Go to Pension Plan Puppets if you want to see Leafs fans gloat.
Did the Pittsburgh Penguins show up to play tonight? I know I saw two teams out there on the ice, but I'm pretty sure only one came to play.
Coming off what some (me) deemed a rally win over the Atlanta Thrashers Thursday night, I was pretty convinced the Penguins were ready to kick off some sort of turnaround to what we can only gently deem a weak start to a new month of hockey. That wasn't the case tonight. The Penguins played like minor leaguers tonight. No heart, no passion and no obvious desire to win.
Trust me, I could find better words and phrases to describe tonight's debacle but I pride a moderate sense of ethics here at Pensburgh.
Speaking of ethics...
Andre Deveaux. When your team has a four goal lead, you back down from a challenge and try to find some sanctity in drawing a penalty? Honor the code. Not to mention you finally decided to throw down later in the game long after Eric Godard is sent off the ice for a game misconduct (same four goal lead I might add) and pick a fight with one of the Penguins' lesser known lightweights? Give me a break. I hope Godard adjusts your jaw on January 31.
Consider this: the Leafs nearly doubled the Pens' shots 40 to 23. Whenever a team is on the receiving end of a ratio like that and can't respond in kind it's going to spell disaster.
On the dimly lit side of things, at least this wasn't a shutout. Marc-Andre Fleury was on the receiving end of some bad bounces tonight. I can clap it up for the Leafs' ability to form some screens in front, something I can similarly point fingers at the Pens' defense for, but all in all this loss wasn't Fleury's fault. Very poor team effort as a whole.
The good: Sykora found the net twice, once on the only PPG of the night. But whatever.
The bad: Bad luck has struck once again
The ugly: The Pittsburgh Penguins
The worthless: Andre Deveaux
Next game: Monday. Sabres. 7:00.