One look at Henrik Zetterberg's chin accuaretly depicts the story that life without Pavel Datsyuk has been a challenge for the Winged Wheels.
Hank will be joing ZZ TOP for their upcoming tour with Aerosmith. He has the beard and the blues chops to do the job, thanks to Sidney Crosby.
Zetterberg has done yeoman's working by velcroing himself to Sidney Crosby every opportunity that he gets. Babcock won the matchup Zetterberg vs. Crosby matchup in Detroit, where last change benefits the home squad. Daytwa left home with a 2-0 lead in its pocket. Runaway train? Not so much. In Da Burgh, Bylsma was able to Harry Houdini #87 away from #40. The result: The Pens win two on home ice.
Its now a best of three and Babcock has two advantages:
1). Last line change.
2). Pavel Datsyuk will play in Game 5.
The game of cat and mouse continues.
Zetterberg will continue to do his dead level best to blanket Sid in all three areas of the ice. Its not known what the extent of Datsyuk's injury is. He himself proclaimed himself ready to palky in Game 4. His coach gave him an extra game off just to be on the safe side.
With all this attention being paid to by the Wings to Sid, they are allowing Geno to get his feet and hands moving. To me, 71 has looked like Cam Neely in these Playoffs. The guy is a freakin beast. Big, strong, mean, and commiytted to th cause. Unlike last year's Playoffs, Malkin's dauber is up and he's playing with the type of passion and power that team leaders need to bring to the rink in order to win Lord Stanley's Mug.
I still like the Pens in 7.
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Kudos to Chicago Blackhawk rover/Dman, Brian Campbell.
He stole the Tragically Hip show in Lewiston, NY on Thursday night.
Soup and his buds were robust and animated in their appreciation of the Hip's new and old material. There were points throughout the 3 hour, two set show, that Soupy was on the shoulders of his linemates, inciting the crowd to sing and dance! Dude was off the chain!
Soup told me that he had driven in to Lewiston for the night just to attend the second show of four sold out gigs that The Hip had booked at Artpark.
The band was as polished and perfect as ever. Great new material from their new cd, "We Are All The Same".
My favourites of the night were the oldies for 1993: "El Dorado", "Fully Completely", and "Locked In The Trunk Of A Car".
I caught up with Soup after the show and told him that the Pens had just defeated the Wings, 4-2. He smiled and told me that he's never seen end boards in an NHL rink like the ones at The Joe. You'll recall that the Hawks' Playoff dreams were smashed in OT when the slap pass from the slot hit the end wall behing Huet and Holmstrom directed at the net... tap in.. series over. Damn shame.
"We'll be back next season. we have a great young team and this will help us", Soup proclaimed.
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Good to see Sabre Patty Kaleta and his crew at The Hip show, as well as Sabre former and Kingstn native, Tony McKegney.
Photo journalist and extraordinaire, Bill Wippert, ever The Hip pimp, was spotted front row with his magical camera trained on the band the whole time. Attaboy, Wip!
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Hip heads will love this gem!
Alex Lifeson from Rush joined Gord and the boys on stage at Massey Hall in The Big Smoke on May 19. Alex jammed the encores.
They blistered through " The Last Recluse" and "Little Bones".Check it:
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