5-hole.com Pick ‘em – Marc owes me $1

OMG PETR PRUCHA’S PLAYING TONIGHT!

But Ryan Callahan isn’t because he has the flu.

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Game Preview: Rangers v. Pittsburgh Penguins

The Rangers are on the rood in Pittsburgh tonight playing the Penguins in Mellon Arena.  Game time is 7:30pm, and the game can be seen MSG + (NOTE THE CHANNEL CHANGE AND THE CHANGED START TIME!), or if you have the Center Ice Package, Game Channel 3 for the Pittsburgh feed in HD, and Game Channel 4 for the MSG + non-HD feed.

 

Stevie V stood tall for the Rangers last night, and should have been one of the night's 3 stars. But that's just my opinion.

 

 

Ok people, my day has been crazy and it’s not over yet, so I have to make this quick.  Basically, the Rangers won their last game, Pittsburgh hasn’t played since before the All Star Break, and that was a loss to Carolina.  The last two times these teams have faced each other, the results were 4-0 Rangers, and 3-0 Penguins.  So we’ll see what tonight brings.

Henrik Lundqvist will be in net for the Rangers, and Sidney Crosby is most likely playing tonight, even though he was rumored to be sitting it out with a busted knee.  Also, Dan Fristche had cleared waivers and is currently in Hartford.

 

 

 

 

Numbers breakdown:

Penguins record: 23-21-4   –   4-6-0  in their last 10  -  11-11-2 at home

Rangers record: 29-16-4   –  7-3-0  in their last 10  -  13-8-2 on the road

Average goals scored in a game:

Penguins: 2.94

Rangers: 2.49

Average goals allowed in a game:

Penguins: 2.98

Rangers: 2.55

Power Play

Penguins: 16.7%

Rangers: 15.1%

Penalty Kill:

Penguins: 79.5%

Rangers: 87.9%

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em – 1/14/09

#4 Washington Capitals @ #18 Pittsburgh Penguins

Eric – Penguins – They’re in Pittsburgh and the Caps suck on the road.
Marc – Penguins – Like I said yesterday, the Caps are great at home, terrible on the road.  Yesterday they played terribly at home… maybe that means they will play great on the road?  No.
Rory – Penguins – Apparently the Caps suck on the road.  I found that out last night.

#28 Ottawa Senators @ #29 Atlanta Thrashers

Eric – Sens – They should bill this one as, “The battle of who sucks more.”
Marc – Thrashers – Ottawa got their win for the week yesterday.
Rory – Sens – My ex is from Atlanta and he’s been pissing me off lately.  To hell with Atlanta!

#13 Buffalo Sabres @ #9 Chicago Blackhawks

Eric – Hawks – something witty *gimmie*
Marc – Hawks – The Hawks are legit.  At home they are really legit. *gimmie*
Rory – Hawks – I just like the Blackhawks better.

#3 Detroit Red Wings @ #11 Anaheim Ducks

Eric – Ducks – Just a hunch.
Marc – Wings – It’s nearly impossible to pick against the Wings in any game.
Rory – Wings – Wiiiiings!  *gimmie*

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em is back, baby! Lock up your daughters…

Where has 5-hole.com Pick ‘em been for the last 3 weeks, you ask?   Well, I was in Beijing looking for a lovely young bride.   Eric was on a flight to Florida with his financial adviser.  And Rory was negotiating contracts in California.

Now we’re back, and just in time because there’s a full slate of games on tap for tonight.  It’s a great night to have the NHL Center Ice package.  On to the picks!

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em – OMG! Controversy! – 12/23/08

There is controversy brewing over the Penguins’ game winning goal scored by Sidney Crosby in overtime last night.  The big question is whether Crosby made contact with the puck above or below the crossbar.  The goal was reviewed and it stood.  So what’s the problem?  The call on the ice was goal.  The replay did not conclusively disprove that.  It’s a goal right?  Maybe, maybe not.

Why it’s a goal:
1. The NHL says it’s a goal, therefore, it’s a goal.
2. Someone at Pensblog drew a cute picture!  They can’t be wrong, can they?

Why it’s not a goal:

1. Conspiracy theorists claim the NHL is just furthering the Sidney Crosby love fest.

2. The picture from Pensblog is misleading because the puck was not in line with the corner where the post and crossbar meet when it made contact with Crosby’s stick.  It was actually closer to the center of the crossbar.  Oh no!  The new line goes under Crosby’s arm and the puck!  NO GOAL!
3. Commenter Tom L. on the Puck Daddy post says, “Crosby is 5′ 11″, 6′ 3″ on skates. The crossbar is 4ft high and the puck hit a few inches below his armpits. Unless Sid’s swollen head is 28 inches tall, that’s well over 4ft.”
4. If the NHL had disciplined Crosby for his actions in the game against Atlanta, he would not have even been playing in this game.
5. This picture left by another commenter in that Puck Daddy post shows with more lines that the net is only 80 pixels tall in the image, while the distance from the puck to the ice is 91 pixels.  11 pixels isn’t all that much but it’s still something.

I say it was no goal.  But what do I know?  Onto the picks!

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em – I got nothing – 12/22/08

Marc will be taking a short break from Pick ‘em as he is out of the country.

Straight to the picks today!

#13 Pittsburgh Penguins @ #15 Buffalo Sabres

Eric – Penguins – That’s the hooker you asspunched!  Also, they’re due.
Rory – Sabres – Kick Crosby’s ass so he won’t punch you in the crotch.

#21 Toronto Maple Leafs @ #28 Atlanta Thrashers

Eric – Leafs – The only thrash the Thrashers have is Ilya Kovalchuk.
Rory – Leafs – Toronto’s not doin so bad lately. Atlanta on the other hand has lost like 153 games in a row. *gimmie*

#16 Phoenix Coyotes @ #24 Edmonton Oilers

Eric – Coyotes – The Oilers are 4-5-3 at Rexall Place this season.  The Coyotes are terrible on the road.  The coin just landed heads.
Rory – Coyotes – Why not?

#12 Anaheim Ducks @ #11 Vancouver Canucks

Eric – Ducks – The Ducks just lost their goal scoring leader for 4 weeks due to self inflicted injury but they have Jonas Hiller in net!  Go Team Fuckin’ Awesome! *gimmie*
Rory – Ducks – I officially want Vancouver to go down the tubes so $undin can know the wrath that befalls those who reject Henrik Lundqvist. He took you out to dinner, and you don’t even bother to call! I imagine the HL Wrath of Rejection is quite frightening, considering how he acts when he loses a game.

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Crosby the Coward

Dear Gary Bettman,

The last time I checked, you can’t do this in the National Hockey League:

I know you don’t want to bring the hammer down on your snugglebunny and object of your late night fantasies, but you should.  You really should.

Regards,
Rory
Part-time Blogger, Full-time Hockey Fan.

For anyone who couldn’t quite figure out what was in that video, it was The Second Coming of Christ Sidney Crosby getting involved in a scrum in front of the net, and then skating up behind Atlanta defenseman Boris Valabik in a prone position on the ice, on all fours after fighting with another player, and sucker-punches him in the back of the head, and then repeatedly on the lower part of his body.  Upon another viewing, it looks like he decked him in the groin.  Seriously?

Had this been any other player, they would be suspended right now.  If Crosby had been the one getting punched, the guy who punched him would be out of the league without question.  Hell, he’d have been taken out back and shot during the next intermission.

We have seen hits like these before.  Specifically, this one(for some reason, no sound – sorry):

And this one:

Why is Crosby allowed to get away with practically the same thing that ended both of these two players’ careers?  Everyone knows how the Bertuzzi/Moore incident turned out, and Ranger fans know that that was the last game Jeff Beukeboom ever played, and Matt Johnson was suspended for 12 games, which at the time was fairly hefty.  Apparently, in the NHL, you have to end someone’s career or almost kill them for there to be any sort of penalty.

It’s not that I hate Sidney Crosby.  Yes, I despise the fact that he dives (he does), embellishes and looks like a mentally challenged duck.  But, I actually admire the fact that he’s been able to handle the immense pressure and expectations being put on him by the NHL.  They chose him to be the face of the league, and I commend him for not crumbling under the pressure.

That being said, I do think he gets away with some things that other players wouldn’t be able to.  This is one of those things.  However, unlike the Bertuzzi and Beukeboom incidents, what Crosby did wasn’t on it’s own, in the middle of open ice, much like those two were.  That doesn’t make it alright.  You can’t skate up behind a player who is down on all fours, surrounded by other players, and punch him in the back of the head, then proceed to wail on him, while he can’t defend himself.  I don’t care who you are, you cannot do that.  If he had done this to a Ranger, there more than likely would have been some sort of riot at MSG.  Unfortunately for Valabik, the Thrashers suck and no one cares about them, so this goes unnoticed.

As of right now, there has been no mention of a possible suspension for dear, dear Sidney, and I’ll bet you all the money in my bank account that there won’t be.  But I want to go on the record as saying that there should be, and it is disgraceful that just because he is deemed a ‘superstar,’ that he can commit unallowable, and downright cowardly acts of violence.

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em – Zambonis and Crosbys gone wild! – 12/19/08

In yesterday’s game between the Thrashers and Penguins, a fight broke out after the Thrashers’ first goal.  At one point, Sidney Crosby gives Boris Valabik 3 solid punches from behind while teammate Kris Letang held Valabik down.  Crosby was clearly the third man in on this “fight” and he sucker punched Valabik not once, not twice, but three times yet he was only accessed a roughing minor.

The Honda zamboni was so excited to get inside Wrigley field that it jumped off of the truck that was transporting it.  Luckily, no one (including the zamboni) was injured.

Quick! Go look at our picks before Sidney Crosby punches you in the back of the head!

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em – Marc sucks – 12/18/08

No, Mats Sundin hasn’t decided yet. About 10 minutes after this was posted, Sundin announced he will be going to the Canucks… more later

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em – Habs fans should just give up – 12/12/08

Yes, we made picks yesterday and no, we didn’t post them.  We’re sorry.  But just to show our dedication to this, I am revealing to everyone that Marc and I both picked the Habs as our gimmies last night. The Habs lost. To the Lightning.  That’s right, the Lightning.

Last night, I went 5-3 and dropped my first gimmie of the season by picking the Habs over the Bolts.  Marc also went 4-4 and also dropped his gimmie by picking the Habs.  Rory went 3-5 last night but did not pick the Habs as her gimmie.  She went with the Sharks who won.

Oh well.  Let’s get to some news:

Petr Prucha’s days in a Rangers uniform may be numbered.  Andrew Gross over at Ranger Rants has this:

Renney was asked whether Prucha’s latest three-game stint was enough of a sample for him.

“Yup,” Renney said. “If it wasn’t, he would still be in. He gave me everything he could. It depends also on what you need. Nigel is in primarily because of his ability to score and help create offense. Also, he’s a playmaker. He helps, I think, supplement what we might need offensive by his ability to make plays. It’s where we are and what we need to generate. It’s capitalizing on guys that have been out of the lineup that want badly to get back in and do the right thing as they do that.”

So there you have it.  Nigel Dawes: playmaker.  Did anyone actually notice Dawes in that game on Wednesday night?  I mean besides the time in the third when he blew his golden opportunity.

The Islanders got absolutely destroyed last night by the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Enjoy:

Picks coming as soon as I clear all these hats out of the way…

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