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The Confluence

“24/7” Episode 2:  Less Pizzazz, But Plenty of Action

by Tony on 12/23/10 at 10:54 AM ET
Comments (4)

Last night’s Episode #2 of HBO’s “24/7” series featuring the Penguins and Capitals definitely didn’t have the flair of the initial show, in fact I’ve read some Tweets this morning describing it as boring.

Yeah, it didn’t have the inspirational pre-game pep talk of Penguins’ Head Coach Dan Bylsma nor the F-bomb laden chew-out session of Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau, but there were still plenty of fascinating shots in Episode #2 that we as fans simply rarely get to see.

Had HBO not included the 6-1 drubbing of Phoenix this past Monday, it would have made for a pretty ho-hum Penguins’ portion of the show, with the only games being the losses in Philly and at home to the Rangers, followed by four days off.  On the other side of the tracks, we witnessed the Capitals wildly celebrating after winning the Stanley Cup finally breaking their losing streak with a win in Ottawa.

Other observations:

- It’s always been pretty apparent that Sidney Crosby is quite the amateur when it comes to dropping the gloves, but after listening to his description of his discussion with Matt Niskanen prior to the fight, it’s now confirmed.  Sounded like some meetings I’ve been in.

- I for one was pretty surprised that HCDB was very calm after the loss to the Flyers, with the exception of his “losing sucks” remark.  It should be noted, though, that we didn’t get to hear any of HCDB’s remarks after the third period implosion against the Rangers.

- Mike Green on his Vespa driving around D.C.  Allow me to quote from Cris Carter on ESPN’s NFL Countdown:  Come on, man!.

- If the non-hockey fans wanted an accurate portrayal of a typical hockey player, they sure as hell got one in Matt Hendricks, with his stitches under his right eye.  Also, can someone please tell me what the hell he had in that bag around his ankle?

- Nudity is pretty much taken for granted in a locker room, I understand that.  But did Ovie really need to wait until he was next to Green before he exposed himself?

- Caps’ GM George McPhee = Fred Gwynne’s lovechild.

- Bravo to HBO for giving some facetime to Dana Heinze and the Pens’ equipment staff.  I met Dana this past summer, really nice guy.  Those guys bust their collective asses, it was nice to see their hard work shown, as well as the fans trying to unstink the locker room, nice touch.

- HCDB’s meeting with his coaches was once again fascinating.  Pascal Dupuis’ less than glowing review was very interesting, especially with HCDB stressing he’s gotta do more “playing with those two guys”, obviously referring to Crosby and Chris Kunitz.  I also appreciated Tony Granato’s objective criticism of Evgeni Malkin’s performance against Philly, when he had two goals, but also was undisciplined with his penalty, leading to the winning goal for the Flyers.

- We saw the videos of 66 hitting the ice earlier in the week, but it was still great to watch again.  The line of the night came from Leafs’ blogger Down Goes Brown, who Tweeted “Mario Lemieux could play on the Leafs first line. Like, today.”

- Loved having the ref miked up for the Avery-Asham fisticuffs.

- You could just see the frustration on the face of Jordan Staal as he described being away from the action.  Hopefully for not too much longer.

- More fascinating insight in the referees’ room while they discussed the no-goal call after they stated Pascal Dupuis was in the crease.  I still think Dupuis was pushed in, but I appreciate hearing the ref’s explanation, both to HCDB and to the other officials.

- We saw HCDB and GMRS telling Dustin Jeffrey he was getting sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where it turns out he wasn’t there long, as he’s been now called up because of Asham’s lower-body injury in time for tonight’s game in Washington.

- Funny personal moment watching Ovie getting his sore hammy worked on.  My 17 year-old son is a junior and is contemplating majors in college (hopefully along with a baseball scholarship).  He’s leaning towards Sports Medicine, and as the Caps’ trainers are working on Ovie’s hammy, I tell him, “there’s Sports Medicine, right there”.

- Loved the family moments, both with Ovie and HCDB.  I need to get one of those hockey goalie tarps.

- There’s an obvious joke that I realized as Craig Adams’ 3 year old son quickly rattled off the names of the Penguins on the posters, but I just can’t repeat it here.

- Classic locker room prank by Matt Cooke on former teammate Paul Bissonnette.  Unfortunately, Biz was scratched for the game.

- Quite candid comments from Boudreau when discussing those that were clamoring for his firing.

- Arguably the best shots of the night were those behind McPhee as the Caps were in the midst of their loss to the Bruins.

- Absolutely loved veteran Mike Knuble’s locker room rant.  But one question:  Where was the Captain?

- I would have thought Sid would be more of a pasta guy, but maybe that’s for earlier in the day.  And that cup.  Geez, that cup.

- Malkin cracks me up with that “3 years Super League” stuff.  I’m sure Sid just said, whatever Geno, go ahead and go last.

- Worst moment of the night.  HBO claiming that Penguins pregame song “has been around longer than most fans can remember”.  For Christ sakes, that is so wrong on so many levels.

- Then we finally got to the Caps snapping their losing streak with a win in Ottawa, where they played some horrendous DJ Somebodyoranother song.  Are you guys serious?

Since the taping, the Caps have won again, over a bad Jersey team.  That prompted Caps fans to cheer “We Want Pittsburgh”.  The Penguins have won two in a row as well after last night’s win against Florida.

Be careful what you with for.  It starts tonight at the Phone Booth.

Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
 Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Washington+Capitals,

Comments

HCDB’s meeting with his coaches was once again fascinating.  Pascal Dupuis’ less than glowing review was very interesting, especially with HCDB stressing he’s gotta do more “playing with those two guys”, obviously referring to Crosby and Chris Kunitz. 

fascinating scene, esp HCDB shaking his head about 71 penalty

one correction, Kunitz was hurt so referring to Dupuis playing with 87 & 71.  spot on that he has to do more

Posted by puckeye on 12/23/10 at 12:40 PM ET

We saw HCDB and GMRS telling Dustin Jeffrey he was getting sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where it turns out he wasn’t there long, as he’s been now called up because of Asham’s lower-body injury in time for tonight’s game in Washington.

Tony, I haven’t found anything stating the Penguins have called up Jeffrey. The PG says John Curry has been called up because of Johnson’s injury last night, but nothing on Jeffrey.

Posted by cs6687 on 12/23/10 at 12:58 PM ET

It’s on the Pens website now…

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=547185&navid=DL|PIT|home

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 12/23/10 at 01:40 PM ET

Thanks, Tony. Now who goes on injured reserve? Asham or Johnson? The two callups put the Penguins at 24 players.

Posted by cs6687 on 12/23/10 at 02:08 PM ET

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