re: Unofficial NHL Season-Long Thread: Puckheads Unite!

Pekka was on fire tonight.

Done going to CBJ games for a bit, they always lose

The Pens' loss tonight ends a pretty remarkable streak. The top 4 teams in the Metro had won 16 consecutive games combined until the Pens' loss. Every team had won at least 4 in a row. They had gone over a week without any one of the playoff position teams losing a single point.

All of a sudden, the Metro couldn't lose.

Well, the 5-0-3 streak includes only two wins over teams in current playoff position (and one loss to a playoff team). This has been a pretty soft part of the schedule which is a good thing due to the mumps thing.

But man, what a Mickey Mouse organization. Clearly lying about the mumps outbreak while Crosby's face looked like one of the masks from Brazil is just dangerous. I mean, they visited a children's hospital that day. And this is the same team that completely mismanaged Crosby's concussions, letting him play when he was clearly concussed, making a severe injury even more severe. And the whole reason they have a mumps outbreak is because of their medical staff burying their heads in the sand. Seriously, WTF is wrong with their medical guys?

UPMC though! One of the Pens biggest sponsors.

Although I'm pretty sure the guy that handled Crosby was fired years ago shortly after that went down.

But my god how do you not contain this thing by now? 9 players have shown symptoms now on the team, with 4 of them testing positive, and no word yet on Greiss/Downie/Sutter test results.

It's fricking insane.

You add in Maatta's tumors, and Dupuis with blood clot in lung, and this is BY FAR the weirdest season maybe in Penguins history.

I'm not scared of any team, sure as hell not Anaheim.

I've seen my Cup, but I want 2-3 more out of this core.

Shootout isn't a loss, goes in the OT column. 6 L's all season, most points in fewest games in NHL, highest winning percentage.

Still not losing even with half the team injured/sick.

7-2 vs the West this season, tops in the East.

Yep, you're right, not scared of anyone.

It's always Cup or bust, same for CHI or LA.

quote:

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It's always Cup or bust

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Then it's been a lot of bust. The Pens have only won four playoff series in the past five seasons. Though I agree this team has the expectation to win Cups and needs to be graded on that curve.

the Pens do have the best record right now, and even more impressively, they have 20 ROW, also leading the NHL. They also have a PDO of 103, which leads the NHL as well. they have been the league's most "puck lucky" team (but given their injury problems, I hesitate to call them lucky, I think their luck has balanced - terrible off the ice and terrific on the ice).

That PDO is hiding the fact they are 12th in FenClose, and teams not in the top 10 of FenClose don't win the Cup (usually they are top 5). They are also extremely dependent on special teams, which is a bad recipe for the playoffs, when refs swallow their whistles. I don't think this team has really solved their structural issues, but we'll see come playoff time if its the same old Penguins.

What is interesting is how great Kris Letang is playing. He's been one of the best D-men in the NHL this year, after slumping a bit last season. A legit shutdown pair that can also generate offense (with Martin) is something the Pens haven't really had. Also, the collapse of the Bruins helps everyone in the East.

agree. I love seeing the Bruins suck. All Boston teams in general are nice to see suck.

Going to what I assume is my art ever Islanders game at the Nassau Colosseum tonight against the Habs. Hoping they pull off a win.