The Bumper Boards

Seems like controversy just follows Auger these days.

Pens down 2-0 going into the 3rd against edmonton. Suddenly the pens get a 3-2 lead and the referees don't "see" 2 blatant infractions on the pens including a high stick with 2 min to go.

According to FSN pittsburgh the pens "dodged a bullet there"

Too bad, they dodge bullets in every game they play. It's sickening how nothing gets called on them and the minute you touch them, GO TO THE BOX

Especially since Edmonton scored both of their goals on the PP, so a PP chance there might have enabled them to tie it up.

Auger doesn't really care anyhow. Actual pictorial evidence of this, and what he is doing at this very moment:




Terrible official.

I love Mr. Bean.

I still can't believe they called the 2 minors at once at the end of the first giving Edmonton the full 2min 2man advantage. But I guess after Malkin full on torpedoed himself into the Oil player they had no choice. So I guess the Oil have to be happy they got another call at all during the game.

...sort of reminiscent of our playoff series against the Guins last year, when if we scored a power play goal in any one match we would not get another power play for the rest of that match...and of course Game 7 of that series when we didn't get any power plays at all.

I don't get why everyone gets their panties in a knot when anything Penguins comes up. Yes we don't like them but come on. Good teams get beneficial calls. The caps have gotten several this regular season alone.

If you don't want a ref to be the deciding factor in a game then you need to play well enough to eliminate the chance that any 1 call can ruin you.

We get calls? Since when? I see questionable calls on us which get even more blatant when we face a team like the pens or flyers in the playoffs

I noted it in a couple game day threads but this season we have got the benefit of several penalty calls or non calls in close games.

If you have ever ref'd a sport you know some calls will always get missed. It happens. And good teams that move their feet get the benefit of calls sometimes. It happens.

Penguins = suck
Auger = suck

Penguins + Auger helping them win = buckets and buckets of shit

There's "beneficial calls", and then there's the refs completely ignoring obvious infractions, such as that high stick last night. That was complete bullshit. And the Pens aren't on the good side of just one call ruining a team... remember that the power play opportunities were nearly 2:1 in favor of the Penguins during our series last season. There's missed calls, but a 2:1 ratio through a series is just pathetic, especially with Gill and Orpik playing for the Penguins.

That was last season, it's time to get over it. That is the benefit of the NHL starting fresh every October. It is a new year. If people really think the NHL is rigged to benefit the Pens then why do people watch the games if the outcomes are predetermined?

Why did it take this long for the Pens to win a cup with Syd?

Well, the season started fresh in October and the Penguins are still winning games with the help of the refs... like last night, so it's not like this is a new thing. If it ever ended, then it would be time to get over it... but it's just an ongoing story where things seem to just happen to go the Penguins way. Meet the new season, same as the old season.

I'd let it go if it seemed we were the only ones complaining about it, but I'm on other boards, and there's 28 other fanbases that agree the playoffs last year were set up for the Penguins to walk away with The Cup. Fans of western teams that didn't even make the playoffs who have no inherent hatred towards the Penguins thought their opponents got jobbed.

As for how long it took Sid... ask Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Bourque about how long it takes to win a Cup. They earned it after over a decade of working their respective asses off. Crosby was handed it after four seasons, would have been three if the bounces "went the right way" in '08.

+1

Sure refs miss calls here and there but good, hard working teams can overcome this; besides, good penalty killing is essential to win. And I've never believed that one PP not given to a team makes that big of a difference. The best PP units have 20-25% success rate, so unless your opponent is getting 5 or 6 more PPs per game against you, the agument that a team got 1 or 2 more PPs was helped by the refs is a weak one at best.

And then of course, it may not be the refs at all, maybe a team just has players that lack discipline…

This is true. Remember last year on the old boards when Caps fans were complaining about the refs favoring the Pens, the Pens fans all thought it was just us and the Flyers--until I cut and pasted quotes from other boards regarding the same thing.

wait, what??

is there statistical evidence to that point, that after the caps scored a powerplay goal they were not afforded another PP for the rest of that game, for ALL the games in that series?

As I see it, the league has 2 choices: go to instant replay like the NFL, slow the game down to a crawl, and bore the hell out of me while they spend 5 minutes watching 17 different angles of a play (I know, I know, they don't review penalties); or be like soccer and just play on. They are not going to see every infraction, they'll call some that are bullshit, but it all evens out. And yes, good teams and/or home teams often get the benefit.

So true. I am not gonna lie I am VERY bitter about the constant 'advantages' that the Pens seem to get. It is also hard to get over it when it never ends!

Just read on another board that the Pens play teams on the 2nd game of a back to back, I believe, 10x. The next closest team was like 5. How is this possible? It is just another example of an advantage given to the Pens.

But I am just whining so whatever.

Well, in this case, Edmonton did score both of their goals on the PP, so would think that they would have liked another chance, especially with a penalty that was obvious.



You know, I don't disagree with this, especially as a relates to the Caps who have been known to take stupid penalties. But I do think the Pens got away with a lot of interference that is supposed to be called but wasn't at all.

I'm not one to believe the whole conspiracy thing, and I do believe the Pens won because they were the better team--but I do think refs in general have their preconceived ideas about players and preconceived notions about teams.

I don't think Pittsburgh gets enough calls I mean they trail the Caps .... despite 3 games in hand. If the NHL is really out for the Pens shouldn't this be rectified?

I bet if you took a sampling of West and Eastern conference fans they would believe that the Caps get calls that we don't see. It's part of hating the rival you notice the small stuff that "screws" your team and the stuff that benefits you sometimes doesn't get noticed that someone else may notice.

And pay no attention to that "PPO" column in the stats too. The Pens have only finished top five in that statistic the last three seasons... leading overall in '06-'07 by nearly a half game (16 chances) worth over the Divercanes... and are leading this season so far.

I read that it was a +8 advantage: that they got to play 18 times when the other team played the night before and they didn't, and they only had to play 10 times in the 2nd game of a back-to-back where the other team hadn't played the night before. I think for the Caps, we were in the negative as to that advantage.

I realize that the schedules were screwed up because of the Olympics, but that does seem awfully high for the Pens. And didn't someone from another team last year also point out that the same thing happened for the Pens regarding their schedule?

happened in Game 1 --- http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/2 ... 030221.HTM

and Game 2 -- http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/2 ... 030222.HTM

and Game 3 -- http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/2 ... 030223.HTM

no PP goals in Game 4

Game 5 happens again -- http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/2 ... 030225.HTM

and Game 6 -- http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/2 ... 030226.HTM

Game 7 we didn't get a single PP

so yes there is proof.

look at when we go there at the end of the season.... it's the 2nd of a back-to-back for the Caps, whereas they will be sitting there waiting for 4 days.

Yeah, it isn't just bitter Caps fans. I don't believe penalties even out, so I don't really care about the 2:1 ratio. In fact, I think it's worse when both teams get whistled for 6 infractions each a game...sometimes penalties may even out, but usually one team takes more than another.

But this is the "I saw it with my own eyes" kiind of situation. I watch Pens games every so often on CenterIce. They do get away with a lot of infractions that occur in front of the officials. Crosby himself gets away with a lot, but so does Orpik and Cooke. The refs need to start calling these games better.

BTW I'm not saying the Caps don't get away with things, because I personally think they do. Skilled teams tend to get the benefit of the doubt, although the Caps have been called for diving a few times this season. I see the Pens constantly flopping around like a fish out of water after a slight tug on the jersey by an opponenets stick, and the diving call is rarely made.

it "should" be that way, but it isn't. in the NHL the penalties almost always even out moreso than any other sport. it doesn't happen in the NFL or NBA, but definitely does in the NHL which is why it gets at people when it isn't happening, because it is obvious the refs are changing how things normally get called.