Some random thoughts as the Senators begin the 2010 Stanley cup Playoffs with an impressive 5-4 win in Pittsburgh.6:55pm: Kudos to CBC for the pre game coverage. They got us all hyped up for the opening night of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a little Coronation Street. Instead of the keys to victory, I was left wondering if Ches would ever find out about Sian and Sophie.
7pm: Ron Maclean, who clearly has a crush on the Penguins, talks about how it's not the mountain (the long Stanley cup journey) that trips you up but the pebbles (an easy team like the Sens). Oh, so it's going to be like that, huh?
7:05pm: There's Maxime Talbot moving in close to Marc Andre Fleury outside the dressing room. Wow. Really close. Are they doing a dance? Their noses are almost touching now. Coronation Street, now Dirty Dancing? What channel is this?
7:10pm: Anthem singer Jeff Jimerson sings the Canadian anthem like Martin St Louis takes penalty shots. He starts out really fast. Then he slows down. Then it's really fast again. Hey, why does Jeff dye his hair gold every year? Maybe it's to distract us from the pock marks. It's the first time I've regretted having HD.
7:20pm - Brian Elliott tries to catch the first shot of the game with his trapper. Epic fail. Erik Karlsson saves a goal. Why can't Elliott catch a hockey puck?
Hey, why would you do a sea of white when it's the visiting Senators who are wearing white?
Ok, lost track of timekeeping. Wife arrives with nachos and beer. She's spectacularly too good for me. See first of 7 viagara ads. Start to think about non hockey issues.
Talbot dives. Peter Regin is penalized. Evgeni Malkin scores. The exact scenario would play out again later on. Talbot is better than that. Matt Cooke must be rubbing off on him.
It's clear pretty early that neither goalie is going to be very good in this game. Bad bounces and bad goaltending didn't help either team tonight.
Can the Sens knock it off with bench minors? Another too many men call tonight!
Kelly, Neil and Ruutu were not only outstanding defensively, they were the best offensive line too each scoring once.
Looks like Milan Michalek mucked up his knee again. It sure didn't look like much. Wonder if Jonathan Cheechoo wil get another look?
Great insight by Glen Healy. After Don Cherry basically dismissed Karlsson as being a pretty boy during coach's corner, Healy said Karlsson's inexperience led to his passing the puck into Matt Cullen's skates instead of his stick. Yes, Glen. Only truly experienced NHL defenceman know to try and hit the tape with their passes. No one else. Hopefully, Karlsson will learn that advanced, mysterious skill one day.
I love the truck TV ad that features the Lap n' Snack. Turns out it was a joke. But seriously, I WANT a Lap n' Snack!
How does Craig Adams score zero regular season goals in 82 games this season and then score a potentially lethal playoff goal versus the Sens? Sheesh.
Alfie and Spezza were brutally outplayed by Crosby and Malkin tonight. Thankfully, our pluggers came through big.
What a great forecheck and cycle to kill time in the final two minutes after the Pens drew to within one.
Matt Cullen is a great penalty killer and outstanding at getting in opponent's way. Chris Campoli is suddenly really good. Andy Sutton is nervous or hurt.
They say you're never truly in trouble in a 7 game playoff series until you lose a game at home. I don't buy it. Had the Senators come home down 2-0 to the defending cup champs they would truly be in trouble. More to the point, they'd be done. Now they've already got the road win they needed and they're doing a lot of things the Pens presently have no answer for.
That said, the Sens will need to be even better on Friday.
