RECAP: GAME THREE. Cinco De Kunitz. PENS WIN.

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There were three races this past weekend: the Kentucky Derby, the Pittsburgh Marathon, and this hell show on the Isle. It was bad when the Islanders went up 2-0 early. It got better when the Pens answered that by actually getting out of the first period with the lead. And then when the Islanders tied it up at 4 down the homestretch in the third, you knew the only chance the Pens had to pull this out is if they got the game to overtime.
 
And, shit, that hill in overtime was tough. But with the game on the line, Sidney Crosby did what he needed to do. It's like MJ bulling his way to the basket to draw a foul. Crosby got to the net and drew a penalty. It's already the most-talked-about holding call of the season, but the fact remains it was a textbook hold. Overtime or no overtime, playoffs or no playoffs, if the best player in the world gets position on you and you grab on to even the playing field, you're gonna get called.
 
The Pens cashed in on the ensuing PP, and just for a moment we all could enjoy the thrill of a overtime playoff winner. When that jubilation wore off, it was time to go back to justifiably worrying about what's going on with the Pens. The defense doesn't look anything like we've gotten used to seeing. The Pens' breakout plays are becoming predictable, and the Isles are preying on it. Speaking of which, the Isles' transition game is ridiculous.
 
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There's Internet whispers of some Fleury bashing. Of course there is. The third-period goals came on a shorthanded breakaway and on a snipe from League MVP Candidate John Tavares. We're nowhere close to jumping on board the Fleury Hate Train. As we noted before the series, the Isles scored the 7th-most goals in the NHL during the regular season. They are going to score.
 
For now, getting out of Game 3 with the W is huge, huge, huge. Every game in this series so far has had a different feel to it. The Islanders claim they feel no pressure in this series, but they're gonna feel it Tuesday night. We're banking on the Pens righting some pieces of the ship to get this back to Pittsburgh with a chance to clinch.
 
Recap:
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QUICK CAP: Pens take 2-1 series lead

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It wasn't always fun, but the Pens somehow got out of that third period and regrouped for relatively quick OT. Brian Strait went off for holding Crosby, and Kunitz cashed in on the PP.  dfandksfklsdfkldnkldfgnfgfgd

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Playoff Gameday: Pittsburgh Penguins & New York Islanders - Round One, Game Three

Posted by Rick on .

Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders
Series Tied 1-1

NBC, TSN, RDS - 12:00 pm/et

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Uniondale, NY

Are you awake? Hopefully the Penguins are. Today we'll get to see if they decided to learn anything from game two, or if this is the same Penguins team that believes their own hype and doesn't learn from their mistakes. They said pretty much all the right things in this story. Great leadership from Iginla here:

"I think we go over it -- and we have -- to see what the feeling is why we didn't win. What is the reason we got beat?" Iginla said. "Our execution could be better. They came out harder -- give them credit -- but we didn't make plays that we can make, simple things. We weren't as sharp.

"We regroup. We see what we didn't do. We go out for another game. It's just the next game to try make it 2-1."

That's the kind of attitude the Pens need right now. Don't dwell on the loss, but look back on it, learn from it and realize what you could have done better. Will they?

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LINK CITY: All jammed up and no where to go, Crazy lady on KDKA

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Pic of towels layed out at the Nassau Coliseum. Marks the first time Isle fans get something free since most of the fathers in attendance first jail stint at Rikers Island.

 

-- Oh hey remember that crazy Mom that trolled James Neal? She's back.

"He and his mom have attended a lot of practices but this happened unexpectedly."

Ahhh yes attended a lot of practices. Is that what they call stalking players?
Harold Hayes got played ya'll.
 

GIF of the day

The Sharks tie it:
 
The Sharks win it:

 

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RECAP: Game Two Typical. PENS LOSE.

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When a team gets defecated on in a Game One, they're gonna bring the house in Game Two. And that is exactly what the Isles did. After being down 2-0 and 3-1, it was gut-check time. and they stole a game in Pittsburgh, all reminiscent of what the Pens did against Ottawa in 2006-2007 playoffs.
 
We've seen the Pens dominate one game and then turn around and play like dogshit. There was hope that the Pens would show a killer insinct and put the Isles up against it, but that didn't happen.
 
We could look back at this moment in time and laugh about being worried about this series. Or shit can get real here pretty fast. We said the other day that if the Isles were gonna win a game, it was gonna be this one. If you've taken in a handful of Islanders games this season, you knew they were gonna fight back.
 
And now the series becomes a best-of-five, with home-ice advantage shifting to the Isles. The last time the Pens won a playoff game in Long Island was Game 3 in 1993.

Ideally, the Pens take both at Nassau and close it out in Game 5. We, especially now, don't want any part of a Game 6.

Recap:

 
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QUICK CAP: Islanders come back to tie series

Posted by Rick on .

 

Sidney Crosby scored two goals in his return and Evgeni Malkin added another, but the Isles came back from a 3-1 Penguins lead to win game two by a score of 4-3. Kyle Okposo got his first Playoff goal and it turned out to be the game winning goal.

The Pens lost their first playoff game ever when Malkin and Crosby both score. They were 9-0 previously.

The Islanders simply worked harder and played their system better than the Pens did. It felt similar to the Flyers series from last year as the Pens played their opponent's style and lost because of it. The Isles dominated the Pens for most of the game.

Game three is on Sunday afternoon on Long Island. Should be an insane crowd on the Isle on Sunday. Can't dwell on this one too long.

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Playoff Gameday: Pittsburgh Penguins & New York Islanders - Round One, Game Two

Posted by Rick on .

New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins
Penguins Lead 1-0

ROOT, NBCSN, MSG Plus, TSN - 7:00 pm/et

Consol Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA

Game two at home following a Penguins blowout in game one. Sidney Crosby will be back. The Penguins' worst enemy tonight could be becoming complacent. It would be a huge mistake to let the Islanders back into this series.

For a bit of a different look than we usually give, here are the Penguins and Islanders player usage charts for game one from Some Kind of Ninja.

PENGUINS

ISLANDERS:

You can click on them for a full size image. Here's a bit on player usage charts from Some Kind of Ninja:

The horizontal axis is the percentage of time the player started in the offensive zone, the vertical axis is a rating of how good the players he played against are, and the bubble sizes are a relative rating of how many shots were directed at the net while the player was on the ice. A blue bubble (good) means more shot attempts were made at the opposing team's net when the player was on the ice, a red bubble (bad) means the player was getting outshot.

For example, look at Paul Martin's bubble. Its positioning shows you that he started most of his shifts in the defensive zone and that he played against a relatively high quality of competition. The fact that his bubble is blue means that, while he was on the ice, more shots were directed at the Islanders' net than at the Penguins' net. Translation: He has a lot of responsibility and he handles it well.

For tonight's lines, see our line combinations post from earlier.

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Likely Pittsburgh Penguins & New York Islanders Lines for Game Two

Posted by Rick on .

Likely Pens lines from Penguins.NHL.com:

Kunitz - Crosby - Dupuis
Bennett - Malkin - Iginla
Morrow - Sutter - Cooke
Glass - Jokinen - Adams

Martin - Engelland
Murray - Niskanen
Eaton - Letang

Fleury

Likely Isles lines from Arthur Staple on Twitter and from Daily Faceoff:

Moulson - Tavares - Boyes
Bailey - Nielsen - Okposo
Ullstrom - Aucoin - Grabner
Martin - Cizikas - McDonald

Streit - Strait
Harmonic - MacDonald
Hickey - Visnovsky

Nabokov

 

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