Frustration (noun):
1) the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals
2) an act of hindering someone's plans or efforts
3) a feeling of annoyance at being hindered or criticized; "her constant complaints were the main source of his frustration"
see also: Martin Biron, Flyers vs Habs 2008 Playoffs.
The FHF and Canadiens fans worldwide are phrustrated. Philly is phoiling the Habs phormerly phoolproof plans and threatening to send them phalling right out of the playophs. Phuck.
You know what? To hell with trying to be clever or interesting. This series is frustrating as all fucking hell. For all of these reasons:
Price: I love the kid, and I still think he will be a star, but it is frustrating to see the goals he's let in. Is he tired? Hurt? Getting jerked around by Rollie Melanson? No idea. But the big saves haven't been there in the past few weeks, and the team is in a hole because of it.
The Defence: Hamr looks tired. Doom's positioning looks like hell lately. Where the hell was he on the winner last night? Markov isn't creating the way he was early in the season. Gorges has been fantastic ... but Josh Gorges is a fifth defenceman, folks. He's struggles with too much responsibility, spends a lot of time flailing at pucks, and is still learning. O'Byrne has had no impact whatsoever in the playoffs. Part of the Habs success this season was directly attributable to a hardworking, steady defence. We haven't seen the same levels in the playoffs.
The Forwards: Has Kovy done anything since game 1 of this series? Last night I counted at least three times when he made a cut with the puck and just fell over untouched. What the hell? Higgins is snakebit and seriously making me rethink my prediction that he could be a future 40-40 guy. Mad Max is either awesome or invisible; the same goes for the Tits bros. Koivu has been his regular self, working like a maniac, creating, winning faceoffs, and taking his customary offensive zone penalty nightly. Pleks ... well, I don't have a fucking clue what the hell is wrong with Pleks, but he looks far more like a second or third liner than a first line centre at the moment. Gui! Gui! Gui! never stops working, but he can't skate well enough to play in this league right now. The second goal last night was all because he couldn't keep up with Scott Hartnell. Scott Fucking Hartnell is no speedster. Michael Ryder should have had a shot before this point in the series because he might, just might, pot the ugly goal this team needs.
Slowinski, Greek Lightning and Begin have been outstanding (I'll get to the hit in a minute) but when your fourth line is your best line, you are in deep.
Carbo: Juggled the lines a little. Resulted in a bit of a spark. Messed up the goalie situation yesterday, in my opinion. I know Halak played well enough, but what happens next game? The game after that? Next year? We're dealing with what everyone claims is the Franchise Saviour here, and this is the result? Troubling. I hope it works out. Halak can be a solid goalie in this league ... but he doesn't have the career trajectory Price may have.
Other problems? Carbo thinks that he wouldn't change anything about how the team has played ... oh, really? You wouldn't try crashing the net a little more? Wouldn't think of playing someone like Ryder or Gui with Pleks and one of the Tits, so that line wouldn't spend all it's time dipsy-doodling in the corner or twenty feet from the net instead of going where garbage goals get scored? Wouldn't think to start the Tits and Pleks as the first power play unit on the nights when they are all flying, and the extra space lets them be creative, instead of trotting out Koivu, Higgins and Kovy to pass it around the perimeter until Streit or Markov launch an unscreened shot or Kovy loses the puck along the boards, leading to a Flyers clearance? Wouldn't recommend trying to shoot from odd angles, off screens, anything to get Biron moving around so it doesn't always hit him in the chest?
The Calls: Yeah, the call last night on Begin wasn't the greatest. But he was stupid to do it, especially in a close game, especially with the horribly inconsistent refereeing in the NHL right now. Don't give these guys a reason to penalize you because all the unwritten rules about "playoff hockey", "lettin' em play" and "putting the whistles away" are gonzo. Nobody has a fucking clue what kind of game they are getting from night to night anymore. You get on with it. Unlike
some people, I won't claim the refs cost us anything if and when the Habs are out. The Habs are spending twice as much time on the powerplay as the Flyers. Clearly the calls aren't the issue. The horrible, one-trick-pony special teams? That might be part of the problem.
Martin Biron: Best hockey of his NHL career? Possibly. In a zone? Looks like it. Full of confidence? Yep. But this is not a man playing Dominek Hasek in '99/Patrick Roy in '93/Johnny Bower in '68 out of his mind. The Habs don't have enough traffic, aren't making Biron work hard at lateral stuff, are letting him get set for the shooter, are firing pucks right at him (and he isn't a huge man.) I defer to the judgement of FHF resident goalie expert Panger, but I don't think Biron is unbeatable. The number of posts the Habs have hit attests to that somewhat, right? Can Biron keep it up? Lesser goalies have. There will be no shame in losing to a hot, hot goalie.
The bounces: The Breezer own goal. RJ Fucking Umberger's 5 seeing eye goals. The posts. Have you ever seen so many bounces go one way? Last night, the second Flyer goal went off the post to Hartnell's stick like it was placed there. The winner could have bounced in a dozen different directions ... it went right to a wide-open Briere. Up until Koivu's goal last night, I couldn't recall one cheap bounce that landed where the Habs could take advantage, other than Carter's broken stick in Game 1. It's been that kind of series. That sucks, it's frustrating, it makes me curse a blue streak. But it's happening. However ...
The Flyers are getting the job done: We can all complain about the posts, or claim the Habs are outplaying the Flyers, or lament that none of the shots are going in, or bitch about the refs, or lament that Price is a sieve. But the Flyers are stifling the powerplay with good defensive work, they are scoring timely goals, they are hitting, blocking shots, and making the most of their chances. Isn't that what good teams do? These are not Bob Clarke's wretched 2007 Flyers. They are fast, and tough, and opportunistic, and they are getting great goaltending.
The opposing fans and "experts" are coming out of the woodwork: Is this the worst part? Hell yeah, it's the worst part. "Price is overrated." No, Price is a 20 year old kid in a slump. His contemporaries like Tuuka Rask and Justin Pogge aren't even in the league yet. The Great Blue and White Hope in TO can't even beat out Scott Clemmensen in the AHL. Price will be fine. "The Habs are overrated and now they are being exposed": I fail to see how a team picked by almost everyone to finish out of the playoffs is overrated. Overachieving? Hell yeah. But this isn't NCAA football; the Habs reached 1st place by winning games, not by some sort of popular vote. Don't forget, if Pittsburgh doesn't shit the bed in the final game of the year, maybe they go to seven games against hard-charging Philly, and the Habs get a second round date with the Rangers or Devils. The Habs ran into to two strong, physical teams with hot goalies (and, in the Flyers case lots of guys who can put pucks in the net), and suddenly they are headed for next year's lottery? Not bloody likely.
So yeah, this sucks: Yeah, being behind in a series in this manner sucks. But it ain't over. And if the Habs lose this round and it is 16 years since the last Cup, I'll be pissed (because I measure success in Cups, not "good playoff runs", or "good lottery picks", or "great regular seasons".) It will suck less than most of the last ten years. Oh, fuck it. It sucks. Win in seven, you fuckers!
