Canada Wins Hockey Gold in Convincing Fashion

There are only two Winter Olympic sports I genuinely care about: hockey and curling. Canada won gold in both sports, both genders. I guess it's nice that Canada has something to be proud of, but seeing groups of Canadians happy just irritates me for some reason.

At the same time I'm happy for Patrice Bergeron and Claude Julien. I'm also happy that Loui Eriksson won silver and Tuukka Rask won bronze. Five Boston Bruins players went to Sochi to play for five teams, and three of them will return with medals.

Canada beat Sweden 3-0 to win gold in men's ice hockey. Sweden was lacking Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Backstrom. Already an underdog, losing those two centers made the task of beating Canada almost impossible.

The Canadians brought their "eh" game (not my joke). They saved their best hockey for the elimination rounds. Their win over Sweden was almost flawless. Jonathan Toews put them up 1-0 with a deflection between Henrik Lundqvist's legs. The goal was a byproduct of puck possession and Toews' ability to get position in front of the net. All game long, Lundqvist had to deal with bodies on top of him.

Sidney Crosby scored Canada's second goal. Jonathan Ericsson tried to carry the puck through three Canadian players instead of dumping it into the corner. Crosby stole it from Ericsson then beat Lundqvist on a breakaway.

Chris Kunitz sealed the deal in the 3rd.

Canada's control of this game is demonstrated by shots on goal. The Swedes only got 9 shots on Carey Price in the 2nd period, and only 4 in the 3rd. That's an amazing stat, only 4 shots on goal in a period. Price stopped all shots he saw and extended his shutout streak to over 160 minutes. The Latvians were the last team to score on him.

Canada was the best team in this tournament. Their roster was built the best, their coaches were by far the best, they played the best. This team didn't just win based on their talent, of which they had quite a bit, they won with effort, teamwork, execution, and passion.

This might be the last Olympics with NHL players, which would be a shame. This tournament provided some compelling storylines, from Canada's success to Russian and American disappointment. Finland winning bronze is a good story, as were the quarterfinal appearances of Latvia and Slovenia.

I really hope Olympic hockey remains a showcase of the game at its finest, and not just another international tournament that only clinically diagnosed hockey addicts care about.

Photo Credit:
Martin Rose/Getty

I Don't Mind Seeing Pittsburgh Penguins Players Injured, Maybe it Should Happen More Often

I don’t like what Shawn Thornton did Saturday night. But I don’t mind who he did it to, and what team he did it against.

What Thornton did was inexcusable and indefensible. He should and will get suspended a long time for it. The reason it was inexcusable was because Brooks Orpik was defenseless.

However, hitting defenseless players is a consistent pattern of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey. Great offense, shaky goaltending, dirty hits. That’s the Penguins' way. And that’s why I feel no sympathy when I see a Penguins player lying on the ice. Why should I? That’s the sword they live by, and it should be the sword they (metaphorically) die by.

Maybe if enough Penguins get concussed, they’ll reevaluate how they play the game. Maybe if Sidney Crosby gets laid out the same way Marc Savard was by Matt Cooke, and has his career shortened, then the Penguins might look in the mirror and realize that hockey shouldn’t be played the way they play it.

Thornton’s attack on Orpik came after a double dose of Pittsburgh dirtiness. Sidney Crosby kept the blade of his stick on the ice to ensure he tripped up Brad Marchand. The ref, of course, didn’t call it. No big deal. That is until James Neal saw a prone player. Neal’s eyes must have lit up when he saw an opportunity to hit someone when they couldn’t defend themselves.

You can see Neal change directions toward Marchand, and keep his left knee exactly at the same height as Marchand’s skull.

To paraphrase Chris Rock: I’m not saying Shawn Thornton should have retaliated the way he did. But I understand.

Earlier in the game Orpik leveled Loui Eriksson. I think that hit was relatively clean. If anything, a 2 minute minor for interference as Eriksson didn’t have the puck.

What pisses me off about Orpik and the hit on Eriksson is that Orpik has made a career of dispensing hits like that, and then never EVER standing up for himself and for his actions when someone wants to fight him over it. He doesn’t answer the bell. Just drop the gloves, protect yourself, fall to the ice and wait for the linesmen to break it up. That’s all he has to do. But he doesn't. He hasn't fought in 5 seasons.

Orpik, like most of the Penguins, is only brave when his opponent can’t see him. Or when his opponent is horizontal on the ice, like Marchand. Or when he can use his stick as a weapon.

Chris Kelly is now out 4-6 weeks with a fractured fibula. Pascal Dupuis was not penalized for the blatant and completely unnecessary slash. The League has decided not to discipline Dupuis.

If players felt compelled to answer the bell after hits like Orpik’s hit on Eriksson, perhaps guys hesitant to fight, such as Orpik, wouldn’t be giving out so many concussions with legal seek-and-destroy hits. If Orpik knew he would have to defend himself in a fight later, Loui Erksson might not have gotten a concussion.

By the way, where's the sympathy for Eriksson? Second concussion in five weeks.

The NHL suspended James Neal 5 games for kneeing Marchand in the head. I doubt if that will alter Neal's behavior. He’s been warned, fined, and suspended before. And he still plays the way he plays. And he still fails to express any remorse or regret for it. Just as he failed to show remorse for kneeing Marchand:

"I haven't, like, seen the replay or anything, so I mean I hit him in the head with my leg or my foot or my knee or shin area. I don't know. But I mean, he's already going down, and I guess I need to try to avoid him, but I have to look at it again...

"I mean, what do you want me to say? That I was trying to hit him? No, I'm going by him. I don't get out of the way, like I said. I need to be more careful and I guess get my knee out of the way, but I'm not trying to hit him in the head or injure him or anything like that."

Contrast that with Shawn Thornton.

Which player do you think is more likely to repeat what they did?

At least the NHL has given out some sort of punishment to a Penguins player. When Matt Cooke wasn’t suspended for the Savard hit, the NHL failed to curb a dirty player and a dirty team. Instead they gave him and the Penguins license to do as they pleased.

The Penguins will continue to play the Penguins Way that the NHL sanctioned when they didn’t suspend Cooke. At least until something changes. Until they lose more players to suspensions. Or until they lose more players to concussions.

Thornton seemed sorry that Orpik got hurt. I’m not sorry. I don't care. I guess Thornton has more character and class than I do. But I’m just sick of players like Orpik, like Crosby, like Neal, like Dupuis. And until that team changes the way it plays, I won’t shed a tear for their troubles or injuries.

Bruins Win Quickly in Overtime

The night after the Patriots took almost an entire fifth quarter of football to beat the Broncos, the Bruins needed only 34 seconds of bonus hockey to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3.

What I liked most about this game was the diverse way the Bruins scored their 4 goals. Each goal was different. Loui Eriksson scored in transition, beating Marc-Andre Fleury straight-up. Reilly Smith scored a power play goal. In the 3rd, Zdeno Chara was credited with a goal as the puck deflected off Sidney Crosby's stick. However the goal was the result of a sustained Bruins possession in Pittsburgh's zone.

Finally, Torey Krug's overtime winner was a great example of cycling the puck and cycling position when playing 4-on-4. Krug started the play on the right point, then passed the puck as he switched sides to the left. This also drew Crosby (who had man coverage on Krug) to get a bit confused and out of position, focusing on the puck not the man. Once Krug got the puck back on the left point, he had half the ice to drive toward the net. He wound up and slapped the puck through Fleury and the game was over.

Krug's 7th goal of the season is good for second most on the team.

Chara finally scored his first even-strength goal. He and Krug have combined for 7 PP goals. The rest of the team has a total of 4 (2 from Hamilton, 1 each from Smith and Bergeron). Nine of the 11 Bruins power play goals have been scored by defensemen.

This game would have had more impact in the old divisional alignment, as the Bruins and Penguins would be vying for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, 3 points apart. Now it's not as meaningful. At least not to the standings.

The Bruins play the Red Wings in Detroit Wednesday night, then have U.S. Thanksgiving off, then host the Rangers on Black Friday. They have 3 games in 4 days then have 4 days off. The Penguins, Red Wings, and Rangers. Not a bad week of hockey.

Photo Credit:
Elise Amendola

Insert Pun With the Word "Sweep" in It

For the second time in three years the Bruins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals. And I still cannot believe how they got there, by sweeping the top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tuukka Rask and the Bruins only allowed the Penguins to score 2 goals. This was a team that scored 3.4 goals per game in the regular season, and had been scoring 4.3 goals per game in the playoffs. Then they scored 2 goals in 4 games.

The Penguins' power play had a 28.3% success rate in the playoffs before this series. The Bruins successfully killed all 15 penalties in this series.

Sidney Crosby scored 3 goals in Pittsburgh's series with the Islanders, then 4 more against Ottawa. He had 15 postseason points before this series. He finished the series with 15 postseason points. He was -2 with 13 shots on goal.

Evgeni Malkin had 16 postseason points before facing the Bruins. He still has 16. He was -5 in the series, with 21 shots on goal, all saved by Rask. He only managed to get 1 shot off in Game 4.

Rask and Zdeno Chara shut down the Penguins. They absolutely and completely silenced Pittsburgh's big guns, their medium guns, and their little guns. Iginla had 0 points and was -4. Letang had 0 points and was -5. Morrow disappeared with his 0 points and only 1 shot on goal. James Neal took 20 shots but had no points and was -7.

Iginla decided not to end his season in Boston, but that's exactly what happened.

Chara's stats don't tell the full story. He had 0 points, but was +5. He played 119 minutes. That's 2 hours of hockey against Crosby, Malkin, and the best offense in the NHL. And he was +5.

Now the most impressive statline, that of Tuukka Rask...

275 minutes and 19 seconds in net, 2 goals allowed, 136 shots faced, 134 saves, 2 shutouts. That's a .985 save percentage. That's 1 goal allowed every 67 shots. His GAA was 0.44. That's absurd. Less than half a goal every 60 minutes. In the playoffs Rask has a .943 save percentage, and a GAA of 1.75. And since Game 4 against the Rangers when he allowed a few soft goals past him, he's only allowed 3 goals in 5 games.

He's officially a contender for the Conn Smythe. Depending on what happens in the next round.

It looks like the Bruins will face Chicago in the first Original Six Stanley Cup Final since 1979.

I can't wait.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Bruins Make Penguins Their Bitches-burgh

9-1. The Bruins have outscored the Penguins 9-1 in two games. Not even the most insanely optimistic, glue-huffing, delusional Bruins fan could have envisioned this. Game 1 was tighter than the 3-0 score suggested. Game 2, however, was an utter beatdown. The Penguins had no chance.

The Penguins are horrible at goal prevention. Their goalies suck. Their defensemen are not imposing at all. And their best forwards simply do not play defense. Crosby and Malkin are both -3.

Meanwhile, Rask has had his two best playoff games in this series. All 6 Bruins defensemen are doing an excellent job controlling the crease. Threatening pucks have drifted in and out of the blue paint with no Penguin able to get a stick on them because the Bruins are tying them up. And the Bruins forwards are all helping on defense.

I don't think the Bruins are playing a ridiculously physical series. It's just that the Penguins have no answer for the potential of physical play. Deryk Engelland against Milan Lucic? Really? And what "power" forward can match Chara?

And what does Crosby, their fearful leader, do? He flops like an NBA player. Actually, it's more like a Brazilian soccer player. Then after his dives he takes forever to get up off the ice. Then he skates to the nearest zebra and whines for 30 seconds.

This sense of entitlement, and this notion of expecting the game to play out a certain way is one of the reasons Pittsburgh is down 0-2. Maybe they got cocky after disposing of the Islanders and Senators, who were probably the 16th and 15th best teams in the playoffs, respectively. Now they're being challenged with talented forwards, intelligent defensemen, and a tough goalie. Things aren't going to plan and the Penguins don't know how to handle it.

Every group on the Bruins, from goalies, to defensemen, to forwards, is far and away the best group the Penguins have faced in this postseason. Rask is the best goalie they've faced. Chara-Seidenberg-Boychuk-McQuaid-Krug-Ference is the best group of defensemen. And from Krejci to Paille, these 12 forwards are the best the Penguins have faced.

On the flip-side, what Pittsburgh defensive pairing is going to go against the best line in hockey these days: the Krejci line? Who are Pittsburgh's shutdown d-men? Leading up to this series we were worried about matching up against the Crosby and Malkin lines. Who does Pittsburgh have to contend against the Krejci and Bergeron lines?

The Penguins have built a team to score goals, not prevent them. They're kind of like the 2007 Patriots or the 1995 Cleveland Indians. They can win with offense, but can't win any other way.

And they don't know how to win against an equal opponent. They do know how to whine.

This series is still young. The Bruins, hopefully, smell the blood in the water, and will strike at these wounded Penguins like a pack of hungry killer whales.

Game 3 Wednesday night in Boston.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Bruins Leave Penguins in Ruins

Before reveling in the Bruins' 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh, I must point out that the score doesn't do justice to how close this game was. Pittsburgh hit 3 posts, and one puck dribbled along the goal-line, kept out by flakes of snow, and perhaps the hockey gods, who are still cross at Matt Cooke for what he did to Marc Savard. And Erik Karlsson. And what he tried to do to Adam McQuaid.

What made Cooke's hit on McQuaid so dirty is what led up to it. This wasn't an instance of Cooke contesting with McQuaid, then McQuaid putting himself vulnerable, then Cooke deciding to finish his check anyway. Cooke was jousting with Krug. McQuaid, apparently unchallenged, went to the boards to get the puck. When McQuaid turned and made himself vulnerable, Cooke stopped playing Krug, and with a surge of energy he went after McQuaid's back, driving McQuaid, spinal column first, into the boards. Cooke was not going to touch McQuaid until McQuaid showed his numbers to Cooke. McQuaid's vulnerability is what attracted the vulture Cooke to hit him.

And the reaction of the Pittsburgh crowd demonstrates the kind of spoiled morons they have for fans down there.

Anyway, to the game. The Bruins did a few things that put them in position to win:

#1 Rask
Tuukka was great. He made a few tough saves. He didn't make saves tougher. He adapted his play to each situation. Sometimes he looked like a standard butterfly goalie, solid and predictable. Other times he flailed around like Dominek Hasek, keeping the puck out of the net with instinct and sheer will.

#2 No gifts
The B's did not have bad shifts. They didn't make bad turnovers in dangerous areas of the ice. Pittsburgh is good enough to generate their own offense, for the Bruins to win this series they can't afford to give the Penguins bonus opportunities.

#3 Neutral zone
The Penguins were almost never able to move the puck through the neutral zone without some minor disruption. This threw off their timing, and more importantly it frustrated them. They're used to skating through the zone unimpeded. This got under their skin more than anything, I think.

#4 First line play
Lucic, Krejci, and Horton find another gear in the playoffs. Lucic becomes a speed demon. Krejci becomes a tough along-the-boards grinder, and Horton becomes a smooth scorer. Horton has 4 multi-point games this postseason. He's also +17. Krejci is +14, leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs in points, and has the second most goals. Lucic is +11.

#5 Under their skin
Zdeno Chara is +9 in the playoffs. He goes against the best forwards the opposing teams have, and he's +9. And having to play against him every night pisses off even the best of players. In this game both Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby tried to get physical. That's way out of their element. And for Crosby against Chara, that's way out of his league. Chara would end Crosby. When Crosby was trying to antagonize Chara (and also elbowed Rask who had a great "wtf, mate? I'm a goalie" reaction) it reminded me of footage from protests in the Middle East, when unarmed civilians throw rocks at tanks. It's like really man? Do you really want this to get real? This is what Chara did to a guy who was 6' 6" and 238. Crosby is 5' 11" and 200.

Crosby, who is teammates with Matt Cooke, had this to say about the game's level of physicality:

"They're letting a lot go out there, and the more it gets like that, the more it’s going to escalate. You can only control and channel that stuff so much. You keep letting guys do that stuff, you’re just going to push the envelope. That’s something we obviously want to stay away from, but it’s kind of a natural thing when it gets like that."

What a whiny dink.

So this was a great win. Starting a series with a road win, it doesn't get any better than that.

All this being said, you can't rely on the posts all series long. You can't lean on your goalie and one line all series long. And I'm sure Pittsburgh will adjust and adapt to what the Bruins are doing to them in the neutral zone.

There were also a lot of "zero tolerance interference" penalties called. This favors Pittsburgh, who have the best PP units the Bruins have faced, and also have an aggressive PK group. The fewer penalties, the better.

Game 2 is tonight. A win would be titanic. A loss wouldn't be the end of the world. The Bruins are playing with house money, which has sometimes been when they play their worst. This is a chance, however, to really get in the driver's seat of this series.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Why I Hate the Pittsburgh Penguins

I can't wait for this series to get started. I'm happy the Bruins have a chance to rest, but I'm getting sick of trying to watch Red Sox games on NESN and turning them off because Don and Jerry are blabbering on and on about hotel lobbies and the struggle to hail taxis after a game. I just want this series to start. I feel like Cartman waiting for the Nintendo Wii to come out.

I can't wait because I hate the Penguins. Sometimes I forget how much I hate them, because the Bruins don't play them as often as Montreal. But my hatred for the Penguins is almost at the same level as my hatred for the Habs. And here's why:

#1 Matt Fucking Cooke
Every time I see this guy on the ice, I think of Marc Savard suffering post concussion syndrome and not being able to get back on the ice because of Cooke. Cooke gets to play, Savard gets to deal with depression. Cooke is just a dirty player. And not the good kind of dirty. He's a scumbag. He's pus. He lives on making dangerous hits when players are at their most vulnerable and least able to defend themselves. He preys on his fellow players. I hope he gets raped by lions. Lions have barbed penises. All cats do.

#2 Mario Lemiuex's Hypocrisy
Lemiuex employs Matt Cooke and was teammates with Ulf Samuelsson. Yet the Penguins owner often complains about dirty players that shortened his career. And when one of the Penguins star players is on the receiving end of a headshot, Lemieux gets very vocal. Then he signs Matt Cooke's paycheck. He employs what he claims to hate about the game.

#3 The Aura of Crosby
Sidney Crosby is certainly the best player in the game. Bar none. But he's also a whiner. And a bit of a flopper. If I were Canadian or in Canada, I would be arrested for speaking unfavorably of him. Because in Canada it's against the law to not love and praise him. And in some western provinces Crosby has the noble right of prima nocta. As a result, TV commentators will drool on their microphones as they drone about how spectacular he is, and referees will call penalties for just thinking about touching him.

#4 Pittsburgh, PA
The Penguins play in Pittsburgh. Where the Steelers play. Do we really want Steelers fans to be happy? And the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is kind of my nemesis. Very little good has come out of that state, except Yuengling. I love Yuengling. Even just typing it tastes delicious.

#5 It's Personal
My freshman year in college, I was really starting to like this one girl. She was pretty, smart, always had a great smile on her face, nice, you always felt like you could be yourself around her, and she had a fantastic body. As I was falling for her she fell for a Penguins fan and they went out for the next 3+ years. She even became a Penguins fan with him. And although they're no longer together, she's still a Penguins fan. I can't help but feel that had I been better, and had this Penguins fan not come along, maybe today she'd be a Bruins fan.

#6 Iginla
Marian Hossa once kind of did to the Penguins what Iginla did this season, trying to choose a winner instead of trying to win where he was (or for Iginla, where he was going to be sent). Hossa left Pittsburgh for Detroit to win a Cup. The next year Pittsburgh won a Cup. I don't like what Iginla did to the Bruins. It's like we asked him out, he said yes, and then he was asked by the class douchebag who drives his father's Mercedes and Iginla said yes and ditched us. I want Iginla to feel like Hossa did in 2009, watching the team he could have played for skate around with the Cup. I do not want Iginla to feel like Hossa in 2010, when he won the Cup with Chicago.

#7 The LeBron Factor
The Penguins are like the Miami Heat of the NHL. They're too stacked. Players go there because they know it's their best chance to win. I guess Detroit was like that for a few years. And if the Bruins win another Cup maybe they'll be like that too. It's just an uncompelling story when the best players decide to go to one team and win it all. It's impossible to root for them.

Unless you have a mouthful of Crosby.

Pain Filled Weekend for Bruins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the dirtiest team that is never called dirty. From Matt Cooke to Geno Malkin. They play with reckless abandon. And fine for them, but karma will keep concussing Sidney Crosby until the Penguins repent and change their ways.

The Malkin hit on Boychuk probably won't result in a suspension. Brendan Shanahan will make a video explaining how the head wasn't specifically targeted, Boychuk dropped his right shoulder, Malkin's a great guy, and the lack of a center redline was somehow the true culprit.

All that aside, the Bruins didn't respond to the hit. That pissed me off more than the hit itself. I wanted to see Shawn Thornton on the ice the second Malkin was released from the box. Charge him. Crosscheck his Bolshevik face. Malkin remained literally untouched for the remainder of the game. I'm not saying the Bruins should have tried to injure him. But make him pay a higher cost than just the paltry 2 minute minor and the friendly phone conversation he'll have with Shanahan. Make him feel some pain.

The B's felt pain all weekend. And watching them was equally torturous.

Why the hell did Tim Thomas start both games? He's shown clear signs that his energy levels are below 100%. At his best, he moves around the crease with ferocious grace. He's never out of the play because he's so quick to recover his balance. Actually, he never seems to lose his balance, no matter how he contorts himself. Lately, he hasn't been able to recover and make that second save. He needs rest. More importantly, the Bruins need him rested. The playoffs start in less than a month.

If Thomas doesn't get some rest right now, all the Bruins will have plenty of rest in May.

Turco did well. The silver lining of Thomas and the Bruins struggling in yesterday's 1st period was that now we all know Turco isn't a liability. He's a windmill. Before the Bruins signed him, he was working part time as an obstacle on a mini-golf course.

So with Turco, Thomas can rest. There are 15 games left, I'd like to see Thomas play about 8 of them. 10 at the most. This team is finding ways to lose no matter who is in net.

David Krejci's afternoon in Pittsburgh was a good summary of the Bruins' struggles. He scored 2 goals, but his +/- was 0 for the game. His offense was excellent, but he was inconsistent on defense. He got mesmerized by the puck, forgot to cover Kunitz in the slot, and a goal resulted. He won 12 of 22 faceoffs, but was utterly dominated by Malkin (who won 15 of 20). A nice 2 goals, but a costly mistake, and a failure to do some of the little things that win games.

That's been the Bruins since the start of 2012. Occasional brilliance mixed with inexcusable breakdowns.

Maybe the Bruins are tired from playing 107 games last year. Maybe the Bruins are suffering from injury.

The Canucks played 107 games last year too. They have the 3rd best record in the NHL. And the Penguins have been without Crosby for some time. The Rangers are without Callahan. The number of injuries for the Bruins right now is considerable, but when this stretch of poor play started they were quite healthy.

The Bruins were outmuscled yesterday. Worse than that, they're making horrible decisions. They haven't scored a timely Power Play goal in what seems like months. Every good period of play is sandwiched by two periods of bad play.

The Bruins are 2 points ahead of Ottawa with 2 games in hand. And right now those 2 points are the difference between the #2 seed and the #7 seed.

The B's are in Tampa Tuesday night.

Photo Credits:
AP Photo

WHY I WANT TO SEE SIDNEY CROSBY LYING FACEDOWN ON THE ICE TONIGHT

As much as I dislike Crosby, he's a relatively clean player. And he bears no responsibility for what happened to Marc Savard.

Then again, it's a team sport, isn't it? And let's say the Bruins go after Matt Cooke tonight, and even injure him, does that seem fair? The Bruins' #1 offensive threat goes down, while the Penguins lose a 3rd line winger. That's about as balanced as The Treaty of Versailles, and as fair as Fox News' political coverage.

Is a fight gonna satisfy you? Shawn Thornton steps up to Cooke, they both drop their gloves, dance a little, maybe Thornton lands a big punch or two, but so what? 5 minutes later and it's forgotten. Is that sufficient justice?

And what about deterring future goons from harassing top-flight Bruins players. Will they bat an eye the next time they have a chance to light up Patrice Bergeron, for fear that they'll have to drop the gloves and fight? Nope.

Go after Crosby. Punish the PENGUINS for what THEY did to the BRUINS. Like when a pitcher throws at Youkilis, the Sox pitcher has to nail the opponent's best hitter, not the #8 hitting short-stop.

Punish Matt Cooke, but not psychically. Make his teammates blame him for what happens to Crosby. Make him and every other cheap-shotting goon think twice about blindsiding an opponent, knowing that it'll cost him their best teammate.

Most of all, punish the Penguins.