Post-Game Talk: Pens/Caps: Pens crush the Caps spirits.... again.

[Andy99]

+++ Murray: Murray was amazing in this game. One goal that I think he'd want back, but other than that he made hard saves look easy and it took all the energy out of the Caps. I love his bounce back since the first 2 games.

+++ Horny: Welcome back! What a game by #72. He's the guy we just cannot replace in any way. He gets crappy goals and creates space because he battles. #72 is a guy that we need on this team. It can't all be skill goals. We need a guy who can muck and do what he does. And nobody other than Simmonds is even on his level. Re-sign this guy.

+++ PK: Andy99 noted in the pregame talk, Kuhn/Rowney are on L4 to kill penalties tonight. Sacrifice skill for some great PK. It paid off. Great call by Andy and great pulse by Sully to know that. L4 was miserable 5 on 5, but Kuhn/Rowney were great on the PK. Kuhn and Reaves with Rowney can not be a 5 on 5 line. They were terrible. But at least the two were great on the kill.

++ Sully: Can't deny he has a pulse on the team and pulls triggers that seem to work just about every time. I love how he was moving the PP around. It's game 4 of the regular season and he wasn't happy. HE was using all the talent we have. I like that.

= Transition defense is still doing better each game. A lot left to be desired but it's a long season. I think it's trending back upward. There is some extended zone time due to lack of assignments and clears were very poor in the 3rd period.

= Powerplay: PP2 was good. PP1 was lacking battle. Geno/Kessel/Sid need to get to work on the powerplay. They are too passive and want to stand around. Have to get to work. A really bad PP1, a really good PP2.


- Slight minus to Kessel, McKegg, Letang, and L4 5 on 5. Just to be a bit hard on our team.

Thanks for the shout out....

 

[66-30-33]

So....Kunitz hattrick tomorrow?

 

[Ugene Magic]

 

[Randy Butternubs]

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Who the **** scheduled the Pens to road back to back Wash/Tampa? Seriously?

You leave Letang alone with a computer for five minutes...

 

[td_ice]

Who the **** scheduled the Pens to road back to back Wash/Tampa? Seriously?

Niemi vs that offense, haha...that might not be pretty.

 

[flaneur]

Niemi vs that offense, haha...that might not be pretty.

shudder.

 

[66-30-33]

Niemi vs that offense, haha...that might not be pretty.

Hopefully he's gone soon tbh.

 

[molon labe]

Who the **** scheduled the Pens to road back to back Wash/Tampa? Seriously?

Most back to backs in the league this year, and many of them are not sensible.. Starting the season with a Home & Away was just ridiculous to me.

All these back to backs, i just want 2 points out of them. Anything above that is gravy.

I mean, anything it takes to get to the dance - but it makes one wonder how we will handle them and if less points /Atlantic route makes some sense. Of course I don't think purposefully testing the hockey gods by gaming the playoffs will help

 

[Rakell67]

Pens' Special Teams have been good thus far:
PP 27.8% (5/18)
PK 94.7% (18/19)

 

[AjaxTelamon]

+++ Murray: Murray was amazing in this game. One goal that I think he'd want back, but other than that he made hard saves look easy and it took all the energy out of the Caps. I love his bounce back since the first 2 games.

+++ Horny: Welcome back! What a game by #72. He's the guy we just cannot replace in any way. He gets crappy goals and creates space because he battles. #72 is a guy that we need on this team. It can't all be skill goals. We need a guy who can muck and do what he does. And nobody other than Simmonds is even on his level. Re-sign this guy.

+++ PK: Andy99 noted in the pregame talk, Kuhn/Rowney are on L4 to kill penalties tonight. Sacrifice skill for some great PK. It paid off. Great call by Andy and great pulse by Sully to know that. L4 was miserable 5 on 5, but Kuhn/Rowney were great on the PK. Kuhn and Reaves with Rowney can not be a 5 on 5 line. They were terrible. But at least the two were great on the kill.

++ Sully: Can't deny he has a pulse on the team and pulls triggers that seem to work just about every time. I love how he was moving the PP around. It's game 4 of the regular season and he wasn't happy. HE was using all the talent we have. I like that.

= Transition defense is still doing better each game. A lot left to be desired but it's a long season. I think it's trending back upward. There is some extended zone time due to lack of assignments and clears were very poor in the 3rd period.

= Powerplay: PP2 was good. PP1 was lacking battle. Geno/Kessel/Sid need to get to work on the powerplay. They are too passive and want to stand around. Have to get to work. A really bad PP1, a really good PP2.


- Slight minus to Kessel, McKegg, Letang, and L4 5 on 5. Just to be a bit hard on our team.

Saved me a lot of typing. Honorable mention to Hags, he was flying, awesome on the back check, pressuring in the O zone. And Dumo looked like playoff Dumo.

But PH really is the heart of the team. When he's out there, everyone keeps the legs moving. I like him starting on L3, he's trying to outwork the top 6 wingers for their jobs mid game. Keeps everyone working.

 

[BHD]

Still some things to work on, bu they played well enough to win. I liked their response after each Caps goal.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

+Only 1 week into the season and the frustration on Alex’s Face is gr8te.

I will say this for the guy, I can't remember the last time I saw him score a goal like that. Good on him if he's willing to go to the dirty areas.

Bets on how long it lasts.

 

[ColePens]

Agreed about Hags. I like his game. Wish we could see a little more offense, but I like his game. He's getting breakaways and chances. Just needs to finish.

 

[PensandCaps]

Hags is so good away from the puck. I feel the other team will not score when he's out there.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

- Going off memory here, but I think the second unit scored all of the PP goals.

- Why can't that Sheary always show up?

- Was interesting watching Carlson chase down Rust on his breakaway and instead of trying to slash him, he smacked his stick off the ice to try and distract Rust.

 

[Andy99]

We do a lot of good things -- Hags, Kuhn, Rowney etc-- but really not a lot of finishing. Our shooting percentages are down from last year...

 

[Tender Rip]

First game I watched so far this season.

Very nice performance overall. Shots totals told the story about the game more so than the score, I think. Kept the Caps under wraps for the majority and we had many quality chances to score more. A bit absurd that we had nothing ES, but special teams were glorious.
Caps first goal was on Murray who was otherwise strong, and their second was one of those shifts where Geno's line ran around and got bugged down. More correctly one of those many shifts where the Kessel controller was off in his own zone.

We do need that C who can push McKegg to the 4th line, but otherwise the only problem on our team is that we get far too little dominance from a line as expensive as Geno and Kessel combo will always be. I loathed watching Kessel most of last season, and I am sure I am being unfair and snappy with judgement after just one game (that I have seen), but this one was exactly the same. There will be games where they will pick opponents apart, but the sum of that line looks a lot less than the parts. Especially with our diminished C depth, Malkin's line has to be able to go toe to toe with everyone and come out on top more than not. I much doubt this happens with Kessel there.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

The Pens know the games to show up.

It was obvious that they treated this game almost as if it were a post season game. Already so deep into the Caps' players and fans' heads that the Pens should pay rent, good job crushing them a wee bit more.

Face offs are still an issue, but what else is new?

 

[cygnus47]

We do a lot of good things -- Hags, Kuhn, Rowney etc-- but really not a lot of finishing. Our shooting percentages are down from last year...

We're 4 games in. This is called "statistical variance" . If those percentages are still like that when we get to 2018 they're worth thinking about.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Was a fantastic road game, i keep feeling great going into Washington with this group of guys. Let's hope the boys have gas left for tomorrow nights game.

 

[ColePens]

Yeah I hate harping on faceoffs in regular season. I think they are such a greater factor in postseason. So we have time to fix that. I'll get Zigomanis on the phone if needed.

 

[vodeni]

Saved me a lot of typing. Honorable mention to Hags, he was flying, awesome on the back check, pressuring in the O zone. And Dumo looked like playoff Dumo.

But PH really is the heart of the team. When he's out there, everyone keeps the legs moving. I like him starting on L3, he's trying to outwork the top 6 wingers for their jobs mid game. Keeps everyone working.

I will keep bringing this and argue until everyone gets it. We are who we not because Sid and Geno but because PH and Hags, they are the final sauce that made this team work. I know that Hags make too much but he is so needed, he feels holes otherwise become detremental and Horny....Do we really have to keep arguing about him anymore

 

[Speaking Moistly]

- Going off memory here, but I think the second unit scored all of the PP goals.

- Why can't that Sheary always show up?

- Was interesting watching Carlson chase down Rust on his breakaway and instead of trying to slash him, he smacked his stick off the ice to try and distract Rust.

Letang on PP2 with Hornqvist, Maatta, Sheary and Rust. Hornqvist had Kuhnhackl, Crosby, Schultz and Hunwick out there for his goal. The third goal was Sheary with Schultz, Crosby, Maatta and Hornqvist. The standard PP1 did f*** all and was slowly broken up as the game went on.

 

[Ogrezilla]

- Going off memory here, but I think the second unit scored all of the PP goals.

- Why can't that Sheary always show up?

- Was interesting watching Carlson chase down Rust on his breakaway and instead of trying to slash him, he smacked his stick off the ice to try and distract Rust.

I think part of it is that Sheary is just a better LW than RW. And I think he works better with a guy like Hornqvist on the other side instead of Guentzel.