Dazed and Confused

When it comes to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, you expect that the two teams that play in it are close to being the two best teams in the league. And when this year’s finale started, surely these two teams were two of the best. So, what happened?
Well, one team showed up and the other team was, to put it mildly, dazed and confused. Now Led Zeppelin never wrote that classic to represent a hockey game, but after reading a headline to that effect, the song keeps running though my mind. So do the first two games. Like a bad dream, or an acid trip gone horribly wrong, as if any acid trip could go right.
The Pittsburgh Penguins keep going backwards as if being run over by an army of red ants, and not just another hockey team from Detroit. Passes to no one, shots, and the few that there were, being stopped by the Wizard of Os, and taking bad penalties. The game had to be stopped midway in the third period because the ice had a deep rut in it heading to the Penguin penalty box.
Where’s the team that beat the rest of the Eastern Conference finalists 12-2? Is the Western Conference really THAT much better? I doubt it. The game plan formulated by the Red Wings has worked to perfection and the Penguins have done little short of tossing names in a hat and see what line combinations might understand what it takes to play hockey this time of year. “Hey, Terrien, watch me pull a victory out of my hat”
Dazed and confused really doesn’t describe it quite accurately.
But then again, it’s too hard to figure out a better description with this pounding headache and tears in the eyes.