Some Thoughts on the Finals

Since I have been away for the last couple of days I just wanted to say a few things about the Stanley Cup Finals since I haven't yet.

The Penguins are trying to make the fancy play instead of the simple play and that is what is killing them in this series. Instead of trying to put the puck on net in the first two games, they tried making that final pass to get the highlight reel goal and Detroit is just too good for that too happen. The Penguins played much better when they got the puck on net and just tried to grind it in. Hence the Game 3 win.

A lot has been said about Detroit's domination in Games 1 and 2 but I think that if Pittsburgh can keep this intensity and pace they could make a series of it. This was a more entertaining game than the first two and I think that the crowd had a lot to do with that. In that 7 minute stretch in the middle of the third period, the crowd in Pittsburgh was just loud enough to drown out Bob Cole's play by play. The back and forth action of Game 3 will make for a more entertaining series and most likely if this continues, we will see an overtime game here in this series and nothing is more entertaining than overtime hockey.

Tomas Holmstrom has to be frustrating Hal Gill and the Penguin defenders and it definitely showed during this game. The two consecutive cross-checking penalties in front of the net were just plain undisciplined and stupid. Holmstrom has been crashing the net all series and is just getting under the skin of the Penguins defenders. I counted at least three times that Holmstrom's helmet came off during the pushing and shoving after the play.

It is always good to see the CBC coverage of these games because it is just so seemless and produced so much better. Pierre McGuire annoys me between the glass and I have never been fond of Doc Emerick. His calls are alright but the pitch of his voice just seems to get on my nerves. Bob Cole has done an alright job of calling this series but has stumbled a bit. The one thing that Cole can do though is frame a scenario and he did that pretty well during the third period of Game 3.