Well said but the real problems won't begin until next season when Malkin's contract kicks in: http://nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=PIT&season=0809 Mario and management are well aware of that situation and I expect Malkin to ultimately be traded. I would keep Malkin over Crosby but I can't see them doing that. The only way Malkin and Crosby stay together is if they eliminate the hard cap during the next CBA negotiations in I believe, 2011. I only caught the end of the game tonight but Detroit looked good. They just have so much balance, top to bottom. I am not counting Pitt out though, especially with Detroit having less rest and another game scheduled for tomorrow night. If Pitt can bounce back and take Game 2, things will suddenly be in their favor. If Det wins tomorrow night, Pitt will be in trouble. Coming back from 0-2 against Det is much different that doing it against the inexperienced and flawed Capitals. Does anybody know when Datsyuk is returning?
kaleido, I assume you heard about this steroid scandal thing out of Florida. I was completely shocked when I heard that the guy mentioned players on the Capitals being among his customers. If there is any truth to it (a big "if"), I hope it was somebody like Kolzig or another former player and the guy made a mistake about the team affiliation (Kolzig, Pettinger, Halpern and Heward are all former Caps who now play for Tampa Bay). Some may wonder how he could possibly have gotten the team wrong but the dealer did refer to hockey players as "ball players" so... If it was a Cap or Caps, I hope it was older players like Kozlov (lives in FL) who were using it to recover from injuries. Either way, this was a really crappy thing to hear about even if it ends up being untrue. Have you heard anything new? If not, please let me know when you do. I'm trying to keep up with the situation.
Well, last night definitely sucked. I wish I knew more about hockey to analytically break this down but it just looked like more of an older, more experienced Detroit team that knows how to win blindfolded just toying with this younger Pittsburgh team that's still figuring things out. Hopefully, Game 2 will be a different story and for those that haven't been paying attention: Game 2 is TONIGHT on a back-to-back. For whatever reason. I guess the NHL's gameplan was to get as much of the Stanley Cup Finals over with before the NBA Finals started. Either way, i'm pretty sure the games will still clash Thursday night (same time too if I am not mistaken).
They also had a b2b during the Pens-Caps series. I thought it was a TV thing but I later heard it was due to a concert in Pittsburgh. I'm not sure if something like that affected the schedule this time around. The Pens really need Game 2. They do have the advantage of being more rested after sweeping the Canes. I expect them to come out flying.
Way too easy for Detoit...reminded me of last year...was hoping the Pens would play better but it was obvious who the better team is...
I missed all sporting events tonight. Fortunately, that includes the Astros game where Wandy had his 3rd straight poor start. I just saw the highlights of the Wings-Pens game. The Pens are a very resilient team. Coming back twice in the playoffs from down 0-2 without home ice advantage would be very impressive to say the least. Game 5 is HUGE! Should be a super intense game.
At least I can watch Game 5. We don't get Versus in Austin and I really wanted to see the Pittsburgh home games. I think this is the series, as I doubt the Penguins can win a Game 7 in Detroit.
I missed the game. I see Datsyuk was back. For anybody that watched, how much of a factor was he? I see he had two assists but that guy does all the little things, too. Brilliant two-way player. Did he provide an obvious lift?
The Pens looked like they just gave up once it got to 4-0. I don't get it. Instead of just settling down, focusing and trying to cut into the lead they seemingly hung their heads and shifted their focus a bit to just trying to make things ugly and picking fights. Detroit baited them into a ton of penalties this way. Again, I don't get it. January/February on the first or second night of a back-to-back, you can get away with not showing up for a game and giving up midway through it. The Pens acted like this was a regular season game the way they acted once Detroit had them on the ropes. Oh well, back to Pittsburgh for Game 6. I don't expect this kind of effort from the Pens again. They just need to understand if they do take care of business at home they are going to have to win a game in Detroit in order to seal the deal. While I will gladly admit my knowledge of hockey is rather novice, I have not gotten the impression that home ice is as crucial as the W-L records may indicate.
There is one very distinct advantage of home ice in hockey that is unlike any other major sport: The home team gets to make the last line change on all face-offs. This is huge in that there are tons of face-offs every game and the home team can react to who the visitor puts on the ice. This has advantages both offensively and defensively. If you listen during the telecasts, they talk about how Detroit was unable to match Zetterberg defenisvely with Crosby as often in Pittsburgh because Pitt was the home team and thus able to make the final line changes on face-offs. Offensively, the home team can either put its top line out against a weaker defense (weaker defensive pairing or a non-checking line or both) or if the visiting team puts it's top defensive pairing or checking line or both out there, the home team can use one if it's less offensively potent lines and save it's top scoring lines for better matchups. This isn't a fool proof advantage since both teams can change on the fly but there are so many face-offs in each hockey game (about 60 on average) that being able to make the last line change is a significant advantage for the home team. All this doesn't even touch on the natural advantage of having the crowd on your side - an advantage common to all major sports. The "last line change" rule, on the other hand, is unique to hockey and gives the coach of the home team enormous flexibility in matching lines during the course of a game, adding to the already existing advantage of the home crowd.
Adding to the previous post, I just thought of another less significant advantage of home ice. Because so many arenas, especially in the United States, are shared among multiple sports, there is a wide range in quality of ice. It's very difficult to maintain the quality of the ice surface when you have to change the temperature in the arena to suit the crowds of basketball and concerts. The air is typically several degrees cooler for hockey games to maintain ice quality. In the handful of arenas that are dedicated primarily to hockey (mostly in Canada), the arena staff can better maintain optimal conditions for the ice. The worst cases of degraded ice quality occur on days where there is a basketball game before a hockey game. It takes several hours to get the ice surface back to where it needs to be and occasionally, they don't even have enough time to get it to that point. The players just have to deal with it. Even when they have enough time, it's very difficult to maintain good ice and many arenas don't every have good ice. All players will tell you how some teams have great ice while many other teams have substandard conditions. All this leads to a certain advantage for home teams because they are more used to the quality of their ice, wherever it falls in the range from good to bad. Since there is so much variety across the league, opposing teams may have to adjust early in a game while the home team is already familiar with the tendencies of their ice (bouncing pucks, bad/soft spots of ice, etc...).
Wow, thanks for the Hockey 101 lesson. I'm still learning hockey and somewhat picked up on the line change advantage you spoke of, but never really understood it. I always wondered why I would see the home team always shifting and getting to switch up their guys on face offs. Thanks for the breakdown. All the same, a line change advantage doesn't explain why the Pens have just completely not shown up and/or thrown the towel in at various points during the playoffs this year. Their efforts on home vs. road ice have sometimes been a night/day difference. Last night was a prime example. Maybe it's just mental? Who knows.
Next game, watch one of the referees with an orange band around his arm standing around center ice. He'll make sure that the visiting team makes the first line change before a face-off. Then, he'll let the home team do the same. Understood and fans of every single team ask the same question from time to time. Hockey is such an incredibly demanding sport and there is also a lot of luck involved due to the nature of the game (playing on ice, the puck being small and hard to handle, the puck being prone to bounce funny or deflect off players and sticks, etc...). I guarantee you Detroit fans were doing their share of WTF?s after Game 4. The Caps had good games and awful games where they didn't seem to show up during the playoffs. For example, take Game 7 against the Pens. We had home ice, momentum (if you believe in momentum) after winning Game 6 then proceeded to get blown out and appear lifeless in the most pivotal game of the series. Pittsburgh deserves the vast majority of the credit because they took it to us not just in that game but most of the series (despite the fact that we managed 3 wins) but as a Caps fan, I was thinking the same way you are right now. Where the heck is the intensity? Do you guys realize the season is on the line? It's OK to play a little defense fellas!
Exciting finish to Game 6... I only caught parts of the game, mostly the 3rd period. Game 7 is sure to be a thriller...
Scuderi's save was insane. I was yelling at the television during that whole span of time when Detroit had an empty net. I hope this is a Game 7 for the ages. Please, Pittsburgh. Please show up.
