pp's Game Report: 10-18-03 Penguins vs. Red Wings

I'll do this after every game I go to...not sure quite how many I'll be going to but tonight was my first this season.

I'll jump right into it...the arena was electric tonight, despite a fairly quite first period, with the exception of the 1,000 or so Red Wing fans, the crowd became a key factor in the second, most notably during the double-minor on Holzinger...

Player Reports
Marc-Andre Fleury: A Fleury was rock solid with the lone exception of a missed poke check in the first that resulted in a Wings goal. Worked his ass off and turned aside shot upon shot, scoring chance after scoring chance for the Wings.
Josef Melichar: B- Melichar was what you can hope for. Invisible. Not a defense first player, a defense only player. His name didn't come up much but he played solid, as usual.
Dan Focht: B+ A real hit or miss kind of guy, tonight was no exception. He made a couple of bad plays, but more often than not he was brilliant.
Kelly Buchberger: A I can't say enough about how much I like this signing. He created a few scoring chances, but more importantly he stood up for his teammates. After Koltsov got nailed from behind he went right after McCarty.
Matt Bradley: B- Not a guy you'll hear alot from, and tonight was no different. He does the small things so well.
Rico Fata: A+++++ Words can't describe how brilliant Rico was tonight. His game-winning shot was one of the best shots I've seen in my life.
Ryan Malone: A+ Wow. Incredible performance. He created so much offense tonight, 2 first assists, but he saved just as many himself. Brilliant on the PK.
Milan Kraft: B- Had the least amount of ice time of any Penguin tonight(8:57) but was definitely noticeable when on the ice. Really was working hard.
Brian Holzinger: C+ Typical fourth line performance tonight. Got loads of ice time late in the fourth and played well.
Ramzi Abid: B+ Why was this guy scratched the first two games of the year? Worked his ass off and got a goal to show for it. An impressive goal at that.
Mike Eastwood: B Not on the ice a ton, but when he was on the ice you could tell. Creating havoc and playing responsibly.
Marc Bergevin: C+ He didn't suck. :p
Dick Tarnstrom: B His defense definetely has come a long way. Solid game on both ends.
Brooks Orpik: A Orpik stayed out of the penalty box tonight...but still created tons of havoc. Solid and responsible on D and momentum shifting hits earn him a solid A...as well as nearly 23 minutes of ice time.
Drake Berehowsky: B+ Another solid defender tonight. Abid goal set up by a nice slapper by Sir Drake.
Mario Lemieux: B 4 goals tonight...and no points for Lemieux? WTF?! Lemieux definitely had a good game regardless, and it could be argued that he deserved an assist on the Straka goal. Sans Buchberger was probably our best defensive forward.
Konstantin Koltsov: C+ I wasn't entirely impressed with Koltsov tonight. His speed created quite a few scoring chances but it also prevented just as many(overskating, missing the puck, etc.).
Martin Straka: B+ A shift by shift player tonight. At times he was the best player on the ice, at times he was the worst, but when push comes to shove he scored the fastest goal into a period in Penguins history.
Aleksey Morozov: B Like Lemieux he had a solid game but won't show up on the score card(sans a minor penalty). Morozov had some snazy moves and created a few scoring chances, but just couldn't capitalize.
Eddy Olczyk: A+ Alright he isn't a player anymore, but the Penguins tongiht played like a well coach and highly motivated team, and you have to think the guy calling the shots had something to do with that.

Scratches: Steve McKenna, Matt Murley, Reid Simpson, Nolan Baumgartner

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20031019/capt.gjp10210190049.red_wings_penguins_gjp102.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20031019/capt.gjp10110190040.red_wings_penguins_gjp101.jpg

Do you know how the 4th goal by the Wings got called off?

I also don't get all the penalties that were called tonight. I personally didn't like how there were a lot of non-calls, especially on Focht basically beating up on Hull behind the net or Berehowsky tackling Draper.

Just some thoughts.

Oh yeah, I thought it was gonna sell out. Thanks for the advice but I got in, no problem and I was 10 rows up from the ice, behind Fluery.

I honestly don't know how the 4th was called off besides what the reason was. They showed one replay and I was looking for the wrong thing.

The reffing was bad, but not nearly as bad as most Wings fans are making it seem, there were alot of non-calls, but all the calls that were made were legit. The biggest problem I had was that they put the wistles in their pockets in the third period.

And I too thought it would sell out...dissapointing to say the least.

Those grades are a bit optimistic, don't you think? :)

I heard that the goal was called off because the refs said what's his name kicked the puck in with his skate.

Optimistic? I'm only grading them on tonight's performance, and everyone played well tonight. I can't name one player who slacked off, or cost us anything. As I said, a well coached game and the players played their hearts out, each and every one of them.

Oh yeah, I thought it was gonna sell out.

I was surprised there were so few Wings fans there.

I heard that the goal was called off because the refs said what's his name kicked the puck in with his skate.

I think it was Shanahan. I thought it was a legit play, personally.

Kraft and Abid better be in the lineup on Wednesday...

Just say no to Holzinger!

Of all the old guy signings... Bucheberger definetly the best.

bergiven and berehowsky do not impress me

we need to be more agressive on the pk... the red wings pk is good example... the time we were (malone)... we got a pk goal

it would be nice if we occasionally forechecked.

fleury has at least one noticeable flaw.... puck-handling, but that can be worked on

I think it was Shanahan. I thought it was a legit play, personally.

Schneider

It was Schneider, I heard that on the radio on the way home from the game.

Personally I really like some of the vets we signed, Buchberger and Eastwood have been great, Berehowsky has been good...Bergevin isn't that good though.

Simpson is fine only if we use him like we are. Play him when we play a physical team or something like that. If he plays more than 40 games I'll be mad.

I thought it was a legit play. He couldn't kick it in when he was facing the net.......then shoved into it. Plain and simple, I hated the refs....

Well to be fair you saw the play once, I saw the play once, most of us in the thread saw this play once, the guys in the booth had a good 5 angles and saw each one numerous times...

True true but everyone around me was like "just give them a goal and get it over with". Bah, 3-1 one is good enough for me. But just had to be the one night I got so hyped, seeing my favorite team in action. Had to get my friend in too because he didn't have an ID. We played stupid, lol, acting like he lost it. But yeah, nice game overall, except for the losing part.

Just a question...why are you a Wings fan living in Pittsburgh?

There seems to be alot of those...

Just a question...why are you a Wings fan living in Pittsburgh?

There seems to be alot of those...

I am a freshman at Pitt. Lived around Philly for the majority of my life (moved from Detroit at a young age) then started going here. All my family is still in Michigan.

So yeah, I have a true reason being a Wings fan. This is my second time going to the Igloo. My dad took me out here back during the Lemieux-less Pens days.

The game was a lot of fun tonight and, damn, if I sit as close as I did tonight, I am going to tons of games. Apparently my seats were like $80 normally.

I was there too, and I was probably about 20 more rows up from Fleury than you Wingboy. Notice how where we (and I assume pp too) were it was packed and on the other side of the ice it was almost empty. Everyone wanted seats behind where Fleury was twice.:rolly::lol:

I would give Morozov an A+ too. The line of Morozov-Fata-Malone is our best line, and they balance each other out extremely well. It is a toss up between Fata, Morozov, and Melichar for our best player so far.

Melichar I would also rate higher. He is clearly our best defenseman, and is nothing other than solid. Tarnstrom and Berehowsky scare me every time they are out there. They weren't too bad tonight though.

And I do agree, no one played so bad as to be given a D or F.

My seats were in Section C-2 a few rows in btw.

Yeah, I thought it was funny when the wave was happening.....then there was like 20 people doing it on the otherside of the ice. Then on the sides, there were HUGE open spots. Certaintly didn't look like 13,000+ people in there. LAst time I was there, I sat like right under where the band was (and this was years ago).

I was in section B1, Row C. So approx. 10 rows up in total. Awesome seats though. Wish they were cheaper then $20 though. But still awesome.

I was row C of section C-2, so you were pretty close to where I was.

Me and my dad paid a total of 35 dollars, thanks to the Mario Lemieux Family Program. Still 16, barely.:D

Yeah, I was the one with the Redwings jersey on.......oh wait. Did you catch people yelling at a Wings fan telling him to cut his mullet? It was pretty funny. Then that beer guy with the MEGA mullet.

ahahahha, we beat the Redwings...with HASEK IN NET...wtf!


Hatcher is no excuse, we're a piss poor team and we beat the wings...lol...i'm gonna enjoy this for a while.
Beautiful. :D

Someone messed up here (in nashville) and didn't put up any scores during the game and I just happen to hear on the post game show talking about our division and how Detroit lost and I was got so excited! I love it. This was a great day. Carolina on Wednesday, come on get 2 in a row!!!

Congratulations to MA Fleury on his first NHL win...and to Edzo for his first coaching win! :rolly:

Why didn't Lemieux get the second assist on Straka's goal?

Watch the replay... it clearly went Tarnstrom-Lemieux-Koltsov-Straka.

Mr. T's highlights...

-Fata with 3 points. A garbage goal and a highlight reel goal.
He and Malone played exceptionally well.

-Jeering the Wings fans all around me.

-Teaching my girlfriend how to zing the oppostion and their fans.

-Abid was a beast around the net. He needs to be there more often.

-Orpik acting as Holmstrom's chiropractor when he got in the crease.

-Realizing I know one of the Spirit girls. Now I can get all the surplus promotional stuff.

I was on the other end of the rink.

I was in section E-15...not "as good" as tickets as we were promised...but I was really actually impressed with the seats. Saw the entire rink clear as day and still relatively close to the rink(I was like in the first row in the section).

Pretty good seats for free :)

Yeah, I think my uncle has season tickets in section E-14 or E-15, 2 rows up from where you walk in. They are great seats, you can easily see the entire rink.

I like Section E, they are good seats. Hockey rinks are small enough, that as long as no one is obstructing your view, you can see almost everything that goes on in any seat.

Those grades are a bit optimistic, don't you think? :)

I agree. Little homerism at play I think. :)

Most are pretty close. I might rate them this way:

Marc-Andre Fleury: A-
He kept them in the game and made some great stops. Needs to work on his trapping a bit. He seemed to lose control of the puck 5 or 6 times, not being sure if he still had it under his glove / legs.

Josef Melichar: B-

Dan Focht: B-
Didn't notice anything outstanding (certainly not "brilliant") last night, but it could be me.

Kelly Buchberger: A
Gets the mark for good hustle, checking and standing up to ******** McCarty.

Matt Bradley: No grade (didn't notice him really).

Rico Fata: A+
Used his speed at the right times and had a beautiful goal on that rush.

Ryan Malone: B+
Ryan worked his butt off, but needs to work on making those good decisions with the puck a bit quicker. Almost got the impression he was trying too hard at points, but you can't really fault him for that being so young.

Milan Kraft: C
Was non-existant during his shifts AFAICT

Brian Holzinger: wasn't really paying attention to Holzinger much.

Ramzi Abid: B
Made some nice plays, I think he could make his presence felt more around the net. Saw him sort of coasting on a few occasions.

Mike Eastwood: wasn't paying attention...

Marc Bergevin: C
His usual self.

Dick Tarnstrom: B

Brooks Orpik: B+
Brooks had not a great first period IMO, but after that he settled into his role really well and protected the crease on most Wings assaults. He was dishing out the abuse big time during a few of those Detroit scrums / fluries. I was happy to see him knocking people around.

Drake Berehowsky: B

Mario Lemieux: C
I think he was lazy at times as someone noted in another thread, but he made a couple really nice plays and of course always draws the attention away from his mates. Given his role on the team, his conditioning and his talent, he could've done more IMO.

Konstantin Koltsov: B-
He made his presence felt by his hustle and speed alone. Lost the puck instead of generating a scoring chance on several occasions, but the fact he used his speed to get / keep the puck in the Wings zone was encouraging. He'll be a good one I think.

Martin Straka: B
Nice goal, otherwise didn't notice him much. Generally solid as usual though.

Aleksey Morozov: C
Didn't make his presence felt anymore than Kraft really IMO. Had a couple nice moves and passes but that's about it. He and Krafty do not have an attacking instinct it seems to me; they're way too passive.

Eddy Olczyk: A
Did a good job for his first win, got the better defensive guys out there more often, matched things up as best he could. A for not getting too excited after the game, just walked quietly off the ice, showing he expects more.