Did you see my ninjas at work? Of course you didn't, I told you my eyes weren't REALLY shifting sneakily.
In what can only be considered a lopsided affair between the Penguins and the Grif-I mean, Red Wings last night, the Penguins got to do...well, pretty much whatever they wanted, opening their new hole in the ground with a victory. That they can actually be proud of the win is something I would heavily debate; however, as far as the Associated Press is concerned, you may as well say that Pittsburgh beat Detroit's A-game roster!
From the AP: "With a sellout crowd of 18,087 and both teams using much of their “A” lineups, the $321 million arena opened with an almost regular-season intensity."
Really? Are you absolutely sure about that, AP...? Let's take a closer look.
Top 2 Scratched PIT forwards: Jordan Staal, Chris Kunitz
Top 2 Scratched DET forwards: Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterburg
Top 2 Scratched PIT defense: Paul Martin, Alex Goligoski
Top 2 Scratched DET defense: Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski
Starting PIT G: M.A.Fleury
Starting DET G: Chris Osgood
The Associated Press considers this to be an evenly matched game. Hmm...I have doubts about the objective integrity of a news source when "most" of our A roster means Brad Stuart is our top defenseman. At any rate, I knew well enough to keep my hopes low for this game and boy am I glad I did. It was nice to give the youngins some actual gametime; that by no means translated into it being a pretty sight.
The bright spot for me through all of this was Thomas McCollum's shutout period in the third. Very promising start for the prospect goaltender, especially in the wake of Osgood's efforts through 40 minutes. On the other end, the biggest disappointment had to be Brian Lashoff at a miserable -4 on the night. Someone on Twitter said it best last night by stating he should change name to Brian Leftoff...as in, the roster.
What can we take from this? Well, we know that if Grand Rapids ever played Pittsburgh, chances are they'd lose. Beyond that, it was a great learning experience for the prospects. Almost all of our star power was benched from the game, the biggest star we had out went down for the game with a charlie horse, what did people really expect? I asked to see the game kept close, which happened for about...close to half the game. As soon as the score went to 4-1 it was a write-off, stop worrying about it and look forward to the next game.
Speaking of next game, I'll be curious to see the projected roster for the game Friday against the Blackhawks. It'll be interesting to see if the marquee on the Wings side is a bit more sparkly this time around, or whether our studs will be getting more rest. Have to wait and see.
Till then, Wingnuts! Let's Go Red Wings!!
P.S.: I will be reprimanding my ninjas for not doing more serious damage to the unholy one.
