Crosby 'dives' into Colton Orr.
Now that we got that crap out of the way, we can get to talking about the game.
If the game one matchup was any indication of the what play is going to be like for the remainder of this series, Rangers and Penguins fans alike better buckle up and get ready for a fluctuating and irregular heartbeat.
As Penguins fans you love it, and as Rangers fans you'd probably like to forget, but this game was strikingly reminiscent of the Rangers vs Montreal game back in February.
In what I choose to dub Montreal Redeux, as a special momentous tribute the Rangers' 6-5 shootout loss to Montreal (after at one point leading 5-1) on February 19, game one had everything you could ask for in a playoff game. It was exceptionally fast paced, extremely hard hitting and oddly high scoring. Despite preconceived speculations that this would be a low scoring affair, perhaps fans and experts alike have to reassess the situation.
And oddly enough, this entire game came full circle up until the final two minutes. New York's first goal went off Gonchar's skate, while the second one required a video review to check whether or not Drury's stick was a high-stick redirect.
Pittsburgh's first goal was off a Rangers' skate, while Crosby's game winning goal in the third was reviewed for the redirect off Malkin's leg. Malkin didn't kick, and was rewarded the goal in the process.
Now I know excuses can fly from every side. Crosby dives, Straka's call was BS, Malkin kicked it, the refs side with the Pens - I've heard them all. And frankly, thanks to the New York media leading up to the game, I'm oddly desensitized by it.
Thanks New York.
So here we go, heading into Sunday's Game Two. We've already seen that predictions mean nothing, expectations (aside from victory) were hardly met and the goaltenders would've had better luck stopping the cliche beach balls.
Can one expect New York to come firing out of the gate in a crazed, blood thirsty vengeance ridden frenzy? Perhaps. But can we also expect Pittsburgh to do the same in efforts to go up two games? You bet.
Game two: Sunday at 2pm on NBC.
On a final note, I love this picture. Amazing timing to get the puck in the net before anyone in the crowd, or on the ice for that matter, has time to react.
