Playoff GDT: Round II, Game I - Pens @ Caps

[Dickie Dunn]

Few things look finer than Horny with an A on his chest.

[Jim]

What does selling out mean?

Making money from your music as opposed to just going to little dank hole venues where oddballs with torn black clothes and black s*** on their eyes can watch you and pretend like their life matters... ? Maybe.

[mikey]

Matt Murray is Green Day...?

[nocera]

What does selling out mean?

Making money from your music as opposed to just going to little dank hole venues where oddballs with torn black clothes and black s*** on their eyes can watch you and pretend like their life matters... ? Maybe.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

They were in Baseketball.

NEXT!

[mac5155]

any pics of the pens fans on the steps by the arena.. national library or whatever building?
</doublewinder>

[NailedPenguin]

Am I the only one that doesn't like that crap? I mean its good because it means a Penguins win, but I think its a gigantically douchey thing to do.

[mac5155]

Why? lol. Been happening since the 90s.

[Ad@m]

https://mobile.twitter.com/PensKnittngL ... 5430423558

[mac5155]

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

The photoshop with Phil in the background is too good.

[dodint]

Am I the only one that doesn't like that crap? I mean its good because it means a Penguins win, but I think its a gigantically douchey thing to do.

When the Caps go out of their way to blockade Pens fans from getting tickets to the game (insecure much?) I think they invite this kind or retaliation.

[mac5155]

Am I the only one that doesn't like that crap? I mean its good because it means a Penguins win, but I think its a gigantically douchey thing to do.

When the Caps go out of their way to blockade Pens fans from getting tickets to the game (insecure much?) I think they invite this kind or retaliation.

The sad part is they block people from buying if they live in Pittsburgh... these people probably all live in DC.

[NailedPenguin]

I just think of some fan base doing it in pittsburgh somewhere and it going over really well.

[NailedPenguin]

Also they were chanting "You Can Beat Us" which was something the douchey Flyers fans did in 2012. Granted, its more true in this case, but it was still something done by Flyers fans.

[nocera]

If it was done as a way to celebrate the win with fellow Pens fans, it'd be all fine and dandy. That's not the purpose, though. The purpose is the chant and point at passing Caps fans to rub the loss in their faces. That's when it steps into ****** territory.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Nah Flyers fans just spend $10 on full beers to throw at people.

[NTP66]

They should all just walk home, eyes straight, without a word. Just how god intended.

[The U]

ZAR has slowed down a bit. Do you think his lack of impact has to due with his injury (probably still battling through it) or simply the fact that he's no longer playing with Sid? He's had a few nice hits but otherwise has been pretty quiet.

[nocera]

They should all just walk home, eyes straight, without a word. Just how god intended.

Nah, man. Celebrate, high five, yell, whatever. But do we really need to point and laugh? They're losers. They know they're losers. They don't need us to tell them that.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

To rub it in because **** them.

[NTP66]

They should all just walk home, eyes straight, without a word. Just how god intended.

Nah, man. Celebrate, high five, yell, whatever. But do we really need to point and laugh? They're losers. They know they're losers. They don't need us to tell them that.

I don't think it's a big deal, is all. It's not like they're tossing beer cans at them.

[nocera]

I don't think it's a big deal either. I think I'm just bored and looking to take an unnecessary stand against something.

[NTP66]

I don't think it's a big deal either. I think I'm just bored and looking to take an unnecessary stand against something.

I agree. Eat a Snickers, dodint.

[Dan H]

You're doing it and I wish you wouldn't do it

Eh, I mean, I know.

But the homerism that comes with saying the only two goals a team gives up were 'unstoppable' is just as bitter to me as my writing is to you.

They don't win that game without that stellar effort from Murray, though. I'm happy to say.

The first goal was far from unstoppable. But. It is a breakaway from a highly highly skilled player as the first shot of the game 30 seconds in. Who gives a sht where it went in the net.

The OV shot. That’s as unstoppable as a shot can be. Right by Murray’s ear off the rush coming from the most deadly shooter to ever live.

At the risk of feeding the haters: don't you think that, in theory, Murray could have "stopped the shot" by selling out on the shot and coming farther out to cut the angle down? Of course that makes it easier for Ovechkin to deke around him, and since it came off a 2-on-1 also makes it easier for a pass across to be tapped into an open net... but in theory Murray could have backed in perfectly, given Ovechkin nothing, and relied on his defenseman to stop the pass across, right? So then "unstoppable as a shot can be" means something more like "if you're playing the percentages, which good goalies tend to do, this exact shot is almost impossible to stop."

Keep in mind my goaltending experience is almost limited to being the guy who stands in net when my beer league goalie is too drunk to show up - so I'm genuinely curious how real goalies view that sort of situation.

*There is zero snark in any of the below post*

What else do you want him and Dumo to do exactly? They both played it damn near perfect. Dumo waits until the last second then forced OV to make a decision. Murray is two feet out of his blue. What does selling out mean?

I'm kind of spitballing here, but I guess the hypothesis I expect you to tear apart is that if Murray were six feet out of his blue instead of two feet, he has completely cut down that (vertical) angle and Ovechkin can't hit that shot anymore. Maybe he needs to be all the way out by the hash marks to do that, but it's definitely true that there's some position in which Murray is completely blocking the goal from the point where Ovechkin shot the puck. That's "selling out on the shot" because if Murray comes out that far, Ovechkin probably just dekes right around him instead of shooting it... but in theory if Murray were Superman he could skate backwards quickly enough to always give Ovechkin nothing. And maybe there the argument kind of falls apart?

Basically I have a gut suspicion that a good goalie (such as Murray) will prevent a goal in that exact situation something like half the time or better even assuming a great shot from the shooter. Doing so probably involves challenging the shot more aggressively than Murray did in this instance - he doesn't move very much here after he sets up just outside the crease. And so I'm skeptical of claims that the shot is basically unstoppable. To me it feels more like a situation in which Murray didn't play it badly, but didn't play it perfectly either and got beat by a good shot that maybe he could have prevented some of the time. But I'm interested in if goalies think I'm way off base here.

It's also worth noting (not for Meow, but for the Murray haterz out there) that it would be pretty unfair to nitpick just the goals against and not look at the whole game. Among other plays, Murray made two blocker saves on open-net looks to his right that were probably as dangerous as the Ovechkin 2-on-1. No goalie (save the immortal Scott Foster) is going to never make exploitable mistakes. Arguments that a goalie is terrible because of one or two cherry-picked plays are just as weak as arguments that shots are literally unstoppable.