This is all kind of funny. Has a playoff game, let alone a 7 game series that ebbs and flows, ever been won by anything that's been said in the papers before the series even started? Still, I can't fault Murray for trying to find some kind of motivation for his team - they are so beat up and have played so poorly for so long that they need some kind of cosmic intervention to turn it around.
ottawasun.com - War of words with Pens begins
On their playoff preview show, Mike Milbury (why is this slow-witted ex-player on every hockey show?) reacted to Bryan Murray's tirade detailed above as something that he was trying to do to motivate his players but that won't work because those things never work. Milbury basically laughed at Murray.
But if you recall, this is the same Milbury, who coached the Boston Bruins in 1991 and during the playoffs that year, called Pens coach Bob Johnson a "professor of goonism". Johnson was about as far as an NHL coach could be from advocating goonism, yet here was Milbury trying to get under the Pens skin by trying outlandish tactics. Very similar to the very same tactics Murray was employing yesterday that Milbury laughed at.
The guess here is that Murray's tactics will enjoy as much success as Milbury's did in 1991 when the B's lost to the Pens 4 games to 2.
ottawasun.com - War of words with Pens begins
Bryan Murray has fired the first salvo in the Senators playoff battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins.4/8 UPDATE: Had to add this funny tidbit. It's amazing what coaches do and get away with during the playoffs that should rightfully earn them scorn and shame and how it turns around when they are on th other side of things. I just posted a story about Mike Keenan and Jeremy Roenick, but I found humor, legit laughing humor, in something I saw on TSN last night.
The Senators GM/coach accused the Penguins of tanking their final game against the Phildelphia Flyers Sunday because Pittsburgh wanted to face Ottawa in the first round the playoffs beginning Wednesday at Mellon Arena.
Asked by the Sun what he thought when he saw Sidney Crosby as a healthy scratch in the 2-0 loss against the Flyers which cost Pittsburgh first place in the Eastern Conference, Murray didn't mince any words.
"I knew what was going on," said Murray.
Which was?
"You guys all know they wanted to play Ottawa. That's fine. That was fairly obvious from the drop of the puck," said Murray.
On their playoff preview show, Mike Milbury (why is this slow-witted ex-player on every hockey show?) reacted to Bryan Murray's tirade detailed above as something that he was trying to do to motivate his players but that won't work because those things never work. Milbury basically laughed at Murray.
But if you recall, this is the same Milbury, who coached the Boston Bruins in 1991 and during the playoffs that year, called Pens coach Bob Johnson a "professor of goonism". Johnson was about as far as an NHL coach could be from advocating goonism, yet here was Milbury trying to get under the Pens skin by trying outlandish tactics. Very similar to the very same tactics Murray was employing yesterday that Milbury laughed at.
The guess here is that Murray's tactics will enjoy as much success as Milbury's did in 1991 when the B's lost to the Pens 4 games to 2.
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