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Nobody in Tampa, Nobody in Jacksonville and Jason Whitlock Gets it Right Again

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA, Fla. — Sitting in the press box at the St. Pete Times Forum wondering where the hockey fans went…

I remember coming to Lightning games and seeing at least 15,000 people inside this beautiful building in downtown Tampa, cheering and screaming and urging on their hockey heroes.

But not anymore.

Tonight, the Lightning will probably announce a crowd of 13,000 or 14,000, but the reality is, this building is not half full. And the truly sad part is that Alexander Ovechkin and a very good Washington Capitals team is playing a Lightning club that struggles on defence but has every weapon on offence — Marty St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone. If you live in Tampa and you don’t like this Lightning team, you just don’t like hockey.

Of course, it could all just be part of a recession that few people want to admit is seriously affecting professional sports. I was in Jacksonville yesterday as the Jaguars took another step toward an AFC wild card berth with a 23-18 win over Houston, but fewer than 43,000 people were in the  stands. It was the smallest crowd in Jaguars history.

Fact is, if you want to buy tickets to any sporting event in America these days, there are “plenty of good seats available.” My wife just bought a $50 ticket to the Pro Bowl from Ticketmaster. Nobody thought there would be Pro Bowl tickets available if the NFL moved the game from Honolulu to South Florida, but nobody thought the recession would kick the crap out of ticket sales the way it has.

Tonight, here in Tampa, Ovechkin is wheeling all over the rink while Lecavalier had had three great scoring chances in the first period. It’s a good hockey game. But if there are 6,000 people in this building, I’ll eat the seats.

(NOTE: Just watched Ovechkin score his 19th goal of the season on a one-timer after taking a great pass from Alexander Semin. Ovie is worth the price of admission and I can assure you that here in Tampa, the price of admission ain’t much.)

NOTE: There is only one mainstream media reporter who truly understands the Tiger Woods scandal. Read Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star at: http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/1613268.html?storylink=omni_popular.

After reading his column, the rest of the issue is moot.

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Why I like Pittsburgh’s chances, even though I’ve picked Detroit to win the 2008 Stanley Cup final.

Posted on May 24, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

For our regular readers, let me make myself perfectly clear. I’m picking the Detroit Red Wings to win the NHL’s Stanley Cup final in six games.

 

However, I do believe there are ways for the Penguins to win the series. That’s because, while I like Detroit (at least if I’m asked, I’ll say I like Detroit), I think Pittsburgh is good enough to challenge and perhaps even win. In fact, this will be the best Stanley Cup final in decades.

 

Here’s how Pittsburgh wins the Stanley Cup…

 

(1) Uses it’s advantage. If you check the old fashioned tale of the tape, Pittsburgh is younger and bigger. According to the NHL Guide and Record Book, among those players who have appeared in at least one playoff game this spring, the Detroit Red Wings’ average age is 32.3-years-old, nearly five years older than the Penguins’ average age of 27.9 years. The Penguins measure in at nearly 6’2″ and 208 pounds; the Red Wings average just under 6’0″ and 195 lbs. That could have a bearing on the outcome.

 

(2) Chris Osgood. Detroit’s “newish” No. 1 goalie is better than Dominik Hasek and he’s played pretty well, but he’s still not the goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has proven to be in these playoffs. It was a much wiser man than me who said: “We call it the Stanley Cup final because we can’t call it goalie.” The better goalie will win this series and that could easily be Fleury.

 

(3) The defence steps up. If Pittsburgh has a weakness, it’s on defence, but they’ve been good so far. No reason for them to continue.

 

(4) Sidney Crosby needs to be a better leader than the handful of leaders Detroit possesses. Nick Lidstrom, Kris Draper, Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty… they’ve all been around the bend and they have all those rings. Sid the Kid needs to be even better.

 

(5) The 1-2-2 defensive system has to shut down the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Jiri Hudler and a defence that moves the puck very quickly. This will be a different assignment than the Pens faced against Philly.

 

(6) Get more chances and score more goals. Sounds simple, but this time it’s true. Detroit won’t waste its sweat equity running the Penguins the way Philadelphia did. The Red Wings are a smarter team with more finesse. Despite Pittsburgh’s vaunted, much-publicized, defensive “system,” this series will be about offence.

 

(7) Outwork the Wings. Again, it sounds simple, but it’s not easy. Granted, if the Wings get ahead, say, 3-0 or 4-1, they often take their foot off the gas. But why wait? Pittsburgh needs to get ahead 3-0 — not fall behind 3-0 and hope Detroit kicks back — and they can do it by outworking a team that hasn’t been outworked yet.

 

The fact Pittsburgh is bigger and younger and that, so far at least, their goaltending has been better, means the Penguins have a great chance to win this series. 

 

But I still believe it’s Detroit’s time and will stick with my original prediction — Detroit in six games.

 

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Pens make statement in Game 5 win over Flyers. Game 5: Pittsburgh 6, Philadelphia 0.

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

In Canada, there seems to be growing affection for the Pittsburgh Penguins, all the way from the Rock to the Island.

 

Fans say they love Pittsburgh’s speed, its skill, its ability to score and the attack method that it uses all over the ice. They say they love Sid the Kid and “that Fleury guy in goal,” and they really like the fact that the Pens think offence before defence. 

 

No doubt, the Penguins are fun to watch and on Sunday they proved they are pretty damn good, too.

 

The Pens eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in five games in the Eastern Conference final after recording an impressive 6-0 victory at old Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

 

Ryan Malone led the way with two goals and an assist, Marian Hossa had a goal and three assists, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal each scored once and Sidney Crosby dished out two assists. Meanwhile, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to make only 21 saves to get the shutout. Fleury, by the way, is 22-4-1 since late November.

 

The Penguins outshot Philly 25-21 and controlled the pace of the game as Pittsburgh moved on to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since last winning the Stanley Cup in 1992. The Penguins won the Cup in both 1991 and 1992 (Winnipeg Metis star, Jamie Leach, played on both of those teams) and this year, reached the final by losing only two games along the way (12-2). The Pens are 10-0 in the playoffs this year when they score first.

 

I had an opportunity this past week to talk to ex-Flyer sniper — and the offensive heart of the old Broad Street Bullies — Reggie (The Riverton Rifle) Leach, about his old team. He wasn’t very impressed.

 

These days, Reggie spends his summers in Delaware running his landscaping business and his winters on Little Current First Nation in Ontario where he’s the player personnel director and head coach of the Northern Ontario Hockey League’s Manitoulin Islanders. But he always watches his Flyers — even though it’s starting to sound as if he’s adopted a new team. 

 

He had this to say about the Penguins-Flyers series: “Man, I’m still a Flyer at heart, but it was hard watching them in the Eastern final.

 

“I just don’t think they played up to par. Pittsburgh has so many weapons that when one guy doesn’t show up, they have all sorts of other guys who pick up the slack. Because Pittsburgh is as big and tough as they are, Philadelphia’s big, tough guys might just as well have stayed home.”

 

Because of his coaching job, Leach admits that he now watches NHL games like an NHL coach. He’s always checking out systems, both defenisve and offensive, and he believes Pittsburgh has the best.

 

“This is the first time in a lot of years that I’ve watched every game and it’s because I’m coaching again,” The Rifle said. “I love the Flyers, but what I’ve noticed is that Pittsburgh plays with every guy. Philadelphia is relying on 10 guys and you can’t do that. You need everybody.

 

“Pittsburgh really moves the puck and attacks all the time. And Philly can’t blame their goaltenders. The goalies have been great. But Pittsburgh just has too much offence and they use all their tools. I love the way they play and I think they have a chance to go a long, long way.”

 

So, too, Reg, do your colleagues and a growing number of Canadian hockey fans.

 

Fact is, if the Red Wings don’t get it together soon, the Pens might just get to hockey’s Holy Grail without cracking a sweat.

 

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Although we picked the Pens to win the series, it appears as if we underestimated their mettle. Game 3: Pittsburgh 5 New York 3.

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a statement. They’ve now played seven games in this year’s playoffs – four at home and three on the road and they have yet to lose.

And it would be difficult to suggest that they’ll lose in New York on Thursday night.

The Pens have fire power, an improved defence and a young goaltender at the top of his game. With Tuesday night’s 5-3 win at Madison Square Garden, the Pens might also have proven they have the mettle to go a long way without a loss this spring.

There were a lot of reasons to believe the Penguins might lose Tuesday night. For one, they were playing at MSG where the fans are crazy and the building is tough at the most meaningless of times. Last night, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, the building was rocking but the Penguins weren’t intimidated. They scored the first goals and built a 3-1 lead and almost took the crowd out of it for 59 minutes.

Another reason, they might have pissed away Tuesday night’s game came in the second period when they were two-men down for 32 seconds. But they killed the penalties and stayed in control.

Another reason they might have blown Tuesday night’s game came late in the second period when the Rangers scored two goals within a minute and four seconds to tie the score at 3-3. But Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal, his second of goal of the game, before the period ended and Pittsburgh went to the second intermission with the lead — and, yes, control.

This Penguins team is supposed to be too young. Its goalie is unproven. Its stars are barely into their 20s and their coach has been through the ringer (Michel Therrien was not only fired in Montreal but put in 3 1/2 seasons in Wilkes Barre before being brought in to replace the struggling Eddie Olczyk).

Still, it’s a team that almost finished first overall in the East and has yet to lose in this year’s playoffs. Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Malone, Marian Hossa, Jordan Staal, have all played wonderfully.  Malkin, just a few hours after he was selected as a finalist for the Hart Trophy, scored two power-play goals and added an assist in the best game of his playoff career Tuesday night. 

I still like the Red Wings to win the Cup, but I would not be at all surprised if the Wings faced a Pittsburgh outfit that did not lose a game on the way to the Eastern Conference title.

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