Philadelphia Flyers: A History Littered With Conspiracies

Posted by Rick on Mar 26, 2010 15:00.

I'm back, jack.

This time we take a look at the Flyers organization.

Yes, the coincidences are disturbing bakawk.

Before I get to that, the boys wanted me to pass this along:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_fw7iF68JR8k/S5UCAwCV66I/AAAAAAAAwXI/H2xCKEwigmA/davidcopperfield.jpg

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Pens clinch playoff berth with win or OT/SO loss against Philly.

If it isn't mentioned during the FSN broadcast, they just don't know what's going on.

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Kate Smith Photoshop Expo

Posted by #test on Mar 26, 2010 07:32.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_fw7iF68JR8k/S6lcZ6TvBaI/AAAAAAAAx4I/hHjkcq6d6wg/s512/fat-kid-wendys.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_fw7iF68JR8k/S6ydBknEsWI/AAAAAAAAyMA/4jp-lIpjd4g/s512/katecrab.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_fw7iF68JR8k/S6ydPyNPTaI/AAAAAAAAyM0/wh_1ze_KxBo/Kate%20Smith%20Titanic.jpg

More after the jump.

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March of the PENGUINS LOSE.

Posted by #test on Mar 25, 2010 08:23.

Brooks Orpik's statements after the game when asked if the Pens should have won:

"Do I think so? Yeah," he said. "We're up by a goal in the third period. We get a power play and have a chance to make it 3-1, and instead we give them a short-handed goal. So all due respect to them, a team that's as experienced and as good as we are, we shouldn't be losing games that way."

"Maybe I'm in the minority here, I'm getting tired of hearing that we played hard and we should have deserved better," Orpik said. "We're not winning hockey games, and that's what it comes down to. I don't know. I don't feel very good leaving the rink when you lose, no matter how you played....

"I'm getting very concerned. Everyone wants to talk about the playoffs. We've still got eight games to go here, and we're not exactly playing too well. The way we're playing now, we'll be out in the first round. It's getting pretty frustrating, yeah."

When asked about not beating the Caps yet this year:

"Look at last year; I think they beat us 3-1 last year, too," he said. "That didn't add up [in the postseason]. So I don't think it matters, but I think obviously, no matter who you're playing, you've got to take care of what you're doing a little better right now. We're not. We're finding ways to lose."

If you go back and look at all the games the Penguins and Caps have played this season, you'll find that almost all were the same.

In the first matchup, the game was tied going into the third.

The second game, the Pens had a 4-2 lead.

And last night, another tied score going into the third.

But the biggest and most glaring repeat occurence in this year's Pens/Caps series is Mike Knuble.

In 3 games, he has 3 goals. Count the shootout goal he scored, and that is 2 game-winners, as well.

That is the definition of a Penguin Killer.

But the Pens played a strong game.

Take out three minutes in the third period, and you have a 2-1 win.

But that really doesn't even make sense.

As Pens fans, we're not used to seeing this type of loss in March.

In fact, the Pens are in minor collaspe mode, losing 6 of their last 8.

But you can still take positives out of this game.

Jordan Staal's goal to preserve a point was huge and seemed unlikely at the time it occured.

And the Pens did play a hell of a game, against the league's best team, without two of their most important parts in Sarge Gonchar and Geno Malkin.

You want to talk about MVP statistics:

Penguins record in their last eight games without Geno: 1-7

What is even more stunning is that the Pens are now 0-9 against the Devils and Caps.

And yet they are still number two in the East.

Unreal.

All told, it is definitely bizarre times in the Land of the World Champs.

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Pens clinch playoff berth with Atlanta regulation loss against Toronto tonight.

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GAMEDAY 74 - CAPITALS

Posted by Rick on Mar 24, 2010 15:40.

7:00 PM

Verizon Center

Listen to the game at [WXDX]

Know the Enemy:

Rock The Red

From Their Gameday:

Where's Sidney? Sidney Crosby, who is tied with Ovechkin for the league lead with 45 goals, hasn't scored in 5 straight games and has only 3 to his credit since returning from Vancouver. In the two meetings this season, the Great 8 has tallied 5 goals and 2 assists while Crosby has mustered 3 goals. Evgeni Malkin has 5 assists against the Capitals this season.

Flashing lights and sirens and bells and whistles and monster truck announcing and "Rock the Red" and "OMG PASSION!!!!"

Okay, that's out of our system.

Hate Week continues.

Welcome to the Verizon Center.

Home of red clothing and postseason collapses.

Like them or not, the Washington Capitals are a good hockey team.

The last time we were here the Pens braved a snowstorm to blow a 4-1 lead and lose in overtime.

The Caps lead in a bunch of offensive statistics.

They also lead the Eastern Conference and the League.

There's a chance that the road to repeat will go through Washington this spring.

We wouldn't want it any other way.

There's also some rivalry between some guy named Ovechkin and this other guy named Crosby, but we've heard nothing about that.

Evgeni Malkin is doubtful for tonight.

Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon and Scott Walker are out for the Caps.

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Washington Capitals: A Marty the Chicken Special Report

Posted by #test on Mar 24, 2010 08:14.

Marty the Chicken has been on assignment looking into the Capitals and Flyers organizations.

He has come back with his report.

Last year, I, Marty the Chicken, produced a series of controversial unknown facts about the Detroit Red Wings.

And now, after a year's worth of research, I have uncovered some shocking conspiracy theories about the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers.

I now start my journey in Washington.

Capital fans love to cook up theories about how the NHL is fixed for Pittsburgh.

But yet they have a closetful of dark secrets themselves.

For our first story, I've enlisted Robert Stack from Unsolved Mysteries.

The story is after the jump.

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Kate Smith Photoshop Expo Reminder

Posted by #test on Mar 23, 2010 21:08.

Start sending in your Kate Smith photoshops.

Put "Kate Smith" in your e-mail somewhere.

We're posting them Friday morning.

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Tuesdays With Stoosh: 3.23

Posted by Stoosh on Mar 23, 2010 12:30.

Commentor Stoosh has been around quite a while.

He even has a shirt in Storeblog.
He's banged out beastly Homer-esque comments with a high level of consistency.

Only fitting to give him the reins.

::::::::::::::::::::

I spent part of Sunday morning perusing the Pensblog and reading up on the game thread for the Canes game and then the subsequent recap. I admittedly only saw/listened to most of the first half of the game and missed pretty much all of the latter half of it. I did manage to catch the post-game show and from talking to people who saw the game, it sounded like a loss that was due mostly to the same sorts of things we've seen in many of their losses this year.

They lost largely because they came out flat with no real sense of urgency through the first half of the game. They failed to make life miserable for a couple of relatively average goaltenders by generating little consistent offensive pressure.

That's why I was a little bit stunned to hear some recent criticism - both from callers on the post-game show and in some comments on the blog - being directed at Marc-Andre Fleury. Some called him the weak link on this Pens team. Some looked at his numbers and wondered why he was still considered "elite" when he ranked out of the NHL's top 20 respectively in goals against average and save percentage. Some said he was basically nothing more than a passenger on last year's Cup-winning team.

Look, I'll be the first person to admit that Fleury's occasional twelve-round bouts with concentration during the regular season can be kind of maddening. I'll be the first to admit that he lets in some soft goals now and then, maybe even moreso than you'd like to see out of your goaltender. It's funny, though, that the overwhelming amount of criticism directed at Fleury almost always ends with a suggestion that the Pens need to do better in net, but it's interesting that a suggestion on exactly who that mystery goaltender should be never really seems to materialize.

MAF critics seldom ever suggest anyone better because they fail to realize there really isn't anyone out there who you could plug in and definitively say IS better.

Let's roll up onto the sidewalk and take a look, yes?

Roberto Luongo?

[photoshop via Cyclelikesedins]

Well, Luongo's career playoff series record is 2-2. I'll see that and raise him Fleury's playoff series record of 7-1 over the last two years. Luongo has never sniffed a conference championship series while Fleury's not just played in two - he's won both of them. Luongo hasn't yet earned the right to be called anything better than average once the calendar flips to late April/early May.

Martin Brodeur........

Has anyone SEEN him play the last two playoff seasons? Two years ago, the Devils lost to the Rangers in five games in the first round. Brodeur allowed 19 goals in that series. That Rangers team moved on to play the Pens in the next round and was held by Fleury to 12 goals over five games. Last year, Brodeur allowed the Canes to score four goals three times in their seven-game series. In the Eastern Conf. Finals, that same Canes team managed to get just nine pucks past Fleury in four games.

Nabokov? Has anyone seen HIM play the last two playoff series? See Luongo.

[via FearTheFin]

Lundqvist?

Not after the Pens systematically exposed every hole in his game two years ago. He hasn't really carried the same aura of dominance that he had before that series.

I'm not suggesting that Fleury is above criticism...no player is. Fleury's reg. season numbers could be better, although it's interesting that his .906 save percentage this year is just barely worse than the .908 save percentage he posted last year in the playoffs and it didn't seem to hinder the team all that much now, did it?

It's a team game and therein lies the answer. You can seldom point the blame for a team's successes and failures at one person. Goaltenders let in soft goals every once in a while, just the same way that even the best quarterbacks make bad throws or the best defensive backs get beat deep; it comes with the position. Maybe it's not so much Fleury's fault when you've got the defense committing mind-numbingly bad turnovers with the puck on their way out of the zone. Maybe it's not so much Fleury's fault when the offense can't generate more than two goals against an opposing team's backup and/or third-string goaltender.

As we gear up for this playoff run - our third straight year of being considered a bonafide Cup contender - the idea that Fleury has been nothing but a passenger on last year's Cup run is absurd. Consider the following:

* Over the last two years, Fleury has played in eight playoff series and won seven. The last five playoff series the Pens have won, Fleury has closed the door on the road.
* He's won head-to-head matchups convincingly with Henrik Lundqvist and Cam Ward (a long-time go-to-guy for Fleury critics until MAF won his Cup last year).
* In two straight years, he's held the Flyers - the team in the Eastern Conference with probably the deepest corps of scoring forwards - to 25 goals in 11 playoff games.
* He held a potent Caps offense to three goals or less in five of those seven games last year and his save on Ovechkin in Game Seven - on the road - probably changed the entire makeup of that game.

And his performances in Game Six and Seven in last year's Cup Finals...if that wasn't proof enough, I don't know what is. Can you realistically expect much more out of your goaltender? If so, you're almost setting yourself up to be disappointed because I'm not sure a goaltending corps of Terry Sawchuk, Patrick Roy and Georges Vezina all in their respective primes will satisfy your expectations. Based on their track records over the last few years, there isn't anyone in the league that you could plug in and claim would be a head-and-shoulders upgrade over Fleury.

But the incessant Fleury critics don't see that. They wait for one of his occasional crap games and then march out their time-old mantra - Coglan's Law: Anything else is always something better.

And yes, I just quoted "Cocktail."

Thoughts, Dudes...

Want another reason to be thankful for Fleury? Look at the cap hell the Bruins currently find themselves with Tim Thomas. They've got three more years of him at $5 million per year. Most average-to-above-average goaltenders contribute as 60-game starters in their late 20's and then play at that level through their early 30's. Most elite goaltenders begin to contribute at that level in their early-to-mid 20's. Fleury you'll gladly find in the latter. It's very difficult to replace that.

I know they're no longer youngins by any standard, but when did Keith Tkachuk and Mark Recchi start aging in dog years? Watching Matt Cooke Retribution Night last week, I kept seeing Recchi out there and thought I was watching Billy Joel in hockey equipment.

The very public, very defiant and unconditional defending of Alexander Ovechkin's hit on Brian Campbell by the Capitals organization was sickening. It's one thing for an organization to stand by its player. It's a completely different thing for ownership, management and the coaching staff to continually excuse his reckless play as boundless energy and passion, to ignore that the hit he laid on Campbell was in fact a textbook penalty, and to play down an act that landed Campbell with a concussion and broken bones as "just a little push." If Ovechkin is the kid who gets caught by the teacher punching another kid and gets sent to detention, Boudreau and Leonsis are the parents who go to the school board demanding the teacher get fired.

I'd love to know how many Flyers fans secretly hated the idea of allocating all of that cap money to Chris Pronger as opposed to making a trade that could've upgraded the goaltending. If you're one of those fans, aren't you fighting off the urge to projectile vomit every time you realize that your team is now facing a the prospects of a playoff run with Brian Boucher as their primary goaltender and a $6 million defenseman that's been turned into a pylon by Ruslan Fedotenko?

Want an early candidate for Team Massive Roster Turnover this summer? How about Boston? That game against the Penguins last weekend spoke volumes about potential chemistry issues with that team. We all knew Cooke was going to be challenged, but all we heard all week coming out of Boston was how the Bruins were going to play this physical, punishing game against the Penguins, hitting them every time the Pens had the puck, finishing checks, blah, blah, blah. Shawn Thornton squared off with Cooke a couple of minutes into that game and that was it. Chara's efforts to get his team back in the game with a fight against Mike Rupp generated absolutely nothing but a stupid penalty 45 seconds later. By the third period, the Boston fans were booing their own team off the ice. Boston GM Peter Chiarelli has his work cut out for him.

Sad - The very same weekend the Phoenix Coyotes ascend to a tie for the Western Conference standings lead with the Chicago Blackhawks, Pierre Lebrun of ESPN writes in his blog that the Coyotes ownership still is not secure and that relocation of the team may still be an optio[ESPN]

Speaking of the Sharks, they've lost five in a row. They know it's just late March and not late April, right?

As Staff has pointed out in recent posts, we're going to find out a lot about just how ready this Pens team is for the playoffs in this upcoming week. Buckle up. I believe this team is one of the few Eastern Conference teams that no one wants to play in a seven-game playoff series and as much as their fans don't want to admit it, Caps fans are probably the ones who want to see the Pens the least. And as strange as it sounds, I like to think this Pens team is actually built to win more in the playoffs than it is in the regular season. But there were some elements to the style of game the Pens played last year that seem to be missing with alarming consistency from game to game this year and I'd be lying if I said that didn't have me at least a little bit worried.

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