Tom Renney (puke) has one of the youngest teams in the NHL. They were also eliminated from playoff contention in December. So what better way to groom his young club (with nothing to play for) than to implement the neutral zone trap. Don't play hockey. That would be the wrong thing to do. Teach them how to dumb down the game.
Yesterday's Pens game against Edmonton was pretty much the mirror opposite of Saturday's loss to Montreal. The main difference being the Pens scored first, forcing the Oilers to play the game. Edmonton had a whopping 2 SOG's in the 1st period. From that point on...game over.
The Pens stay 3 pts back of Philly (2 games in hand), so that's still a steep hill. But staying ahead of Tampa Bay for home ice in the 4 vs. 5 match-up would be nice. They're currently +3 on Tampa, and the Bolts have a game in hand.
Great team effort. Even Chris Conner, who was a healthy scratch the last 2 was buzzing all over the ice. Kris Letang looked better, but that dude is a tired man. PK was phenomenal again, killing a 5-on-3 for almost 2 minutes without conceeded 1 SOG. PP was pretty miserable for most of the day, again, at least until James Neal fed Kunitz with his 2nd of the game. Hopefully, that's a sign they're jelling.
#1 Star - Kuni. 2 goals. I love my Kuni.
#2 Star - Staal. 1 and 1, +2.
#3 MR. KENNEDY. Kennedy. 3 helpers.
2 comments:
That's a shame the Oil would go that route, they have long carried the torch for playing attacking hockey. And why now? What is squeezing the life out of the game to win the odd 2-1 game going to help all that young talent get better (and they've got craploads of it!)?
Maybe it was just Renney trying his best to get a W vs his old rival...who knows. I hope they don't play that way all the time. I've hardly seen them play at all...but they do have some young guys that got potential. This Linus Omark dude has some serious skill.
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