Post-Game Talk: Penguins 5, Sabres 4 (OT) - A Win is Nice, But These are Hard Times

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Phil continues his ascent to greatness

He's been there for awhile... don't let him have a bad stretch tho cause ho boy, "gotta trade the Phil"

Really is a testament to how ridiculous we are at home that we won that game.

We just don't really lose there. Find ways to win always. Wish we had that kind of push back on the road, but I guess it's nice we have it somewhere.

Pens pushed back hard down in Nashville...

 

[Gurglesons]

I can't tell if we are winning games we should lose or losing games we should win right now.

 

[66-30-33]

8 goals in 2 games for the Pens.

 

[ColePens]

+++ Hornqvist: The heart and soul of this team. When the Sabres went up 1 goal, Horny went and tried to turn the tide. Sabres went up 2, and 72 went right back out there putting his life on the line every single shift. He will just bust his ass. Nonstop. I love Hornqvist. Re-sign that man.

+++ Kessel: Love to Geno, as well, but Kessel is also the heart and soul along side Horny this season. Every game he's busting his ass harder than 90% of the team. Love everything Kessel is doing.

+++ Sheary: That Sheary/Hornqvist duo was dynamic all over the ice in the 2nd/3rd. Great game by #43.

++ Schultz: I'll say it again, the small things he does on the PP opens space up for Kessel/Geno. It's only an inch or a second, but it makes all the difference and you see that on Kessel's play on the PP. When Letang is on it, we don't get it because the PKers just stay neutral. When Schultz is out there, he's doing little things like looking off his pass, showing shot, taking shots to keep the PK honest, moving his hips to open up, then going back the other way. It's the small things that make a HUGE difference.

+ Sid: After his mistake, you saw a different Sid. He was engaged big time for the 2nd/3rd. Good on Sid.
​

And honorable mention Murray: There is nothing that guy can do on these goals. Defense needs to be better.



--- Cole: Brutal defense. Standing around and bad pinches. Bad game for Cole.

- Letang: Same stuff, different game.

- Sully: Same as last game's rant. He's not putting this team in the best position to win. That's on the coach.

 

[Lustaf]

Had to have been that 2 goal game against Florida, which was in the beginning of October

Correct.

It was exactly a month ago, October 14th.

 

[Pancakes]

He's been there for awhile... don't let him have a bad stretch tho cause ho boy, "gotta trade the Phil"



Pens pushed back hard down in Nashville...

For every Nashville we've had a Chicago, Tampa, etc. Too much rolling over and dying on the road this year.

 

[cygnus47]

We still have big time puck watching issues.

Ruh needs an upgrade, Reaves needs an upgrade. Sid needs to attack the net and the whole PP needs to shoot the damn puck. Phil is a god. We looked more involved in the 3rd and OT, but we need to look like that for 40-50-60 minutes a night instead of 10.

Sully is my biggest minus though. Get Ruh on the 3rd pair with Cole, get Malkin more ice time, stop using the 4th line so much or double shift Geno on that line.

 

[Nakawick]

Wait... are we sure Sheary isn’t really pronounced Shire?

Sherry, like Jarry and Harry and Larry and Barry and Gary and Mary and Terry

 

[ColePens]

Btw.. Greg McKegg - 73% faceoffs. 8/11. Really nice stuff. The guy is an underrated 4th liner. He makes plays and gets chances. Better than the other bottom guys like Kuhn, Reaves, Sheahan, and hell even Hags.

 

[Pancakes]

Btw.. Greg McKegg - 73% faceoffs. 8/11. Really nice stuff. The guy is an underrated 4th liner. He makes plays and gets chances. Better than the other bottom guys like Kuhn, Reaves, Sheahan, and hell even Hags.

Be nice if he scored a bit more but it is what it is. We're really missing Cullen this year. To be honest we're even missing Bonino. He at least occasionally scored unlike poor Sheahan.

I will say Sheahan/Kegger do a good job off the puck at least.

 

[ColePens]

Be nice if he scored a bit more but it is what it is. We're really missing Cullen this year. To be honest we're even missing Bonino. He at least occasionally scored unlike poor Sheahan.

I will say Sheahan/Kegger do a good job off the puck at least.

I seriously think he would if he was with talent. If he was with Archi/Wilson (I KNOW HE IS NOT HERE... ) he could probably be like the buzz line. Instead he's stuck with idiot Kuhn and Reaves who is doing fine, but he's only looking to hit.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Btw.. Greg McKegg - 73% faceoffs. 8/11. Really nice stuff. The guy is an underrated 4th liner. He makes plays and gets chances. Better than the other bottom guys like Kuhn, Reaves, Sheahan, and hell even Hags.

Curious what they do when Rowney's back. I know before he went down, Sully favored him on important draws vs McKegg. Does Sully make it Rowney vs McKegg for 4C or Rowney/McKegg vs Kuhnackl?

ie. Kuhnackl-Rowney/McKegg-Reaves or Rowney/McKegg/Kuhn-Rowney/McKegg-Reaves

 

[ColePens]

Btw - Eichel is a lazy hockey player. So many times he doesn't even try to play defense. Guy has so much skill but so uber lazy.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I can't tell if we are winning games we should lose or losing games we should win right now.

First one far more often than the second one.

We're a mess and pulling victories out of our asses purely on talent alone. Wins are wins, but this isn't gonna do much against teams that aren't horrendous like the Sabres and Coyotes.

 

[The GM]

Sherry, like Jarry and Harry and Larry and Barry and Gary and Mary and Terry

And fairy

 

[Zirakzigil]

Only saw the 3rd. That Malkin pass to kessel and the goal were insane. Crosby also seemed keyed in, his board work behind the net was awesome in overtime. Nice to see them beat a team they should win against.

 

[ColePens]

5 hits, 5 shots (I think he had more), 1 goal, 1 assist, +2.

Ole Patric Hornqvist.

 

[Pancakes]

I seriously think he would if he was with talent. If he was with Archi/Wilson (I KNOW HE IS NOT HERE... ) he could probably be like the buzz line. Instead he's stuck with idiot Kuhn and Reaves who is doing fine, but he's only looking to hit.

True. I don't think Sheahan would score if you put him with Crosby/Malkin though. Guy just does not have a nose for the net at all. He is a strong defensive player though which is nice.

Btw - Eichel is a lazy hockey player. So many times he doesn't even try to play defense. Guy has so much skill but so uber lazy.

Eichel strikes me as a good complementary piece but not somebody you build around. He doesn't strike me as the type of player to carry a team. Like you said too much quit in his defensive game and imo he's not strong enough on the puck either.

In fairness he does not have a lot of support. No idea how Buffalo has such a bad supporting cast with all the picks and prospects they've accumulated. They should be better by now.

 

[KIRK]

Here's what I learned-- or more precisely relearned-- tonight: The ball is in JR's court. Not much of a market, but you're not firing the coach, Sid and Geno can only do so much, and it's clear this team needs SOMETHING to jump start them . . . and by SOMETHING, I don't mean a 5-4 OT 'win' against Buffalo at home. As I keep saying, I get why JR didn't go crazy this summer. You can never undo crazy changes if they don't work out, but you can stand relatively pat and fix things later if it doesn't pan out. Well, it's LATER. And, by it's later, I mean RIGHT NOW.

 

[madinsomniac]

Its mostly mental things holding us back... sid and geno look fine when engaged but obviously are taking a back seat a lot this year.... A lot of guys are having bad puck luck and gripping the stick hard right now... the goals will come.... then they press less and aren't irresponsible defensively...

Its a dam that will break, but we may need a nudge or two to get there

 

[Zen Arcade]

To quote Bob Errey, it was not a Picasso

Weird and confusing with lines in strange places? Sounds like a Picasso to me.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

For every Nashville we've had a Chicago, Tampa, etc. Too much rolling over and dying on the road this year.

Well those debacles had Niemi in net so...

We'll see how things go now that Jarry has hopefully stabilized the backup position and the road schedule is much less brutal.

 

[ColePens]

Here's what I learned-- or more precisely relearned-- tonight: The ball is in JR's court. Not much of a market, but you're not firing the coach, Sid and Geno can only do so much, and it's clear this team needs SOMETHING to jump start them . . . and by SOMETHING, I don't mean a 5-4 OT 'win' against Buffalo at home. As I keep saying, I get why JR didn't go crazy this summer. You can never undo crazy changes if they don't work out, but you can stand relatively pat and fix things later if it doesn't pan out. Well, it's LATER. And, by it's later, I mean RIGHT NOW.

I know we need something from the outside, and I think we all agree who the targets should be. But I'm waiting for Sully/JR to handle the issues we can handle now.

- Get Archi in the lineup.
- Get Kuhn out of the lineup. Waive him.
- Maybe think about bringing Sprong up.
- Sit Reaves on games we don't need him.

 

[Pancakes]

Here's what I learned-- or more precisely relearned-- tonight: The ball is in JR's court. Not much of a market, but you're not firing the coach, Sid and Geno can only do so much, and it's clear this team needs SOMETHING to jump start them . . . and by SOMETHING, I don't mean a 5-4 OT 'win' against Buffalo at home. As I keep saying, I get why JR didn't go crazy this summer. You can never undo crazy changes if they don't work out, but you can stand relatively pat and fix things later if it doesn't pan out. Well, it's LATER. And, by it's later, I mean RIGHT NOW.

I could just as easily see him standing pat to be honest. We have a lot of home games coming up. We could easily win a lot of those since this team seems to do much better at home. What then? The issues get a bit masked at that point. JR can afford to be patient knowing the schedule we have coming.

Now if we start losing at home it's a totally different ball game. But for whatever reason we are near unbeatable at home.

Well those debacles had Niemi in net so...

We'll see how things go now that Jarry has hopefully stabilized the backup position and the road schedule is much less brutal.

Yeah we'll see how it shakes out. I know we're better than we've played. I think we all know that. But who knows if we see it this year?

 

[Pengu]

What a ****show, but we won...
Why does Sully insist on playing Crosby for 24 min every night and Letang for 26 min. It's infurating especially when guys like Malkin, Schultz and Kessel gets 18 min.
I'm so f...ing tired of the garbage Letang is allowed to put forth every damn game. If this continues on for the rest of the year, 2018 will become the "get Letang out" campaign.