Post-Game Talk: Pens 5, Rangers 4 (OT): A Tale of Two Penguins Teams

[deakka]

Murray still hasnt lost in regulation. Stats be damned, at least he steps up when hes needed!

 

[3074326]

+ They were awesome when I was watching. I got home late.
+/- I only saw the last two minutes and OT

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Murray still hasnt lost in regulation. Stats be damned, at least he steps up when hes needed!

I think that's the underrated aspect of Murray's ability. When he's "on", he's near unbeatable. But even when he's "off", he still somehow battles through it and makes enough key saves to ensure the win.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

For the record, and not arguing one way or another, the OT play was actually an accident turned good. Both 71 and 81 went to the dman behind the net. All he had to do was put it anywhere on the ice that wasn't right into Kessel's crotch, and it's a 2 on 1 the other way.

Sooooo while I love they scored the winner, I don't look at how that play developed as a great thing.

I was actually talking about their collective 7-point night, not necessarily the OT winner.

But even the OT winner was not bad hockey...unless you like hockey players who constantly retreat and make the safe play. They're gamblers, they gambled and won.

It works for them more than it doesn't.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

The best quality that Murray has is that he controls the flow of the game. When he can he freezes the puck so that the team can get a faceoff and ends a sustained threat. You rarely get a rebound and second opportunity with him, and you never see the behind the goal antics brain farts that Fleury was known for.

 

[ColePens]

I was actually talking about their collective 7-point night, not necessarily the OT winner.

But even the OT winner was not bad hockey...unless you like hockey players who constantly retreat and make the safe play. They're gamblers, they gambled and won.

It works for them more than it doesn't.

I won't spend too much time on it because it's not a big deal in any way. But this is where fans are reacting to a result as opposed to actually dissecting the play.

No... in no way shape or form, 3 on 3, should 2 guys chase a defender behind the net. I actually think McDonagh was awful the entire night turning the puck over. He was bruuuuutal. It was a really bad read by Geno, IMO, because he is responsible for the center off the draw. Kessel is in the right position, IMO. But no... there is no way anyone in the world would say that was what they wanted to do. I bet even 71 and 81 admit they got lucky because they both went to the dman.

And it's different from a delay attack 5 on 5 or 4 on 4. McDonagh was not in any trouble. He literally just made an idiotic mistake. He should have just moved it up the boards and it was a guaranteed 2 on 1.

I'm over analyzing a small play that doesn't matter because I sort of laughed that nobody even mentioned how wrong it was, even if the result was great. Kessel, IMO played a great game from puck drop. He was engaged and even battled out there. He flubbed the puck a few times on odd man rushes, but I still liked his game. Geno - not engaged until Shattenkirk woke him up, then really engaged from there on.

I'm sorry to over discuss such a small part of the game, but I just find it so weird nobody called them out for double attacking the defender behind the net 3 on 3. If that puck goes the other way, people lose their shit around here for poor 3 on 3 play.

Go to the 1:00 mark and watch.

The best quality that Murray has is that he controls the flow of the game. When he can he freezes the puck so that the team can get a faceoff and ends a sustained threat. You rarely get a rebound and second opportunity with him, and you never see the behind the goal antics brain farts that Fleury was known for.

Some Fleury fans are screaming (not on HF) that if it was #29 in net, people would be calling him out. Here's the thing.. when you go 2/2 Stanley Cups in your first 1.5 years, you can do whatever the hell you want. I think Murray would tell you he's not 100% happy with his game, but he's also a perfectionist.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I was speaking about what makes Murray special. His GAA is hardly sparkling though that is much more because of the defense hanging him out to dry than his short comings. Though I am sure that he is killing himself about it.

That said his demeanor, and how his calmness calms the entire team, really is what stands out to me. And the lack of rebounds. He can be like a sponge.

 

[Riptide]

LOL, love it!

 

[Gurglesons]

I know that it is barely even 5 games in but leading the league in GA and penalties is pretty gross.

/cue thread closed.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I know that it is barely even 5 games in but leading the league in GA and penalties is pretty gross.

/cue thread closed.

Getting lit up for 10 goals in one game will do that, especially with such a small sample size.

Take away the 10 goal game and the Pens have given up 19 in 6 ... not great, but not nearly as bad.

 

[Night Shift]

Part of me wanted to see the pens lose that game.

Pens are now gonna keep on playing pond hockey til they lose a couple games in a row and realize they have to start playing the right way.

See, id rather they get hot at the end of the year into the playoffs. Let them play pond hockey and conserve energy in October/November.

 

[Gurglesons]

Getting lit up for 10 goals in one game will do that, especially with such a small sample size.

Take away the 10 goal game and the Pens have given up 19 in 6 ... not great, but not nearly as bad.

So 20th in the league when you remove a game. We still are giving up 3 goals a game when you remove a game. It is bad and part of that is our defense is consistently throwing slashes.

 

[Andy99]

See, id rather they get hot at the end of the year into the playoffs. Let them play pond hockey and conserve energy in October/November.

I just want to point out the following facts for people who think the Pens start slow and need to do so to conserve energy for later in the season...or at least not worry about defense now. They didn't do that last year and still won the Cup

Last season they were coming off a Cup too and everyone was gunning for them then as well. They had 9 games they played in October and they won six of them. In those 9 games, they gave up 27 goals, a three goal average per game. They were playing without Crosby for much of that time and Murray

Fast forward to this month where they've already given up 29 goals in 7 games...they're giving up over 4 goals a game. Even if you say Chicago game was fluky and it would have been more like a 5-1 Chicago win under normal circumstances, that's still 3.43 goals per game. That's much higher and much worse defense than they gave up last year early on.

Just saying that they were pretty consistently mediocre on defense all throughout last year and never picked it up, even in the playoffs. How consistently can they keep doing that and win, relying on abnormally high shooting percentages that they had last year? I think it's difficult to say they'll have that kind of luck again this year. They already haven't

 

[ColePens]

Let's jump back to off day thread