Follow @james_tanner123 What was that?
I won't bore you with a recap, but what a weird game.
Now, no big deal, I mean, we all know the best team doesn't always win - but that was as extreme of an example as I've ever seen. The Penguins were truly an embarrassment last night.
37 minutes without a shot - we'll you just need to look at the defenseman they dressed last night to realize how that could happen. (Just an aside: Trevor Daley just led the team favored by most to win the Stanley Cup in ice time).
To be fair however, they didn't go 37 minutes without a shot-attempt, and the possession breakdown was only 60/40 in favor of Nashville. That is still a total domination, but it's not even the worst possession game the Penguins have had during what has to be considered one of the luckiest runs ever.
The Penguins didn't get a lot of shots, but neither did Nashville, and for all the weirdness and outrage, it was a pretty boring game.
Hard to blame Rinne for the winner when he hasn't had a shot in 37 minutes, but he was terrible. And, as much as he's gone on a great run for part of these playoffs, statistically Rinne has been in decline since 2011, the last season he was arguably an elite goalie. The past several seasons he has been anywhere from middle of the road to bad.
His run of great play was unexpected and shouldn't be expected to be replicated. The Predators are in the Stanley Cup Final with one of the worst starting goalies of any team that made the Playoffs. I'll take heat for saying that, but the stats bear it out.
The most correct I think I've ever been about anything was at the start of this season when I said the Predators would be the cup favorite and maybe have the best team in hockey if they had a goalie.
Anyways, it's no big deal, teams win when they should lose all the time. Hockey is unpredictable and I like it that way. The Predators probably deserved better - but I hate to blame refs because it's a thankless job and of course you get to second-guess them when you have six angles and slo-motion instant replay at your disposal.
Those nerds have to do it in real time.
As for offsides, what a joke.
A million people will write a million blogs about this, and anyone who thinks about it for two seconds knows that a fraction of an inch offside isn't why the rule was put in place.
You still don't have 100% accuracy, but you don't need it. All that is needed is quicker reviews and for the rule to be called within the spirit of it's intention. By which I mean that offsides was invented so that you couldn't cherry pick, not to ruin the game and take away offense due to pedantic rule mongering.
My way solves both issues.
The Predators can solve their issues by playing their backup goalie, who I suspect is better than Rinne.
The Penguins should just adopt a whatever-happens-happens attitude and that is all.
Boys, it doesn't get any better than this.