UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The joint venture between WPXI and Trib Total Media into sports TV continues Sunday night at 11:35 p.m. with the latest episode of The Final Word.
The discussion will be built on a rotation of WPXI and Trib personalities, but also will be heavy on contributions from you. Each week, we take comments from viewers through videos you submit on The Final Word’s Facebook page, as well as comments to The Final World’s Twitter account. Our topics this week are the Penguins-Islanders climactic weekend, obviously, but we’ll also have Steelers and Pirates in store.
We have WPXI’s live online stream for Pittsburgh’s many out-of-town sports fans, as well as video podcasts available on both outlets’ Web sites.
WPXI contributors will be Alby Oxenreiter and Bill Phillips. The Trib will be represented, too, but we have to see how the weekend plays out before that’s settled. If there is no Game 7, I’ll be on, as well as Rob Rossi.
>> The Friday column summarizes Game 5 by pointing to … a scoreless first period? Yeah, it’s kind of reached that point with these Penguins. Less is, indeed, more.
Except when it comes to one of Sidney Crosby’s most sensational goals …
Not too bad, huh?
Remind you of anything?
We are so terribly spoiled in this city with the quality of hockey we witness. Really are.
A full written breakdown of the goal, plus much more can be found in our full Penguins coverage, by Rob Rossi, Josh Yohe, Kevin Gorman and Jerry DiPaola.
And here’s what the captain himself had to say about it …
>> Even a closer as superb as Jason Grilli’s been is no match for a most unfortunate flurry of small ball, as befell the Pirates last night in New York, per our Rob Biertempfel.
On the brighter side, Jeff Locke continues to be … not spectacular, but steady. I have my doubts about him long-term, but he’s had a handful of encouraging starts now.
>> I’ll be flying back up to Long Island this afternoon to cover Game 6 tomorrow. Before that, I’ll pay a visit to TribLIVE Radio at 11:30 a.m. to talk pucks.
Here’s today’s chat transcript covering the Penguins’ many personnel changes for Game 5, the Steelers’ wide receiver depth, Pedro Alvarez’s struggles with the Pirates, plus more.
>> The weekly chat will be today at noon, right here on the blog. As soon as you see that thread go up, entries can be submitted on the platform.
>> I took Wednesday off — at least the portion I didn’t spend sitting on a JFK runway — but will be back at it for Game 5 tonight. Much good hockey stuff in this morning’s Trib. It’s Joe Starkey’s day to column-ize, and he offers this sensible look at the Penguins’ current state. You also find on our Penguins page a bunch of good material from beat man Josh Yohe.
And here’s video of Dan Bylsma refusing to discuss lineups per team policy and … he did what?
>> Not that these things are always in the manager’s control, but I’ve always had mixed feelings about ace-on-ace matchups in baseball. They’re a blast to watch, but I wonder if teams aren’t tossing away a better chance at a W by having, say, an A.J. Burnett get narrowly outdueled by the Mariners’ brilliant Felix Hernandez. Those same seven strong innings from Burnett almost surely get you a W tonight in New York.
Not a criticism, I’ll repeat. Just a thought.
>> Max Starks tells our Mark Kaboly he believes he’s done with the Steelers. And somewhere Ben Roethlisberger crosses himself while wondering which of Mike Adams or Marcus Gilbert will keep him alive.
>> No need to knock for the chat room. Walk right in.
Gotta love Hagelin buzzing to draw Bs penalty, moment ref's arm goes up, he sprints to NYR bench. Must have heard he "stinks" on power play. 31 minutes ago
