Random Penguin droppings

It’s already been talked about a ton, but the summer of sadness continued the other day when John Barbaro died. People like Seth Rorabaugh did a much better job of putting into words than I could. However, he was truly a Penguin great, and was as much a part of the Penguins Experience as the Igloo for close to 40 years. The game will never be the same.

On a brighter side, the clock continues to tick until hockey season and yesterday was a big day.

In order of importance:

Sir Mario and Sid broke in the Ice at the CEC

Max Talbot called it like it is

The announced some crap about the Winter Classic

Let’s hope that Mr. Barbaro’s untimely passing is the official end to the Summer of Sadness, and we can all begin the countdown to the next Hockey Night in Pittsburgh!

Let’s Go Pens!

The Bestest Time of Year

Wow, what a past few days! Times like these are the reason why I love hockey. I like to watch playoffs in pretty much every sport but nothing combines the speed, and physicality you get in hockey with the frequency of playoff hockey. Every other day you get to watch an edge of your seat roller coaster ride. Take the games from Friday and Sunday; two great games in three days. Less than a week ago, I was on the bridge (yes I doubted the team), now I am riding high on two consecutive hard earned victories. That is playoff hockey in a nutshell.

Right now, I’m livin’ for Tuesday night. It won’t be easy though. I am concerned that this will be the biggest challenge to the Pens so far this series. Ottawa doesn’t want to go down 3-1 coming back to Pittsburgh. Even if they would win a game five after a loss tomorrow night, seeing what I’ve seen so far, I don’t know if the Senators have the goaltending or stamina to win in 7 games.

With that said, I think you will see Ottawa’s best effort tomorrow night. Taking a 2-2 tie into Pittsburgh would make a world of difference to the Senators. The Pens will have to weather a Senator storm. If they can do that while maintaining their physical play, both hitting and along the boards, they should be able to wear down an already tired Senators team. They Pens know the formula for playoff hockey, and proved to a lot of people (me included) that they had, in fact, “found the switch”.

Now the question is; can the Senators ratchet their play up to the Pens level, and if so, can the Pens raise their play to that next level?

Oh yea, and if you didn’t know, Andy Sutton is a douche nozzle (from Empty Netters)