Capping Off The Series
Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins
May 14, 01:43 PM | Hype this story!
The Penguins spring time domination of the Washington Capitals continues. There’s a lot to be said about this series, so let’s get started.
Sidney Crosby has silenced his critics this post-season. There can be no more claims of him whining or diving around the ice. All eyes have turned to his 12 goal total in the playoffs. The NHL record is 19, let’s see if Crosby can track it down as the post-season continues. Savor these moments as fans, because we’re witnessing history.
Speaking of Crosby, Penguins front-office legend Eddie Johnston had the following to say about Sidney yesterday: “Just being around him today, the look in his eyes, you could tell it was game time.” Crosby’s performance in this series will go down in Pittsburgh Penguins history.
That quote from EJ comes from a Washington Post article from Mike Wise, who is trying to turn the Crosby vs. Ovechkin rivalry into some xenophobic war. Childish and immature are the words that come to mind.
I don’t walk away from this series with an ounce more of respect for Alexander Ovechkin outside of him being a dynamic goal scorer, which we already knew he was. After his elbow on Brooks Orpik in the first period last night, I’d seen enough. Karma was delivered when Ovechkin tried to take another one of his infamous runs at Evgeni Malkin, missed, and lambasted his own teammate, Nicklas Backstrom. From the moment Ovechkin dove in Game 1 when he was sticked in the midsection by Chris Kunitz, yet ended up grabbing his face and diving to the ice, I was turned off by his antics. His knee on knee hit with Sergei Gonchar only solidified that standpoint. From a fan that gets to watch Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on a nightly basis, the cherry picking just doesn’t do it for me.
Alexander Semin was jobbed last night by FSN after the Penguins secured themselves a 6-2 lead. Bob Errey dug up the quote from earlier this year where Semin questioned what was so special about Crosby. Steigerwald commented that there were going to be a ton of black streaks on the glass from Semin constantly missing the net. By my count, Semin had more dives in this series than he did shots on goal. Brooks Orpiks physical presence removed Semin from this series in the onset of game 1. I received a funny text this morning from my friend Tim that said Semin was quoted this morning as saying “What’s so special about Tiger Woods?”
Get out your tin foil hats for this next entry. I had the displeasure of stumbling upon a Washington Capitals blog that is beside itself with conspiracy theories. Sadly, there are no places for me to comment, and I won’t bother linking to it because it doesn’t deserve the traffic that On Frozen Blog: or Japers Rink do. Both of those blogs are run by solid fans that have a great respect and understanding of the game. Despite me not linking to said Caps blog, I wanted to provide a few excerpts from his post-game review.
How in the world the NHL assigns the “senior” referees from the two worst officiated games of this series to Game 7 is beyond us. But again, it was a sign that the NHL wasn’t going to allow the Caps to win this game. After all, they tried rather hard on Monday night but the Caps just wouldn’t cooperate.
To give you an idea of how bad the officiating was tonight folks, the Caps couldn’t even get a sympathy call/token Power Play tonight. Four penalties called on the Caps. None, zip, zilch, nada, zero, nothing called on the Penguin Scum. If that is not indicative that the fix was in tonight, then nothing else will.
You keep that tin foil hat on, buddy.
What more can be said about Sergei Gonchar? Not only did he play, he had an impact. It was great to see the Sarge step onto the ice and have an impact. Two years in a row, Gonchar has returned from injury to register a point on a key power-play. Last year against the Red Wings saw Gonchar assist on Sykora’s 3 OT winner, and last night we saw Gonchar return to assist on Crosby’s early power-play goal. I certainly hope Gonchar can finish his career in Pittsburgh.
Speaking of comebacks, how about Miroslav Satan? Satan registered 4 assists in this series and played an inspired brand of hockey. He was robbed on two chances in front last night by Simeon Varlamov and missed the net on a chance against Jose Theodore. For those that weren’t watching the FSN Pittsburgh feed, a funny moment occurred after the second period when Dan Potash was interviewing Miroslav Satan. Potash asked a question about Satan’s demotion to WB/S earlier this year, to which Satan responded, “Yeah, I forgot about that, thanks for reminding me.”
Stay tuned to FF as the Penguins continue their march to another date with Lord Stanley.
Comments
Moq
May 14, 02:58 PM
Personally speaking, I’m very satisfied that what appeared to me as the best team of the series won in the end. The matchup was my preferred scenario from the start. Not just because of the immense promise of entertainment and star power, but also the promise of a Penguins victory. Only the performance of Ovechkin and the wild card Varlamov threatened to disrupt my initial evaluation and make it a seven game series. In the end, however, Crosby nullified Ovechkin by excellence of his own and the Penguins supporting cast was the better one. Hence the “inevitable” result.
My estimation of Ovechkin hasn’t changed one bit during this series. It’s the playoffs and you do everything to help the team. Ovechkin did just that by being physical and a scoring threat throughout. As fashionable as derogatory remarks and hate might be this time of year, I think it’s childish and silly at best. (Like or dislike seems a bit more rational.) Though I prefer the overall skill that Crosby provides, I like what Ovechkin brings to the game. Different types makes a better league. No one really wants uniformity in life. Why should hockey be any different?
The Conference final will be interesting. Carolina is one of my favourite non-Pittsburgh teams and it could be an interesting matchup between teams playing a similar type of game. But before the playoffs I thought of Pittsburgh and Boston as the two best teams in the East. A final between the two would be a fitting conclusion to the Conference. Penguins should have a decent chance either way.
Now, at least, I have a few days to recalibrate my bodily functions to a normal setting.
SprJudd
May 14, 04:49 PM
Yeah, the NHL really put the fix in on this one. Bettman even convinced the Capitals to allow themselves to be out-shot by 15 shots a night, out-hit throughout the series, to take a bunch of shots designed for Penguins defenders to block, ensure Mike Green be nothing more than an empty sweater, and for Caps defenders to never clear traffic in front of Varlamov. But the ultimate example of how pivotal Gary Bettman was in leading this conspiracy was when he promised Alex Ovechkin an MVP nomination so that he could fold in Game 7.
That pesky NHL will stop at nothing to make sure the Penguins win.
Nathan
May 14, 05:26 PM
What a fitting end to a series in which the Penguins outplayed the Capitals almost all game, every game.
Ray aka WildcatRay
May 14, 06:00 PM
I suspect that last year Sid was still in a lot of pain, the aftereffects of his high ankle sprain. His play has been more notable this year compared to last.
I commented elsewhere in FF that “Isn’t it amazing how good a game the officials call when they are not interested in orchestrating the outcome?” For the hyper-partisan Caps fans referred to above, it was not that the NHL wanted the Pens to win. They wanted a 7 game series featuring the Crosby-Ovechkin match-up. The Pens simply did not commit anything worth being penalized for last night. The Caps on the other hand just did not move their feet as they needed to throughout the series, thus the penalty call disparity. As anyone who understands ice hockey knows, most penalties are the result of laziness on the part of the offending player. If anything, there were more calls/non-calls that adversely affected the Pens and helped the Caps.
DaBich
May 15, 06:35 AM
I was hoping we’d get the ‘Canes, not only for home ice but just because, well, they are a good team. And it helps that Ron Francis is affiliated with that team :)
Sprjdd, heck, yeah, what is wrong with those officials anyway?? ;)
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