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

[Sidney the Kidney]

Yeah, but half of that had to be on the PP... it’s what it felt like.

Which doesn't exactly absolve the coaching staff for playing him too many minutes in situations he shouldn't be playing in.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

So wait....are we turning on Sully? I don't spend as much time on here since the update not I'm getting that feeling

I read Cole's rant in Preds post game and I tend to agree but others I get the feeling are def ready to turn on him which.... Is scary

There's a difference between critiquing some of his (questionable) decisions, and outright turning on him.

99% of those complaining about him are in the former category. Don't let the 1% out-shout the vast majority.

 

[Hockeyholic]

At what point is Letang sent to the press box?

 

[Jaded-Fan]

At what point is Letang sent to the press box?

 

[AquaticBirdman]

At what point is Letang sent to the press box?

And replace him with who? We don't exactly have a surplus of top.pairing defensemen to fall back on..

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Letang will be sent to the press box when he retires to join Billy G in the front office team. Stellar minds using incredible insight and progressive thinking to keep the team ever evolving and ahead of the curve.

 

[Andy99]

I would caution one thing - I've stayed at one standard my entire time here on HF. I will bring up talking points in these PGTs based on a short time period. I think Sully deserves being called out for this season so far. He's not doing a great job. That doesn't mean I'm turning on him. That doesn't mean his credentials thus far are ignored. That doesn't mean he's a bad coach. But in relation to what he can do, he's making some mistakes on a consistent basis.

- Letang's minutes/powerplay time: Been discussed to death. Sully even says it and fails to act.

- Not dressing Archi: And once again, I'm not at practice so maybe he doesn't deserve it, but I find it hard to believe the shot of energy Archi brings couldn't give us something on a b2b.

- Odd line jumbling: Kuhn was in the top 6 this season. Why in the ****?

- Poor 4th line choices: This is the guy who said we are best when we are running 4 attacking lines with speed/skill. Why are Kuhn/Reaves standards if that's the identity?

- Last game using Sheahan for d-zone faceoffs. He was getting murdered. In-game adjustments are big. I would have used anyone but Sheahan when he kept getting rocked.


That being said, it's imperative to realize I'm not turning on him or saying he's a bad coach. He's just coaching pretty poorly thus far. There are some components limiting him (bottom 6 center depth), but he's also limiting himself.

I would add, playing Sid 22-23 minutes a night, while Geno and Phil, who are playing better right now, get 3 minutes less on average. Tonight Geno played 5 minutes less than Sid

 

[Crosby My Captain 87]

I thought Sid was really good tonight, he was winning battles and making plays all night. I thought it was a great game for him.

Letang is still struggling but the mistakes are the same mistakes that we always see from him. It's kind of what you get from him. When he was on the top of his game at the end of the 2016 season, the odd-man rushes from him pinching in bad spots still happened, bad turnovers still happened. It's just part of his game. I think when he starts connecting on more passes and the team as a whole starts to play better, then his game will subsequently improve pretty drastically. Maybe I'm being too optimistic but I'm not concerned that he will get his game together. We've seen this from him often before

 

[wheelz87]

+HORNQVIST. Guy is a straight beast. Brings it every single night. He got it started like he always does, then got it started on the scoreboard. Guy is completely untouchable in my book. Just sign him now and be done with it. Everything he does is contagious. He's always the most engaged and he brings POSITIVE energy to this team on nights we don't show up. He *deserves* the second 'A' but I understand why he doesn't have it.

-Letang. I'm just going to talk about the PP for now. So I don't know if this should actually go to Sully instead? How obvious does it have to be to keep Schultz out there instead of Letang??? 58 is atrocious and never makes the right play.. meanwhile Schultz is deadly at it. Why Sully, why???

-Sheahan, Hags, Kuhn, McKegg.. and this just isn't tonight.. do any of these guys ever have a chance to score? Sheahan is a 4c. Hags.. I love the guy I do but man he may never score again. He was so unnoticeable with 71/81. Like they ignored him. Kuhn and McKegg, I just don't know if either are NHLers. Kegg fits us better with the speed but man.. and Kuhn just does nothing well. I mean, I'll say he has an NHL shot but what's it matter if he never uses it?

I'm starting to come around on Reaves. But it doesn't matter if he's playing with two AHLers. I mean I'm pining for Archi to get a chance. And he may only be an AHLer. But there's a thing about fit. And he is what this team is. Put him in for Kuhn, PLEASE. Try that 4th line with two guys running around creating havoc. (though Kegg is far from the tenacious little guy Archi is)

 

[Doogle]

First game I went to this season. At no point did I expect us to win. If we were playing anyone besides Buffalo we lose 5 1. Some notes:
+Kessel, Horny, Sheary, and Rust showed a lot of hustle all night
+I thought the third line played well together. Sheahan is very replaceable but I feel like the criticism is a bit overstated.
+That one shift led by Hagelin was tremendous, sucks we couldn't capitalize there
-Our d. Everyone hung Murray out to dry

And I wanted to see Eichel live. You can tell he can rip a shot or blow past someone with very little effort, but maybe because of that, he seemingly plays a very low effort game. I wasn't as impressed as I hoped.

 

[AquaticBirdman]

It's really guy wrenching to think that we have 4 mill in cap space tied up on Hagelin

 

[EightyOne]

Just echoing others sentiments really.

I only caught the 9 min NHL video..

This team is really really bad. A couple crazy stretch passes saved them. Some terrible defensive coverages. Murray is set up for failure often.

Still at a loss to what can be done to make this team really seem in control of their game rather than at the mercy of pure puck luck.

 

[billybudd]

For a guy that flunks the eye test often (and he does), Sheary sure gets the job done a lot.

As much as it's maligned, I don't think the Reaves line's really all that bad on the ice lately.

 

[Will Hunting]

Well, haven´t seen a word about him in whole pgt... But man, Jake Guentzel was weak again. Sid actually played well for most of the game and Guentzel was killing game anyway. And I am saying that as his huge fan. I don´t know what´s the problem with him but it´s not good. Kessel keeps on being our best player so I have to give him credit. He is playing really well now. Hornqvist played a big game too, we just don´t win this game without one of these two..

 

[Peat]

Still at a loss to what can be done to make this team really seem in control of their game rather than at the mercy of pure puck luck.

More effort, more confidence.

Trades would help too but those two things would go a long way.

 

[SidCity]

On the Powerplay:

Letang: 10.8 GF/60
Schultz: 6.8 GF/60

Please stop with the "Schultz is better than Letang on PP" narrative. The numbers don't support your statement.

 

[cygnus47]

For a guy that flunks the eye test often (and he does), Sheary sure gets the job done a lot.

As much as it's maligned, I don't think the Reaves line's really all that bad on the ice lately.

The big thing about Sheary is that he ALWAYS goes for the skill/scoring play. He may not have the hands for it, but he's always looking to beat his guy one on one, looking to shoot every chance, looking for slam dunk passes etc. Sometimes it pays off.

 

[SidCity]

PDO numbers:

Crosby: 91.9
Letang: 91.6
Malkin: 96.6
Schultz: 97.4
Kessel: 98.5

Crosby and Letang have been EXTREMELY unlucky so far this season. The numbers should over in the range of 98-102 for the season.

 

[Night Shift]

Letang will be sent to the press box when he retires to join Billy G in the front office team. Stellar minds using incredible insight and progressive thinking to keep the team ever evolving and ahead of the curve.

 

[EightyOne]

On the Powerplay:

Letang: 10.8 GF/60
Schultz: 6.8 GF/60

Please stop with the "Schultz is better than Letang on PP" narrative. The numbers don't support your statement.

Do you have numbers for who is out for more shorthanded shots against?

 

[HandshakeLine]

I would caution one thing - I've stayed at one standard my entire time here on HF. I will bring up talking points in these PGTs based on a short time period. I think Sully deserves being called out for this season so far. He's not doing a great job. That doesn't mean I'm turning on him. That doesn't mean his credentials thus far are ignored. That doesn't mean he's a bad coach. But in relation to what he can do, he's making some mistakes on a consistent basis.

- Letang's minutes/powerplay time: Been discussed to death. Sully even says it and fails to act.

- Not dressing Archi: And once again, I'm not at practice so maybe he doesn't deserve it, but I find it hard to believe the shot of energy Archi brings couldn't give us something on a b2b.

- Odd line jumbling: Kuhn was in the top 6 this season. Why in the ****?

- Poor 4th line choices: This is the guy who said we are best when we are running 4 attacking lines with speed/skill. Why are Kuhn/Reaves standards if that's the identity?

- Last game using Sheahan for d-zone faceoffs. He was getting murdered. In-game adjustments are big. I would have used anyone but Sheahan when he kept getting rocked.


That being said, it's imperative to realize I'm not turning on him or saying he's a bad coach. He's just coaching pretty poorly thus far. There are some components limiting him (bottom 6 center depth), but he's also limiting himself.

Weirdly enough, maybe Sully needs a Tocchet-like AC to run the forwards again? That's really the only thing I can thing of that explains the weirdness of Sullivan's line usage lately. It's like he forgot how to bench manage over the summer.

 

[ColePens]

On the Powerplay:

Letang: 10.8 GF/60
Schultz: 6.8 GF/60

Please stop with the "Schultz is better than Letang on PP" narrative. The numbers don't support your statement.

Yes... this number shows movement , how the pk plays, teams who know letangs tendencies, who factors in on goals amd everything!!!

Dont live off numbers, watch the game.

 

[Don'tcry4mejanhrdina]

Well, that was certainly an entertaining game.

Are we holding off on trading Kessel for now? Only the two Tampa boys have more points than he does.

Thank God Crosby finally scored again. A frustrated Crosby is not very fun to watch.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Well, haven´t seen a word about him in whole pgt... But man, Jake Guentzel was weak again. Sid actually played well for most of the game and Guentzel was killing game anyway. And I am saying that as his huge fan. I don´t know what´s the problem with him but it´s not good. Kessel keeps on being our best player so I have to give him credit. He is playing really well now. Hornqvist played a big game too, we just don´t win this game without one of these two..

Here's what it looks like to me. Teams starting playing Jake hard around the mid 2nd round in the playoffs last year and he hasn't quite adjusted. They are in his face nearly every play and after the play as well. He either adjusts or becomes a soft 13 goal per year perimeter player.

 

[NMK11]

+Sheary: I think over the past two years weve all been down on him at different points, I know I have. But the guy just keeps producing, and its all ES. He just keeps proving us wrong.

As for Hagelin, it does look like he may never score, but to be honest, Im not too beat up about it. He really looked like he was bringing it last night by attacking the puck, fore/backchecking, and had a few decent chances that he just seemed to be unlucky on. His salary is really the only one that you question a bit, but I dont think hes someone I move on from. He needs to be the third wheel on his line, we cant put him with Sheahan and Horny and expect him to put up points.

Then again, when Horny is the most creative player on a line, not many people at all will score.