Next?.....Anybody

The Pens should find out the next victim tonight. The Devils and Carolina finish up tonight along with Washington and the New York Whiners. If Carolina and New york win tonight we should be set up with home ice advantage in the second round. As Per the Trib this is the scenarios in which the pens will be facing:

• If New Jersey and Washington win tonight, the Penguins will open at Boston.
• If Washington and Carolina win, the Penguins will open at Washington.
• If New Jersey and New York win, the Penguins will open at New Jersey.
• If Carolina and New York win, the Penguins draw Carolina and home-ice advantage.

Out of those i would pick the last one for home ice. other than that bring it on, But one has to wonder how much fun it would be to watch the Pens face The Capitals in the next round. Malkin against A.O. It would be fun to see Kunitz treating A.O. the same way he did Timmonen last round, on the other hand, The Caps are on the verge of overcoming a 3-1 deficit, so i would imagine they would be on fire to start the next round.

As if everyone didn't already know this but, the Pens removed the "interim tag" from Coach Bylsma. So he will be leading the Pens for a while anyways. How could you turn him down after what he has done for this team down the stretch.

There was also and interesting piece in the Orpik article about former Penguin Ryan Malone.
"A guy like [former Penguins teammate] Ryan Malone, if he had to do it all over again, he'd take a lot less to stay here," Orpik said. "I know at the trade deadline, he was begging to come back here. Anyone would be begging to leave the Circus they call Tampa Bay. Money isn't everything, but he even passed up a chance at Columbus, That would even be a step up. Money isn't everything.

Among all the shit being thrown back and forth about the Epic game 6 against Philly This d-bag brings up the Talbot fight. There is an argument that a fight can't change the momentum of a hockey game, even if your team loses the fight. Now i will be the first to admit that Mad Max got his ass handed to him, but the entire complexion of that game changed from that point on. My opinion is, a fight definitely can change the game, and it usually does. It's no coincidence that when your up a goal or 2 you skate away from the fight. It's not to uncommon to see. Whoever wrote this is probably one of the handful of "so-called" hockey fans that wants to take fighting out of hockey. The Talbot fight was huge and the timing of it was even bigger. This is why fighting should never be removed from the game of hockey. It actually should be inserted into a lot of other sports.

The Pens opponent will be decided tonight and then we can continue this run back the big dance.

Go Pens