Post-Game Talk: Penguins 4 - Canadian 3 - Shoot Out Edition - Are you not entertained?

[Sidgeni Malkby]

I was waiting for Jarry to have a chance in the shootout .
Glad we got the 2 points!

 

[Ugene Magic]

I was waiting for Jarry to have a chance in the shootout .
Glad we got the 2 points!

That would have been glorious...

 

[vodeni]

1st line was absolutely horrible defensively. Crosby basically float around with zero effort, weird.

glad someone noticed...its hard on the night when Jake and Sid scored all three goals, but they got lucky (as they usually are) to not get scored on so many great chances for Montreal, that may be the reason why Sully sat Hino the last ten minutes of the game and put DOC there, but he wasn't the reason for their defensive effort...

 

[Ugene Magic]

I did not regret going to the game. It was entertaining and I had a blast.

Puus looks like an NHLer out there.

Just for giggles... You'll always be our Frenchman....

 

[vodeni]

Yeah, let's blame Crosby tonight. Good catch.

see this is typical....no one needs to blame anyone, especially on the night we won...but if you are the coach and you watch the tape where your best line had 1 high danger scoring chance for and 12 against, you may think you have some work to do, you may want to figure out issues and try to work things out...

A gutsy win while on the second half of a back-to-back against a rested opponent.
The Penguins are 2-0-0 so far this season in such situations.
Last season, we were 0-6-3, meaning we've gotten more points from rested opponents while tired so far this season than we did the entirety of last season.

I feel like we won just about all back to backs this year

 

[Ugene Magic]

see this is typical....no one needs to blame anyone, especially on the night we won...but if you are the coach and you watch the tape where your best line had 1 high danger scoring chance for and 12 against, you may think you have some work to do, you may want to figure out issues and try to work things out...


I feel like we won just about all back to backs this year

You guys are not alone. I think people saw me nitpick Sid in the GDT.

Not just him, either, this team just loves their pie turnovers.

 

[vodeni]

You guys are not alone. I think people saw me nitpick Sid in the GDT.

Not just him, either, this team just loves their pie turnovers.

its not nitpicking...we love Pens, we know a lot about them by now, we are watching games and processing, I hope our caching staff does the same and not lull themselves into feeling that all is good now...

 

[Genetic]

Don't look now but Harkins is on pace for zero points!

Also Sully : Harkins to line 1 and pp1

 

[Ugene Magic]

its not nitpicking...we love Pens, we know a lot about them by now, we are watching games and processing, I hope our caching staff does the same and not lull themselves into feeling that all is good now...

It pretty much is the biggest dagger in their game.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

it's time to move him to wing. we just don't have a center to do that.

Fully agree. I have been wanting to add a 2C over a winger for a couple years now in case of injuries.

Don't look now but Harkins is on pace for zero points!

Also Sully : Harkins to line 1 and pp1

He played 5 minutes
Please notice that Sully is not using him a lot. Stop creating a narrative that he loves him. He tried him early and it failed. He moved on.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Harkins time on ice this game: 4:24.
Puustinen time on ice this game: 15:36.

Harkins time on ice last game: 6:36.
Puustinen time on ice last game: 11:52.

I mean, if your scenario happens, then by all means be angry about it, but it's silly to invent a scenario just to be angry about something.

Did you see the part where I said "when one of the top six wingers returns?"

Puustinen is playing right now because we have an opening in the top six. If you think he'll still be playing when the only spot for him will be somewhere in the bottom six, then you haven't followed this coach for very long.

 

[BillyOcean]

Did you see the part where I said "when one of the top six wingers returns?"

Puustinen is playing right now because we have an opening in the top six. If you think he'll still be playing when the only spot for him will be somewhere in the bottom six, then you haven't followed this coach for very long.

This guy knows how this works.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

This guy knows how this works.

For the record, my general overall point is Puustinen likely comes out when our top six is healthy and won't play a bottom six role.

If someone wants to be pedantic and harp on the "LOL but you said Harkins" bit, I'm already getting ahead of that nonsense here by saying insert ANY of the random bottom six scrubs in place of Harkins because my main point was about Puustinen and the chances of him still being played if the only spot for him is in a bottom six role.

 

[Pancakes]

the team is unquestionably better this year, but they're still not good enough.

I don't know what you can even change at this point. Like if you gave me a "free transaction that the salary cap ignores" i don't know what one piece would help. Obviously getting healthy would be nice, but they're still too wildly inconsistent everywhere except... 1C?

The good news is I don't think Washington or Philly or the Isles are all that good either, and the Devils and Canes look flawed too.

Only Nyr have been good all year. So the Pens have a punchers chance at least.

If the pp can become functional and the goaltending stays this good we might actually have the makings of a decent team. Two massive ifs though.

 

[SEALBound]

Alex Nedeljkovic has been pleasant surprise for Penguins

He played another strong game on Wednesday night.

www.pensburgh.com

He really, really has been. A lot of shakey signings but Neds seems to have really found his game. Another great example of fresh starts given to good players going well. And they REALLY needed that after Jarry's shakey start.

Puustinen doing well is an added benefit at the moment. Makes me wonder if that is shifting any plans.

 

[IcedCapp]

The good news is I don't think Washington or Philly or the Isles are all that good either, and the Devils and Canes look flawed too.

Only Nyr have been good all year. So the Pens have a punchers chance at least.

If the pp can become functional and the goaltending stays this good we might actually have the makings of a decent team. Two massive ifs though.

Yeah I keep waiting for Washington and Philly to regress (the caps in particular seem incredibly unsustainable), but I don’t wanna just make it to the playoffs and get swept. I’d like to win a damn game.

If you think this is rock bottom, you are going to be sad as each year is significantly worse as our core falls off the cliff in production. We certainly aren't in the "OMG how much higher does this go?" part of the roller coaster and are well into the "Wheeeeeee" phase.

Crosby, Malkin, Letang, EK, Jake, Rust, etc will all most likely be worse players next year.

Nah nah nah, I was a fan during the bad years. I just mean this has to be rock bottom for THIS PP with THIS talent. I don’t mean the team. Just the 0 for 30-something PP while trotting out 3-5 hall for fame offensive players

 

[OtherThingsILike]

I feel like we won just about all back to backs this year

Yes, we have, although the other two were games against opponents who had also played the day/night before.

For the record, my general overall point is Puustinen likely comes out when our top six is healthy and won't play a bottom six role.

Not a given. Nylander was played in a Top 6 role even when Rakell and Rust were both healthy (Rakell was tried on the third line).

If someone wants to be pedantic and harp on the "LOL but you said Harkins" bit, I'm already getting ahead of that nonsense here by saying insert ANY of the random bottom six scrubs in place of Harkins because my main point was about Puustinen and the chances of him still being played if the only spot for him is in a bottom six role.

But you can't just handwave away the bottom six as though they're all indistinguishable from Harkins. Puustinen would play over Harkins, even if the only role for him is in the bottom six.
Would Puustinen play if all forwards are healthy? Right now, yes, because the power play is clicking with him on it. If the power play's effectiveness goes back to what it was before? Maybe not.

 

[66-30-33]

He really, really has been. A lot of shakey signings but Neds seems to have really found his game. Another great example of fresh starts given to good players going well. And they REALLY needed that after Jarry's shakey start.

Puustinen doing well is an added benefit at the moment. Makes me wonder if that is shifting any plans.

Imagine we kept DeSuck.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

For the record, my general overall point is Puustinen likely comes out when our top six is healthy and won't play a bottom six role.

If someone wants to be pedantic and harp on the "LOL but you said Harkins" bit, I'm already getting ahead of that nonsense here by saying insert ANY of the random bottom six scrubs in place of Harkins because my main point was about Puustinen and the chances of him still being played if the only spot for him is in a bottom six role.

I hope Sully considers a more offensive L3 with:
DOC - Eller - Puustinen

Give line 4 all of the D responsibilities (ie. Acciari, Nieto, etc).

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I mean yeah, he's a .935. That's brilliant work in this high scoring era. Plus he's been assaulted pretty good in his games. No lack of quality chances against.
But of course it's easier to do in a small sample size. I wasn't suggesting he should take over the #1 gig, but atm I feel more confident with him than Jarry. I'd like to see him get more games. Jarry needs the rest anyway. It's a good way to prevent injuries, so in the unlikely case we do make the playoffs, maybe we can actually have our goalies available this time.

You mentioned the reason why though - Jarry needs rest, yes, but that's why you and others trust Ned more right now, Ned is rested and should have been playing more, but Jarry was getting over played like usual by Sullivan, long stretches of games for a goalie that had a couple of seasons of injuries that nagged him, that's not really all that intelligent from the coaching staff.

But I mean, that's to be expected by a low intelligence group of wankers like the coach and his staff, also his GM.

Imagine we kept DeSuck.

I am f***ing glad I never have to see his stupid ass in a Pens uniform ever again. f*** that tosser.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I hope Sully considers a more offensive L3 with:
DOC - Eller - Puustinen

Give line 4 all of the D responsibilities (ie. Acciari, Nieto, etc).

I've been advocating for more balanced scoring for a while. I don't think it makes sense to try and construct your lines where your bottom six's only function is drawing the other team 0-0. It's not going to kill you to infuse some offensive ability onto the 3rd line so that Sid/Geno don't have to carry 99.9% of the offense every single game.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Don't look now but Harkins is on pace for zero points!

Also Sully : Harkins to line 1 and pp1

"I feel like we've seen some really good things. Seen some areas we can work on.

If you counted shootout goals, you would see Harkins on the pace we expected.

So we're going to slot him in alongside Sid, to really exploit that offense we feel is there.

I see a lot of myself in his style of playing the right way out there."

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

"I feel like we've seen some really good things. Seen some areas we can work on.

If you counted shootout goals, you would see Harkins on the pace we expected.

So we're going to slot him in alongside Sid, to really exploit that offense we feel is there.

I see a lot of myself in his style of playing the right way out there."

I don't know what reacc to give this because you can't leave them all for one post and I'd need a sad and angry one too.

 

[Will Hunting]

Read some Habs comments. Even they noticed Malkin skating and looking like zombie, talking about him being close to retirement. Did he really have such a bad game?

 

[ChaosAgent]

Read some Habs comments. Even they noticed Malkin skating and looking like zombie, talking about him being close to retirement. Did he really have such a bad game?

Malkin looked fine for what he is these days.

He is the slowest guy on the team and in basically every game. He still has more skill than almost every player but unless he's scoring (or his line is scoring) it's not going to look good. I don't know the recipe for being effective while being the slowest guy on the ice as we enter 2024, but for the sake of having a decent 2nd line hopefully Geno and the coaching staff figure it out.