2010-2011 NHL season

Wow! Didn't know they had that type of comeback in them.

 

Eric Duhatschek on the Sid/Ov rivalry: there ain't one. Sid is smoking everyone.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/eric-duhatschek/like-wayne-gretzky-in-his-prime-sidney-crosby-is-head-and-shoulders-above-the-competition/article1827306/



It may be a bit premature but Sid is carrying the Penguins on his back

 

Ovechkin is struggling right now to his standards, but I still believe he's in the same league as Crosby, same thing with Stamkos.

Sid is on a hot streak right now, and he's definitely carrying the Penguins on his back, but better goaltending from Fleury is a big reason why the Penguins are currently one of the best teams in the NHL right now. Fleury struggled off the bat and Johnson was getting most of the minutes. Fleury was able to turn it around, so were the other penguins.

 

Ovechkin has scored twice in his last 10 games. That's struggling by any goal scorer's standard. No doubt Crosby is playing out of his mind right now. It's a long year. The Penguins will fall into a funk and Ovechkin will get hot and so will the Caps. Boudreau commented before the Leafs' game last night that guys weren't playing hard enough in the dirty areas to score goals. Of course, scoring wasn't the issue last night. Gakking a three-goal lead against a team that was struggling like that on the road is inexcusable.

 

Interesting numbers between Crosby and Ovechkin since the Olympics.

Crosby - 32 goals, 77 points in 48 regular-season games
Ovechkin - 19 goals, 54 points in 46 regular-season games

 

Offensively, yes, Crosby is carrying the Penguins. I have a feeling that may change at least a little when Staal returns and Malkin gets his knee right.

But the reason the Penguins have won 10 in a row and are 12-0-1 in their last 13 is because they are playing tremendous team defense. Fleury has been very good, but the guys in front of him have been just as stellar. Kris Letang is having a monster season. Brooks Orpik is solid as usual, Zybynek Michalek and Paul Martin finally look comfortable (and are shining), and Alex Goligoski and Deryk Engelland are a pretty solid third grouping. And the forwards are cleaning everything up on their end.

It's a long season and there will be more bumps, but I like the Pens' chances of not falling into a major funk. They were pretty awful the first five weeks, but now they really seem to know how to play together as a team. The big questions are whether Staal's return throws off the chemistry (I don't expect it will) and whether Malkin can go back to being the player he was two years ago (not sure about that one).

 

The question with Malkin is does he have the desire to be that player. He looks disinterested half the time.

 

Absolutely right. And it seems clear he does nearly nothing to improve his game in the offseason. That is what bothers me the most. You have a teammate like Crosby who kills himself to improve at things where he isn't strong, and Malkin seems content to rely on his god-given talent. That only works for a special few people, and he doesn't seem to be one of them.

 

"Bumps" was more of what I was going for, rather than funk. Caps have hit a bump. Pens will probably hit one too. Caps struggled to score for two straight nights then let off the gas last night inexplicably. As a fan, I'm actually kind of happy to see this happening now, because it might open some eyes of the players/coaching staff for faults to fix before the playoffs. Everything came so freaking easy for this team last year. Adversity is not a bad thing if used as a teaching tool.

 

Montreal Canadiens take care of the Sens last night winning the game 4-1. Another strong performance by the whole team, they played well defensively, and capatilized on some mistakes from the Sens. Price is now at 17 wins for the season and he's been arguably the best goalie of the year thus far, you can make an argument for Tim Thomas.

A lot of people didn't believe Price could win in Montreal, even a few members on these forums didn't think he could win. I stood behind Price and liked the trade of Halak. I know it's still early, and anything can happen but you got to admit that Price is proving a lot of people wrong right now.

 

Price has been great. He's shown a lot of character and focus that many weren't sure he had, and he's a huge reason they are where they are in the standings. Will be intriguing to see if he can continue this all year. No reason to suspect he won't.

That all said, his true test will start in April. Montreal fans won't care so much about a great regular season if he doesn't get it done in the postseason. After what Halak did last spring, Price has big shoes to fill in that regard. It will be fun to see if he can do it.

 

I totally agree with you, I've been a fan since '92, so I know how much pressure Montreal fans put on their players especially when playoffs come rolling around.

Price hasn't shown he can win in the Playoffs either, his numbers are pretty ugly.

He's 5-11 with a 3.17 gaa, and his save percentage is at .878. He'll definitely need to improve those those numbers. Especially after Halak's performance last season(like you mentioned).

The biggest thing for Price is that he got his confidence back, and it seemed like he really grew up this off-season. Trading Halak was the best thing for him. It made him realize that the organization really wanted him, and had confidence of him being the goalie of the future. Hopefully he'll be able to maintain this.