icedog97

"Penguins Hockeybuzz Blog"

Pittsburgh, PA • United States • 48 Years Old • Male

Pens vs Sens: Game 1 Review - Sens win 6-3

THE GOOD

The Sens intensity level - they came out strong and dictated play throughout.

The officiating - there were a lot of penalties called but the officals seemed to be consistent with their calls.

The Sens role players - good showing by 3rd and 4th line players.

Malkin and Staal - I thought both rookies were able to play at the level required for "playoff hockey". Malkin got bounced around pretty good but responded by digging down deeper and showing his competitiveness.

The guy that sings the anthems - there's nothing quite like a big guy with a deep voice belting out the anthems.

You have to win 4 to advance - One game does not a series make. I hold by my 6 or 7 game prediction...speaking of that, I said 5-3 Sens in Game 1 and it was 6-3...not bad...

and speaking of bad...


THE BAD

The Pens Intensity level - it is clear this team needs to improve it's intensity in order to make this into a competitive series. They were a step behind all night long. I believe game 2 will be a different story from that point of view.

The Pens Power Play - they had early chances to get back in the game but their PP was terrible. I expect to see some changes in game 2.

The Pens D to D and outlet passes - Give some credit to the Sens here...they forchecked well and took away passes that would have been there in the regular season. The Pens will have to adjust to this by making quicker and smarter plays.

The Crosby "NO GOAL" - I know Sidney is GOOD, but I don' think even he could have kicked that puck in on purpose. I guess the rule says nothing about intent...so if that's the case then they called it correctly (please, everybody that says Sidney gets preferencial treatment...notice that it's not true in this case).


THE UGLY

Can I say the whole game here? At least from the Penguins point of view. Actually it was a great learning experience for a young team.

I will list one thing I thought was ugly. It seemed that the Sens were rubbing the Pens faces in it a little, from a physical standpoint, after it was 6-1. I'm not sure that's such a smart thing to do. It's ONLY the FIRST game of the series. I think it might have been smarter for the Sens to just let the rest of that game go away quietly. Instead, they seemed intent on taking a second pound of flesh (the first being the win). Hopefully that is the wake up call the Pens needed.

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