. all of it!), and I always enjoy the re-caps on this blog: you give me a much better sense of the flavour of the game than the boring NHL or TSN re-caps. That said, I’m worried about the Pens these days. They seem to have been doing the ‘one step forward, two steps back’ dance with their play, and they’ve seemed nothing less than beat-able. I know the playoffs are “a whole new season”, but it sure would be nice to see some championship jump back in the Pens’ steps!
And also, I like the Filet o’ Fish song!
Newspaper recaps, which is basically what big-media website recaps are, are boring. I won’t even read them when I’ve missed a game. About the only time I look at them at all is when there’s some sort of egregious officiating disaster in the game, because I want to see if the beat guy calls the officials out for it. They almost never do.
It’s just too bad I write stuff like “The second period began with” followed a couple paragraphs later by “The third period began with”…ugh. I suppose that’s what I get for composing the recap during the game rather than taking notes and doing it afterward, but I’m not about to change my process there.
I guess you can let it serve as some sort of marker. No worries. But I agree with PopRocks, the sort of recaps that you and Hooks toss together blow typical newspaper stuff out of the water. It may not be chock full of player quotes, but they don’t have to be. Plus, that’s the sort of thing we can all read and share later in the day or the following day as a fanshot. ;-)
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
If I had that sort of access, I’d be in heaven. I don’t, and the posts have to come a whole lot quicker than a newspaper article does (you think they’d be better given they have hours to get them put together), so the lack of quotes is kind of baked into the format, I think.
Or I could just be an entire day late and have quotes like some bloggers do. I don’t think the SBN brass would be too thrilled with that, though.
Justin, I just read in the game thread that you’ll be at the April 3rd game. Not sure if you are aware, or would be interested, but the Stanley Cup and pretty much all major trophies (hart, art ross, prince of wales, etc) will be on display at the Heinz History Center April 1-4. Here’s a link with more details.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 12:26 AM EDT up reply actions
Penguins do not have "IT"
Unlike the teams the past two seasons, when the score is tied or close in the 3rd, you expect this team to choke—or get lucky and back into a win—whereas the 07 and 08 teams would rise to the occasion.
Not sure what it is, but they better get their shite together fast or they are going to be playing golf in April.
They still have a very good record in one goal games though, imo they will be fine i think right now 2 long seasons + olympics is getting to them, when the playoffs start you’d have to think they can tap into that extra energy that made them champs.
There is a knack to flying: it's learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
by Sid the captain on Mar 20, 2010 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Fedotenko
failed on another glorious set up from Malkin
he played better than usual, but he still doesn’t belong on the 2nd line
I’m looking for Tenk to step it up again in the playoff. It will ultimately stand as his only saving grace if he can.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
I can’t help but notice the eerie parallels between the Hurricanes and Panthers this year.
To wit:
Both teams stand pat over the offseason, a practice that backfires horribly, leading to bad play for most of the year. Then, when the playoffs are largely out of sight, they start sticking it to teams with legit playoff aspirations.
Stunning.
I live in Charlotte and they are my second favorite team behind the Dolphins ;-D – the team started playing better when Delhomme was out and they put in Moore as QB. Delhomme was horrible and sucked the life out of them, to the point that Steve Smith was not running correct routes – tired of leaping up for Jake’s passes and getting creamed probably.
I’m beginning to think this is a “burgh thing.” (Losing to bad teams.) Remember what the Steelers did to those horrible teams; Detroit, Oakland, Cleveland? How’d that end? Oh yeah!
Could be the water.
And did I hear Bobby correctly say the Pens had a shift change with 10 freaking seconds left in OT? If so, wonder who called that dream?
The situations are not comparable. The only thing bad about the Hurricanes right now is their conference ranking. They’ve been playing outstanding hockey since Staal got the C.
by SlayerGhaleon on Mar 20, 2010 6:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Jamie McBain shot the puck through a screen and into the net with 1.7 seconds remaining
Also, Sid mentioned in a postgame interview that the puck went off his hand.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 10:06 AM EDT reply actions
That’s an awesome tidbit McBain will enjoy retelling his grandkids in 40 yrs about his first goal in his NHL: I used the greatest hockey player in the world to get a deflection and beat Fleury. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Between you and the Caps losing a little of their fight lately, I believe as a team, you guys are in much better shape for the playoffs than the Caps are – IMHO. You also must forget the full-season record for Carolina, and just focus on the games since Staal was named captain in January. Whole new story. No shame in losing to us. (and we’re now 11th in the East).
Olympian Tim Gleason in Vancouver: "I don’t care what anybody says, to watch an exciting hockey game, there’s nothing like it."
by Carolyn Christians on Mar 21, 2010 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions
You also must forget the full-season record for Carolina, and just focus on the games since Staal was named captain in January. Whole new story. No shame in losing to us. (and we’re now 11th in the East).
That’s what I’ve been trying to point out this whole time. Yeah, the Hurricanes have in all likelihood dug themselves a hole too deep to escape from at this point, but they’re playing a lot better hockey than a number of teams higher up in the standings.
If you wanna point out that we had a whole series of gaffes on that Pitkanen(sp?) goal, be my guest. Don’t denigrate the opposition though.
by SlayerGhaleon on Mar 21, 2010 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions
Just in case it seemed like I was trying to take anything away from McBain by pointing out what Sid said, it was not intentional. I just mentioned it because it certainly explained things for me, since when I saw it live I thought it looked like the puck changed direction a bit.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Still waiting....
for the post from katielynn, telling us all about the experience of her first game at the Igloo.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 2:58 PM EDT reply actions
would you judge me if i literally went “awwwww, i feel so loved” out loud? because if you are gonna judge me, then i didn’t do it. =)
you know, for as painfully as the game ended, i still had a WONDERFUL time. it was so nice being part of the crowd, rather than being the lone wolf, haha. watching the warm up two feet away from the glass? amazing. i was literally shaking from excitement the whole time, haha. my seats were great and seeing that staal goal happen RIGHT in front of me was AMAZING. kid has the some of the best facial expressions ever. it was also my first game that went into overtime so that was exciting…although i wish it turned out differently! i met up with fellow pensburgh-er iheartpenguins, which was really wonderful as well!
all in all, i had a beautiful time. i lost my voice and it was great. i took…like…275 pictures or so (they let my camera in!) and i’m going to try to post them on flikr or somethin’ like that.
thank you so much for thinking of me! =)
by katielynn906 on Mar 21, 2010 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, that was a really nice goal by Staal, and a fine pass from Poni. I’m glad you had a good time. You should try to make it down for a playoff game, the atmosphere is even better. As I expected, the crowd around me on the East Igloo side was DEAD. It was embarrassing. That’s cool that you got to hook up with iheart. You two should have been shopping at PenStation around 10:30 yesterday morning and you could have met up with Bylsma.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
i like the goal. it receives my stamp of approval. the last pens game i went to was 12/30 and we were shut out by the devils. so honestly, i was just happy to see A goal, haha. i would KILL to go to a playoff game. you only need one kidney, right? my section was pretty dead too…a bunch of families, for some reason. they weren’t very sociable. wait, you’ve gotta be kidding me. i was at mellon at 10:30, just milling around.
i hate everything.
by katielynn906 on Mar 21, 2010 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions
They always let cameras in. I have 177 pictures from the 10/31 game against Minnesota. I’d have had more, but the end of the rink I was at had a lot less action than the other end. Naturally.
I did make sure to get a couple decent shots of Alyonka Larionov singing the anthem, though, for a guy I work with.
i have a nikon d80 with a lens that is bigger than my head. so…i wasn’t sure if they’d let mine in. =)
and doesn’t it always work that way? haha.
by katielynn906 on Mar 21, 2010 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, it’s pretty rare that you run into any problems, though it does happen from time to time and usually more frequently during the playoffs. They do frown upon cameras with detachable lenses, and anything that looks remotely “professional”, and in Detroit they mentioned that an agreement with the NHLPA stipulates that fans not be allowed in with a lens > 80mm.
by PensAreYourDaddy on Mar 21, 2010 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions
C'mon Pens fans.....
Now you all know that the Pens always play ‘down’ to their competition during the regular season. Seems like they need some MOTIVATION to get them ready to play the lower ranked teams? As for what their problem is with the Devils…..Martin Brodeur!!! As usual…the Devs have no problem beating the Pens…yet they have lost their last 2 games after BEATING the Pens on Wednesday evening. Devs can’t beat anyone else but the Pens it seems.
Pens WILL be ready come playoff time!!!
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