Penguins vs. Rangers - NHL Playoffs

[Jrs237]

Crosby's issued statement deemed "excuse" by all New York newspapers was in fact the perfect "excuse." They came out overthinking; instead of reacting naturally and smoothly they had been trying to play a pre-planned game. That was the result of the dismal first period.

MSG can be confident all they want. The better team is clear in this series and it will win. Congrats on your presidents trophy is all I got to say to NYR.

[Jrs237]

Hate to bring this up right now because the pens being in the playoffs is so much more important to me. But Edmonton got the rights to the first overall pick tonight. This is disturbingly scary news for anybody who knows hockey.

Btw good prediction abpk I think.

[PortagePride]

Hate to bring this up right now because the pens being in the playoffs is so much more important to me. But Edmonton got the rights to the first overall pick tonight. This is disturbingly scary news for anybody who knows hockey.

Btw good prediction abpk I think.

This shouldn't scare anyone. This is the worst Lottery team that Mr. McDavid could have got stuck with. The Oilers will now have the #1 pick now 4 times in the last 6 or 7 years. This franchise knows how to trash, ruin and bury top talent and they still have MAJOR holes all over their defense and goaltender. Poor Buffalo

[HockeyGenie]

Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Schultz, and now Connor McDavid, I'm gonna agree with Jrs here, this roster is going to make some noise next year.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/connor- ... ft-lottery

You know your article lacks credibility when your 4th most important reason in your top 5 reasons McDavid's landing in Edmonton was worst is because of "lack of TV time". Who gives a **** about TV time? If you are scoring enough points and makinG highlight reel plays you will get your spotlight time. For example, I barely see any of Anaheim games because they play on West coast, but I see a lot of Getzlaf and Corey Perry's plays because they make enough of them.

Does anybody really believe he would have been better off in Buffalo? Serious question.

[konjo78]

It appears oilers are going for the pens and blackhawks approach to rebuilding

[abpk2903]

I've heard an idea that I think would be a great idea for hockey. Instead of the first pick being decided by a draft lottery based on basically making teams want to lose as many games as possible to increase the odds of getting a top pick. He's a better (IMO) idea:

The first overall pick would be awarded to the team that had the most points accumulated of the non-playoff teams over the last 15 games of the season. This would get rid of intentional tanking. It would have made the Arizona/Buffalo, Philadelphia/Carolina, and Dallas/Colorado game a lot of exciting and intense. It would prevent roster dumps at the trade deadline. It would give players on these tanking teams something more to compete for (you don't think a winger like say Joe Pavelski wouldn't play extremely hard to get a shot a McDavid centering his line next year).

If they did that this past year, I believe Columbus would have earned the 1st overall.

[JustWrestle]

I like the roster dumps

Anyway, I thought the only way the Pens would have a chance was by winning 1 of 2 in New York and now they've got it. Hopefully they take the next two and can close it out in game 5 or 6

[abpk2903]

I think the Rangers are learning a lesson that the Penguins learned the hard way in the past. Offense reliant on long stretch passing and neural zone speed struggles in a long playoff series. The defenseman just play too responsible to get enough opportunities to score. Clutch and grabs tend to be a little more allowed and this in turn slows the speed through the neutral zone. Ultimately teams learn what to look for on breakout plays and know where to go to stop them.

The team that gets the puck deep, takes the body, and gets traffic to the scoring areas tend to win playoff games. I still think the Rags have a much more talented roster than the Pens but I hope they continue to fool themselves into thinking they can win this series with speed and odd man rushes alone. If the pens don't try to get cute and continue the play they've stuck to for the last 5 periods, I think they have a good chance to pull off this upset.

[Jrs237]

I've been especially delighted with how the pens top 6 are playing on the forecheck. Kunitz has gained another step in his game it seems since the start of the series. Does anybody else appreciate Daniel Winnik and how he plays? Guy is so valuable. He's like a less glorified version of Kopitar without all the points. I mean he literally makes opposing players lives hell all night long. And how about Dumolin and Chorney both stepping up? I love how Chorney plays his space; he knows that he got a lot of ice to use and you see him dropping off time and time again to develop the rest of the ice for his teammates. Good work.

I think lines tonight will be:

14-87-72
28-71-39
19-16-17
13-40-23

I would rather have Comeau on my third line. I'm sorry but Steve Downie is basically inept anymore. Assess the damage he can do as a fourth liner and it's still pretty heavy but he needs reduced minutes.

Like I said Chorney and Dumolin are solid. Cole limped off the ice from how many shots he blocked and Paul and Lovejoy were both pretty solid.


My hope is the pens take both games at Consol, they have to if they want to win this series but I know better.

Go pens!

[JustWrestle]

I hate ever bringing up the officiating in sports...but honestly it seems as if the Rangers are being allowed to get away with a blatant interference call once a period. Even that hooking when we were on the PK and had a 2v1....I mean come on. Also, how bout that flop by Queen Henrik last night when he tried to get a penalty drawn on Crosby...the replayed showed he never even touched him lol