Come on guys, it's a tough, hard fought, tense, close game ..... both teams are battling ...... one mistake or one great play or a fluke play could win the game ...... the Pens are either going to be 1-1 or 0-2 after the game ...... every shift is huge for both teams .... I'm on the edge of my seat !
OT - ECF Game #1 - Pens vs Ottawa .......
- Thread starter goalieman
- Start date
I just flossed my teeth for the 4th time of the evening, and it was the highlight
LOL ! .... quit flossing and start watching, you are missing the action !
Don't mistake a close game or a big game (or a big, close game) with an exciting game. Because that was most certainly not an exciting hockey game.
When you don't know what you're watching, the game is boring. I used to think Soccer was boring until I invested the time to fully understand the game and the strategy behind every movement by all players, not just the player with possession.
Needed that one!
Got to get off the floor after I fell off the couch yelling for the PENS and see if I can walk after that one!
Got to get off the floor after I fell off the couch yelling for the PENS and see if I can walk after that one!
Maybe to you it wasn't .... for me it was ..... to each his own.
A scoring chance and a big save are extremely exciting plays to me. Sorry you need the red lamp to go off to have you become excited.
I didn't find the game boring. If you did though, oh well nothing wrong with that. But in all seriousness, what could the NHL do to change a game like this? It's not like they could just ban ottawa's style of play.
And I'm just talking about tonight's game, and mostly because it was a close game in the Stanley cup playoffs. Now if I had to watch Ottawa for 82 regular season games, yeah I'd probably be bored most of the time.
And I'm just talking about tonight's game, and mostly because it was a close game in the Stanley cup playoffs. Now if I had to watch Ottawa for 82 regular season games, yeah I'd probably be bored most of the time.
Win or lose, these games aren't going to help hockey draw new fans. I love hockey and they were unwatchable to me. I hope it gets better from here on out.
Eliminate the blue line, or extend out the blue line. You make the area that gets "trapped" so large, that it can't be done. Not allow goalies to play the puck at all once it's crossed the goal line. Get creative with offside so that it's easier to enter the zone. I don't like eliminating the blue line, but you gotta force teams that don't have talent to not sit back and suck the speed out of the game.
Not sure what you think, but I've heard people clamor for the NHL to just totally get rid of offsides. The other things you mentioned might not be too bad, even tinkering with offsides, which if I remember correct they did around '05 did they not?
If they can come up with something else to change in that regards maybe it would generate interest in the league, but it's almost at this point where you either like the NHL or you don't. At some time in the future I'd think there will be more changes though it happens a lot in sports, the zone defense was banned from the NBA for years.
This is why you want the Pens to win. I don't care if you are a Caps fan, a Flyers fan, a BlueJackets fan, a Rangers fan.....you don't want Ottawa's sluggish style to prevail. Because just like we saw with the Devils starting in the Mid 90's, it will usher in copycats of neutral zone clogging teams who will want to take the speed out of the game.
That being said, only 2 PP's total last night, I thought the game wasn't as mind numbing as Game 1 because the Pens were working hard and breaking the trap.
Ottawa needs to understand that the Pens are going to score eventually. And if they just choose to sit back, they aren't going to win this thing.
That being said, only 2 PP's total last night, I thought the game wasn't as mind numbing as Game 1 because the Pens were working hard and breaking the trap.
Ottawa needs to understand that the Pens are going to score eventually. And if they just choose to sit back, they aren't going to win this thing.
Exactly recruits. If Bettman had any brains, he would be screwing Ottawa and Nashville as much as possible. Those 2 in the finals would be a complete nightmare and would set the league back.
Adding a team is good for revenue, but it now thins out the talent by 23 more players. There will be more teams using the trap in an attempt to stay competitive next year.
Adding a team is good for revenue, but it now thins out the talent by 23 more players. There will be more teams using the trap in an attempt to stay competitive next year.
I don't find Nashville boring at all...
But I'm a huge pk subban guy and like Neal
Nashville? Wow. Not sure there. Love their top 4 Dmen, Subban and Josi would be among the top 5 players if I could add to the Penguins. Johanssen's line is fun. Sniper James Neal, I mean when I saw him in the slot cocked and loaded I knew he was going to score the winning goal.
I think this is a great series, and the Johanssen/Kesler battle is epic. I don't find Nashville boring at all.
Nashville more to the idea of it would be terrible for television. Who outside of the diehards would tune in to watch Nashville vs Ottawa? Would be the worst tv ratings in a LONG time.
A Crosby/McDavid match would have probably broken tv ratings for NHL hockey.
A Crosby/McDavid match would have probably broken tv ratings for NHL hockey.
You are absolutely right. Scoring chances are the key to an exciting game. A 1-0 game with a ton of good scoring chances can be absolutely the most exciting game of all, especially in the playoffs. On the other hand, a 1-0 game with a general dearth of scoring chances like last night's game isn't exciting at all.
Unless you are a fan of the late 1990s-early 2000s New Jersey Devils, the team that almost killed hockey. In which case, turn the television off and find something better to do.
Would Anaheim be much different? Ottawa would be the killer. NBC was not happy when the Rangers lost to the Sens.
Yeah, Anaheim isn't even really bringing the viewers from their area into the fold. If they were, they'd be the team that NBC was rooting for. As it is, my guess is that they really don't care which team from the west plays the Penguins for the Cup.
Just to put some numbers on it, there was a story out there earlier this year on NHL team television ratings being mostly down through the All Star break. Unfortunately one of the teams that they didn't have numbers for was Nashville, but as of early February the Ducks were averaging a 0.21 rating for their games. 0.21. Yikes. That was worst in the league, worse than Florida, worse than the Islanders, hell, the Arizona Coyotes, the poster child for awful NHL franchises, were getting ratings almost twice as high as the Ducks.
By way of comparison, at that point the Penguins were averaging a 5.56.
By way of comparison, at that point the Penguins were averaging a 5.56.
I admit that I don't watch a ton of hockey, but I do always watch the pens when they're in the playoffs. I have a question that I've been wondering this year, and I hope that someone can answer it. If the offensive player in the offensive zone dumps the puck, and then goes after it, can the defender push him out of the way and impede his progress of going to the puck? I've seen a few plays where it looks like the penguin player does that, and it looks as though they have a direct path to the puck, but the defender pushes him off his path and prevents him from even being able to make a play on the puck.
I do find it a little tough to learn what is a penalty watching hockey infrequently because I'm not sure that there is a consistency with the way games are called. All I got is that if there's blood, or a fight, there will most likely be a penalty called, lol. Beyond those calls, it seems like a crapshoot.
Thanks.
I do find it a little tough to learn what is a penalty watching hockey infrequently because I'm not sure that there is a consistency with the way games are called. All I got is that if there's blood, or a fight, there will most likely be a penalty called, lol. Beyond those calls, it seems like a crapshoot.
Thanks.
Joe ...... I'm certainly not a fan of how those NJ Devils teams played but I can still enjoy and get excited about an ECF game even if one team is playing a trap style ..... watching the strategy that Sullivan/Pens use to try and break the trap, get puck possession in the offensive zone, get shots on net, etc. are all interesting/exciting to me ...... watching the goalies and analyzing their play is exciting to me ....... watching a game where the results were in question until the final buzzer and the results may in the end play a big part in who wins the series and ultimately goes to the SCF's and where one great play or one mistake may decide the game is exciting to me.
Maybe I'm in the minority of hockey fans but I talked to a friend who went to the game and he told me the crowd of 18,000+ was very excited during the game ..... and I noticed a couple of quotes by Crosby after the game ..... "It wasn't a lack of chances, I think, so that's the most important thing" and "we generated a lot of chances and you don't let the fact that they aren't going in change the way you play".
Looking forward to Game #3 tomorrow night, hope you as a long time hockey fan are also.
The defender can check the offensive player while he is shooting the puck in or right after he shoots it but after that he can't check/push/impede, etc. the offensive player from going after the puck in your example or it is an interference penalty (two minutes) ....... most of the time after the offensive player dumps the puck in, the defender will skate toward the puck in a way to make the offensive player go around him to give more time for his defensive teammate to come across and get the puck ..... that is OK .... yes, I thought there were a couple interference penalties that could have been called and were not.
Interference is a minor penalty assessed to a player who interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck.
Hope that helps.
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Actually I can see the NHL itself rooting for Nashville. Nashville is really establishing a nice little following, rabid, it is much different than the Carolina or Miami markets. It is more in line with Columbus as far as looking like this is going to be a solid market, and a trip to the Finals would just enhance this.
The Ducks....are more like the Devils. Sure, big market, solid following but they aren't moving the needle.
Interesting. You know who the TB coach was......but also Laviollette (who is a helluva coach) is coaching Nashville right now. Another example of just how effed up the Flyer franchise is. They fired him. He was out of a job for a few seconds.
Agreed. And, one of the cheapest tickets and most fun around the game. Plus, there are hot women all over Nashville. Really hoping to get a Pens-Preds final and catch a game at PPG and Bridgestone.
The funny thing about that is that I remember sitting here early in the third period on Monday night thinking to myself, damn, the crowd down there is every bit as dead as this game is. The crowd didn't really start getting into the game until the Pens threw a few big hits midway through the third period, and it got amplified by the goal. But until then that was one of the quietest playoff crowds you'll ever here.
Ottawa must have been a little upset with everyone in here describing their hockey style as boring. Goals are going in right and left for them tonite.
Ottawa is running circles around the Pens tonight. And here I thought the Pens looked lethargic in game 1.
Ottawa is running circles around the Pens tonight. And here I thought the Pens looked lethargic in game 1.
This is one of those evenings that a peewee team could probably beat the Pens. When they're on they're great but when they aren't ... ugh. I'd be more harsh on them then that, but the injuries are starting to become too much to handle. But it's their own fault for not taking out some of the enemy when they take out your guys. You can't spell "Vigilante Justice" without "Justice".
Think Murray may get his job back if he allows 1 or 0 goals in the third.
Considering the play that they scored on Murray in the 2nd, it wasn't his fault at all
Considering the play that they scored on Murray in the 2nd, it wasn't his fault at all
I turned off after the fifth goal. One tiny takeaway from the game is that Murray looks good, not rusty at all. The goal he gave up to Turris was garbage, not his fault. But I don't know how much the Penguins can do with Schultz, Rust, and especially Hornqvist on the bench, let alone the other guys either out or playing hurt. Yes, I know everyone is hurt come playoff time but its getting ridiculous. Like you said, I find it tough to be too hard on them.
I was concerned going into this series. Look, they are doing this all without their top Dman, who is one of the very best DMan in the league. Last night they had 5 regulars out. They have lost 3 of their top 6 defensemen to injuries, one came back last night but is obviously still banged up (Daley). Dumolin is really banged up. They didn't have two top 6 forwards last night.
They are battered. What worried me about playing CBJ then the Caps is will the Pens have anything left? That is what was unfair about the way these playoffs were seeded. Sure "you have to beat the best teams sometime" but if you were the far superior team during the regular season and your reward is playing the 3rd best team, then the best team, and your opponent was significantly below you, and their reward was playing the 7th best and then the 5th best team.........well guess who has had the easier route. Not making excuses, but it is what it is.
I am not sure the Pens have much in the tank. Just recapping last night, they looked like dead man skating......
They are battered. What worried me about playing CBJ then the Caps is will the Pens have anything left? That is what was unfair about the way these playoffs were seeded. Sure "you have to beat the best teams sometime" but if you were the far superior team during the regular season and your reward is playing the 3rd best team, then the best team, and your opponent was significantly below you, and their reward was playing the 7th best and then the 5th best team.........well guess who has had the easier route. Not making excuses, but it is what it is.
I am not sure the Pens have much in the tank. Just recapping last night, they looked like dead man skating......
