Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eastern Semi-Finals: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens

• End of Line

  

  Watching Hal Gill these past games, makes me appreciate everyhting he did for the Pens last year.
• rock_knutne

  ^^^^^Gill is good but it doesn't amount to much with out a supporting cast. BTW, he finally got caught for interfering with Sid last night, it took three games but they finally called it.
• rock_knutne

  Good news for the Pens. Jordan Staal participated in practice today wearing full gear:
  
  http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=528179&cmpid=pit-fb-pghpenguins
• End of Line

  

  If he's back for game 5, I'll go nuts lol.
• rock_knutne

  
• Non

  

  I'm not going to jump to conclusions. Nice win in Game 3 but if they come back and lose in Game 4 the pressure will be back on.
  
  They really have to keep the same urgency if they're going to grind out another game like this and then be sitting pretty at 3-1.
• killer_ewok

  

  rock_knutne wrote: ^^^^^PK Subban is a dirty player too. He likes to use his stick and skates for more than just playing the game. He cross checked Cooke in the mouth, cut him and nothing was called.

  I hate that cocksucker.
• rock_knutne

  :

  killer_ewok wrote:

  rock_knutne wrote: ^^^^^PK Subban is a dirty player too. He likes to use his stick and skates for more than just playing the game. He cross checked Cooke in the mouth, cut him and nothing was called.

  I hate that cocksucker.

  They're calling him "Soupcan" over at the Pensblog:
  
  
• sonofsam

  

  There has been a LOT of goon tactics by the Habs thats not getting called. It seems that they acknowledge their place in the play-offs though... They are playing dirty to disrupt the Pens, its their ONLY chance.
  
  Other than that, I was listening to Mark Madden today on the X... My opinion of Malkin varies a bit, but they have been riding him an awful lot on the radio. His production as far a goal scoring hasn't been that impressive the last few games, but his back checking and overall intensity has been pretty good. I'm not really sure why people are down on him at this point? The Pens 3rd line has benefit from him hustling and being aggressive.
  
  As far as Fleury goes... Madden and his cronies believe that anyone who knows about hockey would know that Fleury is the real deal. I beg to differ. I have never been a fan of Fleury and his play this year confirms my concerns about him. I know he is a Stanley Cup winner, but he is the definition of Mr. Inconsistent. As the season progressed, he seemed to have looked "sleepy" at times, and his reflexes diminished. Don't get me wrong, the guy makes some incredible saves... But its the ones that are served to him on a silver dish that scream "easy save Marc" that he seems to let slip through.
  
  People can argue that he is a great goalie especially after the shutout last night, but lets not forget that one of only 18 shots he faced rang off the crossbar and then the upright. My point is, Fleury can pitch a shutout facing only 18 shots... Make that 36 shots and at least 1 or 2 slip by. The Pens controlled a lot of that game by blocking shots for Fleury and keeping the puck in the Canadiens' zone. I'm not sure what the answer is to Fleury's funk, but he needs to snap out quick... His team played a HUGE roll in last nights shutout... Fleury needs to start playing like a Stanley Cup Champion goaltender.
• Non

  

  I think everyone knows what Fleury is capable of when he's locked in. He's capable of making the clutch saves in the biggest games.
  
  Even in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals when they lost to Detroit, his Game 5 performance was amazing when he had 55 saves in a triple overtime win. And then last year after giving up five goals and being pulled in Game 5, he played great in the final two games for the Pens to win. He had some key saves in both games.
  
  But like you said, he is inconsistent. And there are actually some times when it looks like he loses focus and badly misplays the puck. A lot of times when it comes off the board he gets fooled.
  
  He wasn't playing very good down the stretch in the regular season and clearly had to get sharper for the Pens to make a deep run. I think he is slowly picking up his game as the playoffs move along.
• sonofsam

  

  Non wrote: I think everyone knows what Fleury is capable of when he's locked in. He's capable of making the clutch saves in the biggest games.
  
  Even in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals when they lost to Detroit, his Game 5 performance was amazing when he had 55 saves in a triple overtime win. And then last year after giving up five goals and being pulled in Game 5, he played great in the final two games for the Pens to win. He had some key saves in both games.
  
  But like you said, he is inconsistent. And there are actually some times when it looks like he loses focus and badly misplays the puck. A lot of times when it comes off the board he gets fooled.
  
  He wasn't playing very good down the stretch in the regular season and clearly had to get sharper for the Pens to make a deep run. I think he is slowly picking up his game as the playoffs move along.

  Thats a fair analysis and i hope you are right. I really want to like the guy and stand behind him, I just have issues with inconsistency. He has raw instinct and quick reflexes (most of the time) I often think that if you could combine Fleury and Johnson, you would have the perfect goalie. Johnson's size and ability to wall up easy shots along with Fleury's quickness and instinct.
  
  I have wondered for a while now if Fleury is injured in some way and just not speaking of it, or if he is just having "one of those years." Last year he came on pretty strong in the playoffs and carried the team on his back a few times... other times, not so much. I keep hearing everyone talk about him coming on in the playoffs, but I haven't seen it yet. I am wondering also if maybe he picked up a few bad habits that hes having trouble breaking?
  
  One thing is for sure, your analysis about the puck coming off the boards is spot on. I would also like to see him not vacate the net as much, and maybe not butterfly so soon. The five hole and high stick side seem to be his weakest spots.
• Non

  

  At this point in his career, I think he's a tough goalie to rate/define.
  
  Primarily because of the inconsistency.
  
  He's delivered in some big spots. Either a lot of saves or just the very timely one.
  
  But even with that said he's not consistent enough to where you can call him great or elite or anything like that.
• rock_knutne

  Here's all I'm going to say about Fleury........did Grant Fuhr have great numbers, no. Did Grant Fuhr win 5 Cups, yes. You don't have to have the crazy good numbers to be great and Fleury has proven that. He makes the timely stops when the team needs them. Crosby said it best the other day, you don't get this far with out good goaltending and for the third year in a row, Fleury looks to be on another extended run through the playoffs.
• rock_knutne

  There's a rumor going around over at the Pensblog that Jordan Staal will play tonight. I for one am not buying it but if he does suit up and take the ice, he's one tough SOB!
• killer_ewok

  

  rock_knutne wrote: There's a rumor going around over at the Pensblog that Jordan Staal will play tonight. I for one am not buying it but if he does suit up and take the ice, he's one tough SOB!

  That shit is bananas.
• End of Line

  

  I don't think he'll play tonight either.
  
  As for fleury, look for he's done for us 2 bacb to back SCF and a Stanley Cup. His biggest weakness is when come to letting in soft goals and playing the puck. Like Rock said about Grant Fuhr, he might not have the numbers but he's aproven winner.
• Non

  

  going to be tough to win another in Montreal
  
  historic team with a lot of pride and the likelihood that the officials will slant things the way of the Habs
• killer_ewok

  

  Pens leading 2-1 with about 7:00 to go in the 1st. Staal is in fact playing.
• rock_knutne

  Staal has some big time stones!
• killer_ewok

  

  ^^^No doubt about that.
• Non

  

  wow 25-9 shots
  
  for the Pens
  
  still lead 2-1
• rock_knutne

  After two periods of play it's 2-1 Pittsburgh. They've picked up where they left off the other night, dominating posession in Montreal's zone.
• rock_knutne

  Damn, Montreal scrores to tie the game at 2 each.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Holy shit, the Pens defense just fell apart.
  Wow, talk about a bad set of exchanges on that one.
• killer_ewok

  

  WTF