2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs

[Stang2Vibe]

What happened to all the Michiganders here? Have you forgot your Red Wings are in the finals??? This is a tough playoff series to watch as the Wings are one of my perennial favorite NHL teams but my being a lifelong Pittsburgher overrides that in this case. Been a Pens fan since I was old enough to understand what hockey was and played in high school so it is my favorite sport. I'm jacked to the max that my beloved team is back in the finals for the first time in 16 years. It's been a LONG wait for me and many heartbreaking seasons have gone by since I've been this excited for my team again!I have total respect for the Red Wings and look forward to a great playoff series here but I'm going to say Pens in 6 we finally win it at home (our last 2 Stanely Cup wins were on the road for the clincher so bring it home guys!) before we build our new arena. LETS GO PENS!!!LETS GO PENS!!!LETS GO PENS!!!

[WaveAction]

im jacked aswell...watching it as i type!! been going to the pens since day 1 of the playoffs..and they've pretty much rolled over everyone so far...but this series..in my opinion..may go 6-7 games..cause they're just both such great teams..but im going for the pens still!GO PENS

[mspalmer]

I'm watching game 1 right now, still scoreless but have on my Western Conference Champions shirt from 2003 season and am ready for a great series. Also, the Piston's are on with Game #3 in the Eastern Conference final and the Tigers are playing the Twins. All are home games so it is requiring many channel changes but the Wings are the primary focus (watching on CBC of course).****GO WINGS*****mike

[WaveAction]

well 1st period is done and no score..bunch of great chances for both teams..definitly gonna be either a low scoring series..cause of both the goalies and the great defence..or it's gonna be a high scoring cause of the great talent both teams have( mainly pittsburgh!! )

[bull77]

sid the kid FTW!!

[WaveAction]

damn it..1-0 red wings entering the 2nd intermission..hopefully the pens come back and tie it up sometime in the 3rd and take it later on

[mspalmer]

final score: 4-0final score Tigers: 19-3final score Pistons: doesn't matter, they lost.2 out of 3 for the Detroit teams, not too bad.Hopefully the Wings continue to supply the pressure to the Pens. The Wings look pretty good right now.mike

[WaveAction]

ya the wings played a great game...put the pressure on almost everytime they had the puck..created alot of turn overs(thanks to malkin for most of them, such as samuellson's second goal)

[Stang2Vibe]

Actually 3 of the 4 goals were Fleury's fault. He's not Brodeur or Hextall with puckhandling skills, though I can't say he's terrible at it either. He's reminding me of Patrick Roy by coming out of the net too much to try to be too aggressive with playing the puck. What is it with those French-Canadian goalies? Stay in the damn net and stop the puck. Goalies usually become over-aggressive with playing the puck when the defense can't do it's job. The Pens have solid defense and they do a great job of moving the puck out, Fleury can stay between the pipes and continue to do an excellent job. The first 3 goals he gave up were because he was out of position from chasing the puck. The 4th goal happened because it was already 3-0 with 2 minutes left and everybody was just killing the clock.The Pens played well in the 1st period as they have through most of the playoffs. Had some great chances that they needed to finish on but didn't. Looked like most players were looking to the other guy to finish the play and nobody really stepped up to do it like they have in previous series. They were also too hesitant at times offensively.Second period was also typical Pens hockey for this playoff year. They sat back on defense and tried to lull the Wings to sleep. Well that's not going to work against the Wings so they're actually going to have to start playing in the second period this series if they want to win.Third period the Pens usually come on very strong. They had some bursts of activity and show signs of hope but must sustain a higher level of play against the Wings to win. It was similar to the first period of play but the intensity and offensive pressure wasn't as high. If the Pens play a high intensity, fast paced game that they can play they can win this series. If they don't finish their plays, keep up the sloppy passing, and lack sustained offensive pressure then I hate to say it but the Wings will be hoisting the Cup again this year.Game 2 I feel is a must win for the Pens. Lots of Pens fans at the game yesterday which was good to see. I know people personally who got tickets to both Game 1 and Game 2 in Detroit and there was lots of talk about it on the radio here that many Pens fans were able to get tickets for the games and were making the drive up. Much easier to get tickets in Detroit than for games here in Pittsburgh. We only had 1,000 tickets on sale for each upcoming game back here at home and they sold out in a few minutes. It's great to play at home and keep winning but they're going to have to win on the road in this series. Game 2 is key.There was also suspicion that Malkin is playing with the flu so his energy level is down. I'd like to see Gary Roberts put in the lineup for Game 2 but not in place of Malkin obviously. I hope that we blundered Game 1 only for the sake of feeling out the other team and that we can adjust and come out strong for the rest of the series.A few other notes on the refs for the game. It was total BS that they waited for the Pens to get posession of the puck when Fleury's helmet got knocked off. I would say the same thing for Osgood if it had happened to him. Play is to be stopped when the goalie loses his helmet, the days of Jaques Plante are long gone. If Plante had to face today's composite sticks and the strength of today's pro atheletes he'd have died on the ice. That's not something to play around with. And one other thing that I don't like to admit and got me in trouble at the bar last night while watching the game---Detroit's goal that got waved off near the end of the first period should have counted. That was a marginal call at best. I don't see how Holmstrom impeded Fleury's movement at the edge of the crease. The refs have caught a lot of flak for Holmstrom's activites in front of the goalie so far this playoff year and were sternly warned about it before Game 1 of the finals so I feel that the call was made as a reaction to that pressure as well as to send a warning to Holmstrom that even marginal interference won't be tolerated. As a guy who loved to park in front of the goalie and agitate him in any way possible myself, I can appreciate Holmstrom's style of play and I've been screaming this whole playoff year that the Pens need a player that will do the same thing. I agree that the rules are the rules and need to be followed and enforced so you can't be abusing the goalies while they are in their crease, but I don't agree with the call that the goal in question was disallowed and I think that most fair-minded observers agree. I want to win or lose in a clean game. I would never want to win a championship (or lose one for the matter) because of a ref that totally blew an important call. Fair's fair.I'm still hoping for our guys to turn things around and pull off a win in Game 2. GO PENS!!!

[Stang2Vibe]

Well things aren't looking too good for my team. Down 3 games to 1 and headed back to the Joe for game 5. They've had a great season and a thrilling post-season and those have been great for the city and the fans. I'm still hoping that somehow they can pull it off but the Wings have just been outplaying us throughout most of the series. My greatest hope now is that we'll be able to keep much of the team together for next season and put up another great run for the Cup.

[WaveAction]

i agree...it sucks to see them lose like this, specially after the season they had. they were close to tieing it late in the 3rd but osgood's just been playing to good for himself and had to stop the puck!im hoping they can win at the Joe on monday and hopefully pull it together again back at home on wednesday..but we'll have to see how it goes..one things for sure..Malkin has better start to actually play and not mess up like he has all series long!!

[Mavrik]

so the redwings did it eh?

[KNINE]

Yes, so sad. I'm more of a football guy, but being a transplanted Pittsburgher, I had to route for the the Penguins. They have a great team. Maybe next year.

[Whelan]

I lost interest when the Rangers were out. Time to focus on the Yankees. Goin to the game Sunday to see Jaba pitch again. hopefully he is more mellowed out and Kansas loves to swing their bats. Toronto was just standing there taking every pitch.

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »I lost interest when the Rangers were out. Yeah I stopped watching after Montreal got edged out.

[VforVIBE]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Time to focus on the Yankees.Yeah, cause they need it... First place baby!!!

[WaveAction]

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Yeah, cause they need it... First place baby!!!finally once in their life their first lol ..im not dissappointed in pittsburgh, cause detroit has a hell of a team..im just sad cause they didnt win..even at the buzzer they were very very close..i thought it was gonna be a repeat of game 5

[ajflan]

Holy crap were they close to tying it up! When the wings won, me and my buddy went out and cruised Gratiot, were LOTS of people were out partying. It was crazy! It took us about 40 min to drive 2 miles on a three lanes in each direction road. There were thousands of people running up and down the street, people dancing around with cardboard Stanley Cups, wet t-shirt free for alls at all the self car washes, and packed traffic doing nothing but honking thier horns untill 12:30ish, when the cops shut down the road. It gave me a good exuse to use my Vibes new air horns!

[hskater26]

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Yeah, cause they need it... First place baby!!!i just went to the redsox game on tuesday.....they pwned the rays

[VforVIBE]

Quote, originally posted by hskater26 »i just went to the redsox game on tuesday.....they pwned the rays Payroll...Boston=$133,220,112Tampa=$43,422,997Difference of $89,797,115You tell me.

[mspalmer]

The parade for the Red Wings is today and rally at Hart Plaza is expected to draw about 1 million people (which is more than the entire population of Detroit). It starts about noon and there people already heading down there when I was leaving for work at 6:00. I would have liked to have gone but it is going to be a cluster f*** trying to get out of there when it is over.The Pens made it a good series but I'm glad the Wings won.Mike

[michaelgt]

Yes, I could clearly see the parade, the stage, etc. from my window. Too bad there was so many issues that needed my attention today. They have now cleared out, and looks back to normal.