http://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/The Ultimate Fantasy Sports BlogCopywrite Rotowire.com 2009

• Maxime Talbot got both his wishes tonight -- he got to hoist the Cup and whisper "you picked the wrong team" while shaking Marian Hossa's hand.
  

• Sucks to be Ty Conklin, eh?

]]>http://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Playoff%2DObservations%2D%2D%2D%2DStanley%2DCup%2DGame%2D7-BBD1128.htmhttp://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Playoff%2DObservations%2D%2D%2D%2DStanley%2DCup%2DGame%2D7-BBD1128.htmFri, 12 Jun 2009 09:00 PM 0000"That Kid just ain't right."

Earlier this series, the Pittsburgh faithful put out an APB for Sidney Crosby's favorite stick. But now, it seems there's a lot more to worry about.
]]>http://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Whats%2Dup%2Dwith%2DSidney%2DCrosby-BBD1124.htmhttp://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Whats%2Dup%2Dwith%2DSidney%2DCrosby-BBD1124.htmThu, 11 Jun 2009 51:00 PM 0000

• Who's the better goalie -- Marc-Andre Fleury or Rob Scuderi? Kick save of the season.
  

• Whatever you do, DO NOT listen to the Penguins' radio broadcast team. If I hear another over-wrought, wildly tangential play call, I'm gonna drive to Pennsylvania myself with mp3s of real broadcasters. The volunteers who do junior games on cable up here are way better. WTF does "they have the turkey on the table" actually mean, any way?

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• The music guy in Joe Louis Arena should have been playing U2's With or Without You. All of a sudden, Pavel Datsyuk and the Hart trophy don't seem like such strange bedfellows any more.
  

• Marian Hossa is gripping his stick harder than the guy at the urinal who's just had someone speak to him. Stage fright is a terrible thing.

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• Is it me or are the Wings slowing down? The tank looks low after three in four and four in six. Henrik Zetterberg looks exhausted.

• Evgeni Malkin -- 23 points in his last 11 games. I'm telling you -- powered by borscht. I can't wait to see how good this guy can be. 

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• I was ready to award the Cup to the Wings after that second period. Sort of like a cat with a mouse. Or a dominatrix with the diapered guy she keeps in the barn. Ooops, sorry -- talking about my neighbour again. Got all mixed up there.
  

• And to think the metric system here in Canada gets criticized -- what about Pittsburgh math? I know how I count to five; I can fit them all on one hand AND the ice at the same time.

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• The Wings are to the Pens as synthetic oil is to conventional. Discuss.

• Scott Walker had his automatic one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the last five minutes of a game dropped to a measly $2,500 fine. What will Evgeni Malkin's be reduced to? I'm beginning to think the NHL rule book has pop-up pages you find in kids' books.
  

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• Henrik Zetterberg has a big butt. How else did the ref miss Zett's hand closing on the puck on Chris Osgood's back? Maybe he was staring like ol' Sir Mix-A-Lot. Blown call.
  

• Marc-Andre Fleury pulled the old 'how I lost the World Junior Championships for Team Canada' trick in the third, skating out to play the puck and almost flipping it straight into the oncoming Red Wing. At least he didn't trip leading his team onto the ice this year.

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• Cristobal Huet channelled both the Amazing Kreskin and Rubberboy with that on-his-belly, mind-over-matter leg save on Marian Hossa in the dying seconds of the third. He saved the game... at least for a few moments.
  

• Not that long ago, a shot off the backboards was considered a complete duffer. Now, it's good strategy. I have to tell my beer league buddies that -- we'd look mighty fine under those rules.

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• Beard comparison -- Eric Cole has more facial hair than Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and about half of the state of Pennsylvania. And those are the women.
  

• When was the last time you saw a team captain touch -- let alone pick up -- the conference trophy? I was stunned. They usually treat that thing like it's contagious.
  

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• Charles Atlas vs. the 98-pound weakling. Not only did the Blackhawks get sand kicked in their eyes but they got their undies wedged up so far it felt like butt floss. What a spanking.

• Marian Hossa scored 40 in the regular season. But in the playoffs, he only scores in Game 4s of each series. And then he scores twice... every time. Guess it takes him until the fourth date to really get comfy.

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• Super Gino strikes again -- two goals and a helper this time. Evgeni Malkin credits his recent outstanding play to his parents' arrival from Russia and specifically his mother's homemade soup. You read that right. Gino is powered by borscht. He's full of beef, beets, beans, cabbage and potatoes. No wonder no one wants to go near him.
  

• And here Eric Staal thought finding a cab in Pittsburgh was tough. Try finding the net. Three games, no goals, one helper, minus-6 and 12 shots. Maybe Mrs. Malkin can help him, too.

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• Martin Havlat was texting while driving, dropped his phone in his feet and was flattened by a Mack truck named Niklas Kronwall. What's the squatty Swede supposed to do? Swerve to miss him? The hit seemed clean to me; the fur pile that ensued -- right on top of the momentarily unconscious Hawk -- was a bit too kinky for me, though.

• Women really do crazy for a Sharp Dressed Man. Finally, studly sniper Patrick Sharp showed up. Maybe, just maybe, Joel Quenneville will figure out that you don't play your shooters on the third and fourth line. Remember, compact flourescent light bulbs always flicker a few times before they come on.

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• It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's Super Gino! Evgeni Malkin was un-freaking-believable. That one-bull, pseudo wrap-around,  backhand shelf, solo goal for number three was absolutely stunning.
  

• It's hard to believe that it took Chris Kunitz 15 post-season games to pot his first goal. Ya, he's contributing in other ways but I expected more. You can't get a much better centerman than the one he has.

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• Ever notice how the cream always rises to the top? Jonathan Toews rebounded after a sub-par effort in Game 1. And he's only 20 years old. I'm telling you -- he's either channelling Steve Yzerman or Joe Sakic; take your pick. Either one carried his team like a sherpa.

• Weird stat. The Red Wings have allowed a power-play goal in in a franchise-record 11 straight playoff games. It's the league's longest streak during a single post-season in a couple of decades. Something like this could catch up to them at a really bad time.
  

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• A concussion led to a Carolina loss. Hear me out. Matt Cullen pulled up as a hit arrived and pitched the puck over the glass instead of out of the zone. Man advantage Pittsburgh and a 3-1 lead. He heard footsteps and flinched -- he needed to take the hit and get the puck out safely.
  

• Marc-Andre Fleury should have been sentenced to two years less a day for the kind of heists he pulled off, particularly with that glove.

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• Was it just me or did it seem as though the Hawks never really got out of their zone, at least after the 10 minute mark of the first? 

• Can you say deer in the headlights? Patrick Kane had zero shots on net. Jonathan Toews was a bit better -- he had three. But both were minus-3.

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• Drama, tension, intrigue -- now that's what Game 7s should be like. Oh how I wish the Caps-Pens game had followed the script of either of tonight's battles.

• What's up with Pavel Datsyuk? One goal in his last nine and five points in 11 games. He shook that can't score in the playoffs label last season but he's back at it this year. Which is the anomaly?

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• Sidney Crosby came to play; Alexander Ovechkin came to pout. I haven't seen that kind of petulance since Team Russia's loss at the World Junior Championships. Embarrassing.
  

• Remember -- Simeon Varlamov is a a 21-year-old kid. He'll be very, very good... some day. He's too young to have the kind of resilience needed to recover from two goals in an eight-second span.

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• Who went and woke up the bears? The Bruins toyed with the Canes the way a bear plays with a human it chased up a tree. The inevitable seems in sight... unless someone comes by with a pot of honey or a basket of blueberries. I'm not sure they have either right now in Raleigh.
  

• Ryan Getzlaf really is the guy Joe Thornton needs to be. I know I've said it before but that sequence in the second where he flattened a guy behind his own net, carried the puck all the way up and then ultimately scored on a crappy shot in the blue paint was flat out studly. Studly, I say.
  

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Alexander Edler joins Tom Poti in the own-goal hall-of-fame. Tough break for a guy with only two full seasons under his belt.

• Patrick Kane has some of the silkiest hands out there. He's going to make some woman very, very happy some day.

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• You think Juicy Jussi Jokinen is going to get any sleep in the next couple of days? Talk about night terrors. First there's 6-9, 265 Zdeno Chara. Then there's 6-2 220 Milan Lucic. Next up, Scott Thornton -- 6-1, 210. Ouch.
  

• Johan Franzen has 18 goals in his last 19 playoff games. Most productive mule ever.

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• Own goals. Steve Smith is still at the top of the list but Tom Poti could end up right behind him. 

• Looked up freight train on Wikipedia; found Andrew Ladd's picture. That hit on Mattias Ohlund was devastating.

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• Sergei Gonchar zigged and ended up zagged... in a big way. Knee-on-knee? Yes and no. That zig turned it from a shoulder to a knee but when exactly do we blame the victim? Oh ya, when it's a superstar. Alexander Ovechkin isn't likely to face suspension.

• I think Simeon Varlamov got into the chewy candy because three, if not four, of those goals were mighty soft. Ditto Tim Thomas -- he wants a couple of those back. BTW, he hadn't lost three straight since October.

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• Look what happens when two guys stop bickering about who's going to lead and just go with the flow of same-sex ballroom dancing. Andrew Ladd and Martin Havlat hadn't done diddly this series but look where we are now.
  

• Is grand theft a misdemeanour? I thought Roberto Luongo was going to steal that game ... but that's only if anyone but the fourth line can score. Darcy Hordichuk leads the charge? Pull-eeze.
  

]]>http://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Playoff%2DObservations%2D%2D%2D%2DThursday%2DNight-BBD1019.htmhttp://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Playoff%2DObservations%2D%2D%2D%2DThursday%2DNight-BBD1019.htmThu, 7 May 2009 47:00 PM 0000