By Sean Gallagher
Rooting against the Red Wings is a normal thing for me. I equate it to what I was always taught as a young Bears' fan growing up: If the Bears win only two games in the season, but both are against Green Bay, well, that's not a bad season.
Similarly, I'm pretty well certain that I'll be able to watch the Stanley Cup finals this year, because the wretched wing-ed wheel won't be there. Someone is going to knock the snot out of them and beat them four out of seven.
It just ain't gonna be Nashville.
While I, like most of you, can't begin to watch any of this Detroit/Nashville series, I'm not surprised by how Game 1 went. To wit:
- Preds goalie Dan Ellis puts out a phenomenal effort and gets one goal in support. The game winner is a nice shot that never should have been allowed due to a questionable offsides situation that wasn't called.
- A questionable call that went Detroit's way and decided the game. As Nashville defenseman Dan Hamhuis chipped the puck past a charging Wing and out of the zone, the puck hit the linesman and stayed in. The Wings grabbed the puck, fired it cross-ice to Zetterfuck, who one-timed it into the net. The linesman said it was questionable, but felt he should let play continue. In my mind, if it's questionable, why don't you blow the whistle rather than let the question lead to an advantage for one team? I'm not so surprised that this happened, I'm just surprised it didn't happen against the Blues. Now that would be fitting.
- You can play 58 minutes of solid hockey against Detroit and still lose. I can't wait until these fuckers' deal with the devil expires. Frankly, I'm tired of this shit.
So, as Game 2 gets going tomorrow, don't expect me to watch that one either, unless I see on a scroll somewhere that it's in overtime.
What I have been watching, however, has been incredible. The Penguins have been what you'd expect: exciting, full-octane hockey. Crosby has been quieted [Fuck. I must be drunker than I thought. Crosby had 4 assists tonight. I'm sure they were all second assists or something.], but they still have Malkin and Gonchar and Hossa and Sykora. Hell, even Pittsburgh kid turned Pittsburgh Penguin Ryan Malone has been on fire. The sputtering Ottawa team has played well, but they're simply no match. This is a fun series.
Likewise, the first Caps/Flyers game made me check the schedule to see when they're playing again (it's Sunday at 1). Watch this game. Ovechkin was awesome, and his advertised love of hitting is not an exaggeration. Not only did he force two turnovers on one play to score the game-winner tonight, but he hammered some guys with huge, timely hits. The Flyers will be looking for him, and I bet he couldn't care less.
Here's my current recommendation for NHL Predictions. Christ, I wish this guy allowed embedding.