For anyone who missed the third episode of 24/7 Penguins Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic, shame on you for 6 weeks.
I know there's been a bit of delay in talking about my take on that episode -- and the finale, for that matter -- but, frankly, HBO's initial foray into reality hockey is already timeless, and there's never a bad time to enjoy it again.
Episode III started off in an interesting way.
By showing how tough hockey players are.
It began with Caps' forward Mike Knuble in the dentist's chair getting metal brackets removed from his mouth after healing from a broken jaw, then continued with the focus on the dent in the face of Pens' defenseman Ben Lovejoy after taking a puck there.
Of course, Evgeni Malkin couldn't resist being the comedian when he approached Lovejoy on the table in the Penguins' locker room after the game and told him that Lovejoy's battle scar was 'awesome', only to top that by suggesting that Lovejoy shouldn't worry about it becuase "girls love".
Later on, of course, Lovejoy's dent swelled up to look like a softball.
Did I mention Washington forward Matt Bradley undergoing finger surgery in this one, too?
Once HBO moved on from the injuries, they spent most of the rest of the episode covering the Pens' and Caps' matchup on 12-23, which ended up as a dramatic 3-2 shootout victory for the local hockey club.
The lead in to that contest was fantastic, with a little extra behind-the-scenes footage of how the teams game plan for each other, including Washington's intent to match up center Nicklas Backstrom against Sidney Crosby, and their focus on trying to get Evegni Malkin off his game by being physical on him in the hope he would take stupid penalties.
Of course, their belief about Geno bore out to be truthful later on -- at least for that game -- but not everyone in the Caps' organization is as prophetic, including star winger Alexander Ovechkin, who said before the contest that "It's gonna' be like a war. We have to win."
How did that work out? Uh, yeah.
For his part, Pens' Head Coach Dan Bylsma was critical of Washington's netminder, Michael Neuvirth, telling his mates that "this goalie is not that good" and trying to get them going by encouraging them in his Bylsma-esque way to "get 'em bitches."
Perhaps the oddest thing of the game-coverage from HBO on this one was their footage of Mary, Washington's poor 'timeout coordinator', who took a puck in the head when it went out of play.
That's right, the Capitals actually have a f'ucking timeout coordinator.
As far as exclusives during the game go, HBO managed to capture Pens' Captain and NHL ambassador Sidney Crosby ripping the official a new one for calling him on what he (and I, for another) felt was a phantom penalty, saying in great colorful language -- among other things -- "that's a fucking joke."
Then, viewers got a treat when they had a chance to see the NHL's war room in Toronto, Canada review the play in overtime when Caps' defenseman Mike Green tried to slide a puck past Penguins' goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, only to have the Flower snatch it with his glove just before or as it was crossing the goal line.
Because Fleury's glove basically obstructed the view of the puck, video footage on the play did not show the puck completely crossing the line -- as it has to in order for a goal to be scored -- so the call on the ice (no-goal) was upheld. Still, it was great to hear those guys in the league office communicate with the on-ice officials. Having a glimpse into one of those conversations was fascinating.
After the victory and celebration on the ice by your Boys of Winter following Pascal Dupuis' 7th round shootout goal, HBO quickly shifted the scene to show some Christmas footage from, among others, the homes of Pens' forward Mike Rupp and Head Coach Dan Bylsma.
What Christmas theme did we get to see from Washington's side?
Well, of course, Boudreau shopping at a local mall and making vintage remarks like, "I smell food."
That hardly held a candle to his best line, though:
"It's never too early for ice cream."
And if that doesn't take the cake for the best one-liner of the episode, then that honor has to go to Pens' forward Matt Cooke, who teased teammate Paul Martin -- the Penguins' mustache boy in December for losing the team's monthly shootout competition at practice to see who has to grow a mustache for the month -- becuase of his light-colored growth, saying that they were going to "Just-For-Men" it for the upcoming Winter Classic.
Priceless.
Episode III ends with league officials building the rink @ Heinz Field for the teams' epic 1-1-11 clash.
In my opinion, the third episode of the series was better than the second, but not quite up to par with the opener. Still, just amazing work by the HBO crews.
Visit again for my summary of the finale of the series, which was magnificent.
In the meantime, pull for the black and gold tonight as they are back in action on the road in Montreal against the Canadiens for the second time in less than a week -- and are in need of a victory much more than they were the last time.
Crosby is not expected to play in tonight's game, as he's still suffering post-concussion symptoms.
Winger Aaron Asham is expected to play, however.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
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