Playoffs!!!
Apr. 12th, 2015 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkWith a 2-0 win against Buffalo in the last game of the regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins make the playoffs! I didn't stay up to watch the game and I knew that I would be very nervous this morning, but before I could even check the score I got a text message from DD saying "oh thank god", that was a relief.
Wow, this year it was close. No wonder, with three of our top four defenseman out (four of the top 6, at the very end, crazy.) Pens play the Rangers in the first round. I don't have high expectations, or any, really, because of the injuries: I do think that with Tanger and Maatta and Duper this team would have a good chance, but alas. (Speaking of Olli, his brother is called Antti Maatta (story). I think that's hilarious.) I'm really happy that we made it, especially for Sid (look at stuff like this), team MVP and league leader in shutouts Flower, Geno, Horny...
I still hate Marc Staal. If the unexpected happens and we do beat the Rangers, that'd be awesome. But no pressure, that's also nice.
Kings and Bruins didn't make it! I felt a bit sorry for their fans, but I can't say I was particularly sad about it. Calgary and Ottawa were very good stories, but I don't think they'll make it past the first round.
I still have to think about my picks for the NHL Bracket challenge. It's always hard to decide between picking what I want to happen and what I think will happen.
In non-hockey news, motorway driving is boring, but not hard. (Except in cities sometimes when the street signs are bad and you don't know where to go.) Not exactly news, but I got some practice. We drove 7 hours to my grandparents on Thursday and then back again yesterday for my grandmother's 70th birthday on Friday. I found out I don't like German motorways, apparently "no tempo limit" translates to "everyone drives as fast as they want and for some reason overall it's slower" and also less comfortable. (LB drove the majority of the way, for some reason I was really tired yesterday.)
The birthday party was nice, a lot of family we haven't seen in a while (I didn't realize there was so much drama in that family, almost country cliché at times, but it all went fine), the food was delicious and plentiful, and our musical numbers (a "Happy Birthday" arrangement where all kids and grandkids, ten overall, played an instrument, and 8 Udo Jürgens songs my dad re-texted) were well received.
I really enjoyed my new e-book reader :) It's very light. DD recced me the book she used to distract herself from hockey anxiety and I enjoyed it a lot, I might have another Yuletide fandom. More later, I should probably eat something now.
Right now my dad is running the Vienna City marathon, fingers crossed it goes well for him :)
Wow, this year it was close. No wonder, with three of our top four defenseman out (four of the top 6, at the very end, crazy.) Pens play the Rangers in the first round. I don't have high expectations, or any, really, because of the injuries: I do think that with Tanger and Maatta and Duper this team would have a good chance, but alas. (Speaking of Olli, his brother is called Antti Maatta (story). I think that's hilarious.) I'm really happy that we made it, especially for Sid (look at stuff like this), team MVP and league leader in shutouts Flower, Geno, Horny...
I still hate Marc Staal. If the unexpected happens and we do beat the Rangers, that'd be awesome. But no pressure, that's also nice.
Kings and Bruins didn't make it! I felt a bit sorry for their fans, but I can't say I was particularly sad about it. Calgary and Ottawa were very good stories, but I don't think they'll make it past the first round.
I still have to think about my picks for the NHL Bracket challenge. It's always hard to decide between picking what I want to happen and what I think will happen.
In non-hockey news, motorway driving is boring, but not hard. (Except in cities sometimes when the street signs are bad and you don't know where to go.) Not exactly news, but I got some practice. We drove 7 hours to my grandparents on Thursday and then back again yesterday for my grandmother's 70th birthday on Friday. I found out I don't like German motorways, apparently "no tempo limit" translates to "everyone drives as fast as they want and for some reason overall it's slower" and also less comfortable. (LB drove the majority of the way, for some reason I was really tired yesterday.)
The birthday party was nice, a lot of family we haven't seen in a while (I didn't realize there was so much drama in that family, almost country cliché at times, but it all went fine), the food was delicious and plentiful, and our musical numbers (a "Happy Birthday" arrangement where all kids and grandkids, ten overall, played an instrument, and 8 Udo Jürgens songs my dad re-texted) were well received.
I really enjoyed my new e-book reader :) It's very light. DD recced me the book she used to distract herself from hockey anxiety and I enjoyed it a lot, I might have another Yuletide fandom. More later, I should probably eat something now.
Right now my dad is running the Vienna City marathon, fingers crossed it goes well for him :)
no subject
Date: 2015-04-12 01:36 pm (UTC)It's hard to imagine what we'd have been like without the injuries. I saw someone with a chart the other day where the percentage of games the Pens won this season dropped dramatically with each meeting against a team, the person used this to say, "Obviously teams figured out Johnston's system." And it was just so stupid, because there are confounding factors! Like tons of injuries, in particular to our puck-moving defensemen whom Johnston's system is largely built around!!
I mean, maybe teams also figured out our system. But. (The stats instructor in me was very GRR ARG about this particular line of reasoning. You can probably tell.)
Speaking of injuries, the general consensus I've seen is that Geno has clearly been playing through one, which is why he hasn't been very effective the last couple of weeks. Poor Geno. :( I hope these five days off help, although I'm not sure how much they can.
Anyway. We're in. I'm deathly scared of the Rangers and will be pleasantly and heartily surprised if we make it to the second round, but hey, as some people have said on Twitter, this year for the first time in quite a long time the Penguins are going in with no expectations, and that is a kind of luxury.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-12 05:38 pm (UTC)IF Geno is relatively healthy, and Ehrhoff comes back, and Pouliot, and the lines are clicking, I think we could put up a hell of a fight. The slump was bad, but we also had a lot of bad luck (that Flyers game wtf) and that has to change some time, why not during the playoffs? I won't be too disappointed if not, but it would be amazing :)