I am vaguely confused about how teams decide when to wear their white jerseys. Some teams even call them their “road jerseys,” which makes me think it is supposed to be done by the visiting team. I know that some time in the last decade, the tradition changed, it used to be that the home team wore white. I have noticed some teams doing the reverse, at least during the last month or so.
In any case, the Pens are playing in Ottawa and the Sens are wearing white. The Sens are also winning. When I tried to decide which game to watch today, it was hard to choose between this game and the Devils-Maple Leafs game. I am vaguely curious to see if Lemaire has worked any wonders in his first couple of days back in Jersey, but I also really wanted to see if the Sens could surprise. The former seemed more likely, what with the Pens being on a winning streak. I was wrong.
Apparently, the Holiday break was enough to put a hitch in that streak.
Elliott looks very well tonight. He seems fairly unimpressed by Penguin tricks, seems to be right in position no matter where or how the Pens shoot at him. That makes me happy. I like Elliott.
The Pens are out-shooting the Sens now, a little over half way through the second period. Spezza has been injured, which may be the most significant development to come out of this game, at least for the Sens. Fleury does not seem to be having a great night. Ah well.
I really hate watching Penguin games. Maybe I am overly sensitive or something but it seems like they are an unnecessarily brutal, even vicious team. It isn’t like they poke people in the face with sticks or anything, it just seems like a lot of people get hurt playing against them. I do not like watching them but I will be happy to watch them lose whenever possible.
The Islanders are winning too! With Roloson. That makes me happy. I know I said I hate watching the Flyers play the Islanders but against other teams the Islanders seem reasonably civil. So I am happy to see the Libra goalie winning.
Looking over the photos from that game, I see an unusual number of photos of Islanders tripping Habs. Hm. Also, one photo caption mentions an injury. Okay, I am glad I did not watch that one. Better to just be happy for Roloson from afar.
Just now Crosby took a penalty. The player who went down is accused, by the announcers and one might imagine Crosby too, of taking a dive. Well, maybe Crosby didn’t pull him down by the neck, but his hand was around in front, what was he doing there, if not trying to give the player a tug?
The penalty negates a Pens power play and turns it into about a minute of 4 on 4. In the last few seconds, a flurry of angry Pens assault the Sens crease, but Elliott hangs on. He seems to have the puck when he gets pushed into the back of his net. The whistle had gone, but he held on anyway.
I dread the next period. It suspect the Pens are very angry, and they are mean even when they are not angry. At the start of the second, Letang put Spezza into the boards. Spezza left the ice and did not come back. It looked to me like Letang grabbed Spezza’s jersey and gave it a yank, followed by a shove to Spezza’s back. That seemed uniquely designed to throw Spezza completely off balance, and also tied up his arms for a second. As I said, mean.
Instead, the 3rd begins with some fairly blatant missed calls in the favor of the Sens. Perhaps this is the normal imbalance, perhaps it is a reputation problem for the Pens. I dunno. I don’t know the reps of either team well enough to guess.
The Pens-Sens game gets very fierce in the second part of the third. The Sens start to take penalties, stupid ones. Crosby finally scores, just as I was thinking “are the Sens really going to bust his streak?” Elliott is still playing extremely well. There are just over 2 minutes left in the game, the Sens are still up by 2, but the Pens have a PP.
The Sens have to cope with s six on 4 as the Pens pull Fleury. To make matters worse, during the first minute of the PK, Alfredsson I think has his stick broken. The Sens then get lucky as the puck disappears up someone’s pants. It stays there until the whistle blows. At least they get their sticks back.
The Sens do manage to kill off the penalty, Karlsson even gets a chance at an empty netter. He misses but the Sens still win, thanks in no small part to Elliott’s 44 saves. Well done.
petshark 