June 2nds are crazy.
Off-topic, but it was my parents’ 30th anniversary yesterday, and their house got hit by a tornado. That has nothing to do with the Pens, but maybe its a symbol. Like on every June 2nd, Max is a natural disturbance that hits the Red Wings dead on.
You’re probably going to be overwhelmed with the stat of the Penguins winning every playoff game in which Talbot scores. They’re something like 8-0, and two goals yesterday helped. But I’m more impressed with Max stepping up in early June in back-to-back seasons.
First off, it’s impressive in its own right that the Penguins were playing on June 2nd this year, let alone last year as well. And the only way to continue that trend is to routinely make the Finals…something I’m not against at all.
While the Wings were concerning themselves with stars like Sid and Geno yesterday, a great secondary scorer like Max opened the game with a great one timer, and closed it with an empty netter. I think I hug-tackled a few people after his first, and let out an epic roar after the last.
Max stepped up big, when we absolutely needed him most. Kinda like he did last season, on June 2nd, of course. Remember this?
34.7 seconds to elimination. Sending the game to OT so Petr Sykora could win it.
Quite a flair for the dramatic on June 2nds, eh, Maxie?
On June 1st, we were looking at an 0-2 series deficit and a mountain to climb to get back into the series. One day, one routinely amazing day for one player, and spirits are raised to positive levels again. Knowing what he did last year, we probably should’ve expected Max to step up on June 2nd again.
Thanks Max. Go Pens.
