Friday, May 2, 2008

Pens Inexperience Gives Rangers A Chance

Ryan Kennedy at The Hockey News says...

In perhaps one of the more telling plotlines of the night, it was the Penguins stars who were most often seen in the sin bin. Marian Hossa, Sergei Gonchar, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin all spent time in the penalty box and many of the infractions were unnecessary.

In fact, if there was ever a sight to make coach Michel Therrien completely lose his mind, it would have been late in the third period when Crosby and Malkin were both sitting for two minutes thanks to a misguided attempt to restore Hossa's honor after he was rocked by a completely legitimate open-ice hit from Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi.

And while we're on the topic of taking numbers, don't think for a minute the Rangers will forget Malkin's slewfoot spree that coincided with Jagr salting away the 3-0 New York victory with an empty-net goal...

...And don't even try to say the Rangers goaded them into hijinks – when you're in neck-stepping territory, you keep your nose clean and the back of your opponent's net filled with pucks.

...last night couldn't have gone any better for the Rangers. Besides the win I think the Pens, specifically Malkin, just made the Ranger players angry. The last thing they wanted to do was awake a sleeping giant. They had the Rangers down 0-3, now they've given them hope with the win and motivation with their antics. That could spell a history making comeback for the Blueshirts.

...and why isn't Malkin being suspended for the two possibly three slew-foots? I thought that was an automatic one game suspension.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Malkin should certainly be suspended for the next game. Slew footing puts careers in jeopardy. Funny how fast the NHL responded to Avery not breaking a rule...

No matter, the comeback is on. I am a Yankee fan...I know 3-0 isn't unsurmountable.