Penguins v. Islanders Round 1 Series Thread

[dare2be]

Fleury ties Tom Barrasso in career playoff shutouts.

 

[pixburgher66]

Well, glad I missed THAT atrocity

Good stuff from the whole gang! Great to see MAF get the SO too. Very good for the ego. As I mentioned before this series, I see this for the Isles as being very similar to the Pens first welcome back to the postseason against Ottawa. Growing pains. Pens HAVE to stay out of the box though. That's the area of weakness that they have in this matchup.

RE: injuries. Neal's is very likely an ankle injury, didn't look like knee. My guess is just your run of the mill lateral ankle sprain though. At least that's my hope. That's a few days to a week depending on the person/pain tolerance. That Jokinen/Reasoner hit looked a lot worse live speed. He tried to knee him but just caught ankle. I'm pretty sure Jussi is fine, just in a bit of pain. Not like it was worth putting him out for the last 2 minutes.

Loved the gesture by DB at the end by letting the 4th liners get out there on the PP. That's why players like the guy.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

He got sandwiched into the boards and got up gimpy early in the 2nd. Tried to go another shift but hasn't returned. Not sure exactly what or how serious.

Neal didn't get sandwiched into the boards. It was a clean hit by Hamonic.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Isles gooning it up. Hope Jokinen is ok.

The Penguins made the mistake of hitting Tavares a couple of times on his last shift. Reasoner will never be considered a dirty player, however YOU DON'T HIT TAVARES. It's that simple. Reasoner was as healthy scratch the last 10 games of the season. Cappy said there could be some lineup changes for Game 2. I don't expect Reasoner in the lineup. I hope Strait is scractched as well. I'd rather see Carkner. The Isles might not win, but they'll at least make things interesting.:

 

[Dacks]

Neal didn't get sandwiched into the boards. It was a clean hit by Hamonic.

He wasn't implying it was dirty - just meant that Neal was the meat between two pieces of bread (Hamonic and the boards).

Neal skated off so hopefully it's just a minor ankle sprain and he misses maybe a game or two at the worst.

 

[Jared]

Hitting Tavares is exactly what you do. Not playing dirty, but hitting him each and every time he touches the puck. He didn't seem to like it very much.

 

[dare2be]

He wasn't implying it was dirty - just meant that Neal was the meat between two pieces of bread (Hamonic and the boards).

Neal skated off so hopefully it's just a minor ankle sprain and he misses maybe a game or two at the worst.

Precisely, not dirty at all. Just explaining how he got injured.

 

[evolver115]

The Penguins made the mistake of hitting Tavares a couple of times on his last shift. Reasoner will never be considered a dirty player, however YOU DON'T HIT TAVARES. It's that simple. Reasoner was as healthy scratch the last 10 games of the season. Cappy said there could be some lineup changes for Game 2. I don't expect Reasoner in the lineup. I hope Strait is scractched as well. I'd rather see Carkner. The Isles might not win, but they'll at least make things interesting.:

Tavares might as well not dress for the rest of the series, then. He was getting his butt kicked basically from the drop of the puck. It worked, too.. As he was largely irrelevant in game one.

As for Neal, it wasn't the hit that hurt him. More like the slash he took prior to Dupuis' goal in the second.

 

[evolver115]

Eh, I was wrong. It was the hit. Look at this replay.

 

[forty_three]

Perhaps someone should have told the Isles there was a game last night.

 

[element1286]

Hitting Tavares is exactly what you do. Not playing dirty, but hitting him each and every time he touches the puck. He didn't seem to like it very much.

Yep for sure, it was clear in the second period after a Letang hit (one of many) JT didn't want to be out there anymore.

 

[dare2be]

Welcome to the playoffs, JT.

 

[Jared]

By the end of the game Tavares was pretty agitated (understandably so) and seemed to running around looking to level people.

This is exactly what you want if you are the Pens. Their star player ingnoring offense and trying to get revenge. Granted, it was the end of a 5-0 game. But if that's all it takes to get in his head and this kind of thing keeps up for the rest of this series, it will be short.

 

[thedddd]

By the end of the game Tavares was pretty agitated (understandably so) and seemed to running around looking to level people.

This is exactly what you want if you are the Pens. Their star player ingnoring offense and trying to get revenge. Granted, it was the end of a 5-0 game. But if that's all it takes to get in his head and this kind of thing keeps up for the rest of this series, it will be short.

Exactly and they should not stop. I didn't think it was dirty by any means. Heck the same happened to Crosby in his first series and it worked.

As for the Reasoner hit I highly doubt he was trying to cheap shot Jokinen since he isn't a dirty player but it was heated at that time, with that said I doubt it is suspension worthy.

 

[element1286]

Exactly and they should not stop. I didn't think it was dirty by any means. Heck the same happened to Crosby in his first series and it worked.

As for the Reasoner hit I highly doubt he was trying to cheap shot Jokinen since he isn't a dirty player but it was heated at that time, with that said I doubt it is suspension worthy.

Not so sure he was in the "I'm gonna injure someone" mindset, but he definitely attempted to knee Jokinen. Whether that was because he was overzealous and was trying to be physical, or he had intentions on taking someone out is impossible to determine. But he most certainly stuck his knee out, he just missed.

 

[pixburgher66]

There was nothing really dirty last night. Some darn good hitting from what I've watched. Neal injury was just weird, and Jokinen hit was really just a trip because Reasoner simply missed. That said, it won't stop the Pens from hitting JT day and night. Sure, they'll get hit back, but that's hockey. Good legal hits on him too. Though that Letang one would probably be whistled for interference in the regular season.

 

[loki604]

Love to see Beau cash in. After watching a bunch of Eric Tangradis parade onto this roster over the years, it's finally good to see a young forward with genuine talent come up through the pipes. Not that I see criticism of this here, but a lot of people get on Disco for not playing young kids enough. I think he does when they actually show flashes of talent (while also playing responsible hockey). While their games obviously aren't the same, the talent disparity and hockey sense between a Tangradi and a Bennett is night and day.

Great show by the Pens. The Islanders looked overwhelmed but they will be tomorrow. This Pens team has such a different attitude coming in than they did last year. I know they won't underestimate the Isle after one lopsided victory.

Tavares was completely shutdown - held without a shot I believe? It will be interesting to see how he in particular responds.

All the new guys are totally killing it. Loving Murray's game.

 

[element1286]

There was nothing really dirty last night. Some darn good hitting from what I've watched. Neal injury was just weird, and Jokinen hit was really just a trip because Reasoner simply missed. That said, it won't stop the Pens from hitting JT day and night. Sure, they'll get hit back, but that's hockey. Good legal hits on him too. Though that Letang one would probably be whistled for interference in the regular season.

Yep, hopefully he isn't out long, it's his ankle and he is in a boot. Hopefully that means just a sprain.

 

[thedddd]

Not so sure he was in the "I'm gonna injure someone" mindset, but he definitely attempted to knee Jokinen. Whether that was because he was overzealous and was trying to be physical, or he had intentions on taking someone out is impossible to determine. But he most certainly stuck his knee out, he just missed.

Yeah I don't get it either and I agree 100%. I feel he won't get any extra outside what happened during the game.

Maybe it was the decade since the last time he played in a NHL playoff game and he got caught in the moment? But it was very odd/stupid to say the least.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Tavares might as well not dress for the rest of the series, then. He was getting his butt kicked basically from the drop of the puck. It worked, too.. As he was largely irrelevant in game one.

As for Neal, it wasn't the hit that hurt him. More like the slash he took prior to Dupuis' goal in the second.

I agree that the Pens need to by physical with Tavares. However, there are two things to keep in mind.

1.The main reason the brawl game took place is because the Isles were ticked off at all the liberties teams were taking with Tavares. They simply had enough.

2.The Islanders didn't goon it up last night. Carkner & Boulton weren't in the lineup. Like I said earlier, Cappy said there could be lineup changes. I like Boulton where he is, in the pressbox. Carkner might be a liability on D due to his lack of skating ability, but he does add a lot of toughness to the roster. He won't take any crap from anybody & will be the first guy to defend his teamates. I expect him to play in game 2. We shall see.