I'm sure you've heard the hockey game that got in the way of the fight down in Philadelphia?
In my half-assed playoff preview, I had hoped the Pens and Flyers would just destroy each other. Well, surprisingly, the Flyers are doing it by playing actual hockey! Shocking! I know! However they're driving the Penguins completely mad in the process. And you know what? It's fantastic. That spoiled little brat of a team is falling apart at the seams, rolling on the ground kicking and screaming that mommy won't get him some wins. Or that Fleury is sucking more than Bryz, which is hilarious.
Basically, they're melting down more than the Habs in a third period. Only without CaKa for defence. However, they're not just being awful but losing every bit of dignity they had.
I don't care if Sidney Crosby flicked away a Voracek's glove. I do care that he's going around starting shit, knowing full well no one will DARE touch his head. The fight he had with Giroux was more of an intense hugging match. Even Scott Hartnell didn't dare punch him one. I have to commend the Flyers for their restraint because I'm sure they'd love to smack him good. And how douchey do you have to be to make the Flyers look like fucking saints?
Bottom line is the Flyers are playing great hockey, and Bylsma is getting out-coached. Again. While his key players are too busy being morons on the ice (hi Neal).
Of course the refs could help by throwing people out EARLIER. (Hi Neal, again).
Hop over across the continent to the Canucks-Kings series. The President's Trophy winner is down 3-0, much like the Pens. However they haven't lost their minds. Sure, we've had a few scuffles, but they were purely emotional outbursts during play. I hate fighting after clean hits, and Dustin Brown's hit on Sedin (the remaining one) was clean and hard. I understand the response as well, considering they're already down a twin. And not soon after, Brown was sent cartwheeling on a great hit (which he admirably sprung right back up and went back to business after). The Canucks are playing like a team completely deflated and at a loss, they're not playing very smart and aren't matching up very well, while probably wishing they had Cody Hodgson around at the moment instead of Zach Kassian.
The Canucks are equally frustrated to be losing. But instead of busting out the petulant child in a full donnybrook, they're continuing to skate and chip and try. Sucks to be them that Jonathan Quick owns their souls. Not much you can do when you face a hot goalie. But did you see that shift by Henrik Sedin? Or the relentless forechecking? They threw everything including the kitchen sink and the soap but came up empty.
Will the Canucks go down that dark path the Pens fell face first on to? The series is still young, and the League has fed this appetite for roidless roidrage. (Or we assume it's roidless). I guess it all depends if Shanahan has the balls to suspend Neal for what he did. He dropped the ball with Shea Weber and now the Penguins pushed him into a dark corner. However what the Pens are doing, the NHL created, and the officiating has taken a step back to allow on-ice assault. And now we're being told the ratings are high! That people are liking this? I'm sorry, no. We're here for the hockey. Hockey fights? They're fine. Hard hits? They're great. But the bullshit crap like crosschecking a kid high, flying elbows, or pounding a guy when he's already down? No, we're not watching for that. And why were we still watching the Pens-Flyers game? Well other than because it's hockey and nothing else was on, much like gawking an accident, you just couldn't look away. All we can do is hope the League has enough sense to make this crap stop instead of this fake caring about player safety.
I half expect these two teams to win their next game, but it wouldn't shock me to see either of them swept. If the Penguins could lose with dignity, it might be do them a world of
good. Then again, there might be no one left on the team to douche it
up. Maybe.
