FanNation - The Republic of Sport

    Coach Therrien is a lot smarter than a lot of people give him credit for.  Why, you ask?  The Red Wings have played the same way the whole year.  They go to the net hard, they backcheck and stay on their men and have used a smothering kind of defense this whole season.  All of a sudden, everything is under the microscope.  Everything they've done in the playoffs as well as the season is wrong.  Wait a minute!  They can't do that!  The NHL is so inconsistant.  Everything is fine until one coach points out that they are being obstructed.  Oh, and their crashing the net and trying to score.  The Stanley Cup Playoffs has always been getting the dirty goals.  That is what wins games.  Therrien has used the media wisely.  Everygame that has been a loss for the Pens has been Detroit did this, and they're doing that.  When Pittsburgh wins do you hear him complain at all about the ref's?  Not really.  Babcock has a right to be insensed with the two calls of goalie interference.  Both penalty's led to no goals but burned up what little energy was left of his star players.  Therrien has constantly cried throughout this series when things don't go right for the Pens.  He refuses to blame his players for their short-comings instead reflects everything to what the Wings have done to CHEAT?  If that is cheating then every team is cheating.  The old army term "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" saying comes to mind.  Zetterberg was tackled from behind on several occasions last game and nothing was called.  On an offside play you could see a Penguins Player's arms wrapped around him to push him over the blue line before the puck got there and it was whistled off sides.  It really has become a joke.  Gill has crosschecked so many guys from behind that it has become normal and a non call with the ref's.  This has not been an even series and everybody knows it.  Detroit is the "big bully" and the NHL officials want them to lose.  It's apparent by what is going on.  If Therrien speaks, everybody listens and it must be right.  It has become a joke.  They have tied one arm of the Red Wings behind their back and have tried their darndest to make it a series.  The Wings are the better team and everybody knows that also.  I know, I know, Pens fans will be writing me nasty comments and saying I don't know Jack S##t.  The truth is the truth.  You've watched the same games as I have.  The NHL and NBC are trying to get hockey noticed more in the USA by having a close finals.  So now it comes back to the main questions.  If the Wings have been playing illegally all season then why hasn't this been addressed until now?  Why does Detroit have to be watched more by the ref's now?   I know as a player you can't just change the way you've played all season.  That is what the Wings have had to do and it shows.  They are not the same team that kicked the crap out of Pittsburgh the first two games.  They have had to come down a few notches and change things so that it will be even.  I am furious with the NHL.  The New Jersey Devils did to the Wings in 1996 what the Wings were doing to the Pens now.  They swept the Wings because they played their way and nobody told them to change.  You don't think they were possibly doing things to slow down the upstart Wings in those finals?  They played their way and the ref's didn't get into their plan to make it even.  Scotty Bowman, then Wings coach, said,"This is the most disappointed I've ever been in a playoff series".  He didn't blame the ref's or the Devils. 

    Well, IF the Wings win tonight I know Therrien will be talking about what the Wings did that hurt his team.  That has been his theme the whole series.  He's a crybaby and when things don't go well for him he sits there in that chair and looks like he lost his best friend.  IF the Pens pull this out , they did not do this alone.  They had a lot of help from the NHL upper idiots in creating this "fantastic finals".   I'm really disappointed with what I've been watching.  You can't blame the players on both teams.  They are doing their best to win games.  The Pens, as well as Detroit, do not need any interference from third parties.  Let the teams on the ice battle and may the best team win.  I've never seen how a coach can dictate what the outcome of a game should be.  Therrien has done this in this series and really makes me sick that people are actually listening to him.  Then again, if you know people will listen, why not use them to your advantage.  I don't like what Therrien is doing but it's working for him.