Pre-Game (6-6-09)

It's a hockey night [for] Pittsburgh!

Yes, no more of those two day breaks that MAF hates. It's every other day, like it should be.
The hockey gods have restored balance.
Well, until after game 5. Then it's on 6-9-09. Crap.

And the Pens have made this a series.



-Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk is supposed to play tonight. Coach Mike Babcock said, "He’ll play.”

Ooh, touchy. Tsk, Tsk. Danny B is much better at interviews. And leading his team from a crappy season to the Stanley Cup Final.

-Max Talbot is FINALLY getting the credit he deserves. Even Evgeni MmmMalkin didn't give him credit.



Heck, his own center, Malkin, regularly jokes that Talbot has bad hands and can only score into open nets. -From Penguins.nhl.com

But, now, everyone loves Maxie!

Someone told me, before game 1 of the Flyers/ Penguins series, that Max would go sans a goal (excluding empty-netters) the whole run. Wow he was wrong!


Morning Skate: (Taken from penguins.nhl.com)
It's A Great Day for Hockey - June 6
Sam Kasan
Jun 6, 2009, 11:10 AM EDT
It's a Great Day for Playoff Hockey will be tracking the Penguins' Stanley Cup quest with constant updates throughout the postseason.1:25 PM:Marc-Andre Fleury reminisced about his spectacular 55-save, triple-overtime victory in last year's Game 5 in Detroit and if he'd like to repeat the feat."That would be great. We got the win and that’s all that matters. That was last year. We have to start over again, start from scratch and try to get the win."___________________________________________________________________________________12:08 PM:The Penguins finished their morning skate with little new developments. The lines haven't changed and nothing of note occurred on the ice. Just another playoff morning skate. ___________________________________________________________________________________11:49 AM:Here are some quick notes from Babcock's press conference:On Datsyuk: "But, two things, in the morning skate or in the practice, you never know what adrenaline's going to do. He seems to be that he's tolerating it now. I watched him in the skate, I mean, he doesn't look like Pavel. And yet in saying that, when the puck's dropped, tonight I've seen a lot of that over the years. So we're excited that he's excited."On playing Datsyuk on wing:"We're going to start him that way, and we're going to see how he does. If he looks like himself, he'll be in the middle. We need that checking center back, I think somebody called him that the other day."On Cleary and Rafalski missing the morning skate:"Cleary and Raf didn't skate, both are supposed to play. Abby (Justin Abdelkader) had a bit of the flu, so I think those guys are all available here for tonight. And we'll make decisions at game time."On if his team is nervous for tonight's game:"No, I think they've been through it. But before the game tonight like any athlete, there's always a little bit of nerves. I don't think that's a bad thing, I think that's a great thing. If you didn't have that, number one, it wouldn't be as much fun to play. And number two, you wouldn't be as good as you're capable of being. I think those things all help you a little bit."The other thing is the reason you play these games and the reason I think you cover sport is to be involved in the big events. Well, here's a big event right here today. You want to be good, be good." ____________________________________________________________________________________11:35 AM:The Penguins are on the ice for their morning skate at Joe Louis Arena. ____________________________________________________________________________________11:32 AM:First it was Bill Cowher in the Carolina series. Now another former Pittsburgh coach/manager is being pulled into the NHL playoffs. Former Pirates manager Jim Leyland is being pulled into the Stanley Cup Final. But unlike Cowher, he is a little more diplomatic in his approach. "That's a no-win situation," Leyland told the Detroit News. "I hope the best team wins. Whoever plays the best deserves to win. If it's the Red Wings, fine. If it's the Penguins, fine."____________________________________________________________________________________11:23 AM:Babcock said that Cleary and Rafalski are OK and available to play in tonight's Game 5 showdown, despite that both missed the team's morning skate. He also said that he may play Pavel Datsyuk at wing for some of the game. ____________________________________________________________________________________11:20 AM:Rob Rossi wrote a good article today in the Tribune-Review on Evgeni Malkin's parents. ____________________________________________________________________________________11:12 AM: The Red Wings finished their morning skate at Joe Louis Arena Saturday morning. The team has left the ice and the media have entered their locker room for pre-game availability. Coach Mike Babcock will be holding his post-skate press conference shortly. Dan Cleary and Brian Rafalski were the only Detroit players of note that did not skate. The zambonis are cleaning the ice for the Penguins, who will hold their morning skate today at 11:30 a.m.


-Hey, 5 more points until MmmMalkin is up to Gretzky and Le Magnifique's playoff points of 40 total. Hat trick and 2 assists would do it. Git Er Done, Geno!

Mama & Papa Malkin Question of the week!
Q: If "The Genos" were a band, who would play what instrument?
NM: "Geno" would play the drums. That's him, definitely.
VM: I would watch, maybe play piano. She would make the food.
NM: Our other son, Denis, could play guitar.
VM: There is no singer. We're not The Beatles. If somebody at home heard us saying this, they'd never believe it.

Wow. I love this!