I don't know - I think the sport of hockey itself doesn't translate well vs. hoop or football. Regardless, Pittsburgh is very lucky that we have all three major sports.
OT- Game #2 - Pens vs Caps .......
- Thread starter goalieman
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Either you throw Niskanen out for the playoffs, or the Penguins dress sestito and have him go after Ovechkin in the same manner. It's not a difficult thing to understand. Either the league cracks down on bullshit, or it wears it like a badge of honor. It will be their call tomorrow imo.
Well hell will freeze over before the morons sitting in Toronto eh will do what should be done.
Niskanen knew exactly what he was doing and then stands there in the room and says it wasn't intentional...I guess Matt you were going after his neck but Sid was going down so you got his head.
This is why this sport can't be taken seriously it is studio wrestling on skates.
How about neither.
The league dislikes talented players and too many of its old goon players are now coaches GMs and league officials. Nothing will happen from that side.
And sadly nothing from the Penguin side either. They have a long history of not responding appropriately when their stars are targeted. In fact they react like last night. Skate around listless in shock. And lose.
Absent any league discipline a team simply needs to do it itself. Or it will keep happening.
Ovechkin should not have survived that game alive.
Nothing from the Penguins side? They scored 2 goals and sent the game to OT. That is a pretty nice response. What did you want them to do, turn it into the Gong Show last night???
What happened to Sid was certainly regrettable. Like I said, it is amazing every accidental high stick is penalized because "you have to have control of your stick", but the two handers to the head are sporadically penalized. Last night it was, but if the emphasis was the same, maybe Nisky wouldn't have had his stick there to hit his head.
I am not absolving Niskanen, it was a dirty hit. But it was also accidental I believe. It was unfortunate. BUT the stick to the head that is not getting talked about enough, is not Niskanen's two hander, it is Ovechkin's intentionally swinging his stick and hitting Sid on the left side of the head before he started falling into Niskanen. That is what I am showing the NHL and asking for an explanation, why there was no penalty.
And that is what I am telling Ovi before the game, that there is a bounty on his knee.
I am not absolving Niskanen, it was a dirty hit. But it was also accidental I believe. It was unfortunate. BUT the stick to the head that is not getting talked about enough, is not Niskanen's two hander, it is Ovechkin's intentionally swinging his stick and hitting Sid on the left side of the head before he started falling into Niskanen. That is what I am showing the NHL and asking for an explanation, why there was no penalty.
And that is what I am telling Ovi before the game, that there is a bounty on his knee.
Sorry but I couldn't take anything else seriously after reading the bold sentence above.
Seriously, skated around listless in shock? Did you actually watch the game? They played pretty well for majority of the game minus the best player in the world, minus their best defensemen, minus their starting goalie, minus Sheary, a banged up Hornquivst and so on. Holtby played a great game and frankly won the game for the Caps. They answered with 2 late goals to force OT and they then lost in OT to a really good team. Nothing at all listless about their performance.
Of course the Toronto morons don't like talent they want goons and thugs to punch one another in the face while fighting it out in the corners.
That's hockey!!!
Canadian hockey eh
That's the NHL
This would NEVER happen in the NFL NBA or BASEBALL because they are professional sports not an exhibition run from Toronto.
Eh.
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No need to be sorry. You have your opinion. I disagree with it.
They were lucky to tie, but then lost in OT anyway. Nothing to cheer about there.
And lost their best player for good. Maybe forever if the concussion is bad enough.
And the Caps best players were totally unscathed.
Terrible all the way around.
They were lucky to tie, but then lost in OT anyway. Nothing to cheer about there.
And lost their best player for good. Maybe forever if the concussion is bad enough.
And the Caps best players were totally unscathed.
Terrible all the way around.
Yes but they didn't "skate around listlessly". That is not my opinion, that is you being wrong in your opinion.
Apparently Sid was in good spirits saying he was fine after the game and walking without a limp. Now this info is coming from Tim Benz but still, there is a glimmer of hope. In watching the replay there is a possibility the main injury was to his leg/knee and not his head. His right leg is planted and gets twisted awkwardly when Niskanen hits him. If you watch him on the ground, it looks like he is favoring the leg. So maybe (hopefully) this isn't about the head as much as we all think it is.
I also think this was as much on Overchkin as Niskanen. He should have been sent to the box as well for the slash.
Its tempting to put a bounty out in game four but I don't think the Pens can afford to do it. The league will look the other way on the Crosby hit but assuredly come down hard on any retaliation. Best thing for the Pens would be to have a pissed off Crosby ready by Wednesday.
I also think this was as much on Overchkin as Niskanen. He should have been sent to the box as well for the slash.
Its tempting to put a bounty out in game four but I don't think the Pens can afford to do it. The league will look the other way on the Crosby hit but assuredly come down hard on any retaliation. Best thing for the Pens would be to have a pissed off Crosby ready by Wednesday.
I feel terrible. A couple of years ago I could have taken Niskanen out at the Pine Market District Giant Eagle. We both were buying beer and I was parked right by him. I could have backed up my SUV and ran him over. I had my chance.....
Yes, we don't even know for sure if this was primarily a head or knee/leg injury. Impossible to tell when looking at the replay and aftermath.
Well he didn't limp off, and reports by those after the game saw Sid walking without a limp.
Do people watch hockey that make these statements? This sounds like a Skip Bayless take or someone from ESPN.
The game is as physical as ever, but it is no longer goonery and thuggery with guys like Dave "The Hammer", Stu Grimson, Bob Probert or Tie Domi taking regular shifts. Guys like that are now extinct in the league. There are actually very few fights and penalty minutes are at an all-time low.
The hit on Crosby was cheap, but in no way does it encapsulate the way the game is played these days. Oh and by the way, Niskanen got a major penalty and a game misconduct so it's not like the refs didn't call the play appropriately.
The game is in a good place and this is coming from someone who used to sit and watch games with my hand on the record button of my VCR waiting to record fights.
Yeah it's in a real good place.
The best player in the league is knocked senseless by 2 sticks to the head.
It's a goon sport run by morons in Toronto and will always be 4th....until soccer passes it.
Well, if the play would have been called appropriately, Ovechkin would have also been in the box for a high stick and the Pens would have had a 5 on 3.
You are taking one incident and making a very wide judgment. I love Sid but he plays the game differently than any other superstar in the league. Keep that in mind.
Cause he plays the game hard and gets into the dirty areas that gives the defense free shots like this incident where he gets a 2 handed baseball style slashes and cross checks to the head? While this incident was bad, we have seen this before against Sid with no penalties(Staal-NYR repeatedly cross checking him in the neck, Dubinsky numerous incidents, etc..)
Sorry, I will respectfully disagree with you here. Just because Sid is willing to go into the dirty areas and can play like a grinder doesn't give teams free will to take cheapshots. And the NHL does a HORRIBLE job of policing it against Sid and frankly against other superstars as well.
All that I'm saying is this isn't some epidemic in the NHL. I was responding to the poster who claimed that the league was full of goons and the league does nothing to stop it. 25 years ago... absolutely. Niskanen's hit was dirty, but it wasn't as blatant as Adam Graves slashing Lemieux in 1992 and breaking his wrist. That stuff doesn't happen to the degree it used to.
Hey I once met Bobby Orr do you know Bobby Orr
Haha
This is my point exactly I got away from hockey because of the goonery.
I come back and what do I see but the best player in the world maliciously attacked and I guarantee you The Caps planned that.
You will not see this in other sports and if you do for sure action would be taken well beyond what these knuckleheads in Toronto eh will do.
Sorry I'm done again and yes this is exactly why it is a niche sport in the US and will soon be passed by soccer.
Until they move the HQs to Madison Av this same sh!t will continue
Hell these idiot old school announcers seem like nothing happened.
That is the NHL eh.
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That's the thing. Those calling for "retaliation", some might just be bloodthirsty, but others see it as the only real way to combat the strategy when its used constantly against the Pens.
Crosby was killing them with his two way play and set ups of others and his own finishing.
They met as a team and strategized how to "stop" him.
Their answer was tried and true ... take him out.
They wouldn't have gone to this of it was adequately disciplined by the league. Or adequately responded to by the Penguins.
If either were probable they wouldn't have dared.
But they knew neither would occur.
The league will never discipline it. They're all for it that style.
So it falls upon the Penguins ... sadly ... to take measures to combat it. But they don't. Not in adequate scale anyway (aka a star for a star).
And the "winning is the best revenge" argument is not adequately accurate. Winning is a nice piece of the vengeance puzzle for sure. But (1) the Pens didn't win, not this time anyway; in fact the injury was the main reason (2) even if they do win the game, series etc. In spite of it ... is it then ok? They've possibly lost their best player, worst case for a long time ... or if a really bad concussion, perhaps for good! How is winning a game or even two more? alone sufficient when that happens? Much of the future... immediate and long term ... could be out the window.
With no adequate response look for them to run Malkin, Guentzel, Kessel, Fleury next. Heck, from their standpoint, why not?
You can book it.
And the morons in Toronto eh are doing feign zero about it.
Studio Wrestling on skates.
Thats hockey
Old school eh
You come in the crease you pay the price.
You don't skate out of it with the eggs you had in your pocket unbroken eh
The Pens wasted not time. They called up Ogie Oglethorpe and Carl Racki to take Crosby's and Sheary's slots.
Winning needs to be the first priority because it's the playoffs.
But then there must be physical retaliation. If games remain tight perhaps that can't happen until next season after the playoffs end (hopefully with the Penguins victorious). But a line finally must be drawn.
Ovechkin must be targeted and not just a token bump. Something that will remove HIM from the ice.
Otherwise it will just keep happening.
But then there must be physical retaliation. If games remain tight perhaps that can't happen until next season after the playoffs end (hopefully with the Penguins victorious). But a line finally must be drawn.
Ovechkin must be targeted and not just a token bump. Something that will remove HIM from the ice.
Otherwise it will just keep happening.
They need to get some boys on the bus from Wilkes-Barre. Bonuses in order for the first one to take out Novechkin's knee, or Oshie or Backstrom for the series. Until this is discouraged by the league, it is encouraged by the league.
Not sure Novechkin should be the target though (eh?). He has been ineffective for the most part. I would like to see them start to run Holtby at every opportunity. If someone is in contact with the forward down low, launch into him and claim they were "pushed" into him. Slashing is only two minutes. Get some great whacks at his head and neck when he covers up.
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