Red Wings vs. Penguins: The Game Seven NBC Doesn't Deserve

(Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

This year's NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs have been great as have the Finals. The series has gone back and forth. The action has been back and forth for both teams. Whenever you have scoring chances and great goal tending, it is exciting.

Being a lifelong Red Wing fan, I would love to see another cup in Hockeytown. However, both the Wings and the Penguins have alot to be proud of regardless of the result. The Wings already have built a great legacy and aren't going away. With Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins will also be a force for a long time.

So I am definitely looking forward to a great game. The only thing I don't like about the game is that it is once again on NBC. As great as the Finals have been, it doesn't forgive the way NBC has disrespected and mishandled the series.

First the network disrespects the game by scheduling games one and two back to back on a Saturday and Sunday. Their reasoning was that they didn't want to disrupt Conan O'Brian if the game ran into long overtimes. That lack of priority on this great game really irritated me. 

Those first two games were the highest ratings in about six years. That is bittersweet though because of the lack of respect.

NBC has also mishandled the schedule by having games three and six conflict with the NBA Finals. One of the games was a Versus game, but from the outside it looks as though NBC is the network that drives the Finals schedule. I will always watch hockey over hoops. However, the casual sports fan will likely watch hoops.

I am definitely excited about Friday and looking forward to a great game. It would just be nice to watch it on a network that knew what a great product they had and appreciated it. 

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