Friday, June 7, 2013

Pittsburgh, a THUD, and Don Cherry

Who would have believed it? The high-flying Pittsburgh Penguins just got broomed by the Boston Bruins. Yours truly knoweth not what kind of odds the wise guys in Vegas were giving on that happening before the series started -- but I surely wish I'd had a C-note bet on it. I might be able to afford gas for the next couple weeks. No cracks about already being an overinflated gasbag, please.

With all the talent the Penguins possessed, they only managed to score 2 measly goals in the whole series. Unbelievable. Superstar Sid Crosby and fellow sharpshooter Evgeny Malkin didn't register a single point.

It seemed like Boston was everywhere. Indeed, one of the TV commentators noted that Boston featured layers of defense. If a Penguin got past a Bruin, another one was waiting for him. And another after that. No wonder they couldn't score. Yet there's a flaw in that logic.

If a second Boston player covered any particular Penguin, another Penguin had to be open somewhere. You'd think they would have figured that out after a game or two, but evidently not.

Back in days of yore, opposing teams often put a "shadow" on the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky. Wherever Gretzky went -- the other guy went. But Gretzky and his teammates used it to their advantage. Gretzky once said that whenever he found himself being "shadowed", he would merely shadow a different player on the other team. That meant wherever he went, there would be one of him -- and two of them. That left Gretzky's teammates in a 4 on 3 advantage all over the rest of the ice, which he would take every time.

For every advantage, there has to be a corresponding disadvantage. I think that's one of Newton's laws of physics or something. It's sort of like Don Cherry buying all your clothes for you. Free is nice, but do you really want to be seen in some of that stuff? Whoa.

Nevertheless, while the Pittsburgh Penguins are history, the Boston Bruins await the winner of the Chicago/LA series to play for the Stanley Cup. The Black Hawks currently lead that series 3-1 and could close out LA on Saturday night in Chicago. If so, that would put two "original 6" teams in the Stanley Cup Finals, which would be kind of cool. Can't remember the last time that happened.

What's not so cool is what's likely to happen in Pittsburgh pretty quick. Given all the talent the Penguins have, and after all the high expectations all year long, including going into the playoffs -- to be unceremoniously broomed and kicked to the curb likely won't sit well with Pittsburgh ownership/upper management.

Methinks Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma might just be joining the ranks of the unemployed in the very near future. Though travelling from Boston to Pittsburgh can't be much more than an hour by air, I suspect it's going to be a mighty long plane ride for Mr. Bylsma.

And that meeting that awaits him in the next few days won't be a walk in the park either.

Oh well, that's just the way it goes in professional sports.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go put on my fluorescent paisley pajamas, with base colors of pink in the front and lime green in the back. And they've got a collar you wouldn't believe.

Don Cherry bought them for me. Just kidding.

I think.....








No comments:

Post a Comment