The Password Is Trap. PENS LOSE.

Posted by #test on Oct 24, 2009 21:49.

Games like this challenge your will to live and your will to come up with a decent recap after phoning in the previous recap. This was easily the Pens' worst game of the season. The Florida game wasn't bad at all. The Pens just ran into a red-hot goalie. In this game, they ran into Marty Brodeur...when they could get close enough.

When the Devils made it 3-0 early in the third, it was game-over. The trap was executed to a T all game long. It's how teams like the Coyotes, Devils, and Panthers can frustrate a run-and-gun, highly talented team.

Those three teams have something in common.
They currently aren't Stanley Cup contenders.
And they won't be contenders when April rolls around.

Simply put, the Pens didn't feel like coming up with a gameplan to counter the trap in this one. The

Pens wanted to do their own thing. And they lost. Big deal. There go the dreams of an 81-1-0 season.

Pens can be thankful that they get to see the Devils six times a year. Later on this season, when the Pens are playing games that matter against teams that decide to trap the Pens' high-flying forwards, they will have six games worth of experience against the best trap coach in the game.

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GAMEDAY 11 - DEVILS

Posted by Rick on Oct 24, 2009 17:00.

7:30 PM

Mellon Arena

Listen to the game at [WXDX]

If you have any questions for Mike Lange, Phil Bourque or Bob Grove join the Penguins Radio Network Facebook page.

You can submit questions via the discussion tab for the Crash the Net segments or Penguins Hotline after the game.

The Pens are going for their eighth win in a row tonight.

Will Marc-Andre Fleury look at playing Brodeur as another chance to prove he should make Canada's Olympic team?

Jacques Lemaire and the neutral zone trap are back in New Jersey, so we could be in for a frustrating night.

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Hill District Stomp. PENS WIN.

Posted by #test on Oct 23, 2009 22:06.

Can't do a recap.

If you feel betrayed, reassess your life.

Quick thoughts:

Chris Bourque is a stain.
Great call by the refs on the hand-pass no-goal.
Felt bad for Vokoun. What a performance.
Pens had a couple of baaaaad defensive lapses.
Brent Johnson was solid yet again.
Thank God Staal came back.
All game, the Pens were whacking at Vokoun's glove as he was freezing the puck, and the Panthers players didn't even care.
Kunitz was feisty.
First shortie of Crosby's career. How bizarre is that.
Nice comeback.

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GAMEDAY 10 - PANTHERS

Posted by Rick on Oct 23, 2009 15:50.

7:30 PM

Mellon Arena

Listen to the game at [WXDX]

If you have any questions for Mike Lange, Phil Bourque or Bob Grove join the Penguins Radio Network Facebook page.

You can submit questions via the discussion tab for the Crash the Net segments or Penguins Hotline after the game.

The Panthers are another one of those teams that always seem to give the Penguins trouble.

Think of the 1996 playoffs.

Think of two of Sidney Crosby's fights (here and here.)

There is something about the Florida Panthers that frequently frustrates the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And it's not just the rats.

The Penguins are going for their seventh win in a row tonight.

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boobs

Posted by #test on Oct 23, 2009 07:58.

PUCK DADDY, who is still number-one in the business, dug up all of the responses from Red Wang Nation in regards to a recent Buccigross column that says Zetterberg and Datsyuk, gasp, are past their primes.
Go here to check out the actually Bucci column.

http://www.thepensblog.com/images/stories/200910/logos/det.png

Here is George Malik's whinefest.

Red Wings fans, aside from a couple of level-headed people, can't believe that an analyst thinks the Wings "dynasty" is done. Bucci gave truckloads of corroborating proof that the NHL is a young man's game; that players will put up their seasonal career highs before they reach at least 30 years of age. The two most dynamic players on the Wings roster, Zett and Dats, are 29 and 31, respectively.

Couple that with Nick Lidstrom reaching the end of his road, the ever-shaky situation in the Detroit net, a serious injury and subsequent surgery to the ever-fragile Johan Franzen, and the revitalized Central Division, the case is there that the Red Wings aren't the "powerhouse" anymore that their fans have gotten so used to. But most Wings fans and Malik-esque fanboys refuse to acknowledge this.

Let's face it: going into the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, the Red Wings were an intimidating force. The Pens hadn't seen anything like it during the season, and it was the Red Wings' year, anyway. In the 2009 Finals, the Pens were ready, and the rest is history. The Pens were one year older yet still so much younger than the Red Wings. The microcosm of the entire series came on Jordan Staal's shortie, when Brian Rafalski pretty much gave up on life.

Last year's Cup win was the changing of the guard, the passing of the torch, although the Red Wings fans themselves couldn't find a way to pass their AIDS to Pens fans. It wasn't so much a passing of the torch to the Penguns as it was a passing of the torch to a younger NHL.

If you think the Red Wings' fans' denial is sad, wait till you see the game-winning goal Chris Osgood gave up in Phoenix...

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