For those of you just tuning in, the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final to take a 2-0 series lead heading to Philly.
In the spirit of the Molson Cup Three Stars, here's three noteworthy things I noticed while watching the game on Canada's CBC network:
1. The CBC needs to use some sort of graphic to notify viewers of when the teams are at 4-on-4 strength. Every network has something to identify when a team is on the powerplay, and the same should be done when offsetting minors put the teams each a man down. This was the case following the shove/dive between Jarkko Ruutu of the Pens and Flyers goalie Martin Biron in the third period of tonight's game. Having just switched back over from the Spurs/Hornets NBA game and wiithout anything on the screen to tell me that it was 4 on 4, I first just assumed that the Flyers might be on the power-play and Derian "Worst Skater in the NHL" Hatcher was somewhere out of range of the cameras while trying unsucessfully to keep pace with everyone else on the ice.
2. Speaking of Derian Hatcher, he was absolutely abysmal tonight (which will come as no surprise to Illegal Curve's Neil Rockman, who predicted as much earlier this week). If I didn't know better, I'd assume March of the Penguins was a film about Pittsburgh skaters dancing around Hatcher in the Flyers zone. Not only could Hatcher not hold his own in one-on-one confrontations with the Pens forwards, he also made numerous inexcusably weak clearing attempts from his own zone, the most notable of which led to Maxime Talbot's third period goal. For those of you who watched on CBC, the footage of Hatcher mouthing an expletive-deletive on the bench following that gaffe pretty much summed up his night. He simply couldn't carry the load following the departure of defenseman Braydon Coburn in the first period...not to mention the already-present void represented by the absence of Kimmo Timonen.
3. CBC colour commentator Greg Millen should be commended for his anecdote about why Sidney Crosby plays with a straight bladed stick. Millen shared the story about how Crosby's dad made him play with such a stick growing up in order to develop his passing skills, a sweeping shooting motion, as well as a powerful backhand. This was a great piece of reporting and was delivered at the perfect time -- right after Crosby, after taking a nice pass from Jordan Staal, fired an absolutely sick backhand shot off the crossbar in the third period.
That's all for now -- more to follow in Illegal Curve's coverage of tomorrow's newspapers.
6 comments:
What was with the CBC's sound tonight? You could hardly hear the crowd at all.
I know - their audio technicians need to take a lesson from Fox News: "Fair and Balanced and Always 40% Louder Than Every Other Channel on the Dial".
The crowd noise was so quiet I thought the game was in Detroit.
it was Modry's (I believe) initially weak clearing attempt that caused the turnover to Talbot, not Hatcher.. Hatcher was trying to clean it up but was only able to reach for it one-handed..
there's a reason Hatcher is playing the most minutes.. he's been physically dominant.. in any case, there isn't a Flyers defenseman playing well right now, and the "tripping" call on Hatch was atrocious..
The VS coverage is terrible as well.. Beninati is horrible, and they never talk about the game.. who cares that Tom Glavine is in the stands? I'm tuned in to watch a hockey game, not an aging MLB pitcher.. and what's with the constant angle changes? When there's a rush up ice, they are constantly flipping to different angles, zooming in on the playing making his way up ice .... which means you have no idea what's going on in the play.
there was one point where the announcer mentioned Stevens (Flyers coach) and talked a out him briefly, so the producer decides it's a good idea to stop broadcasting the play and to show a shot of Stevens.. brutal.
it's really the worst coverage I've ever seen in my life.
In any case, the Flyers have not played with any urgency or fire.. they seem completely tentative, afraid to play aggressive (perhaps for fear of getting called for a penalty).. in 5-on-5 play, the Flyers are holding their own, but they seem so tentative about committing a penalty that they're not scrapping for pucks and being aggressive.. if they continue to do so, they will lose.
and would somebody please bench Modry?
Great points all around, and apologies for the Modry/Hatch confusion.
I couldn't agree more about the VS coverage. The angles are terrible and remind me of when I used to play NHL 95 on my computer and would constantly hit the wrong key, leading to an impossible-to-play sideways view that didn't even show the guy with the puck.
Modry's play is worthy of benching but I fear with all the other injuries we'll be seeing Bobby Clarke throwing on a jersey if the trend continues!!
Seriously.. the Flyers are legitimately snake-bitten at this point. Coburn is "doubtful" for game 3, and unless Timonen makes a dramatic return, our defense is without its top two defensemen. All this in the series we most needed those defensemen..
ugh.
Is Kevin Hatcher available?
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