Caps @ Penguin Scum 1-21-2008 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Caps edge Pens, training camp, obvious move, Canadian Diving Team Captain, Secondary Assist, Cindy Crosby out for six-eight weeks. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: missed point, Armstrong out, demolition starting, seamless transition, Cindy gone.

Random Thoughts on The Game:

• Yet another defensive struggle though mostly due to stupid coaching. Michel Therrien should have never started Dany Sabourin and Bruce Boudreau clearly erred with Olie Kolzig. At least these teams have the firepower to overcome these bad decisions but as things tighten up down the stretch, they may not be so lucky.
• John "Coaches Pet" Erskine Bowles owes Quintin Laing big time. Once again the Slow-Footed, Dim-Witted defenseman takes another bad penalty; this time giving the Penguin and extended Scum a 5-on-3 in OT. Luckily for Erskine Bowles, Laing bailed him out with three blocked shots and David Steckel was very strong in that area too.
• Don't forget, before the Canadian Diving Team Captain, Secondary Assist, Cindy Crosby was awarded to the Penguin Scum, the NHL Media Machine had begun the "Evgeni Malkin-Lindros is better than A.O." campaign. With Cindy on the shelf for the next two months, expect Malkin-Lindros to by hyped more than A.O. but nowhere near the nauseating levels that Cindy is hyped. Something tells me though, if Malkin-Lindros were in another "NHL Backwater" we wouldn't be dealing with this. (Though how is it that Pittsburgh is considered such a great hockey market when the franchise has TWICE gone into bankruptcy???)
• I have to say that I was glad to see that for once Mr. Donald Brashear and Georges Laraque didn't feel the need to have their obligatory fight.
• Finally it is games like last night's that lead me to believe that making the playoffs is still too far of a reach for this team. We've needed a hot streak just to get back into the playoff race and we'll need to either continue this one or have another hot streak just to make it in. It is because of the NHL's goofy points system that the task is as hard as it is. Because we beat the Penguin Scum in a gimmick, we only gained a single point on them despite being declared the winner of the game. With the unbalanced schedule and a tightly packed Eastern Conference race, teams we're looking to either pass or hold off are going to be playing each other every night. One team is guaranteed to earn two points and the other could pick up one in the process. That does not help us out in the long run which is why we need to continue the hot streak, but even then, we can't give up points when we end up winning like last night.
• 48 down, 34 to go.