"Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski just didn't care..." - Ridiculous Narrative

[Hank Plank]

I said elsewhere that this Pens team reminded me of the sharks teams from a few years ago who would "dominate" other teams, regularly putting 40+ shots up...30 of which were of the completely harmless variety right into center mass of the goalie...great for shooting, bad for hockey.

I think this is very unfair to Martin Jones who was brilliant. Even if you discount number of shots on net Jones made many incredible saves that kept the games from getting out of hand.

 

[WhiteDeath]

I've said the same things there. Pens goal was to fire from all angles and they did. Sharks tried to be more precise, which paid off at times, but caused a lot of blocks, too. Actual shot attempts weren't that far off.

Nbc and the media fluffed the Pens and Crosby from game 1 on. Can't blame the sheeple for following the herd and not developing their own opinion.

LOL...I had such a hard time listening to the games because of the NBC pen/crosby love.
I told my fiance that it felt like if Crosby "scored 4 goals in a game" the entire NBC crew would fall to their knees and "help him."

I'm still campaigning for Murray, Letang, or Kessel for Conn Smythe.

 

[WhiteDeath]

I think this is very unfair to Martin Jones who was brilliant. Even if you discount number of shots on net Jones made many incredible saves that kept the games from getting out of hand.

I'm sorry you think that's unfair...

especially when just a few lines later I said that Jones played amazing...In fact, in Game 6, he played uber amazing, but that doesn't mean that, for example in game 5, as well as having some spectacular saves, many of the 44 saves he made were of the ho humm variety.

 

[67 others]

I'm sorry you think that's unfair...

especially when just a few lines later I said that Jones played amazing...In fact, in Game 6, he played uber amazing, but that doesn't mean that, for example in game 5, as well as having some spectacular saves, many of the 44 saves he made were of the ho humm variety.

Also known as positioning and poise and making it look standard. Many of the 44 saves he made would have beaten Niemi's poor puck tracking.

 

[WhiteDeath]

Also known as positioning and poise and making it look standard. Many of the 44 saves he made would have beaten Niemi's poor puck tracking.

I was the biggest Nienemy of them all from day-1, and no...just no.

It was that kind of shooting that made goalies like Chris Mason look like all-star world-beaters.

Stalock could have made those saves...Regular season Chris Osgood could have made those saves.

 

[teal]

I said elsewhere that this Pens team reminded me of the sharks teams from a few years ago who would "dominate" other teams, regularly putting 40+ shots up...30 of which were of the completely harmless variety right into center mass of the goalie...great for shooting, bad for hockey.

Not that I'm saying the Pens didn't outplay us...I think they did, but it was very very close...a bounce here or there (or a penalty called) changes the outcome, and it certainly wasn't the "complete domination" narrative or "woulda been a sweep without Jones" I keep seeing.

Actually, the latter is far worse than the former. Yes, Jones played amazing, but discounting the amazing saves at the other end of the ice is incredibly disrespectful. Game 3, I was having nightmare flashbacks to 08-09 "save by Hiller! Another amazing save by Hiller! ROBBERY BY HILLER!"

Sadly the play didn't look close at all IMO. Sharks were lucky to win two games. Jones and Couture a big part of that. But the Sharks really just looked like they could not keep up despite giving it their all. That's why this doesn't sting as bad as the LA reverse sweep, for instance. This is one of the times it doesn't feel like they beat themselves.

 

[paracord]

As a Pens fan I thought that line looked very dangerous most of the times they were out there. I know that didn't translate into a lot of goals but I certainly didn't think they didn't care.

Granted I will say, not watching much Sharks hockey prior, that I thought these guys were going to come in and produce a lot more. Pavelski was leading the playoffs in goal scoring, so I thought he'd be tough to check....somehow it didn't work out that way.

I think Hertl going down was huge for that line's chemistry too.

 

[AaronDellForPrez]

I think Hertl going down was huge for that line's chemistry too.

That's pretty much the reason the Sharks didn't win the series, IMHO

 

[SJGoalie32]

I'm sorry you think that's unfair...

especially when just a few lines later I said that Jones played amazing...In fact, in Game 6, he played uber amazing, but that doesn't mean that, for example in game 5, as well as having some spectacular saves, many of the 44 saves he made were of the ho humm variety.

That's how most games are.

No team takes 40+ shots where all of them are incredibly difficult.

Some are shot into the chest, some go into the leg pads, some are through screens, some are in traffic, some are esaily stoppable from a distance, some are in close, some are from prime scoring areas, some shots come with time and space and movement and with other options open, some come on breakaways. You get all kinds.

The mark of a fantastic goaltending performance is that you make the spectacular saves (and he made a bunch) AND you make all the ho hum saves with out mistake....no misses, no lapses of judgment, no bad rebounds that can be easily scored on......near perfection on the ones you are supposed to stop, PLUS near perfection on the medium difficulty stops, PLUS a large quantity of spectacular saves.

Jones did that consistently throughout the 6-game series. That is very difficult to do.