Sidgeni strikes!

First of all, I need to rescind some of my slander against Versus (aka OLNUSUS) since they provided me a link to this site. Because of this, I was able to watch the gorgeous ass kicking that the Penguins bestowed apon the Flyers. Beautiful.



Recap!

First period was fairly evenly matched, or at least it didn't look like the total slaughter it was about to become. Ended with 3-2, with some nice goals by Crosby, Thorburn and Gonch. The Flyers were not so happy about the score, though, and ended up trying to pick a fight with Malone. Sidney skated over and spoke to the Flyer, which I thought was mature of him instead of just throwing down like he would have last year, and another Flyer came past and ran into him. This got the Pens a nice one man advantage coming into the second.

Intermission was filled with fawning over Sidney, who apparently eats spaghetti before every game. Cute. Second period was a thing of beauty, with three goals from the guys: Recchi, a repeat from Gonchar, and finally a score from Malone. We went into the 3rd looking might comfortable with a 6-2 lead.

3rd period gave me a bit of uneasiness, and considering how the Pens have blown some awesome leads before, I was rather unhappy when the Flyers scored. After some diffused fights, horrible quotes from the announcers, poor Fleury getting laid out like an expensive rug, Jordan Staal reminded us why he's currently living in Pittsburgh. 8-4, and we didn't even need the rally helmets.

Step off, bitch

One thing that detracted from the game was no Mike Lange. This is the first time I have been able to sit down and listen fully to a Pittsburgh game since last year,and I have to say, although the TSN announcers had some downright gems, it just wasn't the same without some random comment on the goals by Lange. This game had plenty of chances for such commentary. Some of the better ones that I happen to remember:

-'They don't even have to communicate, it's just eyes' Referring to Malone and Crosby.
-'All the sultry moves of Sidney Crosby' They way they said it was just wrong, so very wrong.
-'Sidgeni' The new joined nickname apparently given to Sid and Malkin. This was also the first thing I heard on turning on the game.

Also, was it just me or did they not stop to talk about anyone else other than Sidney or maybe Malkin? Malone had a super night, Thorburn is shaping up nicely lately, and Moore had some good runs as well. Colby, who was wearing a mic (of which they showed one clip of him and he didn't even say anything), was right in the middle of the play, Orpik was too, and got into the thick of things more than once. Ruutu kept up his nightly hobby of annoying the crap out of the opposing team. Fleury made some amazing saves. Gonchar had two goals. Where is the coverage of this? Sure, Sidney was amazing as per usual, and beat out Jagr for the top spot in points, but it would have been nice to hear at least a bit about the rest of the team.

A few thoughts:

-I loved the announcers calling Army 'practically a stand up show on the bench' and 'a human ping pong ball'. That poor guy. I guess you do sort of invite a reputation as a character when you dress up in a cheerleading outfit.

-The section with Domi was amusing. At least he wasn't doing table arrangments.

-I still cannot believe how badly Fleury got flattened in the 3rd. He lost his helmet and everything! He also had to go and fix his skate at the beginning of the 2nd, putting T-bo in his place for about 6 minutes.

-The Flyers haven't been so thoroughly bent over by the Pens since 1992-93. They are also quite possibly the most injury-laden team in the nhl right now, followed closely by the Oilers.

-We could stand to shoot the puck a bit more during the power plays.

-When Jordan scored, I saw Therrien smile. Really.

-In other news around the NHL, the Ducks have reminded me once again why I don't like them. The puns the announcers were saying just made it ten times worse. 'Duck Hunt' will be forever ruined now, thanks to them.

Next game is the Islanders on Friday, and then Montreal on Saturday. 3 days till I see them at the Bell Centre! Go Pens!