Post-Game Talk: Pens @ Caps, 730pm NBCSN (Will vs Skill edition)

[Ovechtrick89*]

Nicky can be one of the best players in the world when he's feeling it, but Sid is on another level. He has an extra gear when it comes to speed and net front plays. At his best, Nicky is a poor man's Crosby.

This statement makes me very sad because i have to agree with it unfortunately, Crosby has him on speed and net plays but they are separated by very little when it comes to everything else IMO. If Nick was more of a goalscorer there would be nothing separating them numbers wise and dare i say the Caps would probably have a cup too because his goals would have been that little extra boost to get over the hump in the playoffs.

 

[Ovechtrick89*]

just when he take a shots on goal

Fair point also

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

This statement makes me very sad because i have to agree with it unfortunately, Crosby has him on speed and net plays but they are separated by very little when it comes to everything else IMO. If Nick was more of a goalscorer there would be nothing separating them numbers wise and dare i say the Caps would probably have a cup too because his goals would have been that little extra boost to get over the hump in the playoffs.

Nicky unfortunately can't be consistently dominant like Crosby, especially at ES. He relies far more on the PP to produce than Sid. They have similar skillsets, I'd say Crosby is better than him at everything except defense. Even that is debatable now with the way Crosby's been playing defensively since the end of last season.

There many things that if they had gone right would've pushed us over the hump. Kuzy not disappearing, GMGM not trading Forsberg etc.

 

[Ovechtrick89*]

Hmmmm i don't know what to make of Oshie struggling to answer what the team's identity is. The fact he had to think about it means it's still not clear? Hopefully it's because he was annoyed at having to look at that mouse Pierre and that threw him off his train of thought.

 

[Ovechtrick89*]

Nicky unfortunately can't be consistently dominant like Crosby, especially at ES. He relies far more on the PP to produce than Sid. They have similar skillsets, I'd say Crosby is better than him at everything except defense. Even that is debatable now with the way Crosby's been playing defensively since the end of last season.

There many things that if they had gone right would've pushed us over the hump. Kuzy not disappearing, GMGM not trading Forsberg etc.

Forsberg - i was driving the wagon on that one from the day that trade went down so i can concur 100%, worst move in NHL history. Kuzy i have to unfortunately agree with again. But just imagine how much it would help if Nick was a better goal scorer? Could you definitively say that the Caps wouldn't have had a much better shot at winning it all if that was the case?

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

More of that, please.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Forsberg - i was driving the wagon on that one from the day that trade went down so i can concur 100%, worst move in NHL history. Kuzy i have to unfortunately agree with again. But just imagine how much it would help if Nick was a better goal scorer? Could you definitively say that the Caps wouldn't have had a much better shot at winning it all if that was the case?

Yeah but that's like saying, imagine if Ovi could play defense like Pavel Datsyuk and stickhandle like Patrick Kane. Nick is who he is. He just needs to find a way to hit the line with a lot of speed and put pucks on net like he did today. If he does that, he'll be a PPG+ player again, and the whole team will benefit from it.

 

[Ovie's Neighbor]

Man what a great game. Finally they played the game we have all been asking them to play. They stayed aggressive with lead and continued to attack. Sure that means they gave up some chances against but Holtby bailed them out when he needed to. This is the style we need to play.

 

[hockeykicker]

Please just use the report button for any posts that violate rules instead of responding. thanks

 

[Hivemind]

Letang is -5 tonight

Carlson -1

lol we win 7-1 and Carlson still finds a way to be -1

 

[Calicaps]

Just got a chance to watch the second half of the game. That was fun. Love that the Pens coaches were complaining to the refs about unfair treatment. That breaks the irony meter. Really need Kuzy to find his game to give this team its full identity.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Riddle me this, chicken littles....

Does tonight's game now mean...that the sky isn't falling? Or is it more coal to the "they can't be motivated correctly, mental midgets, coached poorly" fires?

 

[Holtbyisms]

Very nice win by the boys tonight. Tomorrow will be a glorious day as I stroll around work and town in right dead in the center of Penguinville in my Ovechkin jersey.

 

[Chukcha]

They need to find whatever stick the MONstars put Kuzy's skill into and quick. He's near the "maybe scratch him" zone.

I take the blame, he started sucking when I bought his jersey. It always happens. Mike Green, Brian Orakpo, Robert Griffin III, and now Kuzya. Always right when I buy the jersey...

haven't you bought a No.55 jersey in 2011?

 

[HecticGlow]

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Riddle me this, chicken littles....

Does tonight's game now mean...that the sky isn't falling? Or is it more coal to the "they can't be motivated correctly, mental midgets, coached poorly" fires?

It's unrealistic to expect any team to blow out every opponent every night, but I believe their "normal" should lie some where between what we saw last night and the snoozefests we saw in Raleigh and Columbus.

 

[g00n]

Riddle me this, chicken littles....

Does tonight's game now mean...that the sky isn't falling? Or is it more coal to the "they can't be motivated correctly, mental midgets, coached poorly" fires?

Anyone can see the difference in their play tonight vs some of the uninspired play of the last several months. This performance looks more like the team that dominated early last season. One game does not equal winning the Cup, though. Sustaining this level of play is the issue, not talent.

The problem is still roster vs roles set by the coach, and the tendency to become complacent after "proving something". Trotz preaching defense then turning around and calling out his players for not having offensive aggressiveness is a mixed message. We've seen them dominate and play to their potential only to sink back into bad habits.

Let's hope they keep playing like this instead of what they'd been doing, and Trotz doesn't overcompensate with stifling defensive play the next time they give up a few goals.

 

[txpd]

We've seen them dominate and play to their potential only to sink back into bad habits.

The Capitals or the Penguins?

 

[Corby78]

Riddle me this, chicken littles....

Does tonight's game now mean...that the sky isn't falling? Or is it more coal to the "they can't be motivated correctly, mental midgets, coached poorly" fires?

Ive been in the "too early to panick" wagon, so for me it just proof we can play at that level. I think we will start to see more of that, we have too much talent and half the team can't continue to slump all season.

 

[ovikovy817]

What a game

Nicky, shoot this ******* puck mooooooooore, please. His last 3 goals, deadly shots.

It's like everytime we are on SH, we have a good opportunity to score, that's a good thing

I wouldn't be surprised if Trotz changes the lines for the next games (or in 3-4 games). Now he knows 90-19-77/8-92-65 is working for the top 6, so maybe he'll save that for the PO and will continue the experiments.

 

[g00n]

The Capitals or the Penguins?

Why would we care about that for the Penguins? Which team has 2 Cups and 3 Finals appearances in the Ovechkin era? One team has proven they can get over the hump. The other hasn't. So which one is less worried about a single game or week of bad play?

Come onnnnnnnn

 

[txpd]

Why would we care about that for the Penguins? Which team has 2 Cups and 3 Finals appearances in the Ovechkin era? One team has proven they can get over the hump. The other hasn't. So which one is less worried about a single game or week of bad play?

Come onnnnnnnn

pre playoffs, each season is different. yea, pens have two cups. concerns this season, what does getting blown out by a struggling team on a back end of back to backs with travel say? were that the capitals it would be said to say a lot.

my point is that nothing that the caps do now, positive or negative will make a lot of difference come playoffs. if they were perfect right now, all it would say is they are headed to another worthless president's cup.

Do the pens get more slack because they won last season? sure, but that same bunch played awful and got their coach fired last season too.

When the home and road games start to balance out, very likely the Caps will lead the division and possibly lead the conference. Then we will be back to saying they don't win right.

 

[marcel snapshot]

The thing about Nick's shot is that it seems to have more velocity and deception for goalies because they're looking for him to pass. On his first goal last night, you could see he had options entering the zone, and he's such a great play-maker that goalies can't get fully set for his shot because they think he's more likely to dish.

The same dynamic could be at play for Kuzy, but he needs to actually shoot when he gets opportunities like the one in the 1st period that he passed up.

What a night for Malkin, first the disallowed goal, and then he injures his goalie taking a dumb penalty that puts his team down 4 v 3 leading to a goal with 10 seconds to play in the 1st period. On a lot of teams, any player that did that might not see ice for the rest of the game.

 

[ovikovy817]

-Whining about refs
-Think that the NBC is anti pens
-Happy with the Ovi's injury (when he left the ice)

"Classy pens fans"

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Yesterday's game gave me a bit of hope, maybe the team and its main components will return to normal and start playing the way they should.

We saw crisp passing yesterday, all our passes were tape to tape and all the Penguins' passes were in the skates.