Last Weekend, Pens versus Rangers

Last weekend, I had the chance to watch the Pens play the Rangers in person. What follow are several thoughts about the game.

It Was Just Plain Fun

Before the game, I had joked about what a regular season tilt between the Pens and Rangers might resemble. Given the offensive superstars on each team, I was hoping for something like a score of 6-5, with a shootout. I wanted the chance to see stars shine as stars, and I wanted to be entertained.

While I didn’t get the 6-5 score or shootout, I got to see an awesome regular season hockey game that reminded me of hockey the way hockey is supposed to be. (Remember that I grew up watching HHOF players play on the same power play unit.) Very little of the game was played in the neutral zone. The Pens were either in front of "Henrik the Great," or the Rangers were in front of Marc-Andre Fleury. Both teams were on the attack frequently. The goaltending from both young goaltenders was phenomenal. The superstars on the ice—Malkin and Jagr—did their thing with skill.

Oh, and on the whole special teams battle? First, I have to note that I’m biased in favor of the new NHL rules, even when it seems like a power play parade. And thus, when Mark Recchi was upset at the beginning of the game about a hook that he clearly felt shouldn’t have been called, I didn’t disagree with the call. Recchi had been hooking the guy—I’d seen him do it twice. (Now Recchi complaining about inconsistency of officiating, and what is a penalty one night not being a penalty the next night, that’s a complaint I can understand and that NHL headquarters needs to rectify ASAP.) Anyhow, the Pens spent much of the first period on the penalty kill—and they were successful. Later in the game, as I figured they would, the Pens got their own chances on the power play. Special teams, at least in terms of opportunities, got pretty much evenly distributed over the course of the game.

The bottom line of the entire game—superstars on the ice, no playing not to lose with clutching and grabbing in the neutral zone, special teams play—was that the game was fun. I mean that, the game—even though my team lost in OT—was just plain fun. It was hockey as hockey is supposed to be, and I could only imagine how much more fun it might have been had Sidney Crosby’s groin healed by that Saturday.
J