Goddamn you NBC

Fuck me gently with a chainsaw:

NBC and the NHL are set to announce an extension to their relationship for another two years, past the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Stanley Cup playoffs.

Bad news bears Pens fans... you can count on Mario's TV disappearing during the playoffs time and time again while this contract runs on. I know the NHL needs a major network beyond the home of competitive curling to broadcast these games but COME ON! Could they please find some place with announcers slightly more competent than our current merry band of dumbasses. Could they please find a place that ACTUALLY seems to give a damn about hockey and not just their own ratings? Maybe a place that won't cut away from overtime in favor of horses running in a circle to their generally certain and untimely demise!

Sorry... I've finished my rant now. Note to Gary Bettman... if you want the league to be respected as much as all the others you may want to consider taking a stand on this whole network thing once in a while. Or, you know, keep taking it in the ass from the likes of Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk.

In American you have Joe the Plumber... In Russia we have Ovechkin the douche

Only difference is Joe isn't licensed plumber but Ovechkin is licensed douche.
- Evgeni Malkin -

Puck drops at 1. The series that Gary Bettman and the NHL are creaming themselves over... NBC doesn't give two shits though and is more than willing to cut away from overtime in favor of the grand 'ol spectacle that is horse racing.

This will be another hard fought series for the Pens, and as much as we all may hate him Ovie is the type of player who can change the series in a heartbeat. That's what happens when you take two or three dozen shots per game... just don't ask him to back check.

Just like the Flyers series (any guesses to Mike Richards handycap?) this will come down to goaltending. Who would you rather have between the pipes MAF or Varlamov? One has been in the Cup Finals... two wins away from Lord Stanley. The other stopped a bunch of shots from a lackluster Rangers team that had no business taking that series as far as it went.

Pens in six.