Someone pinch me

Courtesy of Gettyimages.com

Wow.

Go Pens.

Where the heck did hockey go?

I really hate these three day break schedules - especially when I'm at home and without Center Ice. It doesn't help that it feels like I haven't seen the Wings since Monday because I missed Wednesday's game against St. Louis (a second straight win!) to see the Sabres play the Capitals in Buffalo.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the Sabres game, during which Alex Ovechkin scored numbers 53 and 54 on the season and the Capitals won 3-1:

The view from our (won off of eBay for an awesomely low price the night before) seats.

My favorite Capital Milan Jurcina, the requisite Alex Ovechkin, and new addition (it was so hard not to boo on principle) Sergei Fedorov - who actually looked better than I've seen him play in a long while. The plethora of Russians, maybe? Oh, there were Sabres there, too?

I also got the chance to meet up with the lovely Katebits from The Willful Caboose at the game which made for an even more fun evening. While I don't have any attachment to the Sabres, the fans were awesome and so was the experience (and the game, since the Caps won!).

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Round two

Although the Pens aren't in the second round I'm still excited for it to start (the Sabres/Rangers game just started and already Avery has a penalty. Surprise surprise). Let's face it, if Pens fans didn't watch the playoffs when their team didn't make it we'd never watch. I face a dilemma though: Ottawa or New Jersey?

As Steph put it, no one in the east likes each other, and one of the most-hated is the Devils. On the other hand, the Senators did hand the Penguins their collective butts, so spite is a big factor here. How do all the Eastern Division teams stack up in the piss off factor? Let's break it down (Pens fans, please feel free to correct me or comment with something I missed):

-Montreal Canadiens: Aside from having the long-standing tradition of battling with them, this season has seen a bit of a rivalry spring up from some rather nasty play.
-Toronto Maple Leafs: The proximity of the city and the vehemence of what I have heard called their 'traveling fan base' makes for a good natured, rough game, with often words being exchanged in the stands (anyone remember the January 20th game this year?). The fans out of the arena are usually nice, though, unlike some of their Quebecian counterparts.
-Ottawa Senators: Playoffs 2006-2007.
-Boston Bruins: Aside from some old bad blood from playoff battles and rough games in the early 90's, this factor has been relatively quiet. Not a lot of nasty feelings here currently (too much, considering we did crush them in the last two games).
-Buffalo Sabres: Aside from the notorious reputation of their fans, and despite the proximity of their city, not a lot of bad blood here lately.
-New York Islanders/Rangers: I don't think I need to comment on this one. I think every Pens fan has attempted to light one of their jerseys on fire at least once.
-New Jersey Devils: Again, do I need to say anything?
-Washington Capitals: Ahh, a fine old rivalry. The battles here in the Patrick Division were great. The league trying to pit Ovechkin against Crosby and the blowout comeback games against them are shaping up for a renaissance of the old hate.
-Philadelphia Flyers: They're the Flyers....the Flyers.
-Carolina Hurricanes: Other than maybe a bit of sibling rivalry, nothing here currently (does the Orpik/Cole thing count?)
-Atlanta Thrashers: How about this. Maybe this? Or this for old time sake?
-Florida Panthers: Other than some old rats on the ice (I'm sure Barrasso still hates them), and Penguin-killer Olli Jokinen, there aren't very many festering wounds here. Well, maybe Talbot would disagree.
-Tampa Bay Lightning: Two reasons: Vincent Lecavalier and Marty St.Louis. I'd say it's more a stiff dislike of a team that consistently kicks the Pens' ass than anything else (I think it's something like 5 years they haven't won a game against the Lightning?)

So how does this leave me? I still can't decide, the stigma of the Devils sits too heavily to shrug it off for a spiteful cheer against a newer hate. What's a girl to do?

Ignore it. Instead I'm going to post some pictures I took at fan appreciation night from my great third row seats. Enjoy!

-Jordan looking intensely at something
-Sad little Rangers backup goalie sitting in the tunnel
-Smiling Geno. He was talking to Laraque about something amusing, I guess
- Fleury
-Sidney leaning over
-The bench with all of the boy looking at the pretty lights
-Prucha for Steph. I tried to take one of Jagr, but the man does not stay still. Also got a blurry one of Straka, but he was all over the place too.
-T-bo doing the cute goalie stretch
-Talbot and Staal running each other into the boards. They were doing this all warm up and it was hilarious.
-Thibault chillin'
-Malone being the puck bitch
-Talbot (he hung out right in front of me for a lot of the warm up so I got some good shots of him)
-Another puck bitch Ryan Malone. I love the face that T-bo is making in the back.
-Armstrong making a face like someone killed his puppy
-Nice view of the arena and the backs of Ruutu, Crosby and Armstrong
-Stretching and the only not-in-motion picture of Jagr I got
-Orpik
-More Flower. I won't share how many pictures I actually have of him
-And finally, something for the Pensblog guys

That's it.
Go Pens.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Three Sabres beat down a Penguins' player before the game

Thoughts on tonight's Pens game against the Buffaslugs:
-I want to know what was said in the locker room during the 1st intermission...and then make sure it is never said again. Ever.
-Colby took off his visor. Nice shiner, Army.
-Whitney out with for 'precautionary measures'. I think the results show some of his presence missed.
-Laraque cracks me up. 400 pounds indeed.
-The last 10 minutes by the Pens were the best during the whole game. I lost count of the 'almost' goals.
-The post was a wonderful thing tonight.
-Sidney was in some sort of distress at the end of the game. Obviously this is in reaction to the ending score.
-Recchi scores the lone goal of the game to break his longest dry spell.
-Fleury confirms my belief that he does not have a spine...and that he is secretly a ninja in his spare time (either that or he's a closet Hasek fan). Amazing rolling save.
-I've seen Malkin get a little scrappy once, all season, and I'd like to see him play with a little more spit and fire in his step.

For the other teams in the running:

I gotta say I never want to see Sean Avery in a one piece. Or a two piece, for that matter. I couldn't find a good picture to describe the Habs win over the Bruins, but I really wanted to use this if the Canadiens lost. The Instigator is a great comic. Islanders win over the Rangers to keep the Rangers from securing the postseason, the Caps won over the Panthers, and Tampa Bay slapped the Canes around like a little girl to kick them out of the playoffs, which is the first time in NHL history that both of the previous season's finalists for the Cup have not made the postseason in the subsequent year. Maybe if Ward did a little less posing....

This picture represents the Ottawa/New Jersey game, who only decided to wake up and score a goal at the end of the third to take it into OT to continue the pain as long as possible. Devils win, 2-1. Hello Ottawa.

Maple Leafs win over the Flyers. Kaberle is thrilled.

With the Devils win, I feel this diagram that I happened to stumble on shows the general feeling on the Devils and the Senators, which looks to be sealed now as the Pens' dance partner unless they totally flop against the Flyers. Yeah right. Just put 'in the ass' after 'chronic pain' and you've got the New Jersey Devils.

------

The end of the season for the Rangers, Canadiens, Islanders and Toronto is going to be an interesting finish. As of right now the Rangers are in 7th (91), Habs in 8th (90), Leafs hanging on the outside in 9th (89), and the Islanders trailing just behind (88). The last week's schedule seems ready-made for this situation:

Thursday:
Canadiens/Rangers
Leafs/Islanders

Saturday:
Toronto/Canadiens (this is going to be a killer game)
Islanders/Flyers
Rangers/Pens

Sunday:
Devils/Islanders

What an end to the season, these are going to be great games. The best, of course, is going to be the Pens and the Rangers on Saturday. Guess who's got tickets? The Habs and the Leafs going at it is going to be a fabulous game, a perfect cap to the line up.

Next game for the Pens is against their playoff partners, the Ottawa Senators. Interesting tidbit: according to the OLNUSUSUS announcers, no one wants to play the Penguins in the playoffs. A nice thought.

Go Pens!