Playoff Game 1.2

Corporate Entitlement Center

7:30

ROOT Sports and some NBC Channel

The Pens look to bounce back after losing in a vomit inducing way to Philly on Wednesday after blowing a three goal lead.

The win has allowed Philly to gain home ice advantage for the series.  The old mantra is that a series doesn't start until a road team wins a game.  So hopefully that wakes the Penguins up.

The are rumors circulating that the Penguins will go with the split up powerplay, with Malkin leading unit A and Crosby leading unit B.  Long time overdue move in our opinion.  

No major lineup changes for the Pens or Flyers noted today.  Marc-Andre Bourdon is out for Philly tonight.

Playoff Game 1.1

Game 82 - Flyers at Penguins

Game 82.  The final game of the regular season.  While from a standings point this game means nothing, it is worth noting that Malkin is going for his 50th goal this year, Marc-Andre Fleury is going for win 43 which would break Tommy B's franchise record, and Kris Letang is going for a career high in goals.  It would also be nice for the Pens to beat the Flyers in CEC and get that monkey off their back.

Go Pens

Flood Warning for New York City

John Tortorella was fined $20,000 for his rant after Thursday night's game. 

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Larry Brooks, Rangers homer reporter, didn't like it.

Not sure what Brooks is trying to say here, other than Gary Bettman <3 Mario.

We found some exclusive live footage of Manhattan:

WAHHHHHHH

John Tortorella melts down

Commonwealth Cold War is on

Don't care how it worked out, but either way it's Pens - Flyers first round. 

God help us all

Game 81 - Rangers at Pens

700

ROOT Sports

We don't make fun of their music enough.

With the Rangers having already locked up the first seed in the East for the playoffs, the Pens can only finish fourth or fifth.  A win tonight locks up the fourth seed, and would make Saturday's game against Philadelphia meaningless.  

The Pens have been in a slump lately but looked better against Boston.  It could be an adjustment period with changed lines especially since Crosby returned.  Tonight is a big test, but the big guns from the Rangers will likely be limited.  It is important to note, however, that the fourth line should not be used to start a game.

Joe Vitale will play for the Pens after taking a Chara shot to the face on Tuesday.  James Neal (lower body injury), Steve Sullivan (lower body injury), and Matt Niskanen are out tonight.  

EmptyNetters has the lines.  Go Pens

RECAP. Umm. Yeah. Pens WIN

Totally uncreative title.

The Pens took it to the Bruins again.  Almost let them come back from a 2 goal deficit.  James Neal got his 40th and Sid added 2.

Pens can wrap up the 4th seed tomorrow against the Rags

Go Pens

Ray Shero responds to Mike Milbury

Busy day for hockey on the Internet.  If it was 2001 we'd have to sit through Skip Bayless making out with a picture of Tim Tebow while waiting for a blip about most of the day's developments.

Bayless needs to get a grip.  His Tebowner is showing.  All Vince Young did his first year as a starter did was win too.

Ray Shero spoke out against Mike Milbury's rant today.  Really good stuff from King Shero here.

Some quotes that speak for themselves:

"If it was an attempt at comedy, it falls real short,"

"It’s fine to have an opinion on players but when you’re making light of concussions, that’s not right,” said Shero. "I’ve gone through this with my own kid (who had a concussion), obviously we’ve gone through it as a team with Sidney Crosby and saw what it took for him to battle back from it over the past year, there’s nothing funny about post-concussion syndrome. I don’t think it would have been very funny had he made fun of [concussed Flyers captain] Chris Pronger in that light. There’s nothing funny about [former Flyers captain] Keith Primeau having to retire from it. This is an issue that is at the forefront of our league right now and to make light of these concussions is a real lame attempt at humor. He should know better than this.’’ 

Danielle Briere is not please with Joe Vitale

Danny Briere whined about a clean hit to the Philadelphia media after getting owned by Joe Vitale on Sunday afternoon.  The link is here.

We aren't even sure where to start with this whinefest.  We'll just analyze this barf fest.

“Look, everybody knows that (they) put the line that was on the ice, on the ice with a minute left in a game that was out of hand,” Briere said. “Everybody knows the intent, what the intent was. Was it a bad hit? No. It was a clean hit. 

“But obviously, you knew what he was doing. He was obviously trying to hurt me. We all know that.”

He was trying to hurt you with a clean hit?  Not sure what this means.

Hockey 101 pretty much dictates that you should hit your opponent hard and clean.  This is from the same mold as Kimo Timonen whining in the 2009 playoffs that the Pens, notably Chris Kunitz, targeted him.  It's a physical game.  Accept contact or shut up.

Special delivery for Danny Briere

Game 79 - Flyers at Pens

12:30

NBC

Huge game for both teams as home ice advantage is on the line for the playoffs.  Pens are up three points on the Flyers for fourth in the East.  It is almost certain that these two teams will meet in the first round, creating the third Battle of Pennsylvania since 2008.  Should note that these two teams meet again on Saturday.  

Here's a great article about Pierre McGuire coaching in Hartford.

Many times he privately said after a game how he outcoached the other guy. But it was something never really made public until May 3, when McGuire proclaimed that no coach in the NHL ``can outwit me.'' That quote ran in The Hockey News and raised eyebrows all over the NHL.
His fascination with trying to outwit the other coach may hurt the Whalers in the long run. Instead of playing kids such as Robert Petrovicky or Kevin Smyth long after it was apparent the team was out of the playoff race, McGuire would fastidiously match lines, go with aging veterans and make sure certain faceoff alignments were always followed. Instead of development, he seemed just to want to squeeze out two points.
Once when he was an assistant coach, McGuire bragged about his strategy to shut down Mario Lemieux. This was after a 7-3 loss and four goals by Kevin Stevens.
On the bench, players said McGuire would taunt the other team, saying he couldn't believe the opposing coach was allowing him certain line matchups. This braggadocio led Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr to mock McGuire in December. McGuire got Jagr for an illegal stick, and after Jagr jumped out of the penalty box, he scored on a breakaway. Although he had scored big goals in two Stanley Cup championships, Jagr called this overtime goal the biggest of his life because he humbled ``that know-it-all.''

Yikes.

Go Pens