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[Spectral Glider]

Overall you really need to give it to the Penguins. They played with one of their best players (Malkin) being non-existant for 95% of the series. If he had shown up even a sliver I think that this series would have either gone to a game 7 or been outright won by the Penguins. Fleury really surprised me with his clutch play throughout the series. I knew that Fleury was a really solid young goalie but his performance during the playoffs was downright scary. Pens have an amazing goalie for a lot of years to come.

Even thought the Penguins lost I don't see how any fan could be down for too long considering that they should be able to keep their core group of players together and will be cup contenders for a long time to come. Congratulations to both Detroit and Pittsburgh for a well-played series.

Best post in here! After the Pens lost, I wasn't down at all, they played awesome and stayed in it till the very end. Refusing to credit them is just being ignorant.

Props to the Wings for blanking the Pens in the opening two games (I partly blame Thierren for blowing game 2 with needlessly mixing up the lines) and for winning twice in the Burgh. But the Pens took the opening lead in three straight games, that doesn't just happen out of the blue. Pens kept coming back, Wings kept answering. It turned out to be a great series after all.

 

[Soul4ger]

Good god. She must take it in the pooper.

Considering she's with Zetterberg, I think it's more likely that she PUTS it in the pooper. OH SNAPPLECAKES.

 

[Gaborn]

you know, if any thread SCREAMED for a title change...

 

[Socreges]

If he had shown up even a sliver I think that this series would have either gone to a game 7 or been outright won by the Penguins.

your post has this appearance of maturity and acceptance, but bogus comments like this give it a distinct odour. it skirts responsibility for the team or attributing credit to the victor. one big reason why malkin disappeared is of course due to the wings themselves.

if the wings hadn't won this year, i'd be afraid of them for the next. they've got so many of their key players already sown up. then again, this doesn't seem like a team that would grow indifferent, rest on its laurels. wings/flyers in the finals next year, i called it!

 

[Alucard]

your post has this appearance of maturity and acceptance, but bogus comments like this give it a distinct odour. it skirts responsibility for the team or attributing credit to the victor. one big reason why malkin disappeared is of course due to the wings themselves.

if the wings hadn't won this year, i'd be afraid of them for the next. they've got so many of their key players already sown up. then again, this doesn't seem like a team that would grow indifferent, rest on its laurels. wings/flyers in the finals next year, i called it!

I dunno. After the first 2 games, the series was pretty close and the Pens could have pulled out an extra win or two if a couple of more bounces had gone their way. The scores of the games after game 2...

3-2 Pens
2-1 Wings
4-3 Pens
3-2 Wings

I know the scores do not tell the entire story, but I feel the Pens really could have pulled this one off.

Props to the Wings for their great defense, but any fan who has actually watched Malkin this season would agree that the guy just did not show up and did not look like himself at all for the first 5 games of the series. His passes went nowhere, his head was not in the game, he skated weakly and without energy or purpose, and he really just hurt the Pens with his no-show.

I wonder if Therrien will be back next season. Hrm...tough decisions ahead. The Pens will be looking pretty different come October.

 

[GSG Flash]

I dunno. After the first 2 games, the series was pretty close and the Pens could have pulled out an extra win or two if a couple of more bounces had gone their way. The scores of the games after game 2...

3-2 Pens
2-1 Wings
4-3 Pens
3-2 Wings

I know the scores do not tell the entire story, but I feel the Pens really could have pulled this one off.

Props to the Wings for their great defense, but any fan who has actually watched Malkin this season would agree that the guy just did not show up and did not look like himself at all for the first 5 games of the series. His passes went nowhere, his head was not in the game, he skated weakly and without energy or purpose, and he really just hurt the Pens with his no-show.

I wonder if Therrien will be back next season. Hrm...tough decisions ahead. The Pens will be looking pretty different come October.

The scores are close only because MAF played his ass off. Outside of games 3 and 4, the Wings dominated the Pens in basically every aspect. Losing 4-2 is very flattering for the Pens.

 

[The Internet]

AND SO THE GOOD GUYS WIN!!!!!

I'll post more later, but I want to congratulate our competition, the Dallas Stars, for demonstrating that they do deserve to be labelled the 2nd best NHL team of this 2007-2008 season. With Tippet behind the bench, Turco in net, and leaders like Morrow, that you guys will make it deep into the Playoffs for seasons to come.

WOW! I'll be back to post detailed thoughts later.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Soul4ger]

Dupuis is already saying he's not going anywhere, and he'll be back. He doesn't want to play anywhere else. Come oooooooooonnnnnn, set a trend.

 

[SleazyC]

your post has this appearance of maturity and acceptance, but bogus comments like this give it a distinct odour. it skirts responsibility for the team or attributing credit to the victor. one big reason why malkin disappeared is of course due to the wings themselves.

The Wings certainly blanketed him but he was giving away the puck (tossing the puck into open space hoping that a Penguins player was nearby), didn't really show any of the offensive flash that he had during the season and early in the playoffs, and just looked dejected and tired near the end of the game (remember the 2OT in Game 5 where he went down even though it looked like no one really hit him at all). I think that it was a combination of both mental and physical fatigue that really hurt Malkin in the later rounds of the playoffs. He was physically tired and that hurt his game but once he was down in the ditches he was just worn down by the countless people saying he really needed to show up.

Crosby was facing two, three, and four Wings players when he touched the puck and he was still able to score and create scoring chances. I don't think Malkin generates nearly as many scoring chances as Crosby does but he does have a good goal scoring instinct and during power plays you had him and Crosby out on the ice at the same time and they should have definately generated more special teams goals. We had two huge 5 on 3 situations that the Penguins failed to capitalize on and both of them were in one goal games. I don't want to take away anything from Detroit's defense and offense for what they accomplished this season (I am a Wings fan after all!) but Malkin clearly wasn't the same player who carried Pittsburgh when Crosby went down.

 

[Alucard]

Dupuis is already saying he's not going anywhere, and he'll be back. He doesn't want to play anywhere else. Come oooooooooonnnnnn, set a trend.

That's good to hear. I like him, his personality, and his attitude. 25 goal season, here he comes!

I'm really curious to see what the Pens do during the offseason. Regardless of the player moves, I'm most interested in seeing how Shero deals with the coaching situation. If these rumblings of players not liking the guy are true, and if Mario has said something about it as well, then a fresh face and new attitude definitely would not hurt. It might seem like a slap in the face of a man who was only 2 wins away from the Cup, but he does not seem like the one who is going to put this team over the top.

 

[FightyF]

Ok, some more thoughts on how...

...THE WESTERN CONFERENCE >>>>>>>>>>>>> EASTERN CONFERENCE.

I'll reply to some stuff first...

hangover's about a 7/10. what a night.

zetterberg breaks wings playoff records with 27 points.

one of the best dmen ever :bow

"easiest 2 mil i ever made. stanley cup bonuses FTW"

"CONNE SMYTHE IS MINE, BITCHES"

"shhh...there, there...it'll be ok"

Nice!

LOL @ Manics...awesome

I dunno. After the first 2 games, the series was pretty close and the Pens could have pulled out an extra win or two if a couple of more bounces had gone their way. The scores of the games after game 2...

3-2 Pens
2-1 Wings
4-3 Pens
3-2 Wings

I know the scores do not tell the entire story, but I feel the Pens really could have pulled this one off.

Props to the Wings for their great defense, but any fan who has actually watched Malkin this season would agree that the guy just did not show up and did not look like himself at all for the first 5 games of the series. His passes went nowhere, his head was not in the game, he skated weakly and without energy or purpose, and he really just hurt the Pens with his no-show.

I wonder if Therrien will be back next season. Hrm...tough decisions ahead. The Pens will be looking pretty different come October.

As far as Malkin is concerned, I completely agree. But I do think half of that was because the Pens never faced a team like Detroit, in the Eastern Conference. He had no time and space, and so his decision became more hasty and he made a bunch of bad decisions. Over time, he simply started playing confused.

You can look at those scores all you want, but a large part of the Wings regular season was like that. They had many, many one goal games this year, and I've said it in the regular season thread over and over, their wins and losses during the regular season developed a lot of grit and character required for the playoffs.

Like I said, I consider the Dallas Stars to be the second best team of this 2007-2008 season. The series with them was far closer than this one...that was a much tougher battle. In the SCF, the Pens only really gave the Wings trouble in a handful of periods in 6 games. That wasn't the case with the Stars.

I do give MAF some credit, but I think the media should be giving goalies like Ellis and Turco just as much credit, which they aren't.

As far as the Western vs. Eastern Conference debate goes...after seeing this series I think that the last 4 WC teams would have beat the Penguins. The Aves would have struggled a bit because of their injuries and their weaker defense. I'm sure even teams like Nashville were looking at the Pengiuns and thought to themselves, "We could have given them a fight". Teams like the Ducks, who didn't even make it into the final four in the WC, could have given the Pens more of a fight.

And now, if everyone considers the Pens to be the very best in the East (their playoff record in the Eastern Conference is impressive)...it's a good indication of how stacked the Western Conference is.

If a team like Anaheim were in the East, they would have made it to the Conference Finals...no doubt in my mind about that.

Personally, I think the Pens have little to worry about. Whereas Detroit, for the next year, has to beat teams like Dallas, the Ducks, an improving Nashville and Oilers (both teams won like 80% of their last 20 games or something like that), an Avalanche team that isn't injured, teams like Calgary and Vancouver that weren't happy with their performance last year but have a solid defense/goalie foundation that just need a few tweaks for a complete turnaround.

If it's not the Red Wings...I see the Western Conference team winning the Cup for the next couple of years at least.

 

[Spectral Glider]

This thread is hilarious, I've never seen a bigger bunch of sore winners. No matter how hard you try and wish, this final isn't going into the books as a sweep or even a victory in 5.

 

[King_Slender]

This thread is hilarious, I've never seen a bigger bunch of sore winners. No matter how hard you try and wish, this final isn't going into the books as a sweep or even a victory in 5.

6 game sweep.

 

[Socreges]

Sleazy, i agree that malkin was off, regardless of who he was facing. who knows where his head was. but 1) to say that if he had been in the game "a sliver" then the pens may have won is completely disingenuous to the nature of the series. and 2) to act like he disappeared, as if in a vacuum and without external cause, is also pretty ridiculous.

This thread is hilarious, I've never seen a bigger bunch of sore winners. No matter how hard you try and wish, this final isn't going into the books as a sweep or even a victory in 5.

what are you on about dude

 

[FightyF]

This thread is hilarious, I've never seen a bigger bunch of sore winners. No matter how hard you try and wish, this final isn't going into the books as a sweep or even a victory in 5.

I'm just calling it like it is. If you don't agree that the Stars put up a bigger fight, I'm willing to wager you didn't even watch the series.

 

[Spectral Glider]

6 game sweep.

what are you on about dude

I'm just calling it like it is. If you don't agree that the Stars put up a bigger fight, I'm willing to wager you didn't even watch the series.

Your honor, I present to you Exhibits A, B and C.

By the way, when did I say anything about the Stars? Simple fact remains, the Wings worked their asses off to earn the Cup and they'll be the first to tell you that. And it was a great final, East, West, North or South.

 

[Barrage]

But mostly West

 

[SleazyC]

Sleazy, i agree that malkin was off, regardless of who he was facing. who knows where his head was. but 1) to say that if he had been in the game "a sliver" then the pens may have won is completely disingenuous to the nature of the series. and 2) to act like he disappeared, as if in a vacuum and without external cause, is also pretty ridiculous.

Well if you think about it, we were pretty close to going to a game 7 last night and the previous game was a one goal game. Only games 1 and 2 were really blow outs by the Detroit with every other game being hard fought games. I may be exaggerating but Malkin really looked like an explosive scorer during the regular season and early playoffs so when I think about his no-show in the finals I really can't say that a six game series that was already close to begin with would play out the same way. Detroit did outplay Pittsburgh for many of the periods across every single game but Fleury really kept the Penguins in the game and in game 4 and game 5 is it hard to believe that Pittsburgh having another potent offensive player on the ice could have changed the outcome of both those games?

Yes Detroit did play good defense throughout the series against Malkin but every time I come back to it it all boils down to Malkin not being the same player he was earlier and therefore giving the Wings a much easier defensive assignment.

 

[Maverick]

Dudes,

I can only speak as a die-hard Penguins fan with obvious biases. I can only speak as someone who watched every minute of every Penguins game this season, and most minutes of the Stars-Wings series.....

With that out of the way, I don't think you Western fans are understanding the impact level of a 100% Malkin. I watched it all year. I watched it when he didn't have Crosby to help him out with other teams' top-tier defensive pairings.

Dudes, he was an absolute animal. I've seen Mario and Jagr play in their primes, in person. And I've never quite seen anything like Malkin when he was 100%. I'll be the first to tell you that Detroit's team D is the best in the league. But a full-speed ahead Malkin is even more dynamic than a full-speed-ahead Crosby.

You all outside of Pittsburgh don't quite understand because you didn't see these games. It wasn't just about the goals or assists (it's similar to Zetters impact).

I only hope you will really see what I mean next year in the playoffs. Until then, continue haggle over meaningless after-the-fact "power-rankings".

2 things matter after the clock ticks down to 0.00 in the SCF - who lifts the cup, and the memories you have of your team's season.

I can't believe all the Pens hate (it stems from Crosby arguing calls? He's wears the C. Everyone does that.) The guys on this team seem like a part of my extended family. They're less athletes and more boys playing a game of pond hockey. Despite the bitter ending, I'll remember this season, and the players, forever.

 

[Gaborn]

This thread is hilarious, I've never seen a bigger bunch of sore winners. No matter how hard you try and wish, this final isn't going into the books as a sweep or even a victory in 5.

"Sore winners" or not, I still find it hilarious that the thread title still hasn't been seen as worthy as a thread title change. The Penguins definitely played well but I don't think the outcome was ever seriously in doubt, even though it took longer than perhaps it should.

 

[Karakand]

"Sore winners" or not, I still find it hilarious that the thread title still hasn't been seen as worthy as a thread title change.

Did you even read the god damn OP?

Thread title is a JOKE, son.

 

[Gaborn]

Did you even read the god damn OP?

Thread title is a JOKE, son.

lol, ahhh, ok, fair enough

 

[Socreges]

Your honor, I present to you Exhibits A, B and C.

sore winners? i'm not a wings fan. i don't think the other two are wings fans. .......what are you on about du-.....oh look a shiny coin something infinitely more interesting

 

[Spectral Glider]

sore winners? i'm not a wings fan. i don't think the other two are wings fans. .......what are you on about du-.....oh look a shiny coin something infinitely more interesting

Western conference elitist....guilty your honor! He shall be sentenced to 20 years of watching Blackhawks hockey.

 

[FightyF]

Your honor, I present to you Exhibits A, B and C.

By the way, when did I say anything about the Stars? Simple fact remains, the Wings worked their asses off to earn the Cup and they'll be the first to tell you that. And it was a great final, East, West, North or South.

As far as I'm concerned, the Stars/Wings series would have made a better final. Being shut out for 2 whole games don't make for exciting hockey games. You can attempt to argue otherwise...but you aren't fooling anyone.

I can't believe all the Pens hate (it stems from Crosby arguing calls? He's wears the C. Everyone does that.) The guys on this team seem like a part of my extended family. They're less athletes and more boys playing a game of pond hockey. Despite the bitter ending, I'll remember this season, and the players, forever.

Some of the whining has to do with the Pens hate, but for me, it was the slew footing, punches to the face on previously injured players, spearing in the gut, when the Pens were totally outclassed in all aspects of the game in Games 1 and 2.

 

[Spectral Glider]

As far as I'm concerned, the Stars/Wings series would have made a better final. Being shut out for 2 whole games don't make for exciting hockey games. You can attempt to argue otherwise...but you aren't fooling anyone.

Again, never said anything about the Stars. Never claimed it was the most exciting final either, said it was great. You can keep adding words or ideas out of the blue, doesn't change things. Just stating what some don't want to believe, Pens gave the Wings a run. You can attempt to argue otherwise...but you aren't fooling anyone.

 

[FightyF]

Pens gave the Wings a run.

:lol