Saturday vs Canes:
The game started up pretty well, with Dan Carcillo scoring a sweet goal, on a chance the he completely created on his own. First, he stole the puck as Carolina tried to take it out of their zone, deked out the goalie with a nice backhand-forehand combo, and wristed a shot over Manny Legace. I think I have an explanation for how this happened. Remember in Space Jam when the Monstars stole the athletic ability from a few NBA superstars (and also from Shawn Bradley)? I think when Carcillo defended himself against Gaborik in the previous game, that his knockout uppercut also gave him some temporary scoring ability. Also, Legace left in the sixth minute, supposedly of pink eye. I guess it’s understandable that a goalie would want to run and hide after being embarrassed by a fighter, even if that fighter had stolen someones mojo.
After a late first period goal from Staal, the Canes carried the momentum in the second. Fortunately, Emery continues to get better, and kept them off the board. Pronger and Carter scored a couple of late ones to get a 3-1 lead. Things got scary again as Rod the Bod made a 3-2 game, but that’s as close as they’d get before Carter scored an empty netter with 0.6 left.
Overall, a pretty solid effort, considering it was an easy game to overlook considering the next opponent. However, Carolina is a bottom feeder this season, so a more convincing win would have been nice.
—-
Sunday vs Penguins
This was the NHL game of the week, so hopefully most hockey fans watched it. There’s more to this game than the result, so I’ll make the recap brief. Carter scored on the PP a bit over five minutes in. Gonchar tied it on the PP with six minutes left in the first. Gonchar sent a shot from the point that was deflected in by Cooke with a 1:47 left, also on the PP. The Pens pulled the game out 2-1. Flyers finished 1/9 on the PP.
First off, the Flyers lost this game because they could not capitalize on their chances. However, horrible, horrible officiating played a huge role in this game. Holding a 1-0 lead, Gagne carried the puck into the offensive zone. Malkin came over and threw somewhat of an elbow. However, the Flyers maintained possession of the puck, and scored on a rebound. Or so they thought! Instead, after the puck was in, then the refs decided to give Gagne a penalty for high sticking, even though THERE WAS NO HIGH STICKING. After getting elbowed, he went right after Malkin and the two got wrapped up, but he clearly, clearly DID NOT high stick Malkin. The penalty was complete bullshit, and Pittsburgh scored on the ensuing powerplay. This is simply a case of a star athlete getting a call for no reason. Later, Scott Hartnell was called for goalie interference after he was cross checked into the netminder. What in the hell are the officials looking at?
This crap with Pittsburgh getting bullshit PP’s needs to end. Hockey is becoming more and more like pro basketball with some of the ridiculous officiating that goes on. The 2-0 that lead that was erroneously taken away clearly shifted momentum, but it was early enough that the Flyers should have rebounded from it. Still, this play had a serious effect on the game, and I’d like for the NHL to make refs available to the media. I want to hear an explanation for some of their terrible on ice decisions. Also, to the Pens fan that commented on my previous blog: Crosby gets booed everywhere because he plays with a skirt on. He needs to stop crying every time he gets hit hard. Little bitch.
Thanks for reading!
You can follow me on Twitter by going to www.Twitter.com/BroadStreetBuzz