Prediction: if the Pens win game three, Cox and his media bros will go from “Pitt is almost done” to “Wings close to ropes” , or “Pens steal momentum”, all in twenty-four hours.

And they will act like they have been wholly consistent the entire time.

Here’s the deal: Detroit has a nice lead, but nothing insurmountable. On the other side, if the Pens win tonight then they have made a step in the right direction, with some work still ahead of them. A slight momentum swing, but nothing major.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 06/02/09 at 08:14 AM ET

And people wonder why fans of 29 other teams bash the poor guy. He’s not just a skilled player, he’s the messiah. Gretzky reincarnate.  There’s no possible way for him to live up to the hype unless he wins the Cup year after year…and they forget that even Gretzky had help. 

Year after year, Damien Cox and the rest of the MSM force him back onto the pedestal, even when he’s playing in the shadow of Malkin.  There’s no doubt that Crosby is one of the game’s best players…but he’s not as good as the media or the NHL want him to be. Nobody is. Gretzky’s gone, and the almighty NHL needs to stop trying to mold Crosby in His image.

Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 06/02/09 at 08:17 AM ET

Not sure who the first media person was to equate this pens team with the early 80’s oilers team of Gretzky , Messier, Kurri, Anderson, Coffey and Fuhr ( All Hall of Famers btw)  but it sure didn’t take long for the rest of the lemmings to follow them over the edge.

  The similarities between the consecutive series of the wings/ pens 07/08 & 08/09 and the islanders/oilers of 82/83 & 83/84 are limited to the fact that the same teams are meeting in the finals . Thats it.

  Many of the stars of that islanders team were , to use a golf metaphor, on the back nine of their careers. Smith, Nystrom, Bossy, Potvin, Trottier.

I’m not sure I would consider Hank,Pavel,Kronner, Ericsson, Helm, Mule, Hudler, ...etc. on the downside of their careers just yet

Somewhere some hack sports writer, or sports radio host thought it was a clever storyline.  I believe it was a over simplification.

Posted by dbcooper from parts unknown on 06/02/09 at 09:20 AM ET

The bad news for Crosby is that since this is Malkin’s last ‘cheap’ year, the Pens are actually going to get shallower next season, not deeper.  Between Malkin and Staal, the Pens will be adding almost 6 million bucks in cap cost to keep those two guys.  That’s more than they paid Fedotenko and Satan combined.

They are at almost 47 mil, and they only have 14 guys signed.

There’s going to be MORE pressure on him and Malkin to score all the important points for the Pens.

And they’re in a Confrence where none of the other teams have started to figure anything out yet.  If a club ever gets it together and actually starts playing well in the East besides them… they might not see the Finals again for quite a few years.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 06/02/09 at 09:33 AM ET

Oh, and I almost forgot. 

In the past two years Shero’s traded Christensen, Armstrong, Esposito, and a #1 in the Hossa/Dupuis trade, then a #2 and a #5 in the Gill trade (which was stupid), then a #3 to get Guerin… so it’s not like the Pens are going to be able to look forward to a whole lot of help from their prospect pool, either.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 06/02/09 at 09:44 AM ET

Well, consider the possibility that this is not Crosby’s time. Not yet.

Ya don’t say?

We have to remember - this is only his fourth year in the league.  He’s only 21.  Why is the MSM pretending that it HAS to be his time?  Why do we think that, because these guys are supposed to be top draft-pick superstars, they deserve it so soon?  Whatever happened to the Yzerman types - 13 years of service and improvement in a system until you reach that final goal

Part of me thinks this is the media trying to validate their prophecy that Crosby was “The Next One” and that he would dominate the game in ways only Gretzky could.  I’m thinking they want to see their words ring true more than anything.

If anything, all of this is almost undeniable proof that experience does have a large impact.

Oh, and another thing:

He’s been hyped for so long, and has proven to be such a prodigious talent, that surely it’s only reasonable that with his team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in such need of a saviour in this year’s Stanley Cup final, that he must be that saviour.

You are the ones who’ve been hyping him for so long.  Perhaps it’s your problem, not Crosby’s.

Posted by BuzzFledderjohn on 06/02/09 at 11:25 AM ET