Anyone else coming up for the game? I live in Pittsburgh and am heading to the Consol early to try and snag a student ticket. They are giving away 200 at noon to college students with a valid ID. $25 each. 1 per student. If anyone is in the area shoot me an email at rjm488@gmail.com.
Pittsburgh has had the extreme fortune of having drafted two superstars/generational talents (that play center) that can pretty much sustain a line on their own. They've also had the fortune of drafting an excellent 3rd line center. So, although they've created a forward group that is paper thin, it's also boasts the best center depth in the league and has the ability to live on it's center depth, even with sub-par wingers.
They also had an extremely talented number one d-man and a goalie that has had some extremely bright bright spots in his career.
My personal hope is that, with Gonchar gone (albeit the fact that he was starting to decline anyways) that their defense group won't be sufficient enough in at least some aspects of the game. With Michalek and Martin their defensive group should definitely suffice defensively, but they're not lacking any real talent offensively on the blue-line and they don't have any elite talent or even a upper-echelon number one d-men (which Gonchar was).
Another hope is that Fleury continues being inconsistent and we see the Fleury of last year (the one with a crappy regular season save percentage and a pretty bad playoffs) rather then the one that stole games from us a couple years back. I truly think that, as of now, Fleury is a mediocre and inconsistent goalie, albeit the fact that he played a major role in their Cup win. I'm not sure if he'll ever overcome that inconsistency, but I hope he won't.
Another thing to point out is that the Pens have been extremely fortunate in injuries among their centers and goaltending (the former of which the Pens team thrives on). I have to figure that, eventually, their going to have to have some bad luck there like nearly every other team does and that their paper thin lineup will then reveal itself. Staal is already out actually.
When you think about it the Pens are really just an exception to the rule for building a Cup contender and they've been extremely fortunate over the recent years (more-so then any other team I can think of).
I would agree with all of this, but I would also say that the Penguins have had absolutely rotten luck with ownership until Lemieux and co. took over. Arguably the worst in professional sports over that span.
Anyways, this should be a great game and your opening night lineup scares the hell out of me.
Bring it the **** on. Couldn't think of a better way to start the season. I can't wait to walk around Pittsburgh all day tomorrow decked from head to ****ing toe in orange and black. I might even head to the zoo and kill an actual penguin for demonstrational purposes. Thank god it's hockey season.
You could go to the aviary too....
Anyway, as a fantasy hockey question (and real hockey too), is Zherdev really playing on the third line? If so, I don't understand that at all...he's a skilled player who has a reputation for laziness, isn't he?
Anyway, as a fantasy hockey question (and real hockey too), is Zherdev really playing on the third line? If so, I don't understand that at all...he's a skilled player who has a reputation for laziness, isn't he?
The third isn't a checking line, the top three lines are all scoring lines which will roughly get the same even strength ice time.
Anyone else coming up for the game? I live in Pittsburgh and am heading to the Consol early to try and snag a student ticket. They are giving away 200 at noon to college students with a valid ID. $25 each. 1 per student. If anyone is in the area shoot me an email at rjm488@gmail.com.
Hey everyone look for me at the game tonight!!! I'll be the only Flyer fan right behind the glass in the zone the Pens shoot at twice and a couple seats away from the Flyers bench!
I'm looking forward to the Flyers coming out and pimp slapping the Pens on their brand new ice surface. At least they finally won't have the advantage on playing on an absolute **** hole.
I guess the nhl script will go something like this:
1. Pens will have a powerplay within the first 1 minute 30 seconds
2. Will have 2 pp by the 6 minute mark.
3. Will have at least 1 5 on 3 pp
4. Flyers will have a legit goal disallowed
5. Carcillo will get tossed for being mean to cindy
6. when the game has already been decided, the flyers will get multiple powerplays in the 3rd to make it look "even" on the stat sheet
Did i miss anything? No way does the nhl allow the pens to lose on nationial tv opening up their new arena that i helped pay for.
For once someone just grab cindy or ogre and pund their face in please!
Watching tonight at a cookout where the host is a Pens fan, so hopefully he'll have lots of reasons to stick to the grill while we stick it to his team!
