Shall I expand the sample size to 2012 vs the Flyers (see the video above where he bobbles a puts a puck in himself)?
How about the shot from the blueline vs the Jackets in 2014?
Or maybe I can go back to 2008 where he puts the GWG of the Cup finally in off himself again?
Here's an adage that has helped me through life:
Once is an accident
Twice is a coincidence
Three times is friendly fire
We've got reams of film proving MAF was a playoff headcase prior to 2015. I mean he was under .900 Sv % for his playoff career that can't be chalked up to "sample size".
I'm not sure why people are making apologies for him and attempting to rewrite history here. Why can't it be "MAF sucked completely and then when called upon in 2016/2017 he turned in some really good playoff performances and seemingly erased the playoff choker label"?
We're not saying he was a terrible human being or we wished ill upon his family. He was trash and rightfully got called out for it. He then turned things around and rightfully got praised for it
First bold. I love this one. Still makes me chuckle to this day. The Flyers series is 99% on MAF. What. A. Load. Of. Shit. He was putrid, no doubt about it. But in case you don't remember, so was the entire f***ing team. That was the height of Dan Bylsma being a moron who had lost the team completely. Sid was a whiny bitch. Letang and company were pathetic. The defense repeatedly let the Flyers have glorious chance after glorious chance. You would have needed Pat Roy or Jacques Plante to stand a chance at getting out of that round.
Second bold part. Did you watch that playoff run? MAF was Conn Smythe great that year. You're picking out 1 damn goal from a run all the way to the Cup finals against a far superior team. You think he's the only goalie to ever knock a puck into his own net? Or 2? I'll save you the trouble. He isn't.
MAF was a headcase from 2010 to 2013 specifically. I never said otherwise. But where else was he the main reason for our failures? I'll save you the trouble again. He wasn't. We're not in the finals in 2008 if it weren't for MAF. We probably lose the Cup in 2009 if MAF doesn't have a huge game 6 and 7 in back to back wins. Not to mention, how many goalies get across to make that save against Lidstrom? Do you honestly think the Pens would have won that game if it had gone to OT?
People on the Pens board were willing to shit on him any chance they got, but when he did play out of his mind didn't get near the same adulation from the masses. Pot meet kettle. I've been on these forums for a long time. I saw it repeatedly, year after year.
And FTR, I was one of the very few (count on one hand) who said MAF would waive and the Pens wouldn't trade or loose Matt Murray, under any circumstance. And I agreed with the decision 100%. But it was hilarious (and frankly sad) to watch Pens fans shit on MAF simply because of paranoia. That's where I lost a lot of respect for certain posters. I'm not some fair weather facebook fan who loves MAF simply because he was a great guy. The dude was a major reason why we were able to celebrate multiple Cups. Yes, he had a bad stretch there over a few seasons (many players have also dealt with this). He deserved a lot of critisism. As did Sid, Geno, the coaching staff, Ray Shero, etc. 2010 to 2013 specifcally was on the entire Pens org. Selling MAF down the river without the rest of the idiots is a cop out and lazy analysis.
