Posts Tagged Penguins
VS. Loves Stanley
The AP reports that the Monday game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final brought in the highest NHL ratings on VS. ever, and only Lance Armstrong’s ’05 Tour De France final brought in more viewers.
This popularity is no surprise considering the epic match up between the Wings and the Penguins. The NHL couldn’t have paid for a better match up if they had wanted to. It’s the league’s bandwagon team pitted against their poster child (emphasis on child) and his gang.
In fact, Adrian Dater writes on his blog All Things Avs that the NHL in general is doing better than ever hitting a record revenue of $2.56 billion. This is good news for hockey fans.
Who knows, maybe we will even be lucky enough to reconcile with ESPN and get some real coverage of the sport. As great as vs. has been this year covering the NHL (OK so perhaps ‘great’ doesn’t really describe it) it would be nice to have hockey games on a channel that people actually get on their TVs.
It would be even better if the Penguins could pull out of their funk and make this series interesting — for Hockey’s sake.
Add comment May 28, 2008
The Cup Changes Everything — The Final Round
Is anyone really surprised to see the Wings and the Penguins in the finals?
The Story in Pittsburgh: With the help of Marc-Andre Fleury the young Penguins were able to overcome the Flyers for the first time in the teams’ past four post-season meetings. Center Max Talbot said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I think it’s about time the Penguins won a series against the Flyers. It’s been a long time.”
The Story in Detroit: Dallas proved to be a pesky foe in the last games of the Western Conference final coming back to win two games, but Detroit was finally able to put them away 4-1 in game six. According to Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Osgood were key in the victory as were the the third-line and fourth-line guys. So, an overall team effort from the Wings.
It looks like the teams are evenly matched and both are hungry for the cup, so it should be a great competition! Game one starts on Saturday at 8:00 in Detroit.
1 comment May 21, 2008
The Real Blood Feud
The Avs/Wings rivalry is obsolete. After the Avalanche failed to play anything that resembled hockey as the Wing’s swept the Western Conference semi-final, the celebrated blood feud is over. The real blood feud is in the Eastern Conference between the Penguins and the Rangers, who will play game five of their series in Pittsburgh Sunday at 2:00.
Thursday night was the Penguins first loss of the post season (as they swept Ottowa) and the they responded to it in frustration. By the third period, with the Penguins trailing the Rangers 2-0, the cheap shots from Pittsburgh’s bench were abundant. Malkin even resorted to kicking the skates out from under two Ranger players. The New York Times called the game the first glimpse at Penguin frustration in the series. Should Pittsburgh worry that the Rangers might stage a historic come back? “No, the only worrisome aspect of the loss was that Sidney Crosby and Malkin acted like immature kids at the end,” Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in reference to Crosby and Malkin’s simultaneous roughing penalties in the third period of Thursday’s game. Cook goes on to explain that, “It’s almost certain that these were one-time acts by Crosby, 20, and Malkin, 21, from the frustration caused by the impenetrable Lundqvist.”
The frustration that was Lundqvist’s shutout performance. 
He stopped 29 shots and was named the first star of the game by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. We all know by now that only two teams in hockey history have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, yet, Ranger captain, Jaromir Jagr, has high hopes for his team as he said to the New York Times, “I wasn’t just talking when I said I believe.”
It’s David vs. Goliath in this series for the Rangers while Pittsburgh has the home ice advantage in the game. The Post-Gazette insists that Lundqvist will not keep Malkin out of the net for another game. Perhaps the Penguins have peeked and the Rangers will make history. OR perhaps Thursday was a fluke game and the Rangers will be playing their last game of the season. One this is certain: this Blood Feud is boiling.
Add comment May 4, 2008
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly — Round Two Continues for Some
On Thursday Night
The Good: Chris the lawyer who gave me a free ticket to the Rangers game Thursday. I watched the Rangers shutout the Penguins 3-0 (Pittsburgh’s first loss in the playoffs) from Seat 1, Row D, Section 221 at Madison Square Garden. Thanks Chris!
The Bad:The Avalanche’s embarrassing 8-2 loss to the Red Wings. That wasn’t even a hockey game. It looks like the old Blood Feud is really over.
The Ugly: The number of Sidney Crosby Jersies in existence. Come on, we can’t all wear number 87!
On New York Fans
The Good: The intensity the fans brought to the Garden at Thursday’s game. The crowd chanted “Jagr! Jagr! Jagr!” and “Hen-Rick!, Hen-Rick!” The best though, were the “Go Home Sidney,” and “Sidney Sucks” chants. Oh and you can’t forget the “a**hole” chant, or the “these reffs suck” chant. I love the passion that New Yorkers bring to their sports teams.
The Bad: The Yankee’s fans who poured beer on my roomate Friday night just because she was cheering for the Mariners, who were losing by the way. Oh and also, no wonder they are building a new stadium, Yankee Stadium is a dump!
The Ugly: The guy sitting in front of us at the Yankees game who had a really cheap toupee. Poor Guy.
Add comment May 3, 2008
Avery Hospitalized
***News Flash!***
The AP reports that Ranger forward Sean Avery was hospitalized after Tuesday nights 5-3 loss at the Garden with a lacerated spleen. His condition is stable but he will be out for the remainder of the season (while that may only be one more game).
In an article for Newsday, Penguin Gary Roberts said, “truthfully, when it comes to this kind of stuff, you just hope he makes a full recovery.”
Avery’s mother, Marlene, flew in from Canada to be with him.
1 comment April 30, 2008
