It's the coaches fault more than anyone elses. The coach who puts both Crosby and Letang on the ice with less than a min to go in a playoff game with a 1 goal lead is asking for the other team to score the tying goal.

Bylsma is perhaps the most over rated coach ever and his constant use of Letang on the penalty kill only helps to show this. While one of the best Power play QB's in the league the guy couldn't defend against a Timbit.

For all you Pens fans who want blood and want to know where to improve your team, how about hiring a coach who knows how to coach?

But when you do that you put yourself in that position to get blamed if it goes wrong, as it did.
- Streit2ThePoint

yeh, but if you are thinking "will i be the one who gets blamed?" when you are playing you are already done.

yes, but because of the way it ended Fleury is being scapegoated. Sid needs to step up and take this off of MAF
- Eklund

If Pens lose this series, I'd like to see a deal surrounding Malkin and Ovechkin

when you are up 3-0 with less than 50 minutes to play, you dont need sid of malkin to step up and score more, sure it would help. you need to backcheck, play tough defense, and play keep away...oh, and of course goaltending.
- LetsGoIsles

Except they didn't get the backchecking, the tough defense or the puck possession. They would take a rush that didn't lead to anything, then saunter back to their own zone after giving up an odd-man break. The 40 or so shots that were rung up against them in the last 50 minutes (after getting the 3-0 lead) should be proof of that.

But that should be disregarded and just blame the goalie?

Pretty much every expert were asking themselves why Fleury left his net with 30 seconds left , you just don't do that at that point in the game leading by one goal .

I'll admit we got lucky.....
- Alexzanki

Eklund isn't an expert though.

Anything maf is (frank)ing hilarious

If Pens lose this series, I'd like to see a deal surrounding Malkin and Ovechkin
- HabsRUs

that is actually a really interesting idea. both players would be better fits if they were moved.

yeh, but if you are thinking "will i be the one who gets blamed?" when you are playing you are already done.
- Eklund

Well I'm not saying he was thinking that before he made the move. I'm saying that if you move out of position to play the puck, you are taking a risk. Fleury made that risk and it backfired. Therefore, that blame is on him.

alright. you make a convincing case.
- Eklund

Uh, he's paid an avg. of $5M/yr to play goal. He a) went out of his net to play the puck, and a bad bounce proved it to be a poor decision and b) he then failed to stop a fairly routine shot, although he was slightly screened. Those two mistakes led to the game-tying and game-winning goals.

The whole team and coaching staff is to blame, but... ya, it was MAF that made those mistakes. At the end of the day, regardless of mitigating circumstances, it was MAF fault those two goals happened the way they did.

Was it his fault entirely? No. Does he need to shoulder the majority of the blame? Yes. In the words of my sweet, hockey-challenged girlfriend 'Isn't that what the goaler does, stop the puck?'

If MAF's lack of faith in his Dmen was the reason that he played the puck in the dying seconds of the 3rd, then it's equally plausible that the failed poke-check/broken play by his Dman at centre-ice right before the winning goal was due to his Dmen's lack of faith in MAF.

Lastly, If you take the praise for doing your job well, you've gotta take the criticism when you don't. MAF didn't do his job on the last two goals and it directly led to his team losing.

For a Flyers fan, you sure do like MAF...

But your team has the lead, with 30 seconds left, and the opposing team is essentially on a power play. You stay in the net and NEED to trust your teammates at that point. Your job is to keep that lead and not try to do anyone else job. Now if he stayed in the net and your teammates failed to retrieve the puck and Columbus passes it to center where Fleury would need to make a post to post save, then no, it is not Fleury's fault.
- Streit2ThePoint

If I spend my day watching everyone around me not do their job while I've done my job all day, why in the world would I expect them to magically start doing it right then? Does that make any sense at all? Cause nobody had done their jobs for hours. I would have absolutely zero confidence that they were just going to suddenly decide "hey, I should do my job now".

idk if Cujo would have been better...def more interesting
- Pyzik

Don't think so? I watched him in his years in Toronto, as I'm from the area, and MAN, he would steal games for the Leafs. He literally took them to the playoffs from 1999-2002 and kept them in contention. He was among the elite in that time period, and would have been a massive upgrade on Beezer.

Well I'm not saying he was thinking that before he made the move. I'm saying that if you move out of position to play the puck, you are taking a risk. Fleury made that risk and it backfired. Therefore, that blame is on him.
- Streit2ThePoint

true enough

that early in the game you need to score more...or at least remember the best defense is a good offense. They didn't even try to keep the puck in the Jackets end.
- Eklund

100% agreed...im all for putting your foot on their throat...but crosby, malkin, letang, byslma, or any combination of other players didnt leave their crease...fluery did.

a goalies responsibilities are under a bigger microscope, whether its deserved or not is another discussion (i think it is) but end of the day, he made a fundamental mistake.

you cant blame a guy for not scoring, there are so many factors in that...i can blame a guy for losing focus and voluntarily making a play that was detrimental to his team.

that is actually a really interesting idea. both players would be better fits if they were moved.
- Eklund

So, is this now an E5?

that is actually a really interesting idea. both players would be better fits if they were moved.
- Eklund

Crosby setting up Ovechkin for 82 games would be sick.

and Ovechkin wont want to be 2nd best on the team, so this will spark him as well. I think he's bored in Washington

So, is this now an E5?
- KarlKarlsson

you tell me. my rumors don't come from speculation. this is just interesting speculation

So, is this now an E5?
- KarlKarlsson

ovechkin just bought a house in Pittsburgh

that is actually a really interesting idea. both players would be better fits if they were moved.
- Eklund

Big time, and I've said it for 2 years now, if Pitts truly wants to take that next step, trade Malkin and you'll re-stock the shelves with high quality products for quite some time.

Heck, go after Shea Weber and land him, unlike the Flyers who swung and missed, several times.

easy to say, but if you really don't trust them and you are a competitor its hard to not do whatever it takes
- Eklund

i dont buy the trust excuse, he trusted them for 59 minutes...whether game clock got to his head and he told myself "screw these guys ill do it on my own" is another thing, but thats mental strength more than based on whether its his responsibility to make that play or not.

Crosby setting up Ovechkin for 82 games would be sick.

and Ovechkin wont want to be 2nd best on the team, so this will spark him as well. I think he's bored in Washington
- HabsRUs

and Malkin needs to be THE guy somewhere.

Eklund: Not His Fault.
- Eklund

Yes, it was.

If I spend my day watching everyone around me not do their job while I've done my job all day, why in the world would I expect them to magically start doing it right then? Does that make any sense at all? Cause nobody had done their jobs for hours. I would have absolutely zero confidence that they were just going to suddenly decide "hey, I should do my job now".
- ScienceJesus

Ok so you take it into your own hands, and fail, and it results in a game tying goal....

Good job.

his team stopped playing with 8 minutes to go in the first period!
- Eklund

Where is the logic in this? Whether his team was playing hard or not is not relevant to his performance. He's a pro goalie in the Stanley Cup playoffs and you've staked him to a 3-0 lead, which you would expect a pro goalie to protect. He makes a bonehead play in the waning seconds of the game to let the other team tie, that's the definition of fault. No play, more than likely no goal. That's fault.

If you don't want to blame a goalie for a dumb play that costs a goal, you can't very well celebrate a guy for scoring a game tying or game winning goal...unless his team helped him.

I didn't say he was free of blame, i said this loss wasn't HIS fault.
- Eklund

I can't follow your logic. If Fluery doesn't come out of the net with 30 seconds left they win the game.

and Malkin needs to be THE guy somewhere.
- Eklund

Hopefully Malkin somehow becomes the guy in Montreal