Critical of Crosby? A Response, and Other Pre-Series Notes

Okay. It must be true.

If the Canadian Media says so, it has to be gospel, right?

Sidney Crosby isn't scoring enough.

Oh boy.

The criticism being leveled at Crosby THIS TIME is that he's only got 2 goals in the playoffs so far ... that he didn't score a goal against the Rangers .... that he's not as good as everyone thinks.

To all those who share that viewpoint (and to Flyer fans who are praying on their knees that Crosby doesn't bury them in this series), I have this to say:

GIVE ME A ####### BREAK!

In his playoff career so far, Crosby already is averaging 1.36 points per playoff game. Only TWO players in the history of this great game have higher PPG averages in the playoffs -- some guys named Gretzky and Lemieux.

This year Crosby's PPG average in the playoffs is 1.56 points per game.

Nobody in the playoffs has more assists than he does, despite the fact that Crosby has played in about 3 games less than anyone else.

Certainly, Crosby is a playmaker first and a goal-scorer second. His totals are always going to show more "A's" than "G's". In the playoffs, it doesn't matter which category they fall in, as long as they fall in one of them, because every "A" he gets means someone else has a "G". Period.

This is, after all, why Marion Hossa was aquired boys and girls.

I think Crosby is going to have a fantastic series. As if the chance to play for the Cup won't be enough to drive him, playing the Flyers always brings out emotion and intensity in his game. In a series like this, I'll take my chances with the best players. The Penguins have not only one of those, but two.

Speaking of the Canadian Media, I somehow found myself again listening to HNIC (Hockey Night in Canada) radio last night again, despite the blind, hometown flavor of that program. It must kill them not to have any Canadian teams left to talk about.

ANYWAY, the host of that show, Jeff Marek, almost puked yesterday when the subject of Sergei Gonchar game up. Marek talked about how Gonchar just doesn't do it for him. The only complement he has ever offered about him (that I've heard) is that he makes good, long tape-to-tape passes. When ESPN.com's Scott Burnside, who was being interviewed, said he was surprised Gonchar wasn't a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman, I think Marek fell off his chair. Obviously, he spends too much time watching the putrid Maple Leafs and not knowing that Gonchar was a +14 this year, racking up that impressive statistic despite being put out on the ice frequently against the opponent's top forward line. He also obviously doesn't realize how Gonchar has brought the absolute best out of every partner he's had this year, from Mark Eaton to Rob Scuderi to, now, Brooks Orpik.

Notably, this is the 2nd time I wanted to leap through the radio and strangle Marek. The other time came last week when he said that the salary cap has "devalued" the Stanley Cup. You know, because it would be good to have some teams paying 150 million a season to their players, while others only can afford to pay 30 million. Because it would be good to have only 1/3 of the teams in the league ever have a chance at winning the Cup.

Where do they get these guys, anyway?

In other news, Penguins C Maxime Talbot didn't practice with the team yesterday, after going out on the ice before the practice, only to quickly return to the dressing room disgusted with the progress of his ankle recovery so far. Even though Talbot was hoping to play Friday night, it's looking more and more like he won't dress, leaving Penguins coach M. Therrein to stick with the same forwards. I think Gary Roberts should play in this series regardless -- or at least in the first few games.

What will be more interesting is to see what Therrein does with the defense pairings. Does he keep Gill and Scuderi together? Or does he break them up and go back to what he had before, with Gill and Letang playing, and Whitney with Scuderi. Personally, I break them up and get a defensive guy out there on the ice at all times. I would do that because of the Flyers offensive depth. They have 3 lines that can score, unlike the Rangers which were a little more top heavy.

That's all for now. I'll be at the Igloo live tomorrow night, so look for my game 1 wrap-up Saturday.